AWS X-Ray Reviews

Name: AWS X-Ray
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 3.9 (11 reviews)

3.9 out of 5

11 reviews
90% willing to recommend

What is AWS X-Ray?

AWS X-Ray is a powerful debugging and performance analysis tool offered by Amazon Web Services. It allows developers to trace requests made to their applications and identify bottlenecks and issues.

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AWS X-Ray is the #16 ranked solution in APM tools. PeerSpot users give AWS X-Ray an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. AWS X-Ray is most commonly compared to Dynatrace: AWS X-Ray vs Dynatrace. AWS X-Ray is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 65% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 16% of all views.

Helped 865,295 peers since 2012

Featured AWS X-Ray reviews

Muhmad Tabrez A Deewanji

Lead Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

As an application developer and architect, I appreciate AWS X-Ray for checking latency and identifying bottlenecks. I use it for performance tuning, conducting performance testing on applications, getting real-time traces, and gaining data insights. It helps in improving throughput and tuning infrastructure. The trace metrics and data collected provide valuable insights.

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Allan Møller

Consult Manager at Conscia

The challenges we faced with AWS X-Ray were that some of the AWS services we were using did not support it, which we discovered at a later stage. This was potentially a design consideration we should have known about, requiring us to redeploy some services in another SKU version to get it functioning. This is the only challenge, as AWS X-Ray is relatively new. It is important to consider that not all AWS services support it out of the box. My recommendation for AWS X-Ray would be broader support. We have been working in a relatively small area of AWS, using approximately six or seven services, so I have not explored all other available services. In general, the more services it supports, the better it would be. AWS X-Ray should be able to support more services for improved functionality.

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Willy Moura

Solutions Architect/ Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

I have two use cases with my customers. One involves using AWS Fargate, and the other involves an application running on WordPress. The WordPress application was very slow, and we used AWS X-Ray to understand the main problem. X-Ray helped us identify issues with our EFS, allowing us to adjust…

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AWS X-Ray mindshare

As of August 2025, the mindshare of AWS X-Ray in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category stands at 3.1%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

PeerResearch reports based on AWS X-Ray reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability	Aug 20, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Aug 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs Datadog	Aug 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs Dynatrace	Aug 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs New Relic	Aug 20, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Dynatrace	4.4	10.2%	95%	349 interviews Add to research
Datadog	4.3	8.5%	97%	188 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

AWS X-Ray allows tracing problems, monitors request timings, and provides error reports and latency insights. Its dashboard highlights performance issues, while endpoints and user monitoring offer easy implementation. It efficiently combines logs and metrics and aids in debugging with detailed logs and IP data. X-Ray supports compliance and security regulations. Users value the seamless integration process, service maps for troubleshooting, data correlation, and performance tuning capabilities for improved throughput and latency checks.

"AWS X-Ray's endpoints and user monitoring are considered the most valuable features."
"I would give AWS X-Ray a nine out of ten overall."
"AWS X-Ray shows us exactly when there are delays, helping us understand the depth of issues and what is happening point-to-point."

Room for Improvement

AWS X-Ray's user interface is not intuitive and configuring it is challenging. Developers find manual instrumentation difficult compared to other tools like Instana. There is a need for predefined log filters and broader support for AWS services. Enhancing SDKs for different languages, integrating with CloudPort, and adding anomaly detection could be beneficial. Users experience confusion with collector agents and issues with trace configurations, especially when using local services with AWS.

"AWS X-Ray should improve its implementation process to make it easier for developers."
"Compared to other open-source tools, AWS X-Ray needs improvement in providing discounts."
"Sometimes, the collector agents are confusing to configure initially."

ROI

AWS X-Ray has provided some users with significant returns on investment.

Pricing

Enterprise buyers note that AWS X-Ray costs vary based on usage and scale, with pricing improving as relationships with Amazon develop. Typically, costs increase transitioning from small to large enterprises, though small businesses often benefit from the free tier. While AWS offers competitive service pricing, some users find AWS X-Ray relatively expensive compared to open-source alternatives. Discounts and cost-control improvements are desired to enhance affordability, especially for enterprises scaling their deployment.

"The solution is a bit expensive."
"As you develop a relationship with Amazon, your pricing gets lower. You get credits for the amount of the system you use, and then if you're the government, you can get government pricing. For commercial users, there's a hump when you go from small to medium to big enterprise. Small businesses can live pretty easily off the free tier in a lot of cases, but when you go from a medium to a big enterprise, it becomes more expensive on a per-user basis. I'd like to see that curve going in a different way where pricing can be driven down while people are trying to adopt the technology."
"The pricing for AWS X-Ray is a six out of ten."

Popular Use Cases

Companies primarily use AWS X-Ray for tracing microservices and application performance. It helps track HTTP requests, identify bottlenecks, analyze errors, and improve response times. Businesses integrate X-Ray for distributed tracing, monitoring system behavior, and enhancing code performance, especially when using AWS services. It is crucial for identifying service interconnections and debugging latency or stability issues. Organizations often use it with AWS CloudWatch, but may opt for third-party tools for comprehensive analysis.

Service and Support

Customers indicate they rarely contact AWS X-Ray support. They find AWS's general assistance reliable for other services. Many do not enable support due to partnership status and find the available documentation sufficient, organized, and clear. Those who rate support give it an eight out of ten. The need for direct assistance with AWS X-Ray is infrequent, suggesting confidence in their knowledge and resources without contacting support directly.

Deployment

Initial setup of AWS X-Ray is generally straightforward, requiring some configuration in AWS CloudFormation and code integration. Users rate complexity around seven out of ten. Deployment is quick, taking minutes to a few days, and manageable by one person. Challenges arise with deeper integrations, code insertion, and permissions. Migrating from AWS SDK 1.x to 2.x adds difficulty. Familiarity with the system aids in simplifying the process.

Scalability

AWS X-Ray is recognized by users for its exceptional scalability, with no issues reported during application scaling efforts. According to feedback, it effectively supports large user bases, including federal government projects with millions of users. Companies of different sizes successfully utilize AWS X-Ray across numerous applications, demonstrating its flexibility. Ratings provided range from seven to ten, indicating a high degree of satisfaction. The ease of scaling and additional features make it suitable for various use cases.

Stability

AWS X-Ray demonstrates good stability, with no crashes, freezes, or bugs. It is considered reliable and receives high ratings for its consistent performance. Users note its impressive stability, mentioning its high availability and adherence to SLAs. No significant issues related to AWS X-Ray have been reported, apart from an unrelated offshore data loss situation. Many have faced no problems and have confidence in its dependable operation.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our AWS X-Ray Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Insurance Company

Retailer

University

Government

Real Estate/Law Firm

Healthcare Company

Media Company

Outsourcing Company

Educational Organization

Transportation Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Performing Arts

Non Profit

Hospitality Company

Legal Firm

Construction Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Marketing Services Firm

Recruiting/Hr Firm

Pharma/Biotech Company

Consumer Goods Company

Engineering Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Compare AWS X-Ray with alternative products

Learn more about AWS X-Ray

With X-Ray, developers can visualize the entire request flow and pinpoint the exact location where errors occur. It provides detailed insights into the performance of individual components and helps optimize the overall application performance.

X-Ray integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, making it easy to trace requests across different services and identify dependencies. It also offers a comprehensive set of APIs and SDKs, enabling developers to instrument their applications and capture valuable data for analysis. With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, AWS X-Ray is a valuable tool for developers looking to improve the performance and reliability of their applications.