diff --git a/pkg/services/authn/grpcutils/namespace_checker.go b/pkg/services/authn/grpcutils/namespace_checker.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6ba656e7bdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/services/authn/grpcutils/namespace_checker.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package grpcutils
+
+import (
+	authzlib "github.com/grafana/authlib/authz"
+	"github.com/grafana/authlib/claims"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/setting"
+)
+
+func NewNamespaceAccessChecker(cfg *setting.Cfg) authzlib.NamespaceAccessChecker {
+	if cfg.StackID != "" {
+		return authzlib.NewNamespaceAccessChecker(
+			claims.CloudNamespaceFormatter,
+			authzlib.WithIDTokenNamespaceAccessCheckerOption(true),
+		)
+	}
+
+	return authzlib.NewNamespaceAccessChecker(
+		claims.OrgNamespaceFormatter,
+		authzlib.WithDisableAccessTokenNamespaceAccessCheckerOption(),
+		authzlib.WithIDTokenNamespaceAccessCheckerOption(true),
+	)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/services/grpcserver/service.go b/pkg/services/grpcserver/service.go
index f63b670780a..db61e749474 100644
--- a/pkg/services/grpcserver/service.go
+++ b/pkg/services/grpcserver/service.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	authzlib "github.com/grafana/authlib/authz"
-	"github.com/grafana/authlib/claims"
 	"github.com/grafana/dskit/instrument"
 	"github.com/grafana/dskit/middleware"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/log"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/tracing"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/registry"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/authn/grpcutils"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/featuremgmt"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/grpcserver/interceptors"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/setting"
@@ -73,13 +73,7 @@ func ProvideService(cfg *setting.Cfg, features featuremgmt.FeatureToggles, authe
 
 	var opts []grpc.ServerOption
 
-	// We don't need to support the CloudNamespaceFormatter here, because the grpcserver is only used on-prem.
-	// TODO(drclau): validate this assumption.
-	namespaceChecker := authzlib.NewNamespaceAccessChecker(
-		claims.OrgNamespaceFormatter,
-		authzlib.WithDisableAccessTokenNamespaceAccessCheckerOption(),
-		authzlib.WithIDTokenNamespaceAccessCheckerOption(true),
-	)
+	namespaceChecker := grpcutils.NewNamespaceAccessChecker(cfg)
 	stackIdExtractor := authzlib.MetadataStackIDExtractor(authzlib.DefaultStackIDMetadataKey)
 
 	// Default auth is admin token check, but this can be overridden by