Install Prometheus on Kubernetes with Helm

Here is how to install Prometheus on Kubernetes using Helm in 2026. Tested and verified.

Install kube-prometheus-stack

This installs Prometheus, Grafana, AlertManager, and node exporters:

helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

helm install monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack \
  --namespace monitoring \
  --create-namespace

Verify

kubectl get pods -n monitoring
kubectl get svc -n monitoring

Access Dashboards

# Grafana
kubectl port-forward svc/monitoring-grafana -n monitoring 3000:80
# Username: admin, Password:
kubectl get secret monitoring-grafana -n monitoring -o jsonpath="{.data.admin-password}" | base64 -d

# Prometheus
kubectl port-forward svc/monitoring-kube-prometheus-prometheus -n monitoring 9090:9090

# AlertManager
kubectl port-forward svc/monitoring-kube-prometheus-alertmanager -n monitoring 9093:9093

Custom Values

# values.yaml
prometheus:
  prometheusSpec:
    retention: 30d
    storageSpec:
      volumeClaimTemplate:
        spec:
          accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
          resources:
            requests:
              storage: 50Gi

grafana:
  adminPassword: "your-secure-password"
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    hosts:
      - grafana.example.com

helm upgrade monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack \
  -n monitoring -f values.yaml

Related Resources

• Prometheus Tutorial
• Prometheus PromQL Cheat Sheet
• Grafana Dashboard Tutorial