AWS Glossary
Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics
CloudWatch Synthetics runs canaries — scripted probes that periodically check URLs and multi-step journeys — for availability monitoring distinct from deploy canaries.
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Summary
CloudWatch Synthetics runs canaries — scripted probes that periodically check URLs and multi-step journeys — for availability monitoring distinct from deploy canaries.
Key Facts
- •CloudWatch Synthetics runs canaries — scripted probes that periodically check URLs and multi-step journeys — for availability monitoring distinct from deploy canaries
- •Use Synthetics to detect customer-visible outages even when infrastructure metrics look healthy
Entity Definitions
- CloudWatch
- CloudWatch is an AWS service relevant to amazon cloudwatch synthetics.
- Amazon CloudWatch
- Amazon CloudWatch is an AWS service relevant to amazon cloudwatch synthetics.
- VPC
- VPC is an AWS service relevant to amazon cloudwatch synthetics.
Related Content
- AWS MANAGED SERVICES— Related service
- DEVOPS PIPELINE SETUP— Related service
Definition
Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics runs canaries — scheduled scripts (heartbeat/API or browser) that probe endpoints and user journeys, emit success and latency metrics, and optionally store screenshots/HAR artifacts. Use Synthetics to detect customer-visible outages even when infrastructure metrics look healthy.
When to use it
- Tier-1 journey availability (login, checkout, critical API)
- External measurement to complement Application Signals backend SLOs
- SLA reporting that requires synthetic success ratios
When not to use it
- As a substitute for load testing
- High-frequency browser fleets without a cost owner
- Confused with deploy canaries (progressive delivery) — different concept
Tips
- Prefer API canaries when a full browser is unnecessary
- Page on SuccessPercent with owners/runbooks (monitoring vs alerting)
- Align canary journeys with Application Signals SLOs
Gotchas
Serious
- 1-minute intervals across many canaries dominate CloudWatch spend
- Private VPC misconfig causes false failures
Related FactualMinds content
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AWS Managed Services Provider (MSP) — 24/7 monitoring, patching, security, cost optimization, and incident response.
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CloudWatch Synthetics Canaries (2026): Production Guide for Journey Probes That Actually Page
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AWS Observability: Monitoring vs Alerting — Stop Paging on Green Dashboards
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Amazon CloudWatch Pricing: The 10 Billing Dimensions Behind Your Observability Bill
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CloudWatch RUM and Core Web Vitals (2026): When Real-User Data Beats Synthetics Alone
Synthetics prove a journey works from AWS; RUM shows what real browsers experience — LCP, CLS, INP. Sampling, privacy, cost, and when Application Signals still owns backend SLOs.
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