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AWS changed the pricing for Lambda logs delivered to CloudWatch Logs on May 1, 2025. They now use volume-tiered vended-log pricing, and the change applied automatically to existing and new functions. In US East (N. Virginia), the published Standard rate starts at $0.50 per GB for the first 10 TB of monthly vended-log volume, but your total bill also depends on Region, storage, queries, retention, and any alternate destination.
Pricing details checked against AWS documentation as of August 18, 2026.
What changed in Lambda log pricing?
Before May 1, 2025, Lambda logs delivered to CloudWatch Logs Standard were billed at the prior flat-rate ingestion price. AWS moved them to the volume-tiered pricing used for vended logs. The new pricing took effect immediately on the announcement date, and existing functions did not need a code or configuration change. CloudWatch Logs remains Lambda’s default destination. AWS announced the change on May 1, 2025.
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| Item | Before May 1, 2025 | From May 1, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| CloudWatch Logs Standard ingestion | Flat-rate ingestion pricing | Volume-tiered vended-log pricing |
| Existing Lambda functions | No migration action | Covered automatically |
| Lambda code or configuration | No change required | No change required for the pricing update |
| Other Lambda log destinations | CloudWatch Logs was the normal default | CloudWatch remains the default; S3 and Firehose are also supported |
This is a change to log delivery and ingestion pricing, not a reduction in Lambda invocation, duration, memory, or provisioned-concurrency charges. AWS says there is no separate Lambda log charge; standard CloudWatch Logs charges apply to logs sent there. Lambda’s CloudWatch Logs documentation explains the default integration.
What are the published CloudWatch rates?
AWS’s published rates for Lambda vended logs in US East (N. Virginia) are shown below. They are regional prices, not a global rate card; select your Region on the CloudWatch pricing page before estimating your own bill.
CloudWatch Logs Standard
| Monthly vended-log volume tier | Price per GB in US East (N. Virginia) |
|---|---|
| First 10 TB | $0.50 |
| Next 20 TB | $0.25 |
| Next 20 TB | $0.10 |
| Over 50 TB | $0.05 |
CloudWatch Logs Infrequent Access
| Monthly vended-log volume tier | Price per GB in US East (N. Virginia) |
|---|---|
| First 10 TB | $0.25 |
| Next 20 TB | $0.15 |
| Next 20 TB | $0.075 |
| Over 50 TB | $0.05 |
The tiers are progressive: a lower rate on a higher tier applies to the volume in that tier, not retroactively to every GB delivered that month. AWS’s pricing example uses 1 TB = 1,024 GB. For illustration, AWS’s May 2025 announcement estimated that 60 TB per month in US East (N. Virginia) would cost $12,500 under the new tiered pricing, compared with $30,000 under the previous flat-rate estimate—an approximate 58% reduction in that example. It is AWS’s example, not a forecast for every customer; Region, log class, consolidated volume, and separate costs all affect an actual bill. AWS Compute Blog.
How is vended-log volume counted?
The volume tiers are based on consolidated eligible vended-log ingestion, not a separate schedule for every Lambda function. Other supported vended-log sources can contribute to that volume, so an organization’s high-volume rate may reflect more than one function or service. A small Lambda workload will generally stay within the first tier; a large organization may reach lower marginal rates, but those rates are not necessarily attributable to one application.
For cost allocation, examine billing dimensions and usage at the account, Region, log-group, or other available level rather than assuming the consolidated tier describes one team’s standalone cost. AWS identifies sources such as VPC Flow Logs and Route 53 Resolver query logs among other vended logs. See the CloudWatch pricing details and AWS Compute Blog.
Which CloudWatch log class fits your Lambda logs?
Standard and Infrequent Access mainly differ in ingestion pricing and feature availability. AWS says their storage and CloudWatch Logs Insights charges are the same, so the lower Infrequent Access ingestion rate does not by itself guarantee a lower total bill. Check the current CloudWatch Logs feature comparison before changing a log group’s class.
| Class | Typical fit | Trade-off to check |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Frequent investigation, operational monitoring, or workflows that rely on the broadest CloudWatch Logs feature set | Higher ingestion price than Infrequent Access at the listed tiers; storage and query charges still apply |
| Infrequent Access | Logs kept mainly for audit, compliance, or occasional forensic analysis | Reduced feature set compared with Standard; confirm that your alerting, subscriptions, queries, and operational workflows are supported |
Infrequent Access supports managed ingestion and storage, cross-account log analytics, encryption, and Logs Insights, but it is not a full-featured replacement for Standard. Do not move every Lambda log group to Infrequent Access without validating the feature matrix against the way your team uses those logs.
How do CloudWatch, S3, and Firehose compare?
Lambda’s default destination is CloudWatch Logs, but Lambda also supports Amazon S3 and Amazon Data Firehose. Choose based on how logs will be used, not on the delivery rate alone. S3 and Firehose delivery use CloudWatch Logs’ Delivery class, which does not provide Standard-class features such as Logs Insights and Live Tail. Lambda’s logging guide covers destination options.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches| Destination | Best fit | Main advantage | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| CloudWatch Logs Standard | Active operations and frequent troubleshooting | Native CloudWatch investigation and operational features, including Live Tail | Ingestion, storage, and query costs all matter |
| CloudWatch Logs Infrequent Access | Low-frequency access and occasional investigation | Lower listed ingestion rates than Standard | Reduced feature set; validate required workflows |
| S3 | Archive, long retention, or a data lake | Object-based storage and downstream analytics options | Delivery, storage, requests, retrieval or lifecycle costs, and query tooling must be modeled |
| Firehose | Managed streaming to OpenSearch, HTTP endpoints, or observability vendors | Managed buffering and delivery without building a custom forwarder | Firehose processing and destination charges are additional cost components |
S3 is not automatically cheaper: AWS delivery charges can still apply, and the comparison must include S3 storage, requests, retrieval or lifecycle transitions, and analytics tools such as Athena or OpenSearch. Firehose likewise adds its own processing and destination economics. AWS notes that CloudWatch delivery charges apply for direct S3 or Firehose delivery; it identifies regional S3 egress-related billing dimensions for S3 and Firehose egress-related dimensions for Firehose. See CloudWatch guidance for enabling logging from AWS services.
What costs remain beyond ingestion?
Tiered delivery pricing changes only one part of the cost picture. Review each applicable component separately:
- Delivery or ingestion: the vended-log rate for your Region, class, and applicable volume tier.
- CloudWatch storage: affected by how long log data is retained.
- CloudWatch Logs Insights: query charges remain separate from ingestion.
- Live Tail: usage may add cost where applicable.
- Transfer and delivery: charges may apply according to the destination and regional billing dimensions.
- S3: storage, requests, retrieval, and lifecycle transitions can affect cost.
- Firehose: processing and delivery charges apply in addition to destination costs.
- External observability: a third-party platform may charge under its own pricing model.
- Ancillary services: customer-managed KMS keys or additional processing may add charges in architectures that use them.
CloudWatch’s pricing examples and billing details are available on the pricing page and in CloudWatch Logs billing details. For a multi-service estimate, the AWS Pricing Calculator can help model assumptions, but actual usage should be checked against billing data.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can you inspect and control Lambda logging?
Review the function’s current logging configuration
- Open the Lambda console and select the function.
- Choose Configuration, then Monitoring and operations tools.
- Under Logging configuration, choose Edit.
- Review the log format, log level, log destination, and log group; also check the log group’s retention setting in CloudWatch Logs.
Most Lambda functions send logs to a group named /aws/lambda/<function-name> when the execution role has the required permissions. Common permissions are logs:CreateLogGroup, logs:CreateLogStream, and logs:PutLogEvents; AWS provides the managed policy arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole. See Sending Lambda function logs to CloudWatch Logs.
Set a custom log group when needed
You can set a custom group through the CLI:
aws lambda update-function-configuration
--function-name myFunction
--logging-config LogGroup=myLogGroupA custom log group must follow CloudWatch Logs naming rules and must not begin with aws/. The CLI command does not grant the execution role new permissions; if necessary, update the role so Lambda can write to the group. AWS notes that the console may add required permissions under certain conditions. See Configuring CloudWatch log groups.
Reduce unnecessary log volume
Use structured logging and suitable log-level filtering to avoid sending verbose details, oversized payloads, or repeated messages when they are not needed in production. AWS describes these controls in its Lambda logging guide. For many small and medium workloads, reducing avoidable log volume can matter more than optimizing which tier a relatively small stream reaches.
Common billing and configuration traps
- Applying a regional rate everywhere: the tables above are for US East (N. Virginia); check the pricing page for your Region.
- Applying the last tier to all monthly data: the tiers are progressive, so earlier volume remains charged in earlier tiers.
- Confusing delivery with total cost: ingestion does not include all storage, query, Live Tail, destination, transfer, or third-party expenses.
- Expecting Standard features from an S3 or Firehose route: the Delivery class does not provide Standard-class Logs Insights and Live Tail features.
- Assuming an extension stops CloudWatch logging: Lambda continues sending logs to CloudWatch Logs even when an extension subscribes to log streams, according to the Lambda Logs API documentation.
- Misconfiguring IAM or cross-account delivery: custom groups and Firehose destinations need appropriate permissions; cross-account setups also need destination-side policies. See Lambda Firehose logging guidance and CloudWatch Logs V2 permissions.
Should you change your Lambda logging setup?
- Small or moderate log volume: keeping CloudWatch as the destination is usually the simplest approach unless you have a clear archive or external-platform requirement. Check actual volume and retention before changing architecture.
- High volume with frequent investigation: compare Standard’s tiered delivery cost with log filtering, structured logging, and the value of its operational features.
- High volume with infrequent access: evaluate Infrequent Access or S3, then confirm query, alerting, retention, and compliance requirements against the destination’s capabilities and full cost.
- External streaming requirement: consider Firehose when managed delivery justifies its added service and destination costs; configure the appropriate Delivery log group and permissions.
For any option, use measured log volume, retention duration, query frequency, and destination needs to build the estimate, then compare it with actual regional usage in billing tools.
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