AWS X-Ray Reviews

Name: AWS X-Ray
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 3.9 (7 reviews)

3.9 out of 5

7 reviews
100% willing to recommend

What is AWS X-Ray?

AWS X-Ray is a powerful debugging and performance analysis tool offered by Amazon Web Services. It allows developers to trace requests made to their applications and identify bottlenecks and issues.

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AWS X-Ray is the #17 ranked solution in APM tools. PeerSpot users give AWS X-Ray an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 7 most recent AWS X-Ray reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.7. (Among the highest in the category). AWS X-Ray is most commonly compared to Dynatrace: AWS X-Ray vs Dynatrace. AWS X-Ray is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 68% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 21% of all views.

Helped 824,067 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Parth Solanki

Founder & CEO at Quicklead.io

If we get any error, we can go to X-Ray and get all the requests for a certain error in one place. It makes it easy to find the issue in your own product. You can look at logs and error logs and find loopholes. You can do direct queries to get specific requests over the course of a day. It's very good at error reporting and quite fast. You also get a lot of information, including IP addresses, user locations, et cetera.

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Jiri Sostok

CEO at noriba

Interpreting data is an important aspect to consider when discussing improvement, along with identification. It involves not only generating data and KPIs using a tool but also understanding and evaluating those KPIs from different perspectives. Based on this evaluation, solutions can be suggested to either improve or confirm that everything is working well. First, you have to detect and name the problems, and then the second step is finding ways to mitigate those issues. It is not about needing extra tools but more about the decision if we want to spend more manpower or not because currently, there wouldn't be any tools unless it's some kind of AI, automated solution.

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Muhmad Tabrez A Deewanji

Lead Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Both AWS X-Ray and Amazon CloudWatch have helped our organization, especially when we have applications where the use cases are failing. For example, we've dockerized our microservices into AWS CCS, and all of the logs are being watched through AWS CloudWatch, so whenever some use cases fail, our first point of contact would be AWS CloudWatch, and then we'll use AWS X-Ray for monitoring the logs. Based on the logs, we're alerted on which problems to look into through AWS X-Ray.

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AWS X-Ray mindshare

As of December 2024, the mindshare of AWS X-Ray in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category stands at 3.9%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability	Dec 22, 2024	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Dec 22, 2024	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs Datadog	Dec 22, 2024	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs Dynatrace	Dec 22, 2024	Download
Comparison	AWS X-Ray vs New Relic	Dec 22, 2024	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Dynatrace	4.4	12.4%	95%	344 interviews Add to research
Datadog	4.3	10.1%	96%	186 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

AWS X-Ray simplifies tracing problems, monitoring request timings, and error analysis. Its strong features include direct queries, compliance achievement, security maintenance, and performance optimization. Users benefit from debugging through logs, obtaining analysis for cases, and gaining insights into system usage. It offers a comprehensive dashboard displaying performance intervals and latencies. The integration process is smooth, and X-Ray is known for quick error reporting, providing valuable user information such as IP addresses and locations.

"The error analysis capabilities of X-Ray are really good."
"The most beneficial feature is that it shows a dashboard for performance intervals, which reveals latencies."
"AWS X-Ray is a strong solution and has a smooth integration process."

Room for Improvement

AWS X-Ray's user interface can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Configuration issues make it hard to direct interceptors for accurate endpoint tracing. Log filtering and predefined filters are lacking, affecting analytics power. The interface complicates setup, pushing users towards TerraForm and Terragrunt. Enhancements in SDKs, language support, anomaly detection, and tracing metrics are necessary. Cost is high, and improvements in sending traces to other providers and integrating external insights are needed.

"A significant downside is that it is very expensive."
"It should have X-Ray SDKs for different languages like Node.js, Python, or Java."
"They can improve how traces are sent to other providers."

ROI

AWS X-Ray has provided some users with significant returns on investment.

Pricing

AWS X-Ray pricing is usage-based, benefiting those who scale up, as costs improve with increased usage and a closer relationship with Amazon. Small businesses often utilize the free tier, but transitioning from medium to large enterprise elevates per-user costs, sometimes deemed expensive. Users rate affordability favorably but desire lower costs during adoption. Government entities have alternative pricing options. Overall, while beneficial, some find AWS X-Ray relatively expensive for larger organizations.

"The solution is a bit expensive."
"As you develop a relationship with Amazon, your pricing gets lower. You get credits for the amount of the system you use, and then if you're the government, you can get government pricing. For commercial users, there's a hump when you go from small to medium to big enterprise. Small businesses can live pretty easily off the free tier in a lot of cases, but when you go from a medium to a big enterprise, it becomes more expensive on a per-user basis. I'd like to see that curve going in a different way where pricing can be driven down while people are trying to adopt the technology."
"The pricing for AWS X-Ray is a six out of ten."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily use AWS X-Ray to trace microservices, monitor HTTP requests, and diagnose errors. It helps track application performance, analyze system behavior, and identify bottlenecks. Businesses employ AWS X-Ray for API logging, telemetry within applications, and understanding interconnections in microservice architecture. It aids in evaluating stability, performance, and response times. Users rely on AWS X-Ray to enhance monitoring, perform detailed traces, and improve application latency by identifying issues within components.

Service and Support

Many users of AWS X-Ray have not engaged with technical support, citing no need for assistance. Those who have interacted with support generally rate it positively. AWS support is described as reliable, with users satisfied from past experiences with different issues within AWS. Respondents express confidence in its effectiveness based on their experiences across AWS services, although specific insights into AWS X-Ray support effectiveness are limited due to a lack of direct engagement.

Deployment

AWS X-Ray's initial setup is generally straightforward and manageable with CloudFormation configuration, though complexity can arise. Deployment is quick, typically requiring minimal personnel. Users rate the difficulty around seven out of ten. While some find it easy, others encounter challenges like inserting code, configuring sampling rules, managing permissions, and integrating APIs. The process can vary from minutes to up to twenty days depending on the desired depth and configuration level.

Scalability

AWS X-Ray's scalability is highly effective. Users rate its scalability positively, describing the ability to scale with ease. Many companies successfully implement X-Ray across all applications, supporting a significant number of users. Even large user bases with millions are managed without difficulty. X-Ray incorporates additional features, offering expansive use cases. Technical teams are small, yet manage vast numbers efficiently, emphasizing the scalability strengths of X-Ray in diverse environments.

Stability

AWS X-Ray is considered stable. Users report no crashes, freezes, bugs, or glitches. It scores high in reliability, with ratings as strong as ten out of ten. A minor issue is linked to an offshore POP, not to AWS X-Ray itself. Users have not faced significant challenges indicating a dependable performance.

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

Download our AWS X-Ray Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Government

Insurance Company

University

Media Company

Educational Organization

Retailer

Real Estate/Law Firm

Healthcare Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Energy/Utilities Company

Non Profit

Transportation Company

Hospitality Company

Legal Firm

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Performing Arts

Marketing Services Firm

Logistics Company

Recruiting/Hr Firm

Consumer Goods Company

Compare AWS X-Ray with alternative products

Learn more about AWS X-Ray

With X-Ray, developers can visualize the entire request flow and pinpoint the exact location where errors occur. It provides detailed insights into the performance of individual components and helps optimize the overall application performance.

X-Ray integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, making it easy to trace requests across different services and identify dependencies. It also offers a comprehensive set of APIs and SDKs, enabling developers to instrument their applications and capture valuable data for analysis. With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, AWS X-Ray is a valuable tool for developers looking to improve the performance and reliability of their applications.