CloudWatch Metrics (Classic)

CloudWatch Metrics (Classic) uses the PutMetricData API and embedded metric format (EMF) for ingestion, and provides CloudWatch Metrics Insights (SQL-based queries) for analysis. Classic metrics support up to 30 dimensions per metric with per-metric-per-month pricing.

Use Classic metrics when you have existing integrations with the CloudWatch API, need compatibility with AWS service metrics that are not yet available in OpenTelemetry format, or prefer SQL-based querying with CloudWatch Metrics Insights.