Azure Log Analytics Costs Are Out of Control - Here's How We Cut Them by 60%

Azure Log Analytics costs often take up 20% or more of a cloud bill, even though most teams only check logs when something breaks.

Azure's default analytics logs are powerful, but they're also expensive and often unnecessary for day-to-day log inspection. Switching application logs to Basic Logs can reduce Log Analytics costs by up to 60%.

In this episode, Niels walks us through a real customer case where logging costs dropped by thousands per year. They explain the difference between Analytics, Basic, and Auxiliary logs, show when Basic Logs are sufficient, and discuss practical setups using Azure Container Insights and FluentBit. This includes building a custom FluentBit plugin in Go as well as real-world gotchas like missing short-lived pods and why dynamic credentials matter.