Log Volume

Free Log Volume calculator with clear step-by-step results.

About Log Volume

Log platforms are usually priced on raw ingest but store compressed data, so both figures matter. Events per second times event size gives raw daily volume, compression reduces what is stored, and multiplying by retention gives the steady-state footprint you actually pay to keep.

Formulas

Raw daily volume

GB = events per second x bytes per event x 86,400 / 10^9

Retained storage

GB = raw daily volume / compression ratio x retention days

Worked example

With the default values below, Log Volume returns Storage held at steady state of 168.48. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Log events per secondminimum 0: 800
Average event sizeminimum 1 B: 650 B
Compression ratioaccepts 1–50 :1: 8 :1
Retention periodaccepts 1–3,650 days: 30 days
Storage costminimum 0 $/GB/month: 0.023 $/GB/month

Results

Storage held at steady state: 168.48 GB
Raw log volume per day: 44.928 GB
Compressed volume per day: 5.616 GB
Monthly storage cost: $3.88

Step by step

1Values used
2Raw daily volume
3Retained storage
4Storage held at steady state= 168.48 GB
5Raw log volume per day= 44.928 GB
6Compressed volume per day= 5.616 GB
7Monthly storage cost= $3.88

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation or tax into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What compression ratio is realistic?

Structured JSON logs with repetitive fields commonly compress 8:1 to 12:1. Free-text logs with high entropy, or logs already containing base64 payloads, may only reach 3:1.

How do I reduce log cost?

Sample high-volume debug events, drop redundant fields at the agent, and tier older data to cheaper object storage. Cutting retention is usually the blunt last resort.