In Simple Log Service (SLS), each billable item is billed separately. For example, storing logs incurs storage fees, and collecting logs incurs write traffic fees. The following sections describe the billable items and payment methods of the pay-by-feature billing model.
Notes
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The pay-by-feature model of Log Service supports collecting logs and time series data. Separate pricing applies to storage space and index building for time series data. However, the data processing fee, data shipping fee, read/write traffic fee, and request count fee are the same as for logs.
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You can view metrics such as write traffic, read traffic, read/write count, data processing traffic, data shipping traffic, and storage usage for the previous day in the Log Service console.
These metrics are updated daily and are not available in real time.
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During log collection, Log Service automatically compresses log data to 10% to 20% of its original size.
What is an OCU?
Observability Capacity Unit (OCU) is the billing unit for Alibaba Cloud-native Observability. OCU usage is calculated automatically based on hourly resource consumption.
Billing for the compute-optimized features of SLS is transitioning to an OCU-based model that charges based on actual compute resource consumption. In CPU scenarios, one OCU is equivalent to approximately 0.5 CPU cores, 2 GB of memory, and 3,000 IOPS. SLS calculates separate OCU values based on the consumption of CPU cores, memory, and IOPS. The highest of these three values determines the final OCU count for billing.
In GPU scenarios, one OCU is equivalent to approximately 1/60 of the computing power of an A10 card. The final OCU value is based on the consumed GPU computing power.
For example, a computation job that consumes 1 CPU core, 2 GB of memory, and 3,000 IOPS uses 2 OCUs. In a one-hour metering period, processing 1 GB of data consumes approximately 1/3 of an OCU for an ingest processor, 1/3 of an OCU for data transformation, and 0.3 OCUs for rule-based consumption.
Billable items for pay-by-feature
The following sections describe the billable items for the pay-by-feature billing model. For detailed pricing, see Pricing.
Hot log storage
This item includes storage for compressed logs and for indexes created from uncompressed logs. The indexes can be a full-text index, field index, or scan index.
For example, assume that your raw logs are 1 GB in size. After you upload the logs to Log Service and configure indexes for two fields, the compression ratio is 20%, and the size of the index data for the two fields is 0.5 GB. In this case, the total storage size is calculated as 0.2 GB + 0.5 GB = 0.7 GB.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for hot storage size for log data = Daily cumulative storage (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
500 MB/month. This free quota is available only if you do not use a resource plan.
IA log storage
After you enable intelligent tiered storage, logs are automatically moved to IA storage (formerly cold storage) when their storage duration exceeds the configured Hot Data Retention Period. You are then charged for the IA storage space, which includes the storage for compressed logs and their indexes.
For example, assume that your raw logs are 1 GB in size. After you upload the logs to Log Service and configure indexes for two fields, the compression ratio is 20%, and the size of the index data for the two fields is 0.5 GB. In this case, the IA storage size is calculated as 0.2 GB + 0.5 GB = 0.7 GB.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for IA storage size for log data = Daily cumulative storage (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Archive log storage
After you enable intelligent tiered storage, logs are automatically moved to archive storage when their storage duration exceeds the configured Hot Data Retention Period or IA storage period. You are then charged for the archive storage space, which includes the storage for compressed logs and their indexes.
For example, assume that your raw logs are 1 GB in size. After you upload the logs to Log Service and configure indexes for two fields, the compression ratio is 20%, and the size of the index data for the two fields is 0.5 GB. In this case, the archive storage size is calculated as 0.2 GB + 0.5 GB = 0.7 GB.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for archive storage size for log data = Daily cumulative storage (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Time-series storage
This item includes storage for compressed time-series data and for indexes created from uncompressed time-series data.
For example, assume that your raw time-series data is 1 GB in size. After you upload the data to Log Service, an index of 1 GB is automatically created. If the compression ratio is 20%, the total storage size is 0.2 GB + 1 GB = 1.2 GB.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for time-series data storage size = Daily cumulative storage (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Read and write traffic
This item consists of write traffic and read traffic:
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Write traffic: Write traffic fees are based on the volume of compressed data uploaded to Log Service. For example, uploading 10 GB of raw data to Log Service generates 2 GB of write traffic, assuming a 20% compression ratio.
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Read traffic: Read traffic fees are based on the volume of compressed data that you consume or ship, for example, to AnalyticDB for MySQL. For example, uploading 10 GB of raw data to Log Service generates 2 GB of write traffic (at a 20% compression ratio). If you then use Log Service to ship the data to AnalyticDB for MySQL, an additional 2 GB of read traffic is generated.
The consumption preview feature in the Log Service console generates a small amount of read traffic.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for read and write traffic = (Daily cumulative write traffic + Daily cumulative read traffic) (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
500 MB/month. This free quota is available only if you do not use a resource plan.
Log index traffic (Standard LogStore)
Index traffic is calculated based on the size of index data that is generated when indexes are created or rebuilt for uncompressed logs. Indexes are created for specific fields. The amount of index traffic depends on the indexed fields and the length of their values.
For example:
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Writing 1 GB of raw logs to Log Service with a full-text index enabled generates 1 GB of index traffic.
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Writing 1 GB of raw logs to Log Service and enabling indexes for two fields that contain a total of 0.5 GB of data generates 0.5 GB of index traffic.
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Log indexing accelerates queries and analysis. To query and analyze logs, you must create an index. For other scenarios, such as migrating or transferring data by using Log Service, you do not need to create a log index.
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This billable item applies to Standard LogStores.
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Enabling indexing generates index traffic and consumes storage space.
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Index traffic incurs a one-time fee when data is written.
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If you create both a full-text index and a field index for a field, you are billed for index traffic only once.
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Log Service automatically creates indexes for reserved fields such as
__time__and__source__. This generates a small amount of index traffic. For more information, see Reserved fields.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for log index traffic = Daily cumulative index traffic (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
500 MB/month. This free quota is available only if you do not use a resource plan.
Log index traffic (Query LogStore)
Index traffic is calculated based on the size of index data that is generated when indexes are created or rebuilt for uncompressed logs. Indexes are created for specific fields. The amount of index traffic depends on the indexed fields and the length of their values.
For example:
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Writing 1 GB of raw logs to Log Service with a full-text index enabled generates 1 GB of index traffic.
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Writing 1 GB of raw logs to Log Service and enabling indexes for two fields that contain a total of 0.5 GB of data generates 0.5 GB of index traffic.
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Log indexing accelerates queries and analysis. To query and analyze logs, you must create an index. For other scenarios, such as migrating or transferring data by using Log Service, you do not need to create a log index.
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This billable item applies to Query LogStores.
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Enabling indexing generates index traffic and consumes storage space.
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Index traffic incurs a one-time fee when data is written.
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If you create both a full-text index and a field index for a field, you are billed for index traffic only once.
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Log Service automatically creates indexes for reserved fields such as
__time__and__source__. This generates a small amount of index traffic. For more information, see Reserved fields.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for log index traffic = Daily cumulative index traffic (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Scan index traffic
Index traffic is calculated based on the size of index data that is generated when a scan index is created or rebuilt for uncompressed logs. The amount of index traffic depends on the log fields and the length of their values. If a field has both a full-text index or field index and a scan index, only the traffic for the full-text index or field index is billed, and no scan index traffic is generated. Creating a scan index generates index storage data equal to 20% of the raw log size.
For example:
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Enabling only a scan index for 1 GB of raw logs generates 1 GB of scan index traffic. However, if a full-text index is also enabled, this scan index traffic is not billed.
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Enabling field indexes on fields that contain 0.5 GB of data generates 0.5 GB of field index traffic. If a scan index is also enabled for the same fields, no additional scan index traffic is billed.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for scan index traffic = Daily cumulative scan index traffic (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Not available
Free quota
None
Time-series index traffic
Index traffic is calculated based on the size of index data that is generated when an index is created for uncompressed time-series data. Indexes are created for specific fields. The amount of index traffic depends on the indexed fields and the length of their values. When you upload time-series data, Log Service automatically creates an index.
For example, writing 1 GB of raw time-series data to Log Service generates 1 GB of index traffic.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for time-series index traffic = Daily cumulative index traffic (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Public network read traffic
This traffic is generated when you pull data from a Log Service endpoint over the public internet. Traffic is calculated based on the compressed data size.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for public network read traffic = Daily cumulative public network read traffic × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Scan traffic
Scan traffic is calculated based on the amount of uncompressed data that is scanned.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Scan traffic fee = Daily cumulative scan traffic × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Data transformation
Data transformation fees are based on the amount of uncompressed data processed. Cross-region data processing generates public network read traffic, which is calculated based on the compressed data size.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for data transformation = Daily cumulative processed data size (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Data shipping
Data shipping fees are based on the amount of uncompressed data shipped to destinations such as OSS, MaxCompute, and AnalyticDB for MySQL.
Shipping data to AnalyticDB for MySQL involves API calls to read data, which generates fees for read and write requests and read traffic.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for data shipping = Daily cumulative shipped data size (GB) × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Read and write requests
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When you upload data to Log Service, fees are based on the number of write requests. The number of write requests depends on your data generation speed. Log Service minimizes the request count on the backend.
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When you transform data, ship data to AnalyticDB for MySQL, or consume data, the data is read in batches. You are charged based on the number of read requests.
You are charged for both successful and failed read and write requests.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for read and write requests = Daily cumulative read and write requests × Unit price per request
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
1 million requests/month. This free quota is available only if you do not use a resource plan.
Voice notifications
Alert notifications sent by voice call are charged per notification.
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If an alert voice call fails to connect, the system does not redial but sends a text message notification instead.
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Each attempted voice call is charged once, regardless of connection success. The subsequent text message for a failed call incurs no extra fee.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for voice notifications = Daily cumulative notifications × Unit price per notification
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
SMS notifications
Alert notifications sent by text message are charged per notification.
Carriers may split long text messages (for example, over 70 characters) into two separate messages. Although you might receive several messages, Log Service bills this as a single notification.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for SMS notifications = Daily cumulative notifications × Unit price per notification
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Active shards
Fees are based on the number of shards in the read/write state. Merged or split shards stop incurring fees the day after the operation.
For example, if you merge three read/write shards into a single shard, you are still charged for three shards on the day of the merge. On the next day, you are charged for one shard.
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When you create a LogStore, Log Service configures two shards by default. For more information about shard-related questions, see Why am I charged for active shards?.
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For historical reasons, the billable items for active shard leases in Logstores and Metricstores appear as two different fields on your bill: active shard lease and partition lease. The total shard usage is the sum of the usage for these two billable items, and there is no double-counting. This issue is being fixed.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for active shards = Number of read/write shards × Unit price per shard
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
31 shard-days/month. This free quota is available only if you do not use a resource plan.
Dedicated SQL
Fees are based on the actual CPU time consumed for SQL analysis. The billing unit is the core-hour, representing one CPU core running for one hour. For more information, see Billing examples.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for Dedicated SQL = CPU time (hours) × Unit price per hour
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resource plan: Fees are offset by a resource plan. Usage is deducted from the plan in Cost Unit (CU).
Free quota
None
Rule-based consumption
Fees are based on the resources consumed by the rule-based consumption job. The billing unit is OCU. In a 1-hour metering period, processing 1 GB of data using rule-based consumption consumes approximately 0.3 OCUs.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for rule-based consumption = Number of OCUs for consumed resources × Unit price per OCU
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resource plan: Not available
Free quota
None
Data transformation (new version)
Fees are based on the resources consumed by the data transformation (new version) job. The billing unit is OCU. In a 1-hour metering period, processing 1 GB of data using data transformation (new version) consumes approximately 1/3 of an OCU.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for data transformation (new version) = Number of OCUs for consumed resources × Unit price per OCU
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resource plan: Not available
Free quota
None
Transfer acceleration
Fees are calculated based on the inbound and outbound traffic generated through a transfer acceleration endpoint. Billing is based on the actual amount of data transferred. For data upload scenarios, if data is compressed, the traffic is calculated based on the compressed size. For more information, see Manage Projects.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for transfer acceleration = Inbound and outbound traffic from transfer acceleration × Unit price per GB
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resource plan: Not available
Free quota
None
Ingest processor
An ingest processor processes data such as filtering, field extraction, field extension, and data masking before the data is written to a LogStore. Fees are based on the data processing resources consumed.
In a 1-hour metering period, processing 1 GB of data using an ingest processor consumes approximately 1/3 of an OCU.
Billing methods
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pay-as-you-go: Fee for ingest processor = Number of OCUs for consumed resources × Unit price per OCU
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resource plan: Not available
Free quota
None