Amazon CloudWatch vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Instana are both solutions in the Cloud Monitoring Software category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.1, while Instana is ranked #22 with an average rating of 10.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.9% mindshare in CMS, compared to Instana’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Instana users who would recommend it.

Amazon CloudWatch

Read 48 Amazon CloudWatch reviews

4,846 Views
1,841 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Read 2 Instana Infrastructure Monitoring reviews

1,056 Views
781 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon CloudWatch

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Amazon CloudWatch and Instana Infrastructure Monitoring are competing products in the infrastructure monitoring domain. Instana seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and capacity for deep insights, making it attractive for complex environments despite its higher cost.

Features: CloudWatch offers basic monitoring capabilities, seamless integration with AWS services, and competitive pricing. Instana provides automated root cause analysis, broad observability, and application performance monitoring, offering deeper insights.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CloudWatch offers straightforward deployment within the AWS ecosystem, making it accessible for AWS users. Instana, though requiring more setup, offers detailed guidance and robust customer service, providing a personalized experience, especially for complex infrastructures.

Pricing and ROI: CloudWatch has a competitive pricing structure with pay-as-you-go options, appealing to cost-focused businesses. Instana's higher initial setup cost is justified by its comprehensive features, offering quicker realization of value in complex environments with deeper analysis and faster issue resolution leading to higher ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon CloudWatch vs. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

December 2025

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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 Cloud Monitoring Software

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (14th), Log Management (14th)

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

22nd

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (33rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 1.9%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Instana Infrastructure Monitoring is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Amazon CloudWatch	1.9%
Instana Infrastructure Monitoring	1.0%
Other	97.1%

Cloud Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Azam S M

Infrastructure Lead at Danat Fz LLC

Has provided reliable monitoring and alerting through extensive metric tracking and dashboard configuration

Amazon CloudWatch itself provides a lot of data. However, for visualization, we need to use third-party tools. We are in a process of integrating Grafana, Loki, and Prometheus to have better visualization on Amazon CloudWatch. We are also integrating Grafana with the application itself to get the application data and logs. Alternatively, there is AWS Kinesis and Glue where you can scrape the logs and have visualization, but a more easy option is Grafana. If you want to get a proper visual representation to see what is happening, then you need to integrate a third-party tool. Amazon CloudWatch has all the data, but to see what is happening, you need some third-party tool.

Read full review

Hakimuddin Ronaque

Assistant Manager at Lauren Information Technologies Pvt Ltd

Has the capability to automatically integrate with a large number of products

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. I have not worked much on other technologies, like SAP or VMware's virtualization part, on-prem infrastructure, or cloud infrastructure. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring is so fast and easy to adapt that it works fine. I have not explored other operating systems or infrastructure solutions because my company doesn't have that customer scale. Most of our customers are on-prem or on AWS or Azure, but Instana Infrastructure Monitoring adapts to their infrastructure very well. My company came to know how well Instana Infrastructure Monitoring adapts to our customers' infrastructures when we take care of the PoC phase. Around 12 to 15 people in my company use the product.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The monitoring features are valuable."

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

"It's useful to analyze past data and compare it with recent activities."

"We use Amazon CloudWatch for logging."

"The detection is the most valuable feature."

"Every time we get an alarm or have an incident, CloudWatch is always there. We use it not only for resources we've spun up in the cloud, but also for some of our on-premises resources."

"The tool enables live monitoring."

"Setting up this product was easy. I found data analytics as its most valuable feature."

More Amazon CloudWatch pros

"The product is easy to deploy."

"The product's initial setup is easy."

Cons

"The solution could benefit from a price decrease."

"There could be further enhancements through CloudWatch's partnerships."

"Amazon CloudWatch's pricing needs improvement."

"Amazon CloudWatch needs improvement. The main thing is we have noticed missing logs."

"The drill-down aspect on the dashboard of the solution needs improvement. We get a very good high-level overview, but when we drill down, it becomes a little less clear. We have given this feedback to AWS as well and hope they will improve this in the future."

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

"There's a learning curve with Amazon CloudWatch since we have to learn to write the queries to extract the keys and logs."

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

More Amazon CloudWatch cons

"Instana Infrastructure Monitoring needs to support monitoring of the .NET framework since it is one of the areas where the solution currently has shortcomings."

"The product’s scalability is an area with certain limitations, making it an area where improvements are required."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"What's were using is the free service of Amazon CloudWatch, so they're not charging us. As for hidden fees, we're not aware of them because we're using what our clients provided us."

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

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

"Its pricing is reasonable. It is sometimes tricky, but it is reasonable as compared to others."

"The solution is expensive."

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

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

More Amazon CloudWatch pricing and cost advice

"The cost of the tool is around 130 USD per month."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Transportation Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	24

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon CloudWatch?

The monitoring features are valuable.

See all answers

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

No specific setup costs were mentioned.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?

See all answers

What do you like most about Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

The product is easy to deploy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

The product’s scalability is an area with certain limitations, making it an area where improvements are required.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

I use the solution in my company, especially if an application is down and it is considered to be a P1 issue or a critical issue. The network team will blame the application team, while the applica...

See all answers

Comparisons

Grafana Loki vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 13% of the time

Amazon OpenSearch Service vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 7% of the time

Dynatrace vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 5% of the time

Zabbix vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 5% of the time

Datadog vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 4% of the time

More Amazon CloudWatch Competitors

NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 17% of the time

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 10% of the time

Elastic Observability vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 10% of the time

Infraon IMS vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 8% of the time

Splunk Observability Cloud vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 7% of the time

More Instana Infrastructure Monitoring Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch

February 2026

Download Amazon CloudWatch product report

Buyer's Guide

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

January 2026

Instana Infrastructure Monitoring report

Download Instana Infrastructure Monitoring product report

Overview

Amazon CloudWatch integrates seamlessly with AWS, providing real-time monitoring and alerting features. Its interface supports task automation, enhancing troubleshooting and analytics capabilities, while offering strong security and scalability at a cost-effective rate.

Amazon CloudWatch is an impactful platform for monitoring AWS resources and managing application performance. It simplifies infrastructure performance monitoring by providing comprehensive analytics capabilities, including application insights and event scheduling. Users appreciate CloudWatch for its detailed metrics, dashboards, and support in issuing alerts to detect anomalies. It efficiently tracks performance, optimizes resource utilization, and ensures service availability. CloudWatch is recognized for its robust alerting features and integration with other AWS services, further supporting its resource monitoring capabilities. However, there is room for improvement in dashboard customization, log streaming speed, and integration with non-AWS services. Enhancements in API integration, machine learning features, and support for third-party tools are also desired.

What features does Amazon CloudWatch offer?

Seamless Integration: Works effortlessly with AWS for cohesive service management.
Advanced Metrics: Provides detailed monitoring of CPU, memory, and more.
Real-time Monitoring: Offers up-to-the-minute alerts on infrastructure status.
Dashboards: User-friendly and informative for quick insights.
Automation: Supports task automation for efficient troubleshooting.

What benefits does Amazon CloudWatch provide?

Cost-effectiveness: Efficient resource monitoring without high costs.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing infrastructure needs.
Security: Strong protocols for safe monitoring activities.
Improved Performance: Enhances application insights and operational efficiency.
Operational Insights: Provides comprehensive logging and performance analysis.

Industries implementing Amazon CloudWatch often focus on optimizing IT infrastructure. Companies in sectors like finance and e-commerce rely on its monitoring and alerting capabilities to ensure service uptime and performance. The platform's automation and analytics features empower teams to proactively manage performance and detect potential issues promptly.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Instana ensures that your application delivery organization has the data, visibility and information they need to manage the performance of critical business applications across the DevOps lifecycle. Built to handle the dynamic nature of containerized, microservice architectures, Instana automates infrastructure and application monitoring helping you to ensure the performance and quality of custom applications and accelerate your CI/CD cycle.

Instana

Sample Customers

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

booxware, drivenow, scopevisio, enevo, TimoCom, mobitech

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

December 2025

Free Report: Amazon CloudWatch vs. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

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