diff --git a/e2e/internal/cmd/cypress/cmd.go b/e2e/internal/cmd/cypress/cmd.go
index ec4d836cd15..24b347c115c 100644
--- a/e2e/internal/cmd/cypress/cmd.go
+++ b/e2e/internal/cmd/cypress/cmd.go
@@ -109,10 +109,15 @@ func NewCmd() *cli.Command {
 			},
 			&cli.BoolFlag{
 				Name:     "image-renderer",
-				Usage:    "Install the image renderer plugin (requires --start-grafana)",
+				Usage:    "Start the image renderer Docker container (requires --start-grafana)",
+				Category: "Grafana Server",
+			},
+			&cli.StringFlag{
+				Name:     "image-renderer-version",
+				Usage:    "When enabling the image renderer, which version to use",
+				Value:    "latest",
 				Category: "Grafana Server",
 			},
-
 			&cli.StringFlag{
 				Name:      "suite",
 				Usage:     "Path to the suite to run (e.g. './e2e/dashboards-suite')",
@@ -194,7 +199,10 @@ func runAction(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command) error {
 			cmd.Env = os.Environ()
 			cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, fmt.Sprintf("TZ=%s", c.String("timezone")))
 			if c.Bool("image-renderer") {
-				cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, "INSTALL_IMAGE_RENDERER=true")
+				cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, "START_IMAGE_RENDERER=true")
+			}
+			if c.String("image-renderer-version") != "" {
+				cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, fmt.Sprintf("IMAGE_RENDERER_VERSION=%s", c.String("image-renderer-version")))
 			}
 			cmd.Stdout = prefixGrafana(os.Stdout)
 			cmd.Stderr = prefixGrafana(os.Stderr)
diff --git a/pkg/build/e2e/main.go b/pkg/build/e2e/main.go
index 9bc35151de8..976a7883bdc 100644
--- a/pkg/build/e2e/main.go
+++ b/pkg/build/e2e/main.go
@@ -62,9 +62,14 @@ func NewApp() *cli.Command {
 			},
 			&cli.BoolFlag{
 				Name:  "image-renderer",
-				Usage: "Install the image renderer plugin",
+				Usage: "Enable the image renderer plugin",
 				Value: false,
 			},
+			&cli.StringFlag{
+				Name:  "image-renderer-version",
+				Usage: "When enabling the image renderer, which version to use",
+				Value: "latest",
+			},
 		},
 		Action: run,
 	}
@@ -76,6 +81,7 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) error {
 	targzPath := cmd.String("package")
 	licensePath := cmd.String("license")
 	imageRenderer := cmd.Bool("image-renderer")
+	imageRendererVersion := cmd.String("image-renderer-version")
 	runnerFlags := cmd.String("flags")
 
 	d, err := dagger.Connect(ctx)
@@ -104,7 +110,8 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) error {
 		GrafanaTarGz:         targz,
 		YarnCache:            yarnCache,
 		License:              license,
-		InstallImageRenderer: imageRenderer,
+		StartImageRenderer:   imageRenderer,
+		ImageRendererVersion: imageRendererVersion,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create Grafana service: %w", err)
diff --git a/pkg/build/e2e/service.go b/pkg/build/e2e/service.go
index 5c6eb0c4e78..31463f63783 100644
--- a/pkg/build/e2e/service.go
+++ b/pkg/build/e2e/service.go
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ type GrafanaServiceOpts struct {
 	GrafanaTarGz         *dagger.File
 	YarnCache            *dagger.CacheVolume
 	License              *dagger.File
-	InstallImageRenderer bool
+	StartImageRenderer   bool
+	ImageRendererVersion string
 }
 
 func Frontend(src *dagger.Directory) *dagger.Directory {
@@ -97,10 +98,14 @@ func GrafanaService(ctx context.Context, d *dagger.Client, opts GrafanaServiceOp
 		licenseArg = "/src/license.jwt"
 	}
 
-	if opts.InstallImageRenderer {
-		container = container.WithEnvVariable("INSTALL_IMAGE_RENDERER", "true").
+	if opts.StartImageRenderer {
+		container = container.WithEnvVariable("START_IMAGE_RENDERER", "true").
 			WithExec([]string{"apt-get", "update"}).
 			WithExec([]string{"apt-get", "install", "-y", "ca-certificates"})
+
+		if opts.ImageRendererVersion != "" {
+			container = container.WithEnvVariable("IMAGE_RENDERER_VERSION", opts.ImageRendererVersion)
+		}
 	}
 
 	// We add all GF_ environment variables to allow for overriding Grafana configuration.
diff --git a/scripts/grafana-server/start-server b/scripts/grafana-server/start-server
index d9581910b83..4f4282f7560 100755
--- a/scripts/grafana-server/start-server
+++ b/scripts/grafana-server/start-server
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ fi
 
 ./scripts/grafana-server/kill-server
 
+docker ps -q --filter "name=grafana-image-renderer" | xargs docker stop || true
+
 mkdir $RUNDIR
 
 echo -e "Copying grafana backend files to temp dir..."
@@ -55,9 +57,17 @@ elif [ -d "../e2e-playwright/test-plugins" ]; then
   cp -r "../e2e-playwright/test-plugins" "$RUNDIR/data/plugins"
 fi
 
-if [ "$INSTALL_IMAGE_RENDERER" ]; then
-  echo -e "Installing image renderer"
-  $RUNDIR/bin/"$ARCH"grafana cli --pluginsDir "$RUNDIR/data/plugins" plugins install grafana-image-renderer
+if [ "$START_IMAGE_RENDERER" ]; then
+  echo -e "Starting image renderer container"
+  docker run -d --rm --name=grafana-image-renderer -p ${IR_DEFAULT_PORT}:${IR_DEFAULT_PORT} grafana/grafana-image-renderer:${IMAGE_RENDERER_VERSION:-latest}
+
+  if [[ "$(uname)" == "Darwin" ]]; then
+    DOCKER_HOST="host.docker.internal"
+    echo "Detected Mac host, using $DOCKER_HOST as the Docker host"
+  else
+    DOCKER_HOST="172.17.0.1"
+    echo "Detected Linux host, using $DOCKER_HOST as the Docker host"
+  fi
 fi
 
 echo -e "Copy provisioning setup from devenv"
@@ -74,10 +84,20 @@ echo -e "Starting Grafana server port $PORT"
 # We get a lot of "context canceled" errors from navigating away from pages,
 # so filter them out because they're not useful
 {
-  exec "$RUNDIR/bin/${ARCH}grafana" server \
-    --homepath="$HOME_PATH" \
-    --pidfile="$RUNDIR/pid" \
-    cfg:server.http_port="$PORT" \
-    cfg:enterprise.license_path="$1" \
-    2>&1
+  CMD=(
+    "$RUNDIR/bin/${ARCH}grafana" server
+    --homepath="$HOME_PATH"
+    --pidfile="$RUNDIR/pid"
+    cfg:server.http_port="$PORT"
+    cfg:enterprise.license_path="$1"
+  )
+
+  if [ "$START_IMAGE_RENDERER" ]; then
+    CMD+=(
+      cfg:rendering.callback_url="http://$DOCKER_HOST:$PORT"
+      cfg:rendering.server_url="http://localhost:$IR_DEFAULT_PORT/render"
+    )
+  fi
+
+  exec "${CMD[@]}" 2>&1
 } | grep -v -i "context canceled"
diff --git a/scripts/grafana-server/variables b/scripts/grafana-server/variables
index b61d316b41c..5c5f85f857b 100644
--- a/scripts/grafana-server/variables
+++ b/scripts/grafana-server/variables
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ PIDFILE=$RUNDIR/pid
 PROV_DIR=$RUNDIR/conf/provisioning
 DEFAULT_HOST=localhost
 DEFAULT_PORT=3001
+IR_DEFAULT_PORT=8081
diff --git a/scripts/grafana-server/wait-for-grafana b/scripts/grafana-server/wait-for-grafana
index 7ed31822f38..b2b4dd22cce 100755
--- a/scripts/grafana-server/wait-for-grafana
+++ b/scripts/grafana-server/wait-for-grafana
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ PORT=${PORT:-$DEFAULT_PORT}
 
 printf "Waiting for grafana-server to finish starting, host=%s, port=%s" "$HOST" "$PORT"
 
-timeout=60
+timeout=180
 elapsed=0
 
 while ! curl -s -f http://$HOST:$PORT/health > /dev/null 2>&1; do