LogTide vs Google Cloud Logging

Google Cloud Logging (formerly Stackdriver) is GCP’s native log management service. LogTide is a self-hosted, open-source alternative with built-in SIEM. Here’s how they compare.

Cost Comparison

Google Cloud Logging offers a generous 50 GiB/month free tier, but costs scale quickly beyond that.

Cloud Logging Pricing

Component	Cost
First 50 GiB/month	Free
Additional ingestion	$0.50/GiB
Log storage (30 days default)	Included with ingestion
Log storage (>30 days, Log Buckets)	$0.01/GiB/month
Log Analytics (BigQuery linked)	BigQuery pricing applies
Log Router sinks	Free (but destination costs apply)

Real-world example: A GCP-native SaaS ingesting 100 GiB/day:

• First 50 GiB free: -$0
• Remaining 2,950 GiB/month × $0.50 = $1,475/month
• Log Analytics: ~$200/month (BigQuery query costs)
• Total: ~$1,675/month ($20,100/year)

LogTide Pricing

Component	Cost
Software license	Free (AGPLv3)
GCE instance (n2-standard-8)	~$280/month
Persistent disk (2 TB SSD)	~$170/month
SIEM features	Included
Users	Unlimited

Same 100 GiB/day scenario on GCP infrastructure:

• Compute + storage: ~$450/month
• Total: ~$450/month ($5,400/year)

Savings: ~$14,700/year (73%)

When Cloud Logging Is Cheaper

If you’re under 50 GiB/month, Cloud Logging’s free tier wins. At exactly 50 GiB/month, you pay $0. LogTide would still require infrastructure costs.

Break-even point: ~80-100 GiB/month. Below that, Cloud Logging is cheaper or equivalent.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Cloud Logging	LogTide
Log ingestion	Yes (auto from GCP services)	Yes (HTTP + SDKs)
Full-text search	Logs Explorer	Yes (real-time)
Structured queries	Logging query language	SQL + Sigma rules
Real-time streaming	Log tailing	SSE (included)
Alert rules	Alerting policies	Built-in
Dashboards	Cloud Monitoring	SIEM dashboard
Sigma detection rules	No	Built-in
MITRE ATT&CK mapping	No	Included
Log Analytics	BigQuery-linked (extra cost)	Included
Log Router	Yes (sinks to GCS, BigQuery, Pub/Sub)	N/A
Error Reporting	Integrated	Roadmap
Self-hosted	No (GCP only)	Yes
Open source	No	AGPLv3

Where Cloud Logging Wins

Native GCP integration. Every GCP service — GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, App Engine — ships logs automatically. No agent, no configuration. It just works.

Free tier. 50 GiB/month free is generous for small projects. If you’re under this limit, Cloud Logging is effectively free.

Log Router. Cloud Logging’s Log Router lets you route logs to BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, or other projects. This is powerful for compliance archival and analytics.

Error Reporting. Integrated error grouping and alerting for application exceptions, directly from logs. No additional setup needed.

Audit logs. Cloud Audit Logs capture all GCP API calls automatically, providing a complete audit trail for compliance.

Where LogTide Wins

Cost at scale. Beyond the free tier, Cloud Logging charges $0.50/GiB. At 100+ GiB/day, LogTide saves 70-85% on log management costs.

Built-in SIEM. LogTide includes Sigma detection rules, MITRE ATT&CK mapping, and incident management at no extra cost. Cloud Logging has no native SIEM — you’d need Chronicle SIEM or a third-party solution.

Multi-cloud support. LogTide runs anywhere — AWS, GCP, Azure, on-premises. Cloud Logging is GCP-only. If you run multi-cloud, LogTide provides a single pane of glass.

No query costs. Cloud Logging queries are free in the Logs Explorer, but Log Analytics (BigQuery-linked) charges per query. LogTide queries are always unlimited.

Data sovereignty. Cloud Logging stores data in Google’s infrastructure. With LogTide, your logs stay in infrastructure you control, which matters for GDPR and data residency requirements.

No vendor lock-in. Your logs live in TimescaleDB or ClickHouse. Standard SQL, easy export, easy migration. Cloud Logging uses Google’s proprietary format.

When to Choose Cloud Logging

• You run exclusively on GCP
• Log volume is under 50 GiB/month (free tier)
• You need automatic GCP service log collection (Cloud Run, GKE)
• You want Log Router for complex routing (BigQuery analytics, GCS archival)
• Your team doesn’t want to manage log infrastructure

When to Choose LogTide

• Log volume exceeds 80 GiB/month (break-even point)
• You need SIEM capabilities without Chronicle costs
• You run multi-cloud or hybrid infrastructure
• Data residency requirements mandate self-hosting
• You want unlimited queries with no BigQuery charges
• You prefer open-source and no vendor lock-in

Migration Path

Step 1: Deploy LogTide on GCP

# Deploy LogTide on a GCE instance
gcloud compute instances create logtide \
  --machine-type=n2-standard-4 \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \
  --boot-disk-size=500GB

# Or use GKE
kubectl apply -f logtide-deployment.yaml

Step 2: Forward Logs via Pub/Sub

Use Cloud Logging’s Log Router to forward logs to LogTide via Pub/Sub:

# Create a Pub/Sub topic
gcloud pubsub topics create logtide-logs

# Create a Log Router sink
gcloud logging sinks create logtide-sink \
  pubsub.googleapis.com/projects/YOUR_PROJECT/topics/logtide-logs \
  --log-filter='resource.type="gce_instance" OR resource.type="gke_container"'

Then consume the Pub/Sub subscription and forward to LogTide’s API.

Step 3: Reduce Cloud Logging Retention

Once validated, reduce Cloud Logging retention to minimize costs:

# Set 1-day retention on specific log buckets
gcloud logging buckets update _Default \
  --location=global \
  --retention-days=1

Concept Mapping

Cloud Logging	LogTide	Notes
Project	Organization	Top-level grouping
Log name	Project + Service	Logical grouping
Logs Explorer	Search	Real-time search
Alerting Policy	Alert Rule	Similar functionality
Log Router Sink	N/A	Ship directly to LogTide
Log Analytics	SIEM Dashboard	No BigQuery costs
Error Reporting	Log-based alerts	Pattern matching
Audit Logs	Security Events	Manual capture required

---

Ready to reduce your GCP logging costs?

• Deploy LogTide - Free, open-source
• Kubernetes Integration - Run on GKE
• GDPR Compliance - Data sovereignty guide