What are Vended Logs in AWS CloudWatch?

Question

From the Features page of Amazon CloudWatch, it says there are three categories of logs:

1. Vended logs - natively published by AWS services on behalf of the customer
2. Logs published by AWS services
3. Custom logs

This "natively published by AWS services on behalf of the customer" phrase is also the explanation provided in both the FAQ and news announcement. But I don't understand the difference between a Vended log and a 'normal' log published by AWS services (the 2nd category).

Can someone give me a more comprehensive explanation of Vended logs, specifically its distinction from other logs published by AWS services?

Answer 1

The difference is just in the pricing. Vended logs (#1) pricing is subject to volume discounts, while Logs published by AWS services (#2) are priced like custom logs (#3). Currently only logs from VPC and Route 53 are classified as Vended logs.