AWS bill line item
DataProcessing-Bytes
Charges for every byte of log data your applications, agents, or functions push into CloudWatch Logs.
CloudWatch Logs ingestion
Verified against official AWS documentation last checked
Why it shows up
Verbose application logging, debug-level log levels left on in production, or an agent shipping full request/response bodies inflates this line fast. It is metered per GB with no built-in cap, so one noisy service can dominate the entire CloudWatch bill.
Because it bills under the generic CloudWatch service line, teams often don't realize a single log group is responsible until they group Cost Explorer by both usage type and resource.
How to cut it
- Raise log levels in production and strip high-cardinality/debug fields before they hit stdout.
- Route noisy log groups through metric or subscription filters instead of ingesting everything at the standard rate.
- Move logs you rarely query to a cheaper, infrequent-access log class.
- Filter or sample at the source so only meaningful events are shipped at all.
$0.50 per GB ingested (Standard log class) — us-east-1, as of 2026-07
How to read a usage type
DataProcessing-Bytes carries no region or direction token, so there's nothing to break down here.
Source
Source: AWS docs →Found DataProcessing-Bytes on your own bill?
Drop your Cost Explorer CSV into the AWS Bill Analyzer. It'll flag line items like this one on your own bill and link straight back to the fix.
Analyze your own bill →The invoice is a lagging signal.
A monthly invoice tells you what already happened. CostMon builds a daily baseline, so a spike stands out while you can still act on it.