AWS CloudWatch Observability Logging Costs

Introduction

AWS CloudWatch is Amazon Web Services’ integrated monitoring and observability platform, providing a comprehensive suite of tools for logging, monitoring, and event-driven automation. It plays a crucial role in helping organizations manage and analyze log data from their AWS infrastructure and applications. However, understanding the costs associated with AWS CloudWatch is essential for optimizing your logging strategy. This guide explores AWS CloudWatch’s pricing structure for log management, particularly for scenarios involving 100 GB and 1,000 GB of log data per day, with storage durations of 30 days in hot storage and 365 days in archival storage.

Understanding AWS CloudWatch’s Pricing Model

AWS CloudWatch’s pricing for log management is based on several key components:

- Data Ingestion: AWS CloudWatch charges $0.50 per GB of logs ingested into the system. The first 5 GB of logs ingested each month are free. However, beyond this limit, ingestion costs can accumulate rapidly, especially for large volumes of data.

- Retention: AWS CloudWatch includes free retention for up to 5 GB of log data. Beyond that, charges apply for storing logs, depending on the retention period and storage tier. Logs can be retained within CloudWatch Logs or archived to Amazon S3 for long-term storage at a lower cost.

- Archiving: After the initial 30 days, logs can be archived to S3, where they are stored at $0.023 per GB per month. This provides a cost-effective solution for long-term log retention.

- Query Costs: For logs stored within CloudWatch Logs, AWS charges $0.005 per GB of data scanned when using CloudWatch Logs Insights for querying. If logs are archived to S3, querying them using AWS Athena incurs an additional cost of $5 per TB of data scanned.

- Dashboard Costs: AWS charges $3.50 per month for each CloudWatch dashboard beyond the three free ones included.

Cost Breakdown for 100 GB/day

For organizations managing 100 GB of log data per day, here’s how the costs with AWS CloudWatch break down:

CloudWatch Logs

- Data Ingestion:

- 100 GB/day 30 days $0.50/GB = $1,500/month

- Retention (Within CloudWatch for 30 Days):

- 3,000 GB * $0.03/GB = $90/month

- Archiving to S3 (After 30 Days):

- 100 GB/day * 365 days = 36,500 GB/year

- S3 Standard Storage Cost: 36,500 GB * $0.023/GB = $839.50/month

- Querying Logs (Assuming 100x the ingested volume):

- Querying 10,000 GB/day 30 days $0.005/GB = $1,500/month

- Dashboard Costs (Assuming 5 dashboards):

- $3.50/dashboard/month * 2 dashboards = $7/month

- Total Monthly Cost (Ingestion + Retention + S3 Archiving + Querying + Dashboards):

- $1,500 + $90 + $839.50 + $1,500 + $7 = $3,936.50/month

- Total Annual Cost:

- $3,936.50/month * 12 months = $47,238/year

Cost Breakdown for 1,000 GB/day

For organizations managing 1,000 GB of log data per day:

CloudWatch Logs

- Data Ingestion:

- 1,000 GB/day 30 days $0.50/GB = $15,000/month

- Retention (Within CloudWatch for 30 Days):

- 30,000 GB * $0.03/GB = $900/month

- Archiving to S3 (After 30 Days):

- 1,000 GB/day * 365 days = 365,000 GB/year

- S3 Standard Storage Cost: 365,000 GB * $0.023/GB = $8,395/month

- Querying Logs (Assuming 100x the ingested volume):

- Querying 100,000 GB/day 30 days $0.005/GB = $15,000/month

- Dashboard Costs (Assuming 10 dashboards):

- $3.50/dashboard/month * 7 dashboards = $24.50/month

- Total Monthly Cost (Ingestion + Retention + S3 Archiving + Querying + Dashboards):

- $15,000 + $900 + $8,395 + $15,000 + $24.50 = $39,319.50/month

- Total Annual Cost:

- $39,319.50/month * 12 months = $471,834/year

Key Takeaways

- CloudWatch Logs:

- Cost-effective for ingestion but may become expensive with high volumes of data and frequent querying.

- Total Annual Cost for 100 GB/day: $47,238/year.

- Total Annual Cost for 1,000 GB/day: $471,834/year.

- S3 Archiving:

- Provides a lower-cost storage option for long-term retention.

- S3 Cost for 100 GB/day: $839.50/month.

- S3 Cost for 1,000 GB/day: $8,395/month.

- Querying Costs:

- Highly dependent on the volume of data scanned, with costs rising significantly for larger datasets.

- Query Cost for 100 GB/day: $1,500/month.

- Query Cost for 1,000 GB/day: $15,000/month.

- Dashboard Costs:

- Minimal impact unless a large number of dashboards are needed.

- Cost for 5 dashboards: $7/month.

- Cost for 10 dashboards: $24.50/month.

Conclusion

AWS CloudWatch offers a scalable and flexible approach to log management, making it a popular choice for organizations within the AWS ecosystem. However, the costs associated with CloudWatch can quickly escalate, particularly when dealing with large volumes of data, frequent queries, and multiple dashboards. For organizations handling 100 GB/day, the total annual cost for ingestion, retention, archiving, and querying is around $47,238, while for those managing 1,000 GB/day, the total cost is approximately $471,834/year.

To optimize costs while maintaining effective monitoring and log management, organizations should carefully evaluate their data retention policies, querying needs, and dashboard requirements. Balancing performance and budget is key to maximizing the benefits of AWS CloudWatch.

Disclaimer: Pricing mentioned is based on available data at the time of publication and may vary depending on factors such as discounts, regional pricing, and specific contract terms. For the most accurate and current pricing, please refer to the [AWS CloudWatch Pricing page](https://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/pricing/).