GrafanaCONline 2021 showcased numerous updates and new features for Grafana, focusing on enhancing data visualization, security, and alerting functionalities. Grafana 8.0 introduced new panels, including a State timeline panel for observing discrete state changes, and the Time series panel became the default visualization, offering improved customization and performance. The introduction of Library panels allowed for more efficient dashboard management by enabling reusable panel updates. Enhanced security measures were also introduced, such as fine-grained access control and data source query caching, which optimize performance and reduce costs. Unified alerting consolidated Prometheus and Grafana dashboard alerts, simplifying management and access. Additionally, Grafana Tempo 1.0 was launched, offering a novel approach to distributed tracing with a focus on efficient trace storage, while better logs navigation and machine learning capabilities were added to improve system understanding and prediction capabilities. These updates were complemented by new plugins, a more accessible plugin catalog, and the announcement of Grafana Cloud Traces, enhancing the overall observability stack.