Amazon CloudWatch vs Zabbix comparison

Read 101 Zabbix reviews

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Amazon CloudWatch

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 9, 2023

We compared Zabbix and Amazon CloudWatch across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

Ease of Deployment: Zabbix's setup can vary in terms of ease and complexity, with some users finding it straightforward while others find it more challenging. It may require technical expertise and knowledge of Linux and programming. Amazon CloudWatch's setup is described as easy, straightforward, and not overly difficult. It can be completed within minutes or a couple of days, depending on the specific requirements and complexity of the stack.

Features: Zabbix is highly regarded for its user-friendly interface, scalability, and wide range of features, such as customizable dashboards and trigger dependencies. In contrast, Amazon CloudWatch is appreciated for its simplicity in configuration, integration with other AWS services, and user-friendly interface.

Room for Improvement: Zabbix can enhance its effectiveness by addressing false positives, optimizing performance, improving the user interface, and automating network mapping. Meanwhile, Amazon CloudWatch could benefit from enhancements in monitoring application performance, generating reports, real-time monitoring, and visualizing data via dashboards.

Pricing: Zabbix's setup cost is uncertain, potentially involving additional purchases for features or support services. Amazon CloudWatch offers a fair pricing structure based on usage and processing, without any separate licensing fees. However, users must pay for extra storage space, and the pricing may fluctuate as the project expands.

ROI: Zabbix provides cost savings by eliminating expensive fees, while Amazon CloudWatch helps companies save on manual monitoring expenses and has proven to be a beneficial investment.

Service and Support: Users have mixed opinions about the customer service and support provided by Zabbix, while the customer service and support of Amazon CloudWatch are highly praised and appreciated, with solution architects being readily available.

Comparison Results: Zabbix's setup can vary in ease and complexity, requiring technical expertise and knowledge of Linux and programming. However, it offers extensive features, customization options, and a free open-source version. On the other hand, Amazon CloudWatch has an easy and straightforward setup process, user-friendly interface, and good technical support. It is highly valued for its simplicity, stability, scalability, and integration with other AWS services. However, it has limitations in monitoring application performance and generating reports. Pricing-wise, Zabbix is free and open-source, while CloudWatch's pricing is considered reasonable.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix Report (Updated: July 2024).

Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix

July 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Amazon CloudWatch

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (13th)

Zabbix

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (10th), Network Monitoring Software (1st), Server Monitoring (1st), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 6.8%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zabbix is 25.1%, up from 22.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Monitoring Software

Unique Categories:

Log Management

1.6%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

2.5%

Network Monitoring Software

14.7%

Featured Reviews

AtemnkengNkeze

AWS Cloud Engineer/Cloud Architect at Landmark Technologies

Sep 15, 2023

A monitoring tool that collects metrics well and easily integrates with other solutions

CloudWatch is important because we use it to remediate automation. For example, I had to integrate GuardDuty with CloudWatch. If anything went wrong in the environment when GuardDuty had captured all the APIs, and if someone got an alarm on the server, it was basically because of CloudWatch…

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Tom Karches

Systems Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

Apr 19, 2024

We know right away when there are problems, offers built-in statistics and allows you to pull up graphs and basically take the parameters you want to check-in

Scalability is good. Zabbix uses proxies to manage incoming data from hosts. Since the system is receiving a lot of data, that could potentially put a real load on the server. The proxies handle some of the load from their respective clients and then feed that to the main server. For checks, Zabbix prefers that you use checks based on the data that's automatically flowing from each host rather than doing explicit checks or things like... don't go on this server and run a command except for a check. Just use the built-in checks, and we mostly do that. Some people when they switch over to Zabbix, they're not used to that. They're used to always adding regular checks, but sometimes it won't work. So, you can change it to be more on the passive check side, where the hosts don't have to do anything, and it's actually displayed on the server.

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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

"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 most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is collecting the logs from Lambda."

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

"We can set CPU thresholds using the solution."

"I have found the memory metrics and the CPU metrics valuable."

"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."

"It offers direct integrations with various storage providers, making it convenient to push logs from CloudWatch to these external platforms."

"Most of it's around optimizing utilization, their cloud utilization. They're making sure that they're getting the most out of their in-cloud environments and their instances. Making sure that there's no strange behavior in the environment."

More Amazon CloudWatch pros

"The most valuable features are the monitoring and the ease with which we can set it up at customer sites with our custom Zabbix proxy and tools."

"There is a problems page that shows us every warning or problem that occurs on our VMs globally. The map screen is also really useful because this is something that was missing. I don't know every other tool in the market. So, I don't know if this is a good point of only Zabbix, or other tools are also doing it, but from my point of view, this is the most useful page that I use, along with the problems page that efficiently lists the problem, recovery time, ending hours, starting hours, and so on."

"It's a flexible solution."

"It has an intuitive UI with beautiful graphs and customizable maps."

"Zabbix can use old data to current data to set the threshold. We can use previous data to set the threshold."

"The level of discovery-based configuration that lets us auto-configure the monitoring for various systems is a valuable feature."

"Zabbix has a roadmap and they are continuously and frequently adding new features."

"The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration."

More Zabbix pros

Cons

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

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

"It is hard to configure; it is not a straightforward tool."

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

"Right now, in relation to monitoring services, there are too many services and too many metrics per service."

"For monitoring applications or for APM, CloudWatch has some limitations. You cannot monitor application performance from CloudWatch, and you have to go for a third-party tool."

"CloudWatch's scalability could be improved."

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

More Amazon CloudWatch cons

"In an upcoming release, there should be automated reports which we are currently doing manually. For example, if we collect a report file every day and want to send it to a moderator for review. We are expecting this feature to come out soon but it would be valuable to have now."

"The GUI could be more intuitive. Also, we'd like streaming telemetry. Zabbix might have this feature, but I haven't seen it yet. It took us a long time to get started because the documentation isn't very descriptive. We had to go through various sources like YouTube and forums to get this solution working."

"I want Zabbix to improve the UX/UI. Zabbix doesn't use a JavaScript chart for images, and I want them to improve this."

"The dashboard and the graph section could be a little bit more professional."

"It could be more stable."

"In the next release, I'm hoping for features targeted towards larger users with more customizable options. Despite this, I think pre-canned reports that can be used straight out of the box would be beneficial rather than having to configure each report individually. Additionally, a deeper dive into software configurations on the machines would be useful, although I understand there may be challenges in implementing this due to scripting requirements. More documentation would also be appreciated."

"We had some scalability issues with a large number of nodes."

"There are not too much documentation or manuals. We found the tutorials very easy to understand but do not go deep enough in the use of Zabbix. We need more manuals, proper use, documentation, etc."

More Zabbix cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It’s an open-source solution."

"Amazon CloudWatch has very cheap pricing, and it hardly costs my company $25-$30 a month for fifty systems, so it's pretty affordable."

"The price is okay for me."

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

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

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

"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."

More Amazon CloudWatch pricing and cost advice

"This solution is completely open-source, so it is quite affordable."

"I was using the free, Community Edition."

"Zabbix is open-source so if one wishes to implement it in-house, they must have qualified professionals to set up and optimize databases, Linux/Unix OS, PHP, Apache, and depending on what is monitored, a full-stack network and systems administrator may be needed."

"There is a license required for this solution and we pay annually for our license."

"This is an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."

"The solution is free. However, many open-sourced tools start out free but eventually start charging."

"My manager is very happy because it doesn't cost anything."

"It is free, which allows us to reduce costs."

More Zabbix pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.

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793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

37%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

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 is a native service of AWS, and the bill is included with the other services in AWS. We receive a collective bill. The tool is not expensive. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten.

What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?

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

What do you like most about Zabbix?

The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zabbix?

Zabbix's licensing and pricing are good for our needs.

What needs improvement with Zabbix?

To improve Zabbix, adding more features to support the monitoring of modern workloads like containers would be beneficial. Many environments are shifting away from traditional setups to remote and ...

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Product Reports

Download Amazon CloudWatch product report

Amazon CloudWatch

July 2024

Download Zabbix product report

June 2024

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Overview

Amazon CloudWatch is a monitoring and observability service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It allows users to collect and track metrics, collect and monitor log files, and set alarms. With CloudWatch, users can gain insights into their applications, infrastructure, and services, enabling them to make informed decisions and take necessary actions.

It provides a unified view of AWS resources and applications, making it easier to troubleshoot issues and optimize performance. CloudWatch offers a range of features including customizable dashboards, automated actions, and integration with other AWS services.

The product is a scalable and reliable solution that helps businesses ensure the availability and performance of their applications and infrastructure.

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software that provides real-time monitoring and alerting for servers, networks, applications, and services.

It offers a wide range of features including data collection, visualization, and reporting.

With its user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards, Zabbix helps organizations ensure the availability and performance of their IT infrastructure.

Sample Customers

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

1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba