Migrate from CloudWatch to OpenObserve
If you're using Amazon CloudWatch for AWS infrastructure metrics and dashboards and want to move to OpenObserve, this guide walks you through the migration. The OpenObserve Dashboard Migrator converts CloudWatch dashboards into OpenObserve dashboards automatically, and CloudWatch Metric Streams carry the underlying data across.
Migrating CloudWatch has two parts:
- The data — stream CloudWatch metrics into OpenObserve using CloudWatch Metric Streams → Kinesis Data Firehose (JSON or OpenTelemetry 1.0 output format). The metrics land in a logs stream with a fixed column shape (namespace, metric name, dimensions, sum/count/min/max).
- The dashboards — convert your CloudWatch dashboards into OpenObserve dashboards with the Dashboard Migrator, which turns each metric widget into a SQL query over that stream.
Table of Contents
- Overview — why migrate and what changes
- Migrating Dashboards — convert CloudWatch dashboards with the Dashboard Migrator
Why Migrate?
CloudWatch is convenient when you're already in AWS, but it bills per custom metric, per alarm, per dashboard, and per ingested log GB, and it keeps metrics for a limited retention window. As your footprint grows, the cost and the operational opacity both climb.
OpenObserve stores the same metrics as Apache Parquet on object storage (up to 140x more efficient), keeps data as long as you want, and lets you query metrics, logs, and traces in one place with SQL.
What OpenObserve Changes
| CloudWatch | OpenObserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per custom metric, alarm, dashboard, log GB | Storage + compute only |
| Storage backend | AWS-managed, fixed retention | Apache Parquet on S3 / GCS / Azure Blob / local disk |
| Query language | CloudWatch Metrics Insights / Logs Insights | SQL |
| Dashboards | CloudWatch dashboard JSON | OpenObserve dashboard builder |
| Cross-signal correlation | Separate consoles for metrics vs. logs | Unified logs, metrics, traces in one UI |
| Lock-in | AWS-specific formats | Open standards; data lives in your bucket |
How CloudWatch metrics reach OpenObserve
CloudWatch metrics are ingested into OpenObserve as a logs stream via a CloudWatch Metric Stream:
CloudWatch → Kinesis Data Firehose (JSON or OpenTelemetry 1.0 format) → OpenObserveIn OpenObserve, go to Data > Data sources > Custom > Metrics > AWS CloudWatch Metrics to copy the Firehose HTTP Endpoint (/aws/<org>/cloudwatch_metrics/_kinesis_firehose) and the access key. The data lands in the logs stream cloudwatch_metrics.
OpenObserve flattens each metric data point into a row with these columns:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
namespace | The CloudWatch namespace (e.g., AWS/EC2) |
metric_name | The metric name (e.g., CPUUtilization) |
metric_dimensions | All dimensions in one string, e.g. InstanceId=["i-0abc123"] |
metric_stream_name, account_id, region | Where the metric came from |
unit | The metric unit |
sum, count, min, max | Aggregated sample values over the period |
_timestamp | The sample time |
See the OpenObserve ingestion docs for the Firehose setup.
Before You Start
- Export your dashboards: note which CloudWatch dashboards you actually use, and export them via the AWS API (
get-dashboard) or the migrator's "browse from AWS" option. - Confirm the metric stream: make sure your CloudWatch Metric Stream → Firehose → OpenObserve pipeline is running before you migrate dashboards, so the queries have data to validate against.
Set Up OpenObserve
Before migrating, get OpenObserve running:
Sign up at cloud.openobserve.ai. No infrastructure to manage.
After logging in, go to Data > Data sources to find your ingestion credentials and endpoint URLs.
Download OpenObserve for your platform from the downloads page.
After installation, access the UI at http://localhost:5080 and go to Data > Data sources to find your ingestion credentials and ready-to-use configuration snippets.
Next Steps
- Migrating Dashboards — convert CloudWatch dashboards with the Dashboard Migrator
- OpenObserve Ingestion — stream CloudWatch metrics and other signals into OpenObserve
Need Help?
- Join our Community Slack
- Or Contact support
Migrating Dashboards & Visualizations
Convert Kibana saved-object exports into OpenObserve dashboards with the Dashboard Migrator. Lucene and KQL translate to SQL.
Migrating Dashboards
Convert AWS CloudWatch dashboards to OpenObserve with the Dashboard Migrator. Metric widgets become SQL over the metrics stream.