Amazon CloudWatch vs Graylog Enterprise comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Graylog are both solutions in the Log Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.9, while Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.1% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Graylog’s 6.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Graylog users who would recommend it.

Amazon CloudWatch

Read 48 Amazon CloudWatch reviews

4,127 Views
2,435 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Graylog Enterprise

Read 21 Graylog Enterprise reviews

8,356 Views
8,356 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Amazon CloudWatch

Graylog Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 8, 2025

Amazon CloudWatch and Graylog Enterprise compete in the log management and monitoring category. Amazon CloudWatch seems to have the upper hand by seamlessly integrating into AWS environments and being cost-effective for AWS users.

Features: Amazon CloudWatch offers seamless integration within the Amazon ecosystem, real-time data monitoring, and easy setup for AWS environments. It provides detailed metrics, system-wide visibility, and stable performance. Graylog Enterprise provides robust log aggregation, real-time UDP/GELF logging, and full-text searching through Elasticsearch integration. It also offers powerful analytics due to its open-source nature.

Room for Improvement: Amazon CloudWatch could enhance its drill-down capabilities, real-time data visualization, and improve non-AWS infrastructure integration. Graylog Enterprise needs easier configuration, more intuitive UI options, and improved alerting flexibility. Users also desire better support for Kubernetes and index rotation management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon CloudWatch is praised for its straightforward public cloud deployment and robust AWS integration, with a tiered support system noted for variability in quality. Graylog Enterprise is mainly utilized in on-premises and hybrid setups, with varied technical support effective through strong community backing due to its open-source model.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon CloudWatch offers a pay-as-you-go model, providing cost efficiency for AWS users and significant ROI by reducing manual monitoring efforts. Graylog Enterprise, being open-source, offers functionalities without licensing costs. However, it may incur higher infrastructure costs with increased data volumes, less suitable for high-traffic scenarios.

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

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog Enterprise

September 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 Log Management

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)

Graylog Enterprise

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 October 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 2.1%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Graylog Enterprise is 6.0%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Graylog Enterprise	6.0%
Amazon CloudWatch	2.1%
Other	91.9%

Log Management

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

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

"The solution offers very detailed metrics for their services."

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

"What my company likes best about Amazon CloudWatch is that it's on AWS. My team also likes it for its log feature. As the solution is on AWS, it also has good pricing and resource availability, plus it's what clients choose. My company also chose AWS for Forge ECS, and at the time, there was a need for the log features provided by Amazon CloudWatch, so it's the solution my team went with."

"We can create events and alerts. We use the information to dive down into the infrastructure performance."

"We can set CPU thresholds using the solution."

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

"The solution is easy to use."

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

More Amazon CloudWatch pros

"Open source and user friendly."

"UDP is a fast and lightweight protocol, perfect for sending large volumes of logs with minimal overhead."

"Message forwarding through the in-built module."

"This had increased productivity for the dev and support teams, because we are directly notifying them."

"The build is stable and requires little maintenance, even compared to some extremely expensive products."

"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."

"What I like about Graylog is that it's real-time and you have access to the raw data. So, you ingest it, and you have access to every message and every data item you ingest. You can then build analytics on top of that. You can look at the raw data, and you can do some volumetric estimations, such as how big traffic you have, how many messages of data of a type you have, etc."

"It has data adapters and lookup tables that utilize HTTP calls to APIs."

More Graylog Enterprise pros

Cons

"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."

"It's not an advanced way of monitoring."

"Amazon CloudWatch has all the data, but to see what is happening, you need some third-party tool."

"It would be beneficial for CloudWatch to provide an API interface and some kind of custom configuration."

"Some of our customers want to use Kubernetes to monitor their CICD flow but Amazon CloudWatch does not support it. We need to use another solution, such as Datadog or Dynatrace has the needed capability."

"The graphical interface has room for improvement. CloudWatch only gives you a breakdown of what's wrong. However, it would be nice if it could automatically remedy the problems it identifies. You should be able to configure it so that when a specific condition arises, it will take a predefined action."

"Better reporting is always something needed. That could be an answer to just about anything. But you always want better reporting, better dashboards, things that are just more dynamic and more accessible."

"The dashboard and the UI could improve in Amazon CloudWatch. Additionally, they should focus on visibility inside the servers with AI and machine learning integrations. This would allow users who are using the solution to see what is happening within the system better."

More Amazon CloudWatch cons

"Over six months, I had two similar issues where searches were performed on field "messages". It exhausted all the memory of the ES node causing an ES crash and a Graylog halt."

"More customization is always useful."

"Graylog could improve the process of creating rules. We have to create them manually by doing parses and applying them. Other SIEM solutions have basic rules and you can create and get more events of interest."

"More complex visualizations and the ability to execute custom Elasticsearch queries would be great."

"There should be some user groups and an auto sign-in feature."

"With technical support, you are on your own without an enterprise license."

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

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

More Graylog Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Amazon CloudWatch is a cheap solution."

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

"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."

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

"The pricing is average."

"The pricing model is pay-as-you-go so you have to be mindful of usage to manage costs."

"The solution is expensive."

More Amazon CloudWatch pricing and cost advice

"Graylog is a free open-source solution. The free version has a capacity limitation of 2 GB daily, if you want to go above this you have to purchase a license."

"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."

"I use the free version of Graylog."

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

"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."

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

"Consider Enterprise support if you have atypical needs or setup requirements."

"We're using the Community edition."

More Graylog Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

University

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

University

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

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?

Overall, the pricing of Amazon CloudWatch is very expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?

Apart from traceability of network resources, Amazon CloudWatch needs to be more interoperable with other tools because many companies are starting to use AI-based dashboards. When using third-part...

See all answers

What do you like most about Graylog?

The product is scalable. The solution is stable.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Grafana Loki vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 22% of the time

Amazon OpenSearch Service vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 12% of the time

Zabbix vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 9% of the time

Dynatrace vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 6% of the time

Datadog vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 5% of the time

More Amazon CloudWatch Competitors

Grafana Loki vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 31% of the time

Wazuh vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 25% of the time

syslog-ng vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Security Onion vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

More Graylog Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch

October 2025

Download Amazon CloudWatch product report

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise

October 2025

Download Graylog Enterprise product report

Also Known As

No data available

Graylog2

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)

Graylog Enterprise, recognized for log collection, real-time search, and enriched data handling, offers an open-source framework that integrates seamlessly with Elasticsearch. Its user-centric interface streamlines data correlation and log aggregation, supporting both backend services and comprehensive monitoring needs.

Graylog Enterprise stands out for its stability and powerful log management capabilities, facilitating efficient log aggregation, real-time updates, and data analytics. Users benefit from its plugin-based alerting, user-friendly interface, and support for microservices, including Docker integration. The ability to search in detail, flexible API integration, and data enrichment features are highly valued. Challenges include collector application issues, desired visualization enhancements, and authentication integration improvements. Users seek advancements in UI customization, backup functions, and easier rule creation.

What are Graylog Enterprise's most important features?

Log Collection: Efficiently aggregates and handles diverse logs.
Real-Time Search: Provides immediate log data access.
Custom Alerts: Plugin-based alerting for tailored notifications.
Dashboard Enhancements: Improved visualization for data insights.
Data Enrichment: Adds value through detailed log analysis.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Audit Trail Support: Essential for compliance in financial sectors.
Security Event Correlation: Enables incident analysis and response.
Faster Issue Identification: Speeds up troubleshooting with detailed visualization.
API Flexibility: Seamless integration across systems and environments.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Centralized log management enhances oversight.

In industrial use, Graylog Enterprise is crucial for audit trailing in financial sectors, facilitating security event identification and error monitoring. Backend teams leverage real-time analytics for swift issue resolution, while developers appreciate the comprehensive log visualization enabled by Docker integration for microservice management.

Graylog

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

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog Enterprise

September 2025

Free Report: Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog Enterprise

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