Amazon CloudWatch vs Microsoft Purview Audit comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Log Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #35 with an average rating of 8.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.9% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Microsoft’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon CloudWatch

Read 48 Amazon CloudWatch reviews

4,548 Views
2,683 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview Audit

Read 3 Microsoft Purview Audit reviews

1,184 Views
805 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon CloudWatch

Microsoft Purview Audit

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Amazon CloudWatch and Microsoft Purview Audit compete in cloud monitoring and auditing solutions. Microsoft Purview Audit appears to have an advantage with its robust features, while Amazon CloudWatch is appreciated for support and pricing.

Features: Amazon CloudWatch integrates seamlessly into AWS and provides real-time monitoring capabilities. It offers low-latency alarms and customizable dashboards for better visualization. Microsoft Purview Audit offers extensive auditing for compliance, incorporates automated discovery, and supports access policy management, which is highly regarded for regulatory processes.

Room for Improvement: Amazon CloudWatch users desire enhanced analytics, a more intuitive interface, and improved alerting mechanisms. They also suggest advanced reporting capabilities. Microsoft Purview Audit users look for better integration with third-party tools, improved user interface flexibility, and enhanced scalability options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon CloudWatch is noted for its straightforward deployment and dependable customer support, making it easy for users to start quickly. Microsoft Purview Audit requires more setup effort but provides comprehensive user guidance and responsive support that users find beneficial.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon CloudWatch is recognized for its competitive pricing, providing good ROI. It appeals to budget-conscious users with scalable options. Microsoft Purview Audit is viewed as more expensive but justifies the cost through advanced features, offering high value for those in need of a feature-rich application.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon CloudWatch vs. Microsoft Purview Audit Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Microsoft Purview Audit

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 Log Management

15th

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)

Microsoft Purview Audit

Ranking in Log Management

35th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (31st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Audit is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Amazon CloudWatch	1.9%
Microsoft Purview Audit	0.7%
Other	97.4%

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

Matthew Hoerig

President at Trustsec Inc.

Audit function refines log retrieval and drives application assessments with evolving features

From a service assessment and authorization process perspective, when conducting an assessment on an application or system, we use controls essentially equivalent to the NIST 800-53 framework. This includes examining audit logs, data quality, and various KPIs required for log configuration. It factors into our application assessments. When producing documentation packages for application or system authorization, audit logging and monitoring are crucial parts of the assessment process. The evidence we gather includes screenshots and outputs from these tools and capabilities. For Microsoft Purview Audit specifically, we provide examples of audit function configuration and log output details, which are incorporated into our evidence documents.

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

"Amazon CloudWatch offers cost-saving advantages by being an inbuilt solution that requires no separate setup or maintenance for monitoring tasks."

"The alarms are one thing I love about AWS CloudWatch. It has alerts that notify us when resource use is approaching the limit."

"It is very easy to use; as a monitoring tool, whenever your system experiences issues, it will notify you and is directly linked to your service."

"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 product can be integrated with AWS very easily."

"The tool enables live monitoring."

"The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is its ease of use and logs. You do not have to go to each separate system to see the logs, such as Syslog and they are located in one dashboard GUI."

"Amazon CloudWatch's best feature stems from its ability to monitor app performance."

More Amazon CloudWatch pros

"We're easily saving at least one hour per day using this solution."

"The overall user experience with Microsoft Purview Audit is of higher quality than when it was branded as Compliance Center, and Microsoft consistently updates and evolves functionalities and the overall experience."

"The platform has significantly enhanced our operational insight into the overall Microsoft 365 environment."

Cons

"We'd like the interface to be as easy as Datadog."

"The solution should provide human-readable metrics."

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

"When connecting to Google Cloud, there is no visibility or traceability from Google Cloud into CloudWatch."

"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."

"The product's configuration has some challenges. The solution needs to be more user-friendly."

"When customers want to see the CPU or memory utilization there is a cost. This should be free to see the utilization."

"The product should provide more features."

More Amazon CloudWatch cons

"We do have a Denial of Access happening."

"We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function."

"Areas for product improvement include enhancing customization options and integrating more comprehensive compliance features."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The tool is not expensive."

"The price is okay for me."

"The price of Amazon CloudWatch is reasonable. When the rate of data collection is done the price will increase. The price is less than other solutions."

"It’s an open-source solution."

"The product's cost is relatively inexpensive."

"The solution is expensive."

More Amazon CloudWatch pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Transportation Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Audit?

I'm not aware of the pricing of licensing terms.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Audit?

We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function. In a year's time, we will be able to provide more clarity and context ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Audit?

Microsoft Purview Audit functions as a compliance center. Whenever these systems generate logs, we use Microsoft Purview Audit to capture or retrieve those logs. While there are more tools availabl...

See all answers

Comparisons

Grafana Loki vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 16% of the time

Amazon OpenSearch Service vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 8% of the time

Zabbix vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 6% of the time

Dynatrace vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 5% of the time

Datadog vs Amazon CloudWatch

Compared 4% of the time

More Amazon CloudWatch Competitors

Sumo Logic Security vs Microsoft Purview Audit

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server vs Microsoft Purview Audit

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery vs Microsoft Purview Audit

Compared 8% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Microsoft Purview Audit

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Microsoft Purview Audit

Compared 7% of the time

More Microsoft Purview Audit Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch

January 2026

Download Amazon CloudWatch product report

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

January 2026

Download Microsoft Purview Audit 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)

The unified auditing functionality in Microsoft 365 provides organizations with visibility into many types of audited activities across many different services in Microsoft 365. Advanced Audit helps organizations to conduct forensic and compliance investigations by increasing audit log retention required to conduct an investigation, providing access to crucial events that help determine scope of compromise, and faster access to Office 365 Management Activity API.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Microsoft Purview Audit

December 2025

Free Report: Amazon CloudWatch vs. Microsoft Purview Audit

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