# Custom labels in Grafana Cloud Synthetic Monitoring: New updates for consistency and ease-of-use

DevFeed: [Custom labels in Grafana Cloud Synthetic Monitoring: New updates for consistency and ease-of-use](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/custom-labels-in-grafana-cloud-synthetic-monitoring-new-updates-for-consistency-and-ease-of-use-8592.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://grafana.com/blog/synthetic-monitoring-labels-update/>)

Author: Anant Sharma

Published: 2026-09-12T11:22:06.456390Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Grafana Labs blog on Grafana Labs](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/grafana-labs-blog-on-grafana-labs.md>)

Topics: [Grafana Cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/grafana-cloud.md>), [synthetic monitoring](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/synthetic-monitoring.md>), [Grafana](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/grafana.md>), [Monitoring](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/monitoring.md>), [telemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/telemetry.md>), [dashboards](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/dashboards.md>)

Tags: [analytics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/analytics.md>), [dashboards](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dashboards.md>), [grafana](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/grafana.md>), [grafana-cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/grafana-cloud.md>), [how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/how-to.md>), [logs](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/logs.md>), [metrics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/metrics.md>), [monitoring](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/monitoring.md>), [observability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/observability.md>), [synthetic-monitoring](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/synthetic-monitoring.md>), [telemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/telemetry.md>), [traces](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/traces.md>), [update](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/update.md>)

## AI overview

Grafana Cloud Synthetic Monitoring is updating custom labels so they attach directly to every check metric and log, rather than only sm_check_info. The label_ prefix will be removed, and labels will appear exactly as defined. Existing users must migrate dashboards, SLOs, alerts, and queries that reference these labels by March 1, 2027.

## Source excerpt

Labels are a powerful way to organize telemetry and define policies across Grafana Cloud, helping to streamline alerting, attribution, access control, and more. But traditionally, custom labels in Synthetic Monitoring have worked a little differently: they only lived on a single sm_check_info metric, and Grafana Cloud prefixed each one with label_. To make custom labels in Synthetic Monitoring work consistently with the rest of Grafana Cloud--without extra joins, naming conventions, or workarounds--we're rolling out an update that lets your custom labels attach directly to every check metric, not just sm_check_info, and removes the label_ prefix. Starting today, labels appear exactly as you write them, making Synthetic Monitoring data easier to navigate and use with label-based policies across Grafana Cloud. If you currently use custom labels in Synthetic Monitoring, read on to learn how to migrate to the new labels. We are asking users to migrate by March 1, 2027 to ensure their custom dashboards, SLOs, alerts, and queries that reference Synthetic Monitoring metrics do not break, and continue to work as expected. If you do not use custom labels in Synthetic Monitoring, you don't need to do anything to prepare for this update. How custom labels work in Synthetic Monitoring Until now, if you wanted to filter a dashboard, scope an alert, or attribute cost by team or service within Synthetic Monitoring, you had to join sm_check_info against the check metric you actually want to query. You also had to remember that team is really label_team in this context. That approach worked to ensure your custom labels were never at odds with system-defined labels. However, it broke down as usage scaled up and dozens of teams started running hundreds of checks across services, environments, and regions. Teams rely on consistent schemas to direct label-based workflows, and this update brings Synthetic Monitoring further into the fold of your existing policies. With the update, labels i