> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://stephen-tsoi.gitbook.io/stephen-tsoi-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://stephen-tsoi.gitbook.io/stephen-tsoi-docs/opentelemetry/from-missing-events-to-complete-visibility-tracing-enterprise-transactions-with-opentelemetry/day-7-34-control-your-trace-log-volume-and-size.md).
# Day 7/34 Control your Trace Log Volume and Size
After enabling OpenTelemetry, management, developers, and business users often share the same expectation:\
Log everything so incidents can be troubleshot quickly and easily.
What they may not realize is the significant challenge this creates—and eventually, the workaround everyone is forced to accept: cost.
Both infrastructure bandwidth and APM licensing fees can grow far beyond expectations.
Let’s put this into perspective.\
\*\*Assume one span log is \~3 KB\
\*\*The system handles 10,000 requests (traces) per second\
\*\*Each request flows through 5 systems\
\*\*One trace generates 20 OpenTelemetry spans\
That translates to \~585 MB of trace data per second, or more than 50 TB of trace logs per day. And this is only a baseline.
In reality, actual bandwidth usage and backend storage can be significantly higher, depending on system complexity, attributes, and metadata.
This is why controlling trace volume and data size from Day 1 is critical, rather than being forced to roll back your observability strategy once costs spiral out of control.
Some practical approaches:\
\*\*Prefer manual instrumentation over full auto‑instrumentation to better control what gets traced\
\*\*Use OpenTelemetry Collector filtering to remove unnecessary attributes\
\*\*Adopt a two‑tier collector architecture:\
\*\*Sample successful requests\
\*\*Retain 100% of failed traces\
\*\*Enable tracing only on critical paths, not every single service interaction\
\*\*Configure aggressive retention policies in the APM backend, e.g. purge successful traces after 30–60 minutes
Ultimately, trace volume control is a trade‑off. You can’t afford to put all of your budget into tracing and monitoring alone.
Be clear about what problems you want observability to solve—before you turn everything on.
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