Amazon CloudWatch vs Zabbix comparison

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Logo
4,580 views|3,689 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
Zabbix Logo
18,193 views|14,010 comparisons
95% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Aug 9, 2023

We compared Zabbix and Amazon CloudWatch across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

  • Ease of Deployment: Zabbix's setup can vary in terms of ease and complexity, with some users finding it straightforward while others find it more challenging. It may require technical expertise and knowledge of Linux and programming. Amazon CloudWatch's setup is described as easy, straightforward, and not overly difficult. It can be completed within minutes or a couple of days, depending on the specific requirements and complexity of the stack. 
  • Features: Zabbix is highly regarded for its user-friendly interface, scalability, and wide range of features, such as customizable dashboards and trigger dependencies. In contrast, Amazon CloudWatch is appreciated for its simplicity in configuration, integration with other AWS services, and user-friendly interface.
  • Room for Improvement: Zabbix can enhance its effectiveness by addressing false positives, optimizing performance, improving the user interface, and automating network mapping. Meanwhile, Amazon CloudWatch could benefit from enhancements in monitoring application performance, generating reports, real-time monitoring, and visualizing data via dashboards.
  • Pricing: Zabbix's setup cost is uncertain, potentially involving additional purchases for features or support services. Amazon CloudWatch offers a fair pricing structure based on usage and processing, without any separate licensing fees. However, users must pay for extra storage space, and the pricing may fluctuate as the project expands.
  • ROI: Zabbix provides cost savings by eliminating expensive fees, while Amazon CloudWatch helps companies save on manual monitoring expenses and has proven to be a beneficial investment.
  • Service and Support: Users have mixed opinions about the customer service and support provided by Zabbix, while the customer service and support of Amazon CloudWatch are highly praised and appreciated, with solution architects being readily available.

Comparison Results: Zabbix's setup can vary in ease and complexity, requiring technical expertise and knowledge of Linux and programming. However, it offers extensive features, customization options, and a free open-source version. On the other hand, Amazon CloudWatch has an easy and straightforward setup process, user-friendly interface, and good technical support. It is highly valued for its simplicity, stability, scalability, and integration with other AWS services. However, it has limitations in monitoring application performance and generating reports. Pricing-wise, Zabbix is free and open-source, while CloudWatch's pricing is considered reasonable. 

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"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.""Monitoring time and ensuring ease in it is the most valuable feature.""The detection is the most valuable feature.""Every time we get an alarm or have an incident, CloudWatch is always there. We use it not only for resources we've spun up in the cloud, but also for some of our on-premises resources.""Amazon CloudWatch is a cheap and easy-to-use solution.""It offers direct integrations with various storage providers, making it convenient to push logs from CloudWatch to these external platforms.""It is a stable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.""The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is intrusion prevention."

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"I like being able to use proxy servers for different locations. The agents are pretty cool. They're easy to roll out. The standard out-of-the-box templates are also pretty easy to use. The integration with other learning products is also good. I have, in the past, used Slack, but we've integrated it with Microsoft Teams. We also use it for SMS with a service called Redcoat. It is very flexible. It does what I need it to do, and my manager is very happy because it doesn't cost anything. We are nearing 4,000 hosts inside Zabbix, and we've got another 6,000 access points to add to it. We've thrown everything at it, and it has managed to keep going. I am very impressed with the tool, and I'd shake their hand very hard if I got to say the compliments to the Zabbix team. They keep improving it and doing refreshes, which is one good thing about it. There is also online information as well as books that you can purchase if you're willing to read enough. There is a lot to pick up, but it is a pretty complete solution.""The most valuable feature is the protocol to manage anything.""We value the auto-host discovery, template import, bulk import/export features. Newer versions also add nice features, such as multi-IP per host.""It meets my organizational needs. It's pretty easy to use.""The initial setup was not complex.""The best thing about Zabbix is the integration and the APIs that are included are very fast""The most valuable feature is network traffic monitoring.""It provides high scalability, alerting, notification, templating, and end-to-end security."

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Cons
"The solution's auto-scaling could be improved.""Improvement of SSSD logs would be beneficial.""The dashboard of Amazon CloudWatch is not very customizable right now.""CloudWatch doesn’t monitor disk throughput by default.""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.""It would be beneficial for CloudWatch to provide an API interface and some kind of custom configuration.""The drill-down aspect on the dashboard of the solution needs improvement. We get a very good high-level overview, but when we drill down, it becomes a little less clear. We have given this feedback to AWS as well and hope they will improve this in the future.""CloudWatch's scalability could be improved."

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"The documentation gets a bit messy between versions and is not too detailed, which is a bit painful for first-timers, especially when they run into issues.""Outside of the normal standard monitoring, I would like to extend patching, importing patching, and supporting patching for Windows Servers.""As far as improvements, sometimes I get a bit frustrated when I move from a previous version to a new one because some configuration has changed—I need to investigate the documentation to deal with some configuration. But it doesn't take much time, so it's okay.""The GUI could be more intuitive. Also, we'd like streaming telemetry. Zabbix might have this feature, but I haven't seen it yet. It took us a long time to get started because the documentation isn't very descriptive. We had to go through various sources like YouTube and forums to get this solution working.""The product could be more secure and more stable.""If you want to use all of the features then you have to pay a licensing fee.""Having a more customizable interface and dashboard would be an improvement.""Zabbix could improve when it comes to large-scale use cases. Additionally, the inventory could be better when connecting to other solutions, such as ServiceNow. There show to be better integration with other platforms and storage."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We have monthly licensing costs. The licenses are probably in the vicinity of about $300 - $350/month."
  • "Its pricing is reasonable. It is sometimes tricky, but it is reasonable as compared to others."
  • "What's were using is the free service of Amazon CloudWatch, so they're not charging us. As for hidden fees, we're not aware of them because we're using what our clients provided us."
  • "The pricing model is pay-as-you-go so you have to be mindful of usage to manage costs."
  • "Amazon CloudWatch has very cheap pricing, and it hardly costs my company $25-$30 a month for fifty systems, so it's pretty affordable."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "The price of Amazon CloudWatch is reasonable for detailed basic monitoring."
  • "The price of Amazon CloudWatch is reasonable. When the rate of data collection is done the price will increase. The price is less than other solutions."
  • More Amazon CloudWatch Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It’s free of cost."
  • "It is a true open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."
  • "The product is an open source and free solution."
  • "It's free software released under the GNU/GPL license."
  • "There are no licenses."
  • "We’re using the free version, which covers all our current needs."
  • "It is free, which allows us to reduce costs."
  • "I was using the free, Community Edition."
  • More Zabbix Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want using these, but they require quite some expertise before you can use them. Then there are the ones that are not open source, the enterprise softwares and cost you some money, but on the other hand, they are extremely easy to set-up and learn. You can have them up and running in a matter of minutes. And then there are those which are completely cloud based. They can be free of cost or charge some money depending on the software. The good thing about these is that you don’t have to install any extra software, and it can be managed completely online but then again these have limited features and you cannot exploit them to the full extent as you can do with the open-source and to some extent the enterprise software, so I won’t suggest you to use these, because these are generally not the complete solutions and require other support software to achieve the same. Below I have listed the outstanding pros and cons of the various Network analyzers that you can look into Nagios Pros: Nagios offers an extensive set of collector plug-ins that allows users to gather performance and availability data from a broad range of operating systems, including  Windows and Netware Nagios… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The monitoring features are valuable.
    Top Answer:CloudWatch doesn’t monitor disk throughput by default. It is part of EC2. If EC2 forwards the logs, then we can do it.
    Top Answer:We use Zabbix to monitor our organization's IT infrastructure and workstations. We don't use Microsoft Intune since it's expensive. The tool's real-time alerting system has proved crucial for us… more »
    Top Answer:In the next release, I'm hoping for features targeted towards larger users with more customizable options. Despite this, I think pre-canned reports that can be used straight out of the box would be… more »
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    34
    Average Words per Review
    433
    Rating
    8.2
    Views
    18,193
    Comparisons
    14,010
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    566
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Learn More
    Overview

    Amazon CloudWatch is a monitoring and observability service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It allows users to collect and track metrics, collect and monitor log files, and set alarms. With CloudWatch, users can gain insights into their applications, infrastructure, and services, enabling them to make informed decisions and take necessary actions. 

    It provides a unified view of AWS resources and applications, making it easier to troubleshoot issues and optimize performance. CloudWatch offers a range of features including customizable dashboards, automated actions, and integration with other AWS services. 

    The product is a scalable and reliable solution that helps businesses ensure the availability and performance of their applications and infrastructure.

    Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software that provides real-time monitoring and alerting for servers, networks, applications, and services. 

    It offers a wide range of features including data collection, visualization, and reporting. 

    With its user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards, Zabbix helps organizations ensure the availability and performance of their IT infrastructure.

    Sample Customers
    AirAsia, Airbnb, Aircel, APUS, Avazu, Casa & Video, Futbol Club Barcelona (FCBarcelona), National Taiwan University, redBus
    1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm31%
    Healthcare Company13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Renewables & Environment Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm16%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Aerospace/Defense Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization33%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise64%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business49%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise31%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise42%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Amazon CloudWatch is ranked 9th in Cloud Monitoring Software with 40 reviews while Zabbix is ranked 2nd in Cloud Monitoring Software with 98 reviews. Amazon CloudWatch is rated 8.0, while Zabbix is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Amazon CloudWatch writes "Instantaneous response when monitoring logs and KPIs". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zabbix writes "Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes". Amazon CloudWatch is most compared with Datadog, Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver), Dynatrace, SolarWinds NPM and Nagios XI, whereas Zabbix is most compared with Centreon, Checkmk, SolarWinds NPM, Nagios XI and SCOM. See our Amazon CloudWatch vs. Zabbix report.

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    We monitor all Cloud Monitoring Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.