Comparison

IoT Panels vs GrafLens

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

IoT Panels

Visualize and control your smart home devices with custom dashboards. Connect to various data sources like MQTT and InfluxDB, and control actuators directly from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Offers offline support and data export for analysis.

Highlights
  • Customizable dashboards with drag-and-drop panels
  • Support for MQTT, InfluxDB, and Prometheus data sources
  • Control IoT devices and actuators
  • Home screen and lock screen widgets
  • Offline support with intelligent data caching
  • JSON and CSV data export
Features
Read full description

Visualize and control your IoT devices from iPhone, iPad, and Mac. IoT Panels is the essential dashboard app for smart home enthusiasts, IoT developers, and anyone working with sensor data and connected devices. Free, open source, and no ads. BUILD CUSTOM DASHBOARDS • Create interactive dashboards with drag-and-drop panels • Line charts, band charts, heatmaps, gauges, sparklines, stacked bar and area charts, state timelines, tables, and more • Threshold-based color rules for at-a-glance status • Design your own widget templates and use them on your home screen • Grid-based layout with multiple panel sizes CONNECT YOUR DATA SOURCES • MQTT broker support with SSL/TLS, client certificates, and ALPN • InfluxDB 1.x (InfluxQL), 2.x (Flux), and 3.x (SQL) • Prometheus with guided query builder and raw PromQL editor • Automatic MQTT topic and Prometheus metric discovery • Multiple data sources per dashboard • Persistent MQTT data store — data survives restarts and view changes • Built-in demo data to explore features instantly DASHBOARD TEMPLATES • Pre-built templates for quick setup — get started in seconds • Node Exporter Lite template for Prometheus with 8 panels • Automatic unit conversion — bytes, temperature, rates, and more POWERFUL QUERY BUILDER • Visual query builder — no code required • Select measurements, fields, and tag filters with autocomplete • Aggregation functions: min, max, mean, sum, and more • Compare current data against historical periods — spot trends and anomalies • Manual query editor for advanced users MULTI-HOME SUPPORT • Organize dashboards by home or location • Switch between homes with a tap • Custom icons for each home WORKS EVERYWHERE • Native experience on iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Home screen widgets with your custom designs • Lock screen widgets powered by your queries — see live data at a glance • Background sparklines on gauges and single-value panels for trend at a glance • Real-time data with configurable refresh intervals • Offline support with intelligent data caching PUBLISH AND CONTROL • Send MQTT messages directly from the app • Control IoT devices and actuators • Topic discovery for quick access BACKUP AND EXPORT • Full backup and restore of all configurations • JSON and CSV data export for further analysis Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese. Have feedback or feature requests? Visit our GitHub page — IoT Panels is open source and community-driven.

About

GrafLens

Access and monitor your Grafana dashboards on the go with this open-source iOS viewer. Connect to any Grafana instance to browse dashboards, view panels, manage alerts, and add annotations. Features include home screen widgets and Siri shortcuts for quick access.

Highlights
  • Connect to any Grafana instance
  • Browse dashboards with full-text search
  • View panels with configurable time ranges
  • Monitor firing alerts and create silences
  • Add annotations and generate snapshots
  • Home screen widgets for quick panel access
  • Siri shortcuts for instant alert status
Features
Read full description

GrafLens is a free, open-source native iOS viewer for Grafana dashboards. Connect to any Grafana instance and monitor your infrastructure on the go — no ads, no tracking, no account required. KEY FEATURES • Connect to any Grafana instance using a service account token • Browse dashboards organized by folder with full-text search • View panels with configurable time ranges from 5 minutes to 30 days • Monitor firing alerts and create silences for maintenance windows • Add annotations to mark deployments, incidents, and events • Generate shareable dashboard snapshots • Manage folders and playlists from your phone • Edit dashboard metadata (title, description, tags) on the go • Multiple server connections — switch between Grafana instances instantly • Star your favorite dashboards for one-tap access • Recently viewed dashboards always at your fingertips • OIDC/OAuth support (Authentik, Okta, Google, etc.) HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Pin any specific Grafana panel from any dashboard directly to your iOS home screen. Configure widget size (small, medium, large) and time range. Updates automatically every 15 minutes. SIRI SHORTCUTS Ask Siri "Check GrafLens alerts" to instantly see how many alerts are firing without opening the app. Perfect for on-call engineers who need at-a-glance status. SPOTLIGHT SEARCH GrafLens indexes your dashboards in iOS Spotlight. Search for any dashboard from your home screen and tap to jump straight in. PRIVACY FIRST GrafLens does not collect, transmit, or store any personal information on remote servers. The app communicates only with the Grafana instance you configure. There is no analytics, no telemetry, no advertising, and no third-party SDKs. Your service account token and connection details are stored locally on your device only. OPEN SOURCE GrafLens is fully open source under the MIT license. Review the complete source code, file issues, or contribute features at github.com/whitematter-tech/graflens PERFECT FOR • DevOps engineers monitoring infrastructure • SRE teams tracking service health • On-call engineers responding to incidents • Developers checking application metrics • Anyone who wants Grafana on their phone GrafLens is developed and maintained by WhiteMatterTech in coordination with the open source community. For support, feature requests, or to report bugs, visit our GitHub repository or contact us at support@whitematter.tech

Screenshots

IoT Panels4 screens
GrafLens4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: IoT Panels at none against GrafLens's 3. GrafLens's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. GrafLens sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. IoT Panels asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

IoT Panels ships an update daily, GrafLens every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
IoT Panels versus GrafLens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIoT PanelsGrafLens
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhilipp ArndtWhiteMatter Technology, LLC

Customer experience

IoT Panels

Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

GrafLens

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

IoT Panels

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

GrafLens

One-time3
  • Coffee$2.99
  • Lunch$5.99
  • Dinner$9.99

Questions

Is IoT Panels free?
IoT Panels is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GrafLens free?
GrafLens is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do IoT Panels or GrafLens have ads?
Neither IoT Panels nor GrafLens shows ads.
Which is updated more often, IoT Panels or GrafLens?
IoT Panels ships an update daily, and GrafLens every 2 days. Most recently, IoT Panels was updated on October 1, 2026 and GrafLens on September 22, 2026.

Other comparisons