Configure your estimate
Use platform pricing, data volume, retention, and labor assumptions to model a realistic monthly and annual monitoring budget.
Example data table
| Input or output | Example value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Hosts | 25 | Sets the scale for metrics, logs, and traces. |
| Metrics per host | 1,800 | Drives time-series billing for infrastructure visibility. |
| Log volume per host | 1.8 GB/day | Captures ingest-heavy workloads like web access and app logs. |
| Trace volume per host | 0.6 GB/day | Reflects distributed tracing for services and APIs. |
| Synthetic checks | 30 every 5 minutes | Models uptime and transaction monitoring coverage. |
| Estimated monthly total | Use calculator result | Combines platform, usage, retention, alerts, and labor. |
Formula used
Metric cost = (Hosts × Metrics per host ÷ 1,000) × Cost per 1,000 metrics
Log cost = Hosts × Log GB per day × 30 × Cost per log GB
Trace cost = Hosts × Trace GB per day × 30 × Cost per trace GB
Monthly check runs = Synthetic checks × (43,200 ÷ Check interval in minutes)
Synthetic cost = (Monthly check runs ÷ 10,000) × Cost per 10,000 checks
Extra retention days = Actual retention days − Included retention days
Retained data GB-month = (Monthly logs + Monthly traces) × (Extra retention days ÷ 30)
Storage cost = Retained data GB-month × Storage cost per GB-month
Labor cost = Team members × Admin hours per member × Hourly rate
Subtotal = Base fee + Metrics + Logs + Traces + Synthetic + Alerting + Storage + Labor
Final monthly cost = (Subtotal − Discount) + Contingency
This model uses a 30-day month to keep pricing comparisons consistent across vendors and scenarios.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the number of hosts or instances your team monitors each month.
- Add the average metrics, logs, and traces generated per host.
- Fill in vendor pricing for data ingest, synthetic checks, alert rules, notifications, storage, and base fees.
- Set included and actual retention days to account for long-term storage costs.
- Include labor inputs to capture real administration effort, not only vendor charges.
- Optionally add your monthly cloud bill to measure how large observability spend is relative to hosting.
- Press Calculate Cost to show results above the form, then export them as CSV or PDF if needed.
Frequently asked questions
1. What does this calculator estimate?
It estimates monthly and annual monitoring spend using platform fees, ingest pricing, retention, synthetic checks, alerting, and internal labor effort.
2. Why include labor cost?
Many teams underestimate observability spend by ignoring tuning, dashboard design, agent maintenance, and incident workflow upkeep. Labor reveals the true operating cost.
3. Can I use vendor-specific pricing?
Yes. Replace the default unit prices with quotes from your provider. The calculator stays useful even when pricing is based on custom contracts.
4. How is retention handled?
Only retention above your included plan is priced as added storage. This helps isolate the premium paid for longer log and trace history.
5. What if my data volume spikes?
Use the contingency field to buffer for burst traffic, new services, or temporary incident surges. It keeps your budget estimate more realistic.
6. Does this work for self-hosted monitoring?
Yes. Enter your storage, alerting, and labor assumptions while setting platform fees to match licenses, support, or infrastructure overhead.
7. Why compare against the cloud bill?
That ratio shows whether observability remains proportional to infrastructure spending. It helps teams explain tool budgets to finance and leadership.
8. What export options are included?
When results are available, you can download a CSV for spreadsheets or a PDF summary for procurement reviews, budget meetings, and documentation.