cost of "send Activity Log to Log Analytics Workspace"

Question

Does it mean it is free usually? because data ingestion and retention is said no charges in the following document.
If yes, is it free even if retention policy of Log Analytice Workspace set 730 days?

Send to Log Analytics workspace
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/essentials/activity-log?tabs=powershell#send-to-log-analytics-workspace
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Incur no data ingestion or retention charges for activity log data stored in a Log Analytics workspace.
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Answer 1

You can make feedback requests on most Microsoft Learn. To your point, Activity Logs are your default subscription/resource audit logs. They are created and stored for 90 days in a default container. Platform metrics are stored in a similar default container. Think of them like free hidden workspaces. Customers can choose to mirror Activity Logs and Metrics to a customer-managed workspace, blob storage, or event hub. This gives you the ability to manage the location, consolidate with other data, and to better manage access and retention.

Point being, Activity Logs are collected and stored for 90 days for free. There is no charge to mirror those logs to another storage location (there is no additional ingestion charge). But if the target workspace is set to retain the table for longer that 90 days, extended retention charges will apply.

Answer 2

There are comments under review on this confusing sentence in documentation (66802). Have a look at the highlighted points below:

activity-log

As the default duration is 90 days, If you cross the default duration, a cost is applicable
However, no data ingestion or retention charges for activity log data stored in a Log Analytics workspace up to 90 days

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Answer 3

Hi @Manu Philip
Thank you for the information.

I am still confused.
Is this description wrong too? I seem you say there is data ingestion charges if over 90 days.

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/azure-docs/issues/66802

the documentation I highlighted talks about both data ingestion and retention charges.
I know there won't be any data ingestion charges. But data retention charges will be there if activity log is retained for more than 90 days.
So, I think that one point should be updated in such a way that it clearly explains following points:

・No data ingestion charges for Activity log data stored in a Log Analytics workspace
・No data retention charges till 90 days for Activity log data stored in a Log Analytics workspace