Question 1

What is the difference between AccessLens and AWS CloudTrail?

Accepted Answer

AccessLens proactively analyzes IAM policies and trust relationships to find risks before they cause incidents. CloudTrail reactively logs API calls after they happen. AccessLens focuses on IAM configuration analysis, while CloudTrail focuses on audit logging.

Question 2

Can I use AccessLens and CloudTrail together?

Accepted Answer

Yes, they are complementary. Use CloudTrail for compliance audit trails and incident investigation, and AccessLens for proactive IAM security analysis and risk prevention.

Question 3

Does AccessLens replace CloudTrail?

Accepted Answer

No. CloudTrail provides essential audit logging that AccessLens does not replicate. AccessLens adds proactive IAM risk analysis, trust relationship visualization, and cross-account security insights that CloudTrail does not provide.

Feature	AccessLens	AWS CloudTrail
Primary Purpose	Proactive IAM risk analysis	Reactive audit logging
IAM Policy Analysis	Deep policy scanning & risk scoring	No policy analysis
Trust Relationship Visualization	Interactive graphs	Not available
Risk Detection	Before incidents occur	After actions are taken
Cross-Account Visibility	Unified dashboard	Per-account logs
Setup Complexity	5 minutes	Complex log aggregation
Cost	$29-49/account/month	$2+ per 100K events

AccessLens vs AWS CloudTrail

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