Side by side

Amazon CloudWatch Logs vs Seq

Both stand on log management software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Amazon CloudWatch Logs

Free plan APIWeb

CloudWatch Logs combines collection, querying, live viewing, and cross-account analysis, with a stated free tier. Costs depend on usage and region, so account for ingestion and any paid Live Tail use.

Visit Amazon CloudWatch Logs

Seq

Free plan APILinuxMac+3

Seq provides searchable telemetry storage, alerting, integrations, and deployment flexibility while keeping data on your infrastructure. The free tier is limited to one user, and multi-user or expanded capacity requires paid licensing.

Visit Seq

The facts

	Amazon CloudWatch Logs	Seq
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	No
Runs on	API, Web	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows
Lowest paid plan	See the plans	Team: $1,090 a year
Plans published	5	4
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	aws.amazon.com	datalust.co
On log management software	#18 of 111	#57 of 111

Amazon CloudWatch Logs: what it does well

Logs Insights filters, aggregates, and visualizes log data.
Live Tail supports interactive analysis of streaming logs.
Cross-account log search is available from a central account.
Free tier includes 5 GB for logs and query scans.
No upfront commitment or minimum fee.

What to know first

Usage charges vary by region and amount used.
Paid Live Tail costs $0.01 per minute.
Ingestion rates vary by region and tier.

Seq: what it does well

Searches structured logs and traces
Metrics ingestion added in release 2026.1
Supports many telemetry ingestion libraries
Deploys on Windows or Docker/Linux
Free Individual plan available

What to know first

Individual license allows one web-interface user
Paid Team plan costs $1,090 a year
Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure
Some features are limited to higher plans

Alternatives to Amazon CloudWatch Logs Alternatives to Seq The whole list