Cloud monitoring tools help assess the state of cloud-based infrastructure. These tools track the performance, safety, and availability of crucial cloud apps and services.

This article introduces you to the top 30 cloud monitoring tools on the market. Depending on your use case, some of these tools may be a better fit than others. Once you identify the right option, you can start building more productive and cost-effective cloud infrastructure.

What is Cloud Monitoring?

Cloud monitoring uses automated and manual tools to manage, monitor, and evaluate cloud computing architecture, infrastructure, and services.

It incorporates an overall cloud management strategy allowing administrators to monitor the status of cloud-based resources. It helps you identify emerging defects and troubling patterns so you can prevent minor issues from turning into significant problems.

diagram of how cloud monitoring works

Best Cloud Management and Monitoring Tools

1. Amazon Cloudwatch

Amazon Web Services offers to monitor cloud resources and applications running on Amazon AWS. It lets you view and track metrics on Amazon EC2 instances and other AWS resources such as Amazon EBS volumes and Amazon RDS DB instances. You can also use it to set alarms, store log files, view graphs and statistics, and monitor or react to AWS resource changes.

Amazon Cloudwatch gives you an insight into your system’s overall health and performance. You can use this information to optimize your application’s operations. The best part of this monitoring solution is you don’t need to install any additional software.

It is an excellent practice to have multi-cloud management strategies. They give you cover in case of incidences such as when Amazon Web Services went dark in March 2017.

2. Microsoft Cloud Monitoring

If you run your applications on Microsoft Azure, you can consider Microsoft Cloud Monitoring to monitor your workload. MCM gives you immediate insights across your workloads by monitoring applications, analyzing log files, and identifying security threats.

Its built-in cloud monitoring tools are easy to set up. They provide a full view of the utilization, performance, and health of your applications, infrastructure, and workloads. Similar to Amazon Cloudwatch, you don’t have to download any extra software as MCM is inbuilt into Azure.

3. AppDynamics

Cisco Systems acquired AppDynamics in early 2017. AppDynamics provides cloud-based network monitoring tools for assessing application performance and accelerating operations shift. You can use the system to maximize the control and visibility of cloud applications in crucial IaaS/PaaS platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Pivotal Cloud Foundry, and AWS. AppDynamics competes heavily with other application management solutions such as SolarWinds, Datadog, and New Relic.

The software enables users to learn the real state of their cloud applications down to the business transaction and code level. It can effortlessly adapt to any software or infrastructure environment. The new acquisition by Cisco Systems will only magnify AppDynamic’s capabilities.

4. BMC TrueSight Pulse

BMC helps you boost your multi-cloud operations performance and cost management. It helps measure end-user experience, monitor infrastructure resources, and detect problems proactively. It gives you the chance to develop an all-around cloud operations management solution. With BMC, you can plan, run, and optimize multiple cloud platforms, including Azure and AWS, among others.

BMC can enable you to track and manage cloud computing costs, eliminate waste by optimizing resource usage, and deploy the right resources at the right price. You can also use it to break down cloud costs and align cloud expenses with business needs.

5. DX Infrastructure Manager (IM)

DX Infrastructure Manager is a unified infrastructure management platform that delivers intelligent analytics to the task of infrastructure monitoring. DX IM provides a proactive method to troubleshooting issues that affect the performance of cloud infrastructure. The platform manages networks, servers, storage databases, and applications deployed using any configuration.

DX IM makes use of intelligent analytics to map out trends and patterns which simplify troubleshooting and reporting activities. The platform is customizable, and enterprises can build personalized dashboards that enhance visualization. The monitoring tool comes equipped with numerous probes for monitoring every aspect of a cloud ecosystem. You can also choose to integrate DX IM into Incident Management Tools to enhance their infrastructure monitoring capabilities.

hosting service that provides server management with a man in front of screen

6. New Relic

New Relic aims at intelligently managing complex and ever-changing cloud applications and infrastructure. It can help you know precisely how your cloud applications and cloud servers are running in real-time. It can also give you useful insights into your stack, let you isolate and resolve issues quickly, and allow you to scale your operations with usage.

The system’s algorithm takes into account many processes and optimization factors for all apps, whether mobile, web, or server-based. New Relic places all your data in one network monitoring dashboard so that you can get a clear picture of every part of your cloud. Some of the influential companies using New Relic include GitHub, Comcast, and EA.

If you are interested in free and premium cloud monitoring options, check out our article on the 13 best New Relic alternatives.

7. Hyperic

vRealize Hyperic, a division of VMware, is a robust monitoring platform for a variety of systems. It monitors applications running in a physical, cloud, and virtual environments, as well as a host of operating systems, middleware, and networks.

One can use it to get a comprehensive view of all their infrastructure, monitor performance, utilization, and tracklogs and modifications across all layers of the server virtualization stack.

Hyperic collects performance data across more than 75 application technologies. That is as many as 50,000 metrics, with which you can watch any component in your app stack.

8. Solarwinds

Solarwinds provides cloud monitoring, network monitoring, and database management solutions within its platform for enterprises to take advantage of. Solarwinds cloud management platform monitors the performance and health status of applications, servers, storage, and virtual machines. The platform is a unified infrastructure management tool and has the capacity to monitor hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Solarwinds offers an interactive virtualization platform that simplifies the process of receiving insight from the thousands of metrics collected from an IT environment. The platform includes troubleshooting and remediation tools that enable real-time response to discovered issues.

9. ExoPrise

The ExoPrise SaaS monitoring service offers you comprehensive security and optimization services to keep your cloud apps up and running. The tool expressly deals with SaaS applications such as Dropbox, Office 365, Salesforce.com, and Box. It can assist you to watch and manage your entire Office 365 suite, while simultaneously troubleshooting, detecting outages, and fixing problems before they impact your business.

ExoPrise also works to ensure SLA compliance for all your SaaS and Web applications. Some of the major clients depending on ExoPrise include Starbucks, PayPal, Unicef, and P&G.

10. Retrace

Retrace is a cloud management tool designed with developers’ use in mind. It gives developers more profound code-level application monitoring insights whenever necessary. It tracks app execution, system logs, app & server metrics, errors, and ensures developers are creating high-quality code at all times. Developers can also find anomalies in the codes they generate before the customers do.

Retrace can make your developers more productive, and their lives less complicated. Plus, it has an affordable price range to fit small and medium businesses.

How to outsource? Out of the box cloud solutions with in-built monitoring and threat detection services offload the time and risk associated with maintaining and protecting complex cloud infrastructure. To learn more, read about Data Security Cloud.

11. Aternity

Aternity is a top End User Experience (EUE) monitoring system that was acquired by Riverbed Technology in July 2016. Riverbed integrated the technology into its Riverbed SteelCentral package for a better and more comprehensive cloud ecosystem. SteelCentral now combines end-user experience, infrastructure management, and network assessments to give better visibility of the overall system’s health.

Aternity is famous for its ability to screen millions of virtual, desktop, and mobile user endpoints. It offers a more comprehensive approach to EUE optimization by the use of synthetic tests.

Synthetic tests allow the company to find crucial information on the end user’s experience by imitating users from different locations. It determines page load time and delays, solves network traffic problems, and optimizes user interaction.

Aternity’s capabilities offer an extensive list of tools to enhance the end user’s experience in every way possible.

12. Redgate

If you use Microsoft Azure, SQL Server, or.NET, then Redgate could be the perfect monitoring solution for your business. Redgate is ingenious, simple software that specializes in these three areas. It helps teams in managing SQL Server environments to be more proactive by providing real-time alerts. It also allows you to unearth defective database deployments, diagnose root problem causes fast, and gain reports about the server’s overall well-being.

Redgate also allows you to track the load on your cloud system down to the database level, and its SQL monitor gives you all the answers about how your apps are delivering. Redgate is an exceptional choice for your various Microsoft server stacks. It is a top choice for over 90% of the Fortune 100 companies.

13. Datadog

Datadog started as an infrastructure monitoring service but later expanded into application performance monitoring to rival other APM providers like New Relic and AppDynamics. This service swiftly integrates with hundreds of cloud applications and software platforms. It gives you full visibility of your modern apps to observe, troubleshoot, and optimize their speed or functionality.

Datadog also allows you to analyze and explore logs, build real-time interactive dashboards, share findings with teams, and receive alerts on critical issues. The platform is simple to use and provides spectacular visualizations.

Datadog has a set of distinct APM tools for end-user experience test and analysis. Some of its principal customers include Sony, Samsung, and eBay.

14. Opsview

Opsview helps you track all your public and private clouds together with the workloads within them under one roof. It provides a unified insight to analyze, alert, and visualize occurrences and engagement metrics. It also offers comprehensive coverage, intelligent notifications, and aids with SLA reporting.

Opsview features highly customizable dashboards and advanced metrics collection tools. If you are looking for a scalable and consistent monitoring answer for now and the future, Opsview may be a perfect solution for you.

15. Logic Monitor

Logic Cloud Monitor was named the Best Network Monitoring Tool by PC magazine for two years in a row (2016 & 2017). This system provides pre-configured and customizable screening solutions for apps, networks, large and small business servers, cloud, virtual machines, databases, and websites. It automatically discovers, integrates, and watches all components of your network infrastructure.

Logic is also compatible with a vast range of technologies, which gives it coverage for complex networks with resources within the premises or spread across multiple data centers. The system gives you access to infinite dashboards to visualize system execution data in ways that inform and empower your business.

16. PagerDuty

PagerDuty gives users comprehensive insights on every dimension of their customer experience. It’s enterprise-level incident management and reporting tool to help you respond to issues fast. It connects seamlessly with various tracking systems, giving you access to advanced analytics and broader visibility. With PagerDuty, you can quickly assess and resolve issues when every second on your watch counts.

PagerDuty is a prominent option for IT teams and DevOps looking for advanced analysis and automated incident resolution tools. The system can help reduce incidents in your cloud system, increasing the happiness of your workforce and overall business outcome.

17. Dynatrace

Dynatrace is a top app, infrastructure, and cloud monitoring service that focuses on solutions and pricing. Their system integrates with a majority of cloud service providers and micro-services. It gives you full insight into your user’s experience and business impact by screening and managing both cloud infrastructure and application functionality.

AI powers Dynatrace.  It offers a fast installation process to allow users quick free tests. The system helps you optimize customer experience by analyzing user behavior, meeting user expectations, and increasing conversion rates.

They have a 15-day trial period and offer simple, competitive pricing for companies of all sizes.

cloud computing solution

18. Sumo Logic

Sumo Logic provides SaaS security monitoring and log analytics for Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and hybrid cloud services. It can give you real-time insights into your cloud applications and security.

Sumo Logic monitors cloud and on-premise infrastructure stacks for operation metrics through advanced analytics. It also finds errors and issues warnings quickly actions can be taken.

Sumo Logic can help IT, DevOps, and Security teams in business organizations of all sizes. It is an excellent solution for cloud log management and metrics tracking. It provides cloud computing management tools and techniques to help you eliminate silos and fine-tune your applications and infrastructure to work seamlessly.

19. Stack Driver

Stack Driver is a Google cloud service monitoring application that presents itself as intelligent monitoring software for AWS and Google Cloud.

It offers assessment, logging, and diagnostics services for applications running on these platforms. It renders you detailed insights into the performance and health of your cloud-hosted applications so that you may find and fix issues quickly.

Whether you are using AWS, Google Cloud Platforms, or a hybrid of both, Stack Driver will give you a wide variety of metrics, alerts, logs, traces, and data from all your cloud accounts. All this data will be presented in a single dashboard, giving you a rich visualization of your whole cloud ecosystem.

20. Unigma

Unigma is a management and monitoring tool that correlates metrics from multiple cloud vendors. You can view metrics from public clouds like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. It gives you detailed visibility of your infrastructure and workloads and recommends the best enforcement options to your customers. It has appealing and simple-to-use dashboards that you can share with your team or customers.

Unigma is also a vital tool in helping troubleshoot and predict potential issues with instant alerts. It assists you to visualize cloud expenditure and provides cost-saving recommendations.

21. Zenoss

Zenoss monitors enterprise deployments across a vast range of cloud hosting platforms, including Azure and AWS. It has various cloud analysis and tracking capabilities to help you check and manage your cloud resources well. It uses the ZenPacks tracking service to obtain metrics for units such as instances. The system then uses these metrics to ensure uptime on cloud platforms and the overall health of their vital apps.

Zenoss also offers ZenPacks for organizations deploying private or hybrid cloud platforms. These platforms include OpenStackVMware vCloud Director, and Apache CloudStack.

22. Netdata.cloud

Netdata.cloud is a distributed systems health monitoring and performance troubleshooting platform for cloud ecosystems. The platform provides real-time insights into enterprise systems and applications. Netdata.cloud monitors slowdowns and vulnerabilities within IT infrastructure. The monitoring features it uses include auto-detection, event monitoring, and machine learning to provide real-time monitoring.

Netdata is open-source software that runs across physical systems, virtual machines, applications, and IoT devices. You can view key performance indexes and metrics through its interactive visualization dashboard. Insightful health alarms powered by its Advanced Alarm Notification System makes pinpointing vulnerabilities and infrastructure issues a streamlined process.

23. Sematext Cloud

Sematext is a troubleshooting platform that monitors cloud infrastructure with log metrics and real-time monitoring dashboards. Sematext provides a unified view of applications, log events, and metrics produced by complex cloud infrastructure. Smart alert notifications simplify discovery and performance troubleshooting activities.

Sematext spots trends and patterns while monitoring cloud infrastructure. Noted trends and models serve as diagnostic tools during real-time health monitoring and troubleshooting tasks. Enterprises get real-time dynamic views of app components and interactions. Sematext also provides code-level visibility for detecting code errors and query issues, which makes it an excellent DevOps tool. Sematext Cloud provides out-of-the-box alerts and the option to customize your alerts and dashboards.

24. Site 24×7

As the name suggests, Site 24×7 is a cloud monitoring tool that offers round-the-clock services for monitoring cloud infrastructure. It provides a unified platform for monitoring hybrid cloud infrastructure and complex IT setups through an interactive dashboard. Site 24×7 offers cloud monitoring support for Amazon Web Services (AWS), GCP, and Azure.

The monitoring tool integrates the use of IT automation for real-time troubleshooting and reporting. Site 24×7 monitors usage and performance metrics for virtual machine workloads. Enterprises can check the status of Docker containers and the health status of EC2 servers. The platform monitors system usage and health of various Azure services. It supports the design and deployment of third-party plugins that handle specific monitoring tasks.

25. CloudMonix

CloudMonix provides monitoring and troubleshooting services for both cloud and on-premise infrastructure. The unified infrastructure monitoring tool keeps a tab on IT infrastructure performance, availability, and health. CloudMonix automates the processes of recovery, which delivers self-healing actions and troubleshoots infrastructural deficiencies.

The unified platform offers enterprises a live dashboard that simplifies the visualization of critical metrics produced by cloud systems and resources. The dashboard includes predefined templates of reports such as performance, status, alerts, and root cause reports. The interactive dashboard provides deep insight into the stability of complex systems and enables real-time troubleshooting.

magnifying glass Looking at Cloud Monitoring Tools

26. Bitnami Stacksmith

Bitnami offers different cloud tools for monitoring cloud infrastructure services from AWS, Microsoft Azure to Google Cloud Platform. Bitnami services help cluster administrators and operators manage applications on Kubernetes, virtual machines, and Docker. The monitoring tool simplifies the management of multi-cloud, cross-platform ecosystems. Bitnami accomplishes this by providing platform-optimized applications and infrastructure stack for each platform within a cloud environment.

Bitnami is easy to install and provides an interactive interface that simplifies its use. Bitnami Stacksmith features helps in installing many slacks on a single server with ease.

27. Zabbix

Zabbix is an enterprise-grade software built for real-time monitoring. The monitoring tool is capable of monitoring thousands of servers, virtual machines, network or IoT devices, and other resources. Zabbix is open source and employs diverse metric collection methods when monitoring IT infrastructure. Techniques such as agentless monitoring, calculation and aggregation, and end-user web monitoring make it a comprehensive tool to use.

Zabbix automates the process of troubleshooting while providing root cause analysis to pinpoint vulnerabilities. A single pane of glass offers a streamlined visualization window and insight into IT environments. Zabbix also integrates the use of automated notification alerts and remediation systems to troubleshoot issues or escalate them in real-time.

28. Cloudify

Cloudify is an end-to-end cloud infrastructure monitoring tool with the ability to manage hybrid environments. The monitoring tool supports IoT device monitoring, edge network monitoring, and troubleshooting vulnerabilities. Cloudify is an open-source monitoring tool that enables DevOps teams and IT managers to develop monitoring plugins for use in the cloud and on bare metal servers. Cloudify monitors on-premise IT infrastructure and hybrid ecosystems.

The tool makes use of Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) to handle its cloud monitoring and management activities. The TOSCA approach centralizes governance and control through network orchestration, which simplifies the monitoring of applications within IT environments.

29. Manage IQ

Manage IQ is a cloud infrastructure monitoring tool that excels in discovering, optimizing, and controlling hybrid or multi-cloud IT environments. The monitoring tool enables continuous discovery as it provides round-the-clock advanced monitoring capabilities across virtualization containers, applications, storage, and network systems.

Manage IQ brings compliance to monitoring IT infrastructure. The platform ensures all virtual machines, containers, and storage keep to compliance policies through continuous discovery. Manage IQ captures metrics from virtual machines to discover trends and patterns relating to system performance. The monitoring tool is open-source and provides developers with the opportunity to enhance application monitoring.

30. Prometheus

Prometheus is an open-source platform that offers enterprises with event monitoring and notification tools for cloud infrastructure. Prometheus records real-time metrics through graph queries, which aren’t similar to a virtualized dashboard. The tool must be hooked up to Grafana to generate full-fledged dashboards. Learn more by visiting our Grafana Prometheus Dashboard tutorial,

Prometheus provides its query language (PrmQL), which allows DevOps organizations to manage collected data from IT environments.

Learn how to monitor Kubernetes with Prometheus.

In Closing, Monitoring Tools for Cloud Computing

You want your developers to focus on building great software, not on monitoring. Cloud monitoring tools allow your team to focus on value-packed tasks instead of seeking errors or weaknesses in your setup.

Now that you are familiar with the best monitoring tools out there, you can begin analyzing your cloud infrastructure. Choose the tool that fits your needs the best and start building an optimal environment for your cloud-based operations.

Each option presented above has its pros and cons. Consider your specific needs. Many of these solutions offer free trials. Their programs are easy to install, so you can quickly test them to see if the solution is perfect for you.