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AWS CloudTrail pros and cons

Vendor: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
4.3 out of 5
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Pros & Cons summary

AWS CloudTrail serves as a central logging platform with robust auditing capabilities, monitoring changes at the application and resource level. It integrates with Security Hub, Prometheus, and Grafana for incident response. CloudTrail offers detailed tracking of API calls but lacks multi-value filtering, direct querying, and user-friendly log reports. Restricted to AWS, it requires S3 for log viewing, and should capture non-API calls to improve operational visibility and reduce dependency on other services.

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

AWS CloudTrail is valued for its capability to provide context for cloud events, allowing users to establish a baseline of activity.
It enhances audit processes by monitoring changes at application and resource levels within an AWS account.
The service is recognized for its stability and efficiency in managing incident investigation and response.
With seamless integration with AWS services like AWS Config, it offers custom event, security, and compliance auditing.
AWS CloudTrail is scalable, capable of detailed API call tracking, and significantly improves security monitoring in the cloud environment.

CONS

AWS CloudTrail lacks the ability to filter multiple values within the console simultaneously.
Direct queries on AWS CloudTrail without relying on Athena are not possible.
AWS CloudTrail's operation visibility could benefit from improvements.
There is a need for AWS CloudTrail to include data on non-API calls as part of its logging.
Exclusivity to AWS limits AWS CloudTrail's integration with other platforms like Azure and GCP, which offer separate functionalities.
 

AWS CloudTrail Pros review quotes

CR
Jun 20, 2025
AWS CloudTrail features a totally cloud-based deployment.
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reviewer2089773 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 1, 2023
What I found most valuable in AWS CloudTrail is that it provides a good context of what's happening in the environment, so it's an excellent way to baseline what's occurring. I also like that AWS CloudTrail helps with audits.
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Binoj BALAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 15, 2024
AWS CloudTrail helps in accelerating incident investigation and response. It increases it because I pull out the logs to CloudTrail, and from CloudTrail watch, I'll send it to the Security Hub and do a visualization with Prometheus and Grafana.
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AWS CloudTrail
June 2025
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reviewer2382693 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 25, 2024
In one specific scenario, we encountered a situation where a terminated employee still had access to our environment without our knowledge. With AWS CloudTrail, we could track and monitor the employees' activities, revealing that they were downloading specific files from our customer's environment. Without it enabled, we wouldn't have been aware of this.
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Abhijit Gautam - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 22, 2024
From a scalability point of view, the tool has no issue, and it is completely fine.
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reviewer2382693 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 27, 2025
AWS CloudTrail provides significant efficiency gains as it allows thorough monitoring of the environment, contributing substantially to security improvements.
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KJ
Apr 2, 2025
I have not encountered any stability issues, glitches, or performance problems with AWS CloudTrail.
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Bireshwar Adhikary - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2023
The solution is good as a central logging platform for showing all cloud events.
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Priyam Vaidya - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 22, 2024
One of the most valuable features of AWS CloudTrail is its ability to track and monitor API calls detailedly.
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NabeelHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 14, 2024
The management events and CloudTrail Insights are valuable.
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AWS CloudTrail Cons review quotes

CR
Jun 20, 2025
AWS CloudTrail only supports AWS, and Azure has its functions, GCP has their own. Dynatrace offers more flexible dashboards and services, making it more adaptable compared to AWS CloudTrail.
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reviewer2089773 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 1, 2023
Filtering multiple values within the console is a feature that has yet to exist in AWS CloudTrail. You can look up a user identity, service, or action, but you can't search for multiple dimensions.
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reviewer2382693 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 25, 2024
Once the organization defines its policies, it must immediately enable AWS CloudTrail and integrate it with auto-remediation procedures using Lambda functions. This ensures that the main administrator can receive information quickly and on time without delay.
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Buyer's Guide
AWS CloudTrail
June 2025
Free Report: AWS CloudTrail Reviews and More
Learn what your peers think about AWS CloudTrail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Abhijit Gautam - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 22, 2024
The product's initial setup phase is not pretty straightforward.
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reviewer2382693 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 27, 2025
AWS CloudTrail should be redesigned to capture non-API calls. It would be more effective to have one tool that can perform multiple tasks instead of relying on multiple services for non-API activities.
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KJ
Apr 2, 2025
AWS CloudTrail can sometimes generate too much information, which might lead to a lot of unnecessary data, particularly false positives.
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Bireshwar Adhikary - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2023
The solution should incorporate visibility for CloudWatch events.
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Priyam Vaidya - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 22, 2024
I have not experienced any challenges while using it.
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NabeelHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 14, 2024
More controls should be introduced in CloudTrail, especially to see the logs in CloudTrail itself without saving them in S3, as S3 starts to incur charges.
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RANJAN KUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 29, 2024
The solution's operation visibility could be improved.
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Show 2 more reviews (out of 12)

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Product Categories

Product Categories
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Popular Comparisons

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