By default, Cloud Logging retains logs for 30 days. However, many organizations increase retention to 90 days, 365 days, or longer — even for non-critical logs such as debug-level messages, transient system logs, or audit logs in dev environments. This extended retention can lead to unnecessary costs, especially when: * Logs are never queried after the first few days * Observability tooling duplicates logs elsewhere (e.g., SIEM platforms) * Retention settings are applied globally without considering log type or project criticality