Suboptimal Storage for Logs

Yuval Goldstein

CER:

GCP-Other-8973

Service Category

Other

Cloud Provider

GCP

Service Name

GCP Cloud Logging

Inefficiency Type

Misaligned Storage Destination

Explanation

Many organizations retain all logs in Cloud Logging’s standard storage, even when the data is rarely queried or required only for audit or compliance. Logging buckets are priced for active access and are not optimized for low-frequency retrievas, results in unnecessary expense. Redirecting logs to BigQuery or Cloud Storage can provide better cost efficiency, particularly when coupled with lifecycle policies or table partitioning. Choosing the optimal storage destination based on access frequency and analytics needs is essential to control log retention costs.

Relevant Billing Model

. Exported logs incur costs in the target service — Logging buckets (per GB ingested/stored) Cloud Storage (per GiB stored and retrieved), BigQuery (per GiB stored and queried), or Pub/Sub (per GiB). Selecting the wrong destination or storage class can lead to higher-than-necessary long-term costs.

Detection

Review current log storage destinations and retention periods across projects and organizations
Identify logs stored in Cloud Logging buckets that have not been queried or accessed recently
Assess whether archival or analytical needs justify retention in Cloud Logging versus BigQuery or Cloud Storage *

Remediation

Redirect logs to cost-effective destinations such as BigQuery or Cloud Storage using sink.
Use BigQuery partitioning and clustering to reduce query and storage costs for analytical log data

Relevant Documentation

Submit Feedback