AWS CloudTrail
The facts below are what the maker publishes about AWS CloudTrail, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From AWS CloudTrail's own pricing page, checked 7 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Event history | Free | 90-day management event history · view, search, and download |
| Trail management events | $2 a month | Deliver additional copies of management events to Amazon S3 · The first copy of management events is free |
| Trail data events | $0.10 a month | Deliver data events to Amazon S3 |
| Trail data event aggregation | $0.03 a month | Deliver five-minute summaries of data events · Charged in addition to data event charges |
| Trail network activity events | $0.10 a month | Deliver network activity events to Amazon S3 |
| CloudWatch Logs delivery | $0.25 a month | Deliver management and data events to a CloudWatch Logs group · CloudWatch Logs ingestion fees also apply |
| CloudTrail Lake one-year extendable retention | $0.75 a month | 366 days default retention · 3,653 days maximum retention · For CloudTrail management, data, and network activity events |
| CloudTrail Lake seven-year retention | $2.50 a month | 2,557 days retention · First 5 TB per month; tiered rates apply above 5 TB |
| First trail copy | Free | One copy of ongoing management events delivered to S3 |
| CloudTrail Lake trial | Free | Up to 5 GB ingested · up to 5 GB scanned · data retention at no additional cost · no longer open to new customers starting May 31, 2026 · 30 days or until free usage limits are reached, whichever comes first |
The facts
Each one read from AWS CloudTrail's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Archive export
- Yeschecked 20 Sep 2026
- AWS support
- The CloudTrail page links to AWS support options and expert assistance for getting started.checked 7 Oct 2026
- CloudTrail Lake
- CloudTrail Lake supports SQL queries, AI-powered natural-language query generation, and query-result summaries currently marked as in preview.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Compliance use
- AWS says CloudTrail logs can help demonstrate compliance with regulations such as SOC, PCI, and HIPAA.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Deployment options
- cloudchecked 20 Sep 2026
- Event aggregation
- Data event aggregation consolidates events into five-minute summaries with trends such as access frequency, error rates, and most-used actions.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Event history
- Event history is enabled on all AWS accounts and provides a searchable, downloadable, immutable record of the past 90 days of management events in an AWS Region.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Event types
- CloudTrail records management, data, network activity, and Insights events.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- AWS describes CloudTrail Lake as useful for IT auditors, security administrators, and DevOps engineers handling audit requirements, policy checks, and operational troubleshooting.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Lake availability limit
- CloudTrail Lake will no longer be open to new customers starting May 31, 2026; AWS points to Amazon CloudWatch for similar capabilities.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Live log tailing
- Nochecked 20 Sep 2026
- Log integrity and encryption
- CloudTrail can validate whether delivered log files were changed or deleted, and encrypts files in S3 by default with server-side encryption, with AWS KMS encryption available as an additional option.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Log pipelines
- Nochecked 20 Sep 2026
- Multi-account
- Trails can capture and store events from multiple AWS accounts using AWS Organizations.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Non-AWS sources
- CloudTrail Lake can consolidate events from other cloud providers, in-house applications, and SaaS applications running in the cloud or on premises.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- CloudTrail tracks user activity and API calls across AWS services for auditing, security monitoring, and operational troubleshooting.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Structured log parsing
- Yeschecked 20 Sep 2026
- Trails and integrations
- Trails deliver activity events to Amazon S3, with optional delivery to CloudWatch Logs and Amazon EventBridge, and logs can be analyzed with Amazon Athena.checked 7 Oct 2026
Money
- Free plan
- Yeschecked 20 Sep 2026
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