CloudWatch Alternatives: Six Options for Teams Outgrowing AWS-Native Logs
Prices and facts checked on vendor pages on Nov 8, 2026.
CloudWatch is the default for AWS workloads: services send metrics to it automatically, and most teams already have log groups. People look for alternatives when the log bill grows, when searching across accounts gets awkward, or when they run workloads outside AWS too. This page compares six options on log pricing and how each connects to AWS. Sazabi wrote it and is one of the six.
What CloudWatch Charges For Logs, For Reference
CloudWatch has no minimum fee, and you pay at the end of the month for what you use. Prices vary by Region. The examples on the AWS pricing page use US East (N. Virginia) rates: $0.50 per GB ingested, and $0.03 per GB per month for archived log data. The Infrequent Access log class is $0.25 per GB ingested. Logs Insights queries are billed per GB of data scanned, and Live Tail is $0.01 per minute after 1,800 free minutes each month. CloudWatch Data Protection, which scans for sensitive data, is $0.12 per GB scanned in the pricing example.
The free tier covers 5 GB of data per month across ingestion, archive storage, and Logs Insights scans. See CloudWatch Pricing Explained for a worked bill, and Sazabi vs CloudWatch for a direct comparison.
Six CloudWatch Alternatives At A Glance
How To Choose
- Where do your logs start? If services write to CloudWatch Logs, you can forward from there or point the application at a new destination. Only the second removes CloudWatch ingestion charges for that data.
- Is AWS your only platform? CloudWatch is strongest inside AWS. If you also run Vercel, Kubernetes elsewhere, or SaaS tools, one place for all logs matters more.
- How much do you search? CloudWatch charges Logs Insights by data scanned. Axiom bills query compute, and Sazabi meters logs scanned.
- Do you need AWS-native alarms and metrics? Many teams keep CloudWatch for service metrics and alarms, and move only logs.
Datadog
Datadog's AWS integration collects logs, events, and most metrics from CloudWatch for over 90 AWS services. Setup methods include CloudFormation and Terraform. You can also install the Datadog Agent on EC2 hosts for host-level visibility that agentless CloudWatch collection does not provide. On the list-price page, log ingestion is $0.10 per GB. Indexing is a separate meter, from $1.27 per million events with 7-day retention on annual billing up to $2.50 for 30 days. Flex Logs storage is $0.05 per million events stored per month, and forwarding logs to a custom destination is $0.25 per GB outbound.
Pick it when you want logs, APM, and security tools from one vendor on top of CloudWatch data. Skip it when you want a single log meter, as ingestion and indexing bill separately. See Sazabi vs Datadog and Datadog Alternatives.
Grafana Cloud
Grafana includes native support for the Amazon CloudWatch data source, so no plugin install is needed. It supports metrics, logs, alerting, and annotations; traces come from a separate AWS Application Signals data source. Bundled dashboards cover EC2, EBS, Lambda, CloudWatch Logs, and RDS. On Grafana Cloud, the Free plan includes 50 GB of logs and 14-day retention. Pro adds a $19 monthly platform fee, 30-day log retention, and bills from $0.050 per GB processed, $0.400 per GB written, and $0.100 per GB retained.
Pick it when you want to keep CloudWatch as a source and build dashboards across several backends. Skip it when you expect Grafana alone to fix a CloudWatch cost problem, since querying CloudWatch data leaves it stored there. See Sazabi vs Grafana and Grafana Alternatives.
SigNoz
SigNoz offers a one-click integration or a manual OpenTelemetry setup for AWS. Its docs list EC2, ECS, EKS, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, ALB, ELB, VPC, API Gateway, MSK, SQS, SNS, and S3. Both SigNoz Cloud and self-hosted editions are covered. Cloud pricing is $0.30 per GB for logs and traces with 15-day retention, and the Teams plan lists US, EU, and India data centers. See Sazabi vs SigNoz.
Pick it when you already use OpenTelemetry on AWS and want one backend for all three signals. Skip it when you need long retention at the default plan.
Axiom
Axiom's pricing is built for volume. The first 1,000 GB ingested each month are free, and the $25 platform fee covers light use. Storage runs $0.03 per GB per month on compressed data for data up to 60 days old, falling to $0.0163 and then $0.00522 per GB as it ages, and you choose how long to retain it. Pre-purchased compute credits can be bought through AWS Marketplace. See Sazabi vs Axiom.
Pick it when you ship large volumes you want to keep for months. Skip it when you want AWS alarms and service dashboards built in.
Better Stack
Better Stack lists ingestion via AWS Direct Connect at $0.04 per GB, plus a $250 per month ($208 yearly) option to host log data in your own bucket. Base log ingestion is $0.10 per GB in Europe and $0.15 in the United States, with retention at $0.05 and $0.08 per GB per month. On-call scheduling is included for responders, who cost $34 monthly or $29 yearly. See Sazabi vs Better Stack.
Pick it when a small team wants logs, uptime, and on-call in one product. Skip it when you want more than 30 days of default log retention, since bundles include 30 days.
Sazabi
Sazabi is AI-native observability and security. CloudWatch stores and queries log groups, and its product page now lists anomaly detection and AI-powered investigations too. Sazabi's angle is different: it reads logs from AWS and from anywhere else you send them, opens an issue when something looks wrong, and puts the evidence in Slack or Teams. It does not need alarms or metric filters you wrote by hand. When a fix is needed, it passes the investigation to your coding agent through MCP, CLI, or API.
Plans per 30-day cycle are Hobby $50, Startup $200, and Growth $1,000, each with 200 GB ingested, 50 GB scanned, and 20 issues. Overage is $0.10 per GB ingested and $0.10 per GB scanned. Assume 500 GB of logs a month and ignore storage and queries: CloudWatch ingestion at $0.50 per GB is $250, while Hobby is $50 plus 300 GB at $0.10, or $80. That excludes scans above 50 GB, issues above 20, and CloudWatch archive storage. See Sazabi pricing.
Pick it when logs from AWS and other sources should feed one issue stream. Skip it when you rely on CloudWatch metrics, alarms, and AWS-native dashboards that you want in one console.
Try An Alternative Without Dropping CloudWatch
Sazabi offers two AWS paths. The native connection uses a cross-account IAM role you create with CloudFormation, Terraform, or the AWS CLI, then installs a subscription filter on each log group you select. Your applications do not change. Logs normally arrive within one to two minutes. CloudWatch allows at most two subscription filters per log group, so check your existing ones first.
The other path runs an OpenTelemetry Collector with the awscloudwatch receiver and an otlphttp exporter, which suits teams that prefer to manage the Collector. See the AWS integration for both. Either way, CloudWatch keeps the data, so you can compare detection and cost for a month before changing where logs are sent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I stop paying CloudWatch if I forward logs elsewhere?
Not by forwarding alone. If logs still land in a CloudWatch log group first, the per-GB ingestion charge applies there. To cut that charge you have to change where the logs are sent, for example with an OpenTelemetry Collector or an agent that ships directly to the new tool.
Can Sazabi read my CloudWatch logs without changing my applications?
Yes. Sazabi can connect to your AWS account and install a subscription filter on each log group you pick. CloudWatch allows at most two subscription filters per log group, and Sazabi only lists log groups in the same region as your project.
Is CloudWatch cheaper than a third-party tool?
For small volumes it can be. CloudWatch Logs includes 5 GB of free data per month, and most of the other tools here start between $19 and $50 per month. At higher volume, compare the per-GB ingestion rates and what each bills separately for storage and search.
Does CloudWatch have its own AI features?
Its product page lists anomaly detection, AI-powered investigations, and natural-language queries. Check what each costs on the CloudWatch pricing page before comparing.
Sources
- CloudWatch Logs free tier, ingestion and storage rates in the pricing examples, Infrequent Access, Live Tail, Logs Insights (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- CloudWatch product scope, anomaly detection, investigations, OpenTelemetry support (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Datadog log ingestion, indexing, Flex Logs and forwarding list prices (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Datadog AWS integration scope and setup methods (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Grafana CloudWatch data source features and bundled dashboards (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Grafana Cloud free tier, Pro platform fee, log rates and retention (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- SigNoz AWS monitoring methods and supported services (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- SigNoz usage rates, minimum, retention, and data center regions (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Axiom platform fee, ingest tiers, storage tiers, AWS Marketplace purchasing (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Better Stack ingestion and retention rates, AWS Direct Connect ingestion, own-bucket hosting (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sazabi plans, included usage, overage rates, retention (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sazabi native CloudWatch connection through subscription filters, prerequisites and limits (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Collector-based CloudWatch forwarding with the awscloudwatch receiver (accessed Nov 8, 2026)