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If Loki storage keeps growing after you set a retention period, first check whether the Compactor is enabled and running, and whether your schema supports Compactor-based retention. A configured duration alone does not delete logs: Loki’s Compactor must enforce it, then asynchronously remove eligible chunks. Check its logs and metrics before treating a rising bill as a retention failure.
The configuration details below follow Grafana Labs’ current documentation, accessed October 7, 2026. Those pages are labeled “latest”; verify the matching documentation for your Loki release before changing production settings.
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1. Enable the component that enforces retention
Loki does not automatically expire logs just because a retention period appears under limits_config. Retention is performed by the Compactor, and it is off by default. If no global retention period is configured, the default is 0s, meaning logs are retained indefinitely. Grafana Labs’ retention documentation describes the mechanism.
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compactor.retention_enabled: true. - Confirm the Compactor process is running in the deployed topology.
- Configure
compactor.delete_request_storeto use the required configured storage backend for retention.
A duration without these pieces is a policy written in configuration, not evidence that deletion is happening.
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2. Confirm the index schema supports retention
Current Compactor-based retention supports TSDB or BoltDB Shipper index setups with a 24-hour index period. The Compactor does not support retention for legacy index types. Grafana Labs recommends TSDB for new deployments; the Table Manager route is deprecated, so avoid carrying an old Table Manager recipe into a new configuration. See the retention requirements and Table Manager documentation.
Check the schema configuration actually used by the data you are retaining. A correct-looking retention setting cannot compensate for an incompatible index period or schema.
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3. Choose a global retention period deliberately
Set limits_config.retention_period to the period your organization needs, considering audit obligations, incident-response timelines, and contractual requirements. There is no universally correct duration: the right value depends on those obligations and how long teams need historical logs.
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For illustration, Grafana’s retention example uses 336h (14 days); it is an example, not a recommendation for every deployment. Validate the field and intended policy against your Loki release. Retention configuration reference.
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4. Apply shorter policies only to selected streams or tenants
If some high-volume data has lower retention needs than the global baseline, Loki supports stream rules and per-tenant overrides. A stream selector matches labels, so validate its labels and expected matches before using it to shorten retention. Stream rules require a period of at least 24h. When multiple matching stream rules apply, the higher numeric priority wins; if priorities tie, the shorter period is selected. Grafana’s retention documentation explains these policy options.
limits_config:
retention_period: 336h
# Optional targeted rule; validate selector labels and precedence first.
# retention_stream:
# - selector: '{namespace="dev"}'
# priority: 1
# period: 72hThe durations above illustrate syntax only. Confirm which streams match and whether tenant-specific limits or overrides change the effective policy before rolling out shorter retention.
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5. Allow for deletion delay and preserve marker state
Retention is asynchronous, so a chunk is not necessarily removed the instant it crosses the configured age. The Compactor first rewrites index references and records chunks for deletion in marker files. A sweeper deletes marked chunks after retention_delete_delay. The current configuration reference documents a default delay of two hours; the effective time can also depend on when compaction processes the data. Retention process and configuration.
The delay gives index gateways time to refresh and creates a recovery window if a policy is wrong. Marker state must survive restarts: keep local marker files on persistent storage or configure the object-store marker prefix. If markers disappear, sweeping can be delayed or fail to complete as expected.
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6. Remove bucket-wide age-based deletion rules
Object-store lifecycle policies only know an object’s age; they do not know whether Loki’s index still references it. A broad expiration rule can therefore delete index objects, delete-request or marker state, or chunks still needed for queries. Grafana says Compactor retention is sufficient for most deployments without lifecycle cleanup. Retention guidance.
If you add lifecycle expiration as a safeguard, verify the exact chunk prefixes for your schema and tenant layout, and scope the rule only to those verified chunk objects. Set its expiration later than Loki’s retention period plus the deletion delay. Do not apply a blanket rule to the Loki bucket.
7. Verify retention work and diagnose the storage mode
Use Compactor logs and operation metrics to establish whether work is occurring. Grafana’s troubleshooting guidance identifies these counters:
loki_boltdb_shipper_compact_tables_operation_totalfor compaction operations.loki_compactor_apply_retention_operation_totalfor retention operations.
Check the relevant logs and metric activity alongside schema compatibility, retention enablement, delete_request_store, and the configured deletion delay. A retention period in the configuration is not proof that old data is being removed. Grafana’s troubleshooting page addresses why a log retention policy may not delete old data.
Also identify where the growth is occurring. If Loki stores chunks on a filesystem, it does not delete them based on free disk space; a capacity incident needs separate disk-management measures. Object-store usage may also take time to fall while compaction and delayed sweeping progress. Do not estimate savings from the retention duration alone: the result depends on ingestion volume, compression, backend pricing, and outstanding data.
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