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Amazon CloudWatch vs Nagios Log Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)
Nagios Log Server
Ranking in Log Management
34th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Amazon CloudWatch is 1.9%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nagios Log Server is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

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.
Syarul Idzuddin Adzmi - PeerSpot reviewer
A scalable and affordable tool for monitoring data centers
Five engineers are needed for the maintenance of the product. I would definitely recommend the solution to those planning to use it. To increase the rating for the product, Nagios should offer remote support and offer more customization in reporting while making it easy for the customers to use it. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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."
"We have found the pricing to be reasonable."
"It offers direct integrations with various storage providers, making it convenient to push logs from CloudWatch to these external platforms."
"Setting up this product was easy. I found data analytics as its most valuable feature."
"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 is a stable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is collecting the logs from Lambda."
"What I found most valuable in Amazon CloudWatch is that it gives you detailed information, which I found helpful because it can even provide you with data for the past one minute, which is quite granular. That was what helped me most in terms of finding the root causes. Task automation is another valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch."
"A great feature of the solution involves its internal portal."
"The product is scalable."
"One of the most valuable features is the dashboard because the UI was effective and easy to use. The alert systems are good as well. We had no failovers and had high availability. We can search the queries fast as well in Nagios Log Server."
"The initial setup of Nagios Log Server was easy and straightforward."
 

Cons

"The solution should provide human-readable metrics."
"It would be beneficial for CloudWatch to provide an API interface and some kind of custom configuration."
"Amazon CloudWatch needs improvement. The main thing is we have noticed missing logs."
"I would like to monitor inbound and outbound transfer. I would also like to control the traffic for load balancing."
"Right now, in relation to monitoring services, there are too many services and too many metrics per service."
"Amazon CloudWatch's pricing needs improvement."
"This product lacks some features: real-time data stream monitoring, application performance monitoring, mobile app monitoring, and live dashboards. Its workflows also need improvement."
"Some of our customers want to use Kubernetes to monitor their CICD flow but Amazon CloudWatch does not support it. We need to use another solution, such as Datadog or Dynatrace has the needed capability."
"The configurations during initial setup could be improved. If they could be agentless, as in the case of the Ansible product, it would be better. I would like to be able to analyze the network bandwidth."
"As we are talking about a product which is open to the public, the pricing makes it challenging for us to profit off of its marketing."
"The support could be better."
"The customization and dashboards have shortcomings and need to be improved to make the tool look more presentable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon CloudWatch is a cheap solution."
"Its pricing is reasonable. It is sometimes tricky, but it is reasonable as compared to others."
"The pricing can be considered reasonable, especially when already operating on a cloud platform."
"The price is okay for me."
"The pricing model is pay-as-you-go so you have to be mindful of usage to manage costs."
"The tool is not expensive."
"The price of Amazon CloudWatch is reasonable for detailed basic monitoring."
"We have monthly licensing costs. The licenses are probably in the vicinity of about $300 - $350/month."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap, I rate the pricing an eight or nine."
"For a single instance, the price is around $4,000."
"We found the pricing to be quite affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon CloudWatch?
Amazon CloudWatch charges more for custom metrics as well as for changes in the timeline, which I see as a disadvantage given the price.
What needs improvement with Amazon CloudWatch?
Amazon CloudWatch charges extra for custom metrics, which is a significant disadvantage. Another aspect that needs improvement is the look and feel of custom dashboards, which currently do not matc...
What do you like most about Nagios Log Server?
The initial setup of Nagios Log Server was easy and straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios Log Server?
My company pays around 500 to 1,000 USD per year toward the licensing cost of the solution. For support, we need to pay extra to Nagios. The solution's price is low. On a scale of one to ten, where...
What needs improvement with Nagios Log Server?
The customization and dashboards have shortcomings and need to be improved to make the tool look more presentable. The reporting side of the product should allow users to have more customized reports.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AirAsia, Airbnb, Aircel, APUS, Avazu, Casa & Video, Futbol Club Barcelona (FCBarcelona), National Taiwan University, redBus
IBM, impulse, wipro, comteco
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon CloudWatch vs. Nagios Log Server and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,989 professionals have used our research since 2012.