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Amazon CloudWatch vs Graylog comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon CloudWatch
Ranking in Log Management
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (12th), Cloud Monitoring Software (9th)
Graylog
Ranking in Log Management
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Rasanpreet Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable AWS monitoring and logging
The choice of logging solution should always be determined by the specific business requirements. It is crucial to align the logging strategy with what type of logs are needed and how they should be used. There are instances where we require custom solutions to retrieve logs, especially application logs that may not be easily accessible through CloudWatch or similar services. When we heavily rely on AWS native services, CloudWatch is indeed a robust choice. However, in certain scenarios, we might need integration capabilities with other tools, and if they can incorporate such features, it would enhance overall logging capabilities. I would rate it eight out of ten.
Nicolae CIornii - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable solution with room for improvement in interactivity and user-friendliness
We have tested IBM QRadar and now use it. First of all, the key factor is the pricing. I saw that IBM QRadar has an interactive dashboard, providing valuable insights to people. Additionally, I've seen that IBM QRadar has an agent that simplifies installations across various platforms without requiring intricate configurations. Also, IBM QRadar has automatic reporting.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's a very simple logging system."
"The monitoring features are valuable."
"It is a stable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"We use Amazon CloudWatch for logging."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is reliability."
"You can enable alarms and metrics, and it has robust integration with AWS services. You can also trigger events. For example, if the CPU utilization is above 80%, it can launch a new instance for you."
"The solution gives us very good real-time data."
"The detection is the most valuable feature."
"The best feature of Graylog is the Elasticsearch integration. We can integrate and we can run filters, such as an event of interest, and those logs we can send to any SIEM tool or as an analytic. Additionally, there are clear and well-documented implementation instructions on their website to follow if needed."
"Storing logs in Elasticsearch means log retrieval is extremely fast, and full text search is available by default."
"The ability to write custom alerts is key to information security and compliance."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its new interface."
"It is used as a log manager/SIEM. It provides visibility into the infrastructure and security related events."
"Graylog's search functionality, alerting functionality, user management, and dashboards are useful."
"The build is stable and requires little maintenance, even compared to some extremely expensive products."
"One of the most valuable features is that you are able to do a very detailed search through the log messages in the overview."
 

Cons

"The solution's integration could be easier for laypersons."
"I do not know whether or not CloudWatch can be integrated with on-prem services."
"Right now, in relation to monitoring services, there are too many services and too many metrics per service."
"It is hard to configure; it is not a straightforward tool."
"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."
"There's a learning curve with Amazon CloudWatch since we have to learn to write the queries to extract the keys and logs."
"There is room for improvement in terms of stability."
"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."
"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."
"Since container orchestration systems are popular and Graylog fits the niche well, perhaps they could officially support running in docker containers on Kubernetes as a StatefulSet as a use case. That way, the declarative nature of Kubernetes config files would document their best case deployment scenario-"
"I would like to see some kind of visualization included in Graylog."
"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."
"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."
"The biggest problem is the collector application, as we wanted to avoid using Graylog Collector Sidecar due to its architecture."
"I would like to see a default dashboard widget that shows the topology of the clusters defined for the graylog install."
"Graylog can improve the index rotation as it's quite a complex solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It’s an open-source solution."
"We have monthly licensing costs. The licenses are probably in the vicinity of about $300 - $350/month."
"The tool is not expensive."
"The pricing is average."
"Its pricing is reasonable. It is sometimes tricky, but it is reasonable as compared to others."
"The product's cost is relatively inexpensive."
"It is a free-of-charge service."
"Amazon CloudWatch is a cheap solution."
"​You get a lot out-of-the-box with the non-enterprise version, so give it a try first."
"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."
"We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive."
"There is an open source version and an enterprise version. I wouldn't recommend the enterprise version, but as an open source solution, it is solid and works really well."
"Having paid official support is wise for projects."
"I use the free version of Graylog."
"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog.​​"
"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
5%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon CloudWatch?
In general, Amazon CloudWatch is cheaper compared to Dynatrace. However, there are potential costs to be mindful of, like running a log query that returns trillions of bytes of data.
What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?
CloudWatch itself is fine. That said, maybe Amazon Web Services can improve by providing a library for CloudWatch with some useful features.
What do you like most about Graylog?
The product is scalable. The solution is stable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?
We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive.
What needs improvement with Graylog?
Since it's a free tool, I don't have much to say. Troubleshooting is important to me. The initial setup is complex. I hope to see improvements in Graylog for more interactivity, user-friendliness, ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Graylog2
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon CloudWatch vs. Graylog and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.