Logging calculators

Model ingestion + retention first, then add query/scan and metrics cardinality where it matters.

All calculators Guide: log costs Guide: metrics costs Methodology

A practical model

  1. Estimate GB/day ingested and retention days.
  2. Convert to GB-month stored and apply $/GB-month.
  3. Add scan/query cost if you run frequent or wide queries.
  4. For metrics, model active series (cardinality) and retention.

What spikes bills

  • High-cardinality labels (metrics) and noisy debug logs.
  • Wide queries that scan large time ranges or many log streams.
  • Incident retries that multiply log volume without increasing useful signal.

How to get your inputs

  • Ingestion GB/day: use log platform metrics or billing exports by log group.
  • Retention days: check policies for each log group or bucket.
  • Scan GB: query history or dashboards (range length x data scanned).
  • Metrics series: active series counts and cardinality reports.
12 logging tools
AWS CloudTrail Cost Calculator
Estimate CloudTrail-style event costs from event volume and per-100k pricing inputs.
API Gateway Access Log Cost Calculator
Estimate access log ingestion + retention cost from request volume and log size.
Log Ingestion Cost Calculator
Estimate monthly log ingestion cost from GB/day or from event rate and $/GB pricing.
Log Cost Calculator
Estimate total log costs: ingestion, storage, and scan/search.
Tiered Log Storage Cost Calculator (Hot + Archive)
Estimate log storage cost using a hot window plus an optional cold/archive tier.
CloudWatch Logs Cost Calculator
Estimate CloudWatch-style log costs: ingestion, retention storage, and optional Insights scans.
CloudWatch Logs Insights Cost Calculator
Estimate Logs Insights query scan cost from GB scanned per day and $/GB.
CloudWatch Metrics Cost Calculator
Estimate CloudWatch metrics cost from custom metrics, alarms, dashboards, and API requests.
AWS CloudWatch Alarms Cost Calculator
Estimate alarm-month charges from standard, high-resolution, and composite alarm counts.
Log Retention Storage Cost Calculator
Estimate retained log storage cost from GB/day, retention days, and $/GB-month pricing.
Log Search Scan Cost Calculator
Estimate monthly scan charges from GB scanned per day and $/GB pricing.
Metrics Time Series Cost Calculator
Estimate monthly metrics cost from active series and $ per series-month pricing.

Result interpretation

  • If ingestion dominates, focus on log volume controls before tuning pricing tiers.
  • If query costs dominate, add guardrails: shorter ranges, fewer streams, and sampled queries.
  • Retention changes often have a bigger impact than storage class tweaks.
  • Use a peak scenario; incident bursts and retries are the real cost multipliers.

Scenario planning

  • Baseline: average GB/day ingested and normal query frequency.
  • Peak: 2x-3x ingestion for incident months and wider query windows.
  • Retention shift: model shorter retention as a separate scenario.
  • Cardinality growth: add a growth rate for metrics series counts.

Validate after changes

  • Compare ingestion GB/day to billing usage types after policy changes.
  • Check retention policies for each log group or bucket.
  • Review query scan volume after dashboard or alert updates.
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