Introduction
As cloud technology continues to evolve, more and more companies are adopting cloud-based infrastructure. With this change comes the need for advanced monitoring and management tools. CloudWatch and Datadog are two popular options for cloud monitoring, so we decided to compare them to help you decide which one is right for your business.
CloudWatch
CloudWatch is a monitoring and management service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It allows you to monitor your AWS resources, applications, and services in real-time.
Some of the core features of CloudWatch are:
- Monitoring of EC2 instances, Elastic Load Balancers, EBS volumes, and RDS instances
- Custom metrics with CloudWatch agent
- Functionality to set alarms and react to metric changes
- Dashboards that show your resources' health and performance
- Integration with other AWS services like AWS Lambda or CloudFormation
Datadog
Datadog is a cloud-based monitoring solution that offers advanced features for infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring (APM), security monitoring, and more.
Some of the core features of Datadog are:
- Over 450 integrations including AWS, Kubernetes, and Docker
- Detailed dashboards for infrastructure, logs, APM, and more
- Functionality to set alerts and collaborate with your team
- Support for multiple cloud platforms
Comparison
If we compare the two solutions, Datadog stands out with its 450+ integrations for monitoring purposes. The tool also has strong APM support, which is beneficial for businesses that require deep insights into application performance. Datadog offers intelligent alerts and monitoring of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
On the other hand, CloudWatch provides deep insights into AWS services and provides excellent scalability. CloudWatch is pre-built into AWS, making it a cost-effective and convenient option for monitoring your AWS resources.
Here's a quick comparison of the two solutions:
| Metric | CloudWatch | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.03-0.007 per metric | Starts at $31 per host per month |
| Maximum Retention | 15 months | Unlimited |
| Integrations | 40+ | 450+ |
| Monitoring Capabilities | AWS resources | Multiple cloud platforms, logs, APM, and more |
Conclusion
Ultimately, both CloudWatch and Datadog are excellent cloud monitoring solutions, but which one is best for your business depends on your specific needs. If you're heavily invested in AWS and require deep insights into AWS resources, CloudWatch is a great option. However, if you have a multi-cloud infrastructure or require APM functionality, Datadog might be a better fit.
References
- AWS. (2021). Amazon CloudWatch. https://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/
- Datadog. (2021). Datadog. https://www.datadoghq.com/