Amazon CloudWatch RUM review
Broad web and mobile RUM coverage with usage-based AWS pricing.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Sep 2026
Amazon CloudWatch RUM monitors real-user experiences across web, Android, and iOS applications. It is suited to AWS-centric teams that need visibility into page loads, Core Web Vitals, app launches, screen loads, crashes, client-side errors, network issues, and user interactions. Teams can also examine geographic, browser, device, operating-system, and region breakdowns through CloudWatch dashboards.
Published pricing is usage-based rather than organized around fixed feature tiers. Web RUM events cost $1 per 100,000 events, billed monthly. Mobile RUM data costs $0.35 per GB ingested, also billed monthly, covering mobile RUM OpenTelemetry events and spans. AWS lists a first-time free trial of 1 million web RUM events per account, but there is no free plan. Regional variation and event or data volume make forecasting an important part of adoption.
The service’s strongest fit is an AWS environment where RUM needs to connect with AWS X-Ray, Amazon CloudWatch Logs, and CloudWatch Application Signals. Correlated sessions, traces, stack traces, debugging data, user journeys, interaction analysis, configurable session sampling, and privacy-masked web session replay give teams several ways to investigate experience problems. The tradeoff is a 30-day default retention period, which may not suit teams needing longer historical analysis. Choose CloudWatch RUM for broad, AWS-connected web and mobile monitoring; consider an alternative if long-term retention or simpler, fixed pricing matters more than ecosystem fit.
Amazon CloudWatch RUM pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Covers web, Android, and iOS application experiences
- Correlates sessions with traces, errors, and journeys
- Provides privacy-masked replay and detailed geographic breakdowns
- Where it doesn't
- No free plan; usage charges apply monthly
- Collected RUM data is retained for 30 days
- Pricing varies by AWS Region and usage volume
Amazon CloudWatch RUM fact sheet, pricing and score →
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