diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
index 49d71b1399d..1cfc63aa3d7 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
@@ -147,13 +147,6 @@ func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) CallResource(ctx context.Context, req *backend.Call
 
 func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) QueryData(ctx context.Context, req *backend.QueryDataRequest) (*backend.QueryDataResponse, error) {
 	logger := logger.FromContext(ctx)
-	/*
-		Unlike many other data sources, with Cloudwatch Logs query requests don't receive the results as the response
-		to the query, but rather an ID is first returned. Following this, a client is expected to send requests along
-		with the ID until the status of the query is complete, receiving (possibly partial) results each time. For
-		queries made via dashboards and Explore, the logic of making these repeated queries is handled on the
-		frontend, but because alerts and expressions are executed on the backend the logic needs to be reimplemented here.
-	*/
 	q := req.Queries[0]
 	var model DataQueryJson
 	err := json.Unmarshal(q.JSON, &model)
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query.go
index d9949f3d7ac..5d6fbd08774 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query.go
@@ -14,14 +14,16 @@ import (
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models"
 )
 
-const (
-	alertMaxAttempts = 8
-	alertPollPeriod  = time.Second
-)
+const initialAlertPollPeriod = time.Second
 
 var executeSyncLogQuery = func(ctx context.Context, e *cloudWatchExecutor, req *backend.QueryDataRequest) (*backend.QueryDataResponse, error) {
 	resp := backend.NewQueryDataResponse()
 
+	instance, err := e.getInstance(ctx, req.PluginContext)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	for _, q := range req.Queries {
 		var logsQuery models.LogsQuery
 		err := json.Unmarshal(q.JSON, &logsQuery)
@@ -36,10 +38,6 @@ var executeSyncLogQuery = func(ctx context.Context, e *cloudWatchExecutor, req *
 
 		region := logsQuery.Region
 		if logsQuery.Region == "" || region == defaultRegion {
-			instance, err := e.getInstance(ctx, req.PluginContext)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
-			}
 			logsQuery.Region = instance.Settings.Region
 		}
 
@@ -48,7 +46,7 @@ var executeSyncLogQuery = func(ctx context.Context, e *cloudWatchExecutor, req *
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		getQueryResultsOutput, err := e.syncQuery(ctx, logsClient, q, logsQuery)
+		getQueryResultsOutput, err := e.syncQuery(ctx, logsClient, q, logsQuery, instance.Settings.LogsTimeout.Duration)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -82,7 +80,7 @@ var executeSyncLogQuery = func(ctx context.Context, e *cloudWatchExecutor, req *
 }
 
 func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) syncQuery(ctx context.Context, logsClient cloudwatchlogsiface.CloudWatchLogsAPI,
-	queryContext backend.DataQuery, logsQuery models.LogsQuery) (*cloudwatchlogs.GetQueryResultsOutput, error) {
+	queryContext backend.DataQuery, logsQuery models.LogsQuery, logsTimeout time.Duration) (*cloudwatchlogs.GetQueryResultsOutput, error) {
 	startQueryOutput, err := e.executeStartQuery(ctx, logsClient, logsQuery, queryContext.TimeRange)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -95,7 +93,15 @@ func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) syncQuery(ctx context.Context, logsClient cloudwatc
 		QueryId: *startQueryOutput.QueryId,
 	}
 
-	ticker := time.NewTicker(alertPollPeriod)
+	/*
+		Unlike many other data sources, with Cloudwatch Logs query requests don't receive the results as the response
+		to the query, but rather an ID is first returned. Following this, a client is expected to send requests along
+		with the ID until the status of the query is complete, receiving (possibly partial) results each time. For
+		queries made via dashboards and Explore, the logic of making these repeated queries is handled on the
+		frontend, but because alerts and expressions are executed on the backend the logic needs to be reimplemented here.
+	*/
+
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(initialAlertPollPeriod)
 	defer ticker.Stop()
 
 	attemptCount := 1
@@ -107,8 +113,8 @@ func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) syncQuery(ctx context.Context, logsClient cloudwatc
 		if isTerminated(*res.Status) {
 			return res, err
 		}
-		if attemptCount >= alertMaxAttempts {
-			return res, fmt.Errorf("fetching of query results exceeded max number of attempts")
+		if time.Duration(attemptCount)*time.Second >= logsTimeout {
+			return res, fmt.Errorf("time to fetch query results exceeded logs timeout")
 		}
 
 		attemptCount++
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query_test.go
index 53cae18516a..e43b616f386 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/log_sync_query_test.go
@@ -307,4 +307,33 @@ func Test_executeSyncLogQuery_handles_RefId_from_input_queries(t *testing.T) {
 		require.True(t, ok)
 		assert.Equal(t, []*data.Field{expectedLogFieldFromSecondCall}, respB.Frames[0].Fields)
 	})
+	t.Run("when logsTimeout setting is defined, the polling period will be set to that variable", func(t *testing.T) {
+		cli = &mockLogsSyncClient{}
+		cli.On("StartQueryWithContext", mock.Anything, mock.Anything, mock.Anything).Return(&cloudwatchlogs.StartQueryOutput{
+			QueryId: aws.String("abcd-efgh-ijkl-mnop"),
+		}, nil)
+		cli.On("GetQueryResultsWithContext", mock.Anything, mock.Anything, mock.Anything).Return(&cloudwatchlogs.GetQueryResultsOutput{Status: aws.String("Running")}, nil)
+		im := datasource.NewInstanceManager(func(s backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings) (instancemgmt.Instance, error) {
+			return DataSource{Settings: models.CloudWatchSettings{LogsTimeout: models.Duration{Duration: time.Millisecond}}}, nil
+		})
+
+		executor := newExecutor(im, newTestConfig(), &fakeSessionCache{}, featuremgmt.WithFeatures())
+
+		_, err := executor.QueryData(context.Background(), &backend.QueryDataRequest{
+			Headers:       map[string]string{ngalertmodels.FromAlertHeaderName: "some value"},
+			PluginContext: backend.PluginContext{DataSourceInstanceSettings: &backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{}},
+			Queries: []backend.DataQuery{
+				{
+					RefID:     "A",
+					TimeRange: backend.TimeRange{From: time.Unix(0, 0), To: time.Unix(1, 0)},
+					JSON: json.RawMessage(`{
+                        "queryMode":    "Logs",
+                        "expression": "query string for A"
+                    }`),
+				},
+			},
+		})
+		assert.Error(t, err)
+		cli.AssertNumberOfCalls(t, "GetQueryResultsWithContext", 1)
+	})
 }
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings.go
index e02ea2f2c4a..99ab194fcbb 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings.go
@@ -3,15 +3,20 @@ package models
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-aws-sdk/pkg/awsds"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
 )
 
+type Duration struct {
+	time.Duration
+}
 type CloudWatchSettings struct {
 	awsds.AWSDatasourceSettings
-	Namespace               string `json:"customMetricsNamespaces"`
-	SecureSocksProxyEnabled bool   `json:"enableSecureSocksProxy"` // this can be removed when https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/39089 is implemented
+	Namespace               string   `json:"customMetricsNamespaces"`
+	SecureSocksProxyEnabled bool     `json:"enableSecureSocksProxy"` // this can be removed when https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/39089 is implemented
+	LogsTimeout             Duration `json:"logsTimeout"`
 }
 
 func LoadCloudWatchSettings(config backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings) (CloudWatchSettings, error) {
@@ -30,8 +35,38 @@ func LoadCloudWatchSettings(config backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings) (CloudWat
 		instance.Profile = config.Database
 	}
 
+	// logs timeout default is 30 minutes, the same as timeout in frontend logs query
+	// note: for alerting queries, the context will be cancelled before that unless evaluation_timeout_seconds in defaults.ini is increased (default: 30s)
+	if instance.LogsTimeout.Duration == 0 {
+		instance.LogsTimeout = Duration{30 * time.Minute}
+	}
+
 	instance.AccessKey = config.DecryptedSecureJSONData["accessKey"]
 	instance.SecretKey = config.DecryptedSecureJSONData["secretKey"]
 
 	return instance, nil
 }
+
+func (duration *Duration) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	var unmarshalledJson interface{}
+
+	err := json.Unmarshal(b, &unmarshalledJson)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	switch value := unmarshalledJson.(type) {
+	case float64:
+		*duration = Duration{time.Duration(value)}
+	case string:
+		dur, err := time.ParseDuration(value)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		*duration = Duration{dur}
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid duration: %#v", unmarshalledJson)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings_test.go
index 55ea1ddac59..5b011b0e491 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/settings_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package models
 
 import (
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-aws-sdk/pkg/awsds"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
@@ -10,6 +11,24 @@ import (
 )
 
 func Test_Settings_LoadCloudWatchSettings(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("Should return error for invalid json", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": fluffles^.^,
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": "10m"
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		_, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+
+		assert.Error(t, err)
+	})
 	t.Run("Should parse keys query type", func(t *testing.T) {
 		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
 			ID: 33,
@@ -71,4 +90,109 @@ func Test_Settings_LoadCloudWatchSettings(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY", s.SecretKey)
 		assert.Equal(t, "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", s.AccessKey)
 	})
+	t.Run("Should set logsTimeout to default duration if it is not defined", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana"
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		s, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, time.Minute*30, s.LogsTimeout.Duration)
+	})
+	t.Run("Should correctly parse logsTimeout duration string", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": "10m"
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		s, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, time.Minute*10, s.LogsTimeout.Duration)
+	})
+	t.Run("Should correctly parse logsTimeout string with float number", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": "1.5s"
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		s, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, time.Duration(1500000000), s.LogsTimeout.Duration)
+	})
+	t.Run("Should correctly parse logsTimeout duration in nanoseconds", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": 1500000000
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		s, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, 1500*time.Millisecond, s.LogsTimeout.Duration)
+	})
+	t.Run("Should throw error if logsTimeout is an invalid duration format", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": "10mm"
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		_, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.Error(t, err)
+	})
+	t.Run("Should throw error if logsTimeout is an invalid type", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+			ID: 33,
+			JSONData: []byte(`{
+			"authType": "arn",
+			"assumeRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/grafana",
+			"logsTimeout": true
+		  }`),
+			DecryptedSecureJSONData: map[string]string{
+				"accessKey": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
+				"secretKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
+			},
+		}
+
+		_, err := LoadCloudWatchSettings(settings)
+		require.Error(t, err)
+	})
 }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/ConfigEditor.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/ConfigEditor.tsx
index 55861707828..0263c9117c2 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/ConfigEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/ConfigEditor.tsx
@@ -74,9 +74,9 @@ export const ConfigEditor = (props: Props) => {
       <h3 className="page-heading">CloudWatch Logs</h3>
       <div className="gf-form-group">
         <InlineField
-          label="Retry Timeout"
+          label="Query Result Timeout"
           labelWidth={28}
-          tooltip='Cloudwatch Logs allows for a maximum of 30 concurrent queries. If Grafana hits a concurrent max query error from Cloudwatch Logs it will auto-retry requesting a query for up to 30min. This retry timeout strategy is configurable. Must be a valid duration string, such as "15m" "30s" "2000ms" etc.'
+          tooltip='Grafana will poll for Cloudwatch Logs query results every second until Done status is returned from AWS or timeout is exceeded, in which case Grafana will return an error. The default period is 30 minutes. Note: For Alerting, the timeout defined in the config file will take precedence. Must be a valid duration string, such as "15m" "30s" "2000ms" etc.'
           invalid={Boolean(logsTimeoutError)}
         >
           <Input