AWS CloudTrail Reviews

Name: AWS CloudTrail
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 4.4 (11 reviews)

4.4 out of 5

11 reviews
100% willing to recommend

What is AWS CloudTrail?

AWS CloudTrail is a service that enables governance, compliance, operational auditing, and risk auditing of your AWS account. With CloudTrail, you can log, continuously monitor, and retain account activity related to actions across your AWS infrastructure. CloudTrail provides event history of your AWS account activity, including actions taken through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDKs, command line tools, and other AWS services. This event history simplifies security analysis, resource change tracking, and troubleshooting. In addition, you can use CloudTrail to detect unusual activity in your AWS accounts. These capabilities help simplify operational analysis and troubleshooting.

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AWS CloudTrail is the #3 ranked solution in top User Activity Monitoring solutions. PeerSpot users give AWS CloudTrail an average rating of 8.8 out of 10. AWS CloudTrail is most commonly compared to CyberArk Privileged Access Manager: AWS CloudTrail vs CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.

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Featured AWS CloudTrail reviews

MuhammadMuhammad

Information Security Officer at Habib InsuranceSecurity Officer Habib Insurance

The setup experience was very bad. Initially, when we began migrating our teams and configuring systems like AWS CloudTrail, we encountered some complications. Understanding the administration and navigating access loops resulted in numerous emails. However, after three or four years of experience, we understand the platform. Five to seven people including support are required for deployment. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

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NabeelHassan

AWS Trainer at National Vocational and Technical Training Commission

More controls should be introduced in CloudTrail, especially to see the logs in CloudTrail itself without saving them in S3, as S3 starts to incur charges. Real-time log submission could be improved, as sometimes there is a lag of around two to three minutes, which should be under a minute.

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Priyam Vaidya

AWS Administrator at Vohra Wound Physicians

One of the most valuable features of AWS CloudTrail is its ability to track and monitor API calls detailedly. Whenever somebody logs in, I receive a notification via CloudWatch. It integrates easily with other AWS services, providing a comprehensive approach to monitoring and security. This straightforward solution by AWS greatly enhances our workflow.

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AWS CloudTrail mindshare

As of March 2025, the mindshare of AWS CloudTrail in the User Activity Monitoring category stands at 6.8%, down from 13.9% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

User Activity Monitoring

PeerAnalyst reports based on AWS CloudTrail reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	User Activity Monitoring	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS CloudTrail vs CyberArk Privileged Access Manager	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS CloudTrail vs Proofpoint Insider Threat Management	Mar 3, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager	4.3	20.2%	94%	210 interviews Add to research
Ekran System	4.0	20.5%	100%	1 interview Add to research

Valuable Features

AWS CloudTrail serves as a central logging platform for monitoring cloud events, offering detailed activity tracking and auditing for compliance. It provides valuable context for environmental changes, alerts on unauthorized access, and tracks API calls. Integration with AWS services like Lambda and CloudWatch enhances security and monitoring. Its use in Active Directory auditing and real-time notifications supports quick responses to policy changes and unauthorized actions, making it a crucial tool for maintaining IT environment integrity.

"One of the most valuable features of AWS CloudTrail is its ability to track and monitor API calls detailedly."
"The management events and CloudTrail Insights are valuable."
"From a scalability point of view, the tool has no issue, and it is completely fine."

Room for Improvement

Users suggest AWS CloudTrail could benefit from faster event capture timing and enhanced filtering capabilities. They seek greater integration with other services and more intuitive reporting features. Direct querying without using Athena is desired, and improved operation visibility is requested. Immediate integration with auto-remediation and reduced real-time log lag are also needed. Additionally, cost concerns arise, and some users wish for more controls to see logs without using S3.

"I have not experienced any challenges while using it."
"More controls should be introduced in CloudTrail, especially to see the logs in CloudTrail itself without saving them in S3, as S3 starts to incur charges."
"The product's initial setup phase is not pretty straightforward."

Pricing

AWS CloudTrail is generally cost-effective, with no charges for basic usage. Users find it affordable, with costs mainly arising from storage and log management in Amazon S3 or data events like AWS Lambda and Amazon S3 actions. Pricing varies based on the volume of logs and specific customizations. When integrating with services like CloudWatch, expenses may increase slightly, but the service's compatibility with other AWS tools maintains its appeal for enterprise users.

"AWS CloudTrail is free."
"AWS CloudTrail is a cheap solution."
"It is a very cheap service because management is a SaaS offering from AWS."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily use AWS CloudTrail to monitor cloud activities, ensure compliance, and enhance security within their AWS environment. It stores logs of user activities, helping track API calls, changes, and access levels. This tool aids in auditing, operational governance, risk auditing, and incident response by maintaining an event history, integrating with services like CloudWatch, Prometheus, and Grafana for visualization. It provides notifications for user activities, ensuring secure and compliant cloud operations.

Service and Support

AWS CloudTrail's customer service is responsive, often rated highly, especially with Enterprise Support. Users frequently engage with support initially, but as familiarity with CloudTrail grows, dependence decreases. Technical teams find involvement necessary based on specific technical factors, but not heavily reliant post-initial stages. Satisfaction with support is strong, yet opinions vary. Enterprise support enhances service quality significantly, raising satisfaction levels compared to standard support without additional costs.

Deployment

AWS CloudTrail's initial setup is often described as easy and straightforward due to its inclusion in AWS cloud services, requiring minimal configuration. Some encountered complexities during migration and setup, needing several team members and support. With proper knowledge, the process can be quick, taking around ten minutes. Availability of robust documentation and a supportive community aids in resolving potential issues, although some note the necessity for prior understanding of the platform's administration and access challenges.

Scalability

AWS CloudTrail demonstrates significant capacity for scaling with no reliability concerns. Ratings for scalability consistently trend high. Used extensively across organizations, CloudTrail seamlessly integrates within cloud environments, adapting based on log volumes. Running under a serverless management model, AWS CloudTrail is utilized by numerous users, reflected by high usability and operational efficiency. CloudTrail is employed by diverse teams such as DevOps, collecting logs and assisting in managing cloud infrastructure.

Stability

AWS CloudTrail is rated highly for its stability, typically scoring between seven and ten out of ten. Users have reported few performance issues, mostly related to downstream service disruptions. Instances like the Amazon S3 outage a few years ago affected performance. Consistent feedback highlights AWS CloudTrail's reliability, though integration with CloudWatch might exhibit event lags. In the past few years, AWS experienced downtimes twice, impacting availability temporarily.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

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