Amazon CloudWatch vs Graylog comparison

Read 21 Graylog reviews

9,558 Views
8,433 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Amazon CloudWatch

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Amazon CloudWatch and Graylog are leading competitors in monitoring and log management solutions. Amazon CloudWatch appears to have the upper hand in seamless AWS integration, offering significant advantages for users already embedded in the AWS ecosystem.

Features: Amazon CloudWatch benefits from integration with AWS services, providing unified monitoring and real-time insights. It offers detailed metrics and scalability specifically for AWS users. Graylog excels in log management with real-time analytics, alerting, and search capabilities. Its open-source availability and support for diverse environments, including using Elasticsearch for rapid log retrieval, make it a robust choice.

Room for Improvement: CloudWatch users highlight issues with dashboard clarity and high costs, especially when customizing metrics outside AWS. Improvements are needed in real-time monitoring and dashboard details. Graylog faces challenges with its infrastructure requirements because of Elasticsearch, and modernization support for containerized environments like Kubernetes is desired. Both solutions could benefit from increased alert flexibility and better user documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon CloudWatch is best suited for public cloud deployment, particularly within AWS, offering various support options depending on the tier. Graylog is flexible, supporting both on-premises and cloud setups, but may require more technical expertise. CloudWatch users value its readily available support, while Graylog's community support is especially beneficial for its open-source version.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon CloudWatch follows a pay-as-you-go model, which can become costly as data usage grows, yet offers substantial ROI by reducing manual monitoring tasks. Graylog's open-source version is cost-effective for small data volumes, but its enterprise version can be pricey, impacting ROI for large-scale operations. CloudWatch offers value through operational visibility, whereas Graylog provides a budget-friendly solution for companies not deeply integrated with AWS.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog Report (Updated: April 2025).

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon CloudWatch

Ranking in Log Management

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

Graylog

Ranking in Log Management

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 2.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Graylog is 6.7%, up from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Rasanpreet Singh

Senior Consultant at Infosys

Reliable AWS monitoring and logging

The choice of logging solution should always be determined by the specific business requirements. It is crucial to align the logging strategy with what type of logs are needed and how they should be used. There are instances where we require custom solutions to retrieve logs, especially application logs that may not be easily accessible through CloudWatch or similar services. When we heavily rely on AWS native services, CloudWatch is indeed a robust choice. However, in certain scenarios, we might need integration capabilities with other tools, and if they can incorporate such features, it would enhance overall logging capabilities. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Read full review

Ivan Kokalovic

DevOps Engineer at Proton Technologies

Facilitates backend service monitoring with efficient log retrieval and API flexibility

Graylog is valuable because it bridges technical knowledge to non-technical teams, presenting complex backend processes in a simple timeline. It boosts the knowledge of sales and customer support teams by allowing them to see the backend operations without needing to read the code. Its API is flexible for visualization, and its powerful search engine efficiently handles large volumes of log data. Moreover, its stability, fast search capabilities, and compatibility with languages like ANSI SQL enhance its utility in IT infrastructure.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We use Amazon CloudWatch for logging."

"The monitoring features are valuable."

"CloudWatch provides essential monitoring capabilities that integrate seamlessly with other AWS services."

"The solution effectively monitors golden signals like CPU, page requests, and queues."

"The most valuable features of Amazon CloudWatch are metrics, dashboards, alarms, logs, events, logs insight, and application insights."

"I can put it in a simple term, its simplicity is always there."

"The solution is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is the monitoring and UI."

More Amazon CloudWatch pros

"One of the most valuable features is that you are able to do a very detailed search through the log messages in the overview."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its new interface."

"We're using the Community edition, but I know that it has really good dashboarding and alerts."

"The best feature of Graylog is the Elasticsearch integration. We can integrate and we can run filters, such as an event of interest, and those logs we can send to any SIEM tool or as an analytic. Additionally, there are clear and well-documented implementation instructions on their website to follow if needed."

"We have scaled from a single machine installation (a VM with a Graylog + ES + MongoDB) to (2 Graylog + 2 ES + 3 MongoDB). This was done smoothly with a minimal impact on logging."

"Graylog is valuable because it bridges technical knowledge to non-technical teams, presenting complex backend processes in a simple timeline."

"Message forwarding through the in-built module."

"The product is scalable. The solution is stable."

More Graylog pros

Cons

"Incorporating a straightforward method or a plug-and-play solution for integrating these databases with our systems, facilitating smooth data transfer, and enabling the creation of dashboards for monitoring and analysis would be beneficial."

"What would make Amazon CloudWatch better is if it includes more on-site checks, particularly status checks on the CPU, network input/output, etc. It would also be helpful if there's built-in swap space, disk, and memory monitoring in Amazon CloudWatch because, at the moment, my team has to configure it manually through a shell script."

"There is room for improvement in the pricing, because they have a premium version, but it's not really a premium version. It's just an enhanced monitoring version, and it can be a bit expensive depending on your usage."

"Amazon CloudWatch's pricing needs improvement."

"This product lacks some features: real-time data stream monitoring, application performance monitoring, mobile app monitoring, and live dashboards. Its workflows also need improvement."

"Amazon CloudWatch charges extra for custom metrics, which is a significant disadvantage."

"I would like to monitor inbound and outbound transfer. I would also like to control the traffic for load balancing."

"The integration with third-party tools must be made easier."

More Amazon CloudWatch cons

"I would like to see some kind of visualization included in Graylog."

"We ran into problems with Elasticsearch throwing a circuit-breaking exception due to field data size being too large. It turned out that the heap size directly impacted this size in a high-throughput environment, causing unexplained instability in Graylog. We were able to troubleshoot on the Elasticsearch size, but we should have been able to reference some minimum requirements for Graylog to know that our settings weren't sufficient."

"Since container orchestration systems are popular and Graylog fits the niche well, perhaps they could officially support running in docker containers on Kubernetes as a StatefulSet as a use case. That way, the declarative nature of Kubernetes config files would document their best case deployment scenario-"

"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."

"The area in Graylog that needs to be improved or enhanced would be the integrations."

"Its scalability gets complicated when we have to update or edit multiple nodes."

"I would like to see a date and time in the Graylog Grok patterns so that I can save time when searching for a log. I like how the streams and the search query work, but adding a date and time will allow me to pull out a log in a milli-second."

"I hope to see improvements in Graylog for more interactivity, user-friendliness, and creating alerts. The initial setup is complex."

More Graylog cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"It’s an open-source solution."

"It is a free-of-charge service."

"The pricing can be considered reasonable, especially when already operating on a cloud platform."

"We have monthly licensing costs. The licenses are probably in the vicinity of about $300 - $350/month."

"I consider it as a medium-priced solution."

"The price of Amazon CloudWatch is reasonable for detailed basic monitoring."

"The pricing is average."

More Amazon CloudWatch pricing and cost advice

"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."

"You get a lot out-of-the-box with the non-enterprise version, so give it a try first."

"I use the free version of Graylog."

"It's open source and free. They have a paid version, but we never looked into that because we never needed the features of the paid version."

"We're using the Community edition."

"There is an open source version and an enterprise version. I wouldn't recommend the enterprise version, but as an open source solution, it is solid and works really well."

"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog."

"Having paid official support is wise for projects."

More Graylog pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Log Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Educational Organization

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon CloudWatch?

The monitoring features are valuable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon CloudWatch?

Amazon CloudWatch charges more for custom metrics as well as for changes in the timeline, which I see as a disadvantage given the price.

What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?

Amazon CloudWatch charges extra for custom metrics, which is a significant disadvantage. Another aspect that needs improvement is the look and feel of custom dashboards, which currently do not matc...

What do you like most about Graylog?

The product is scalable. The solution is stable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?

I am not familiar with the pricing details of Graylog, as I was not responsible for that aspect. It was determined that we didn't need an enterprise plan, which is more suited for clients with less...

What needs improvement with Graylog?

An improvement I would suggest is in Graylog's user interface, such as allowing for font size adjustments. A potential enhancement could be the integration with Ollama to run large language models ...

Grafana Loki vs Amazon CloudWatch

Comparisons

Compared 23% of the time

Amazon OpenSearch Service vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 17% of the time

Zabbix vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 12% of the time

Dynatrace vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 7% of the time

Prometheus Group vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 2% of the time

More Amazon CloudWatch Competitors

Grafana Loki vs Graylog

Compared 39% of the time

Wazuh vs Graylog

Compared 24% of the time

syslog-ng vs Graylog

Compared 11% of the time

Security Onion vs Graylog

Compared 5% of the time

Seq vs Graylog

Compared 3% of the time

More Graylog Competitors

Product Reports

Download Amazon CloudWatch product report

Amazon CloudWatch

April 2025

Download Graylog product report

May 2025

Also Known As

No data available

Graylog2

Overview

Amazon CloudWatch is used for monitoring, tracking logs, and organizing metrics across AWS services. It detects anomalies, sets dynamic alarms, and automates actions to optimize cloud utilization, troubleshoot, and ensure service availability.

Organizations leverage Amazon CloudWatch for collecting and analyzing logs, triggering alerts, and profiling application performance. It's also employed for monitoring bandwidth, virtual machines, Lambda functions, and Kubernetes clusters. Valuable features include seamless integration with AWS, real-time data and alerts, detailed metrics, and a user-friendly interface. It provides robust monitoring capabilities for infrastructure and application performance, log aggregation, and analytics. Users appreciate its scalability, ease of setup, and affordability. Additional key aspects are the ability to create alarms, dashboards, and automated responses, along with detailed insights into system and application health. Room for improvement includes dashboards and UI enhancements for better visualization and customizability, log streaming speed, advanced machine learning and reporting capabilities, pricing, and integration with non-AWS services and databases. Users also seek more real-time monitoring and comprehensive application performance features, and simpler alerts and configuration processes.

What are the most important features?

Seamless integration with AWS: Ensures smooth operation with AWS services.
Real-time data and alerts: Provides immediate insights and notifications.
Detailed metrics: Offers in-depth data on infrastructure and application performance.
Scalability: Supports growing needs with ease.
Ease of setup: Quick and straightforward installation.
Affordability: Cost-effective monitoring solution.
Alarms and dashboards: Customizable alerts and visual insights.
Automated responses: Facilitates automatic actions based on set criteria.
System and application health insights: Delivers comprehensive health reports.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Optimized cloud utilization: Ensures efficient use of resources.
Improved troubleshooting: Identifies and resolves issues quickly.
Enhanced service availability: Keeps services running smoothly.
Effective log analysis: Provides valuable insights from collected logs.
Performance profiling: Assesses and optimizes application performance.
Scalable monitoring: Adapts to growing business needs.

Amazon CloudWatch is implemented across a range of industries, including technology, finance, healthcare, and retail. Technology firms use it to monitor application performance and traffic, while financial organizations leverage it for ensuring compliance and system reliability. Healthcare entities rely on it for maintaining service availability and monitoring data flow, and retail companies utilize it for tracking customer interactions and optimizing server usage.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Graylog is purpose-built to deliver the best log collection, storage, enrichment, and analysis. Graylog is:

Considerably faster analysis speeds.
More robust and easier-to-use analysis platform.
Simpler administration and infrastructure management.
Lower cost than alternatives.
Full-scale customer service.
No expensive training or tool experts required.

Sample Customers

AirAsia, Airbnb, Aircel, APUS, Avazu, Casa & Video, Futbol Club Barcelona (FCBarcelona), National Taiwan University, redBus

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur