How to: New Higher Performance Core Fluent Bit Plugin
In the summer of 2020, we released a [new higher performance CloudWatch Logs plugin](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/cloudwatch) named `cloudwatch_logs`.

That plugin has a core subset of the features of this older, lower performance and less efficient plugin. Check out its [documentation](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/cloudwatch).

#### Do you plan to deprecate this older plugin?

At this time, we do not. This plugin will continue to be supported. It contains features that have not been ported to the higher performance version. Specifically, the feature for [templating of log group name and streams with ECS Metadata or values in the logs](#templating-log-group-and-stream-names). While [simple templating support](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/cloudwatch#log-stream-and-group-name-templating-using-record_accessor-syntax) now exists in the high performance plugin, it does not have all of the features of the plugin in this repo. Some users will continue to need the features in this repo. 

#### Which plugin should I use?

If the features of the higher performance plugin are sufficient for your use cases, please use it. It can achieve higher throughput and will consume less CPU and memory.

#### How can I migrate to the higher performance plugin?

It supports a subset of the options of this plugin. For many users, you can simply replace the plugin name `cloudwatch` with the new name `cloudwatch_logs`. Check out its [documentation](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/cloudwatch). 

#### Do you accept contributions to both plugins?

Yes. The high performance plugin is written in C, and this plugin is written in Golang. We understand that Go is an easier language for amateur contributors to write code in- that is a key reason why we are continuing to maintain it.

However, if you can write code in C, please consider contributing new features to the [higher performance plugin](https://github.com/fluent/fluent-bit/tree/master/plugins/out_cloudwatch_logs).