AWS CloudTrail vs New Relic: What are the differences?

Introduction AWS CloudTrail and New Relic are two cloud monitoring and logging services that provide organizations with valuable insights into their applications and infrastructure. However, there are some key differences between these two services that set them apart from each other.

1. Data Collection: AWS CloudTrail focuses on tracking and logging actions taken on AWS services and resources. It captures detailed information about the API calls made by AWS services, allowing users to audit and monitor their AWS infrastructure. On the other hand, New Relic collects and analyzes performance data from applications and infrastructure across multiple cloud platforms, offering insights into application performance, user experience, and more. While CloudTrail focuses on AWS-specific actions, New Relic covers a broader range of platforms and services.

2. Scope: AWS CloudTrail operates at the account level and provides a centralized view of all AWS actions within an account. It offers visibility into all regions and services within the same account. In contrast, New Relic operates at the application level, allowing users to monitor and analyze application performance and infrastructure across different accounts and environments. It provides a more granular and application-focused view of performance data.

3. Alerting and Notifications: AWS CloudTrail provides basic alerting and notifications through Amazon SNS, allowing users to receive real-time notifications on specific events or actions. However, New Relic offers more advanced alerting capabilities, allowing users to define complex alert conditions based on custom metrics, thresholds, and anomalies. It provides more flexibility in configuring and managing alerts to ensure timely notifications and proactive response.

4. Integration and Extensibility: AWS CloudTrail integrates seamlessly with other AWS services and tools, providing native integration and additional features like AWS CloudWatch for log monitoring. It also allows users to create custom workflows using AWS Lambda for automated responses. In comparison, New Relic offers a wide range of integrations with popular third-party tools and platforms, enabling users to connect and analyze data from various sources. It provides more flexibility in integrating with existing tools and workflows.

5. Log Management and Analysis: AWS CloudTrail focuses primarily on capturing and storing logs of AWS API calls for auditing and compliance purposes. While it offers basic search and filtering capabilities, its log management and analysis features are limited compared to specialized log management tools. On the other hand, New Relic provides advanced log management and analysis capabilities, allowing users to search, filter, and visualize logs from applications and infrastructure. It offers powerful query and analysis options to gain deeper insights into log data.

6. Cost Structure: AWS CloudTrail is included as part of the AWS service offerings and does not incur additional costs for enabling the service. However, users may incur costs for storing and accessing CloudTrail logs, depending on the storage duration and data transfer. New Relic, on the other hand, follows a subscription-based pricing model that is based on the number of monitored hosts and the level of features required. The cost of using New Relic can vary depending on the size and complexity of the monitored environment.

In Summary, AWS CloudTrail focuses on tracking and logging actions within AWS services, while New Relic provides broader application and infrastructure monitoring capabilities across multiple platforms. CloudTrail operates at the account level, while New Relic operates at the application level. New Relic offers more advanced alerting, integration, log management, and analysis capabilities compared to AWS CloudTrail. CloudTrail is included in AWS service offerings, while New Relic follows a subscription-based pricing model.