AWS CloudWatch offers two tiers: Free and Paid. There are no upfront or commitment fees for either tier, and the Free tier is a part of the AWS Free Tier that allows users to explore over 85 AWS products for free.

CloudWatch Free Tier

The Amazon CloudWatch Free Tier is an "Always-free" service that includes the following features:

• 10 unique metrics
• 10 alarms
• 1,000,000 API requests
• Ingestion of 5 GB of log data and archiving of 5 GB of log data
• 3 dashboards every month, each with up to 50 metrics

The Free Tier is generous, providing ample opportunity for users to explore CloudWatch and decide if upgrading to a paid subscription is worth the investment.

CloudWatch Paid Tier

Amazon CloudWatch Paid Tier pricing varies by location, as it does for most AWS products, and it is subject to change. The cost of CloudWatch depends on the features you use, which include:

• APIs and metric streams
• Dashboards
• Alarms
• Logs/Events
• Contributor insights
• Canaries

Each feature comes with a different price tag, and some are more expensive than others.

Here is a pricing table for some of the most used AWS CloudWatch services:

To estimate the cost of AWS CloudWatch for your project, consider the following factors:

1. Determine Metrics and Alarms: Estimate the number of custom metrics and alarms you'll need based on your monitoring requirements.
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2. Choose Monitoring Level: Decide between basic or detailed monitoring for your EC2 instances, considering the level of granularity you require.
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3. Estimate Log Data Volume: Calculate the volume of log data you expect to ingest and archive each month.
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4. Optimize Dashboards: Plan the number of dashboards you'll need and the number of metrics displayed on each.
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5. Factor in API Requests: Keep track of the number of API requests made to manage your monitoring configuration.

By considering these factors, you can estimate your AWS CloudWatch costs and make informed decisions about your monitoring needs.