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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

AWS Systems Manager provides performance overviews with graph-based analyses of logs, helping to monitor resource usage and predict usability.
It offers a variety of automation options, including the use of the SSM agent for testing automation and monitoring cloud activity.
Change management is a valuable feature that tracks AWS account actions, serving as a centralized control tool, beneficial for Kubernetes and AWS ECS services.
AWS provides Auto Scaling groups that ensure scalability and high availability, organizing parameters hierarchically and handling increasing workloads efficiently.
AWS Systems Manager facilitates infrastructure management and automation, performing compliance checks and managing patches for EC2 instances.

CONS

Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, requiring improvements in this area.
There is a lack of sufficient integrations and dynamic configuration management that could be enhanced.
Broader OS coverage in patch management would be beneficial for Systems Manager.
Becoming agentless like Ansible would significantly improve Systems Manager.
The cost of using AWS services can be substantial if not controlled.
 

AWS Systems Manager Pros review quotes

SM
Senior Development Engineer at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
Sep 28, 2021
Systems Manager has a feature where it analyzes the logs and gives us a performance overview in the form of a graph. We know when it's taking up more resources and when there are spikes, so we can predict the usability.
Joyee Sen - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Service Delivery Manager at SoftwareONE
May 5, 2023
Has a variety of automation options.
reviewer2245020 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Technology at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Aug 22, 2023
The solution's ability to scale is good.
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Red Hat and others in Configuration Management. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Virimai Mare - PeerSpot reviewer
L3 Engineer at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited
Oct 2, 2023
When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud.
LK
Project Manager at Aquastride Technologies
Jan 3, 2024
The solution is user-friendly
Jatin Sehrawat - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Apr 9, 2024
With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems manually.
Sudheer Kumar Jammana - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Operations Manager at Bandhan AMC
May 13, 2024
AWS provides Auto Scaling groups.
Betika Brandon - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at Epsilon
May 21, 2024
The store organizes parameters hierarchically, making it easier to configure and control versions. It also ensures scalability and high availability, automatically scaling to handle increasing workloads and providing reliable access to configuration data across multiple AWS availability zones.
Ambe Frankline - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud/DevOps Engineer at Innovative Technology Systems
Jun 26, 2024
The solution's most valuable feature is the change management option. It tracks every action on my AWS accounts in a centralized way, acting like a control tool for me. This is especially useful when working with Kubernetes and AWS ECS services. Additionally, my colleagues and clients often use the application management tools for configuration, parameters, and installations.
GeraldMusaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. AWS Cloud DevSecOps Engineer at Manhattan Strategy Group
Jun 28, 2024
It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks.
 

AWS Systems Manager Cons review quotes

SM
Senior Development Engineer at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
Sep 28, 2021
We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves.
Joyee Sen - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Service Delivery Manager at SoftwareONE
May 5, 2023
Lacks sufficient integrations.
reviewer2245020 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Technology at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Aug 22, 2023
The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement.
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Red Hat and others in Configuration Management. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Virimai Mare - PeerSpot reviewer
L3 Engineer at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited
Oct 2, 2023
The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts.
LK
Project Manager at Aquastride Technologies
Jan 3, 2024
Additional features can be added as per customer requirements.
Jatin Sehrawat - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Apr 9, 2024
The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required.
Sudheer Kumar Jammana - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Operations Manager at Bandhan AMC
May 13, 2024
AWS does not have EKS cluster backup.
Betika Brandon - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at Epsilon
May 21, 2024
One area that could be enhanced is dynamic configuration management. Additionally, improving integration with other AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation would be beneficial.
Ambe Frankline - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud/DevOps Engineer at Innovative Technology Systems
Jun 26, 2024
I'd like to see more automation for monitoring and managing things like AWS CloudWatch and AWS Config. It would be a significant improvement if it could automatically handle these tasks and address issues as they arise.
GeraldMusaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. AWS Cloud DevSecOps Engineer at Manhattan Strategy Group
Jun 28, 2024
Ensuring broader OS coverage in patch management could be beneficial for the product.