Grafana Labs
Large (~1,700)
Samsara
Large (~5,200)
Best For
Grafana Labs
Best for: Engineers who want open-source impact with fully remote flexibility and strong WLB
Samsara
Best for: Sales and ops professionals who thrive in a high-growth public company selling real IoT hardware+software to physical industries
Ratings
Grafana LabsSamsara
4.1
4.0
Overall
4.3
3.9
Work-Life Balance
4.1
4.1
Culture & Values
4.0
4.0
Comp & Benefits
3.6
3.8
Senior Mgmt
3.8
3.8
Career Opps
👍 78% Recommend
👤 71% CEO Approval (Raj Dutt)
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (Sanjit Biswas)
Culture Values
Grafana Labs only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🔓 Open Source⚙️ Engineering-Driven🪟 Transparent⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Samsara only
🎯 Direct Product Impact🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Shared
🌱 Learning & Growth
Pros & Cons
Grafana Labs
- 100% remote-first across 40+ countries with generous PTO (~30 days) and mandatory shutdown days
- Engineers rate it 4.9/5 — absurdly talented colleagues with strong open-source culture
- Career progression above staff level can be challenging with limited upward mobility
- Product management is sometimes marginalized with engineers holding disproportionate power
Samsara
- Clear career trajectory with frequent promotions in sales
- Real-world product impact building IoT for physical operations
- Engineers rate WLB at only 2.9/5 despite company average of 3.9
- Remote work used to justify overwork including weekends
Bottom Line
Grafana Labs
Choose Grafana Labs if you want deep open-source impact, fully remote flexibility, and excellent WLB — but expect limited career progression above staff level.
Samsara
Strong sales culture and real-world product impact at massive scale, but engineers report significantly worse WLB than the company average suggests.
Open Roles
Grafana Labs — 129 jobs
💻 Engineering
64
💼 Sales / GTM
38
🎨 Design
5
⚖️ Legal
4
👤 HR / People
1
⚙️ Operations
1
Samsara — 403 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
190
💻 Engineering
54
📋 Product
38
🧠 ML / AI
12
📣 Marketing
10
📊 Data
8
🎧 Support
7
⚙️ Operations
5
👤 HR / People
3
🎨 Design
2
⚖️ Legal
2
Summary
Grafana Labs scores 4.1/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.3 work-life balance rating. Samsara scores 4.0/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. That’s a 0.1-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Learning & Growth. Grafana Labs also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Open Source, Engineering-Driven, Transparent, Work-Life Balance. Samsara also emphasizes Direct Product Impact, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity.
On the hiring front, Grafana Labs has 129 open roles and Samsara has 403 open roles.