🗄️ Cloud Storage Cost Calculator

Estimate monthly cloud object storage costs across AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob, and Cloudflare R2 tiers, including egress fees. Compare Standard, Infrequent Access, and Archive tiers side by side to find your cheapest option.

🗄️ Storage Details
Cold/Archive tiers have retrieval delays and fees not modeled here — best for rarely accessed data.
Data transferred out to the internet each month. Leave at 0 for storage-only cost.
📈 Cost Estimate
Total Monthly Cost
Storage Cost / Month
Egress Cost / Month
Annual Cost
Data Stored (GB)
Cost per GB Stored
Cheapest Option (same size/egress)
Total Monthly Cost by Provider/Tier
⚠️ Prices are 2026 estimates for per-GB storage and standard internet egress after typical free tiers — verify current rates on each provider's pricing page. Excludes API request charges, minimum storage duration fees, and early-deletion penalties on cold/archive tiers.
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Enter your details and click Calculate to see results

Guide

About the Cloud Storage Cost Calculator

Cloud object storage bills are made up of two very different components: a per-GB-per-month storage fee, and a per-GB egress (data transfer out) fee charged whenever that data leaves the cloud to the internet. Providers price these two components very differently — AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob all charge meaningful egress fees, while Cloudflare R2 was built specifically to eliminate them. This calculator lets you enter a data size and monthly egress volume, pick a provider and storage tier, and see the full monthly and annual cost, plus how every other tier and provider would price the exact same workload.

How It Works

Enter your total stored data size (in GB or TB) and how much of that data you expect to transfer out each month, then select a provider/tier combination — from AWS S3 Standard down to S3 Glacier Deep Archive, GCS Standard through Archive, Azure Hot through Archive, or Cloudflare R2. The calculator multiplies your data size by the tier's per-GB storage rate to get storage cost, multiplies your monthly egress by the provider's per-GB egress rate to get egress cost, sums the two for total monthly cost, and projects an annual figure. It then recomputes the same size and egress volume against every other tier so you can see exactly which combination is cheapest for your specific usage pattern.

Why It Matters

The cheapest storage tier on paper isn't always the cheapest overall — a deep archive tier priced at a fraction of a cent per GB can still cost more in total than a "Hot" tier if your workload has significant egress, because egress fees on hyperscalers (AWS ~$0.09/GB, Azure ~$0.087/GB, GCP ~$0.12/GB) often dwarf the storage fee itself for data-heavy applications. Cloudflare R2's zero-egress model can be dramatically cheaper for read-heavy, internet-facing workloads even though its per-GB storage rate is higher than S3 Standard. Modeling storage and egress together, rather than storage in isolation, is essential to picking the right tier.

Tips for Accurate Results

  • If your application serves files directly to end users (images, videos, downloads), egress cost often matters more than storage cost — pay close attention to the egress-heavy comparison in the bar chart.
  • Cold and archive tiers (Glacier Deep Archive, GCS Archive, Azure Archive) have retrieval delays measured in minutes to hours and per-GB retrieval fees not modeled here — only use them for data you rarely need quickly.
  • Most providers offer a small free egress tier (often 100GB/month or less) — this calculator assumes you've already exceeded any free tier, so real-world costs at very low volume may be slightly lower.
  • Re-run this calculator whenever your data footprint changes significantly, since storage costs scale linearly with data size while egress can spike unpredictably with traffic.
  • For a focused view of just data-transfer pricing across more providers (including DigitalOcean and Hetzner), see our Data Transfer Cost Calculator.
About

Understanding Storage Tiers

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Hot / Standard Tiers

Designed for frequently accessed data with instant retrieval and no minimum storage duration. Highest per-GB price, but no retrieval fees or delays — best for active application data.

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Cool / Nearline / Archive Tiers

Lower per-GB storage cost in exchange for retrieval fees, minimum storage durations (often 30-180 days), and for archive tiers, retrieval delays of minutes to hours. Ideal for backups and compliance data.

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Egress Fees

Most providers charge to move data out to the internet, but not to store it or move it in. Cloudflare R2 uniquely charges zero egress, which can make it the cheapest overall choice for read-heavy workloads.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about cloud storage cost calculations

Which cloud storage tier is cheapest for storage only?
For pure per-GB storage cost, deep archive tiers are cheapest: AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive ($0.00099/GB/mo) and Azure Archive ($0.00099/GB/mo) beat GCP Archive ($0.0012/GB/mo). But these tiers have retrieval delays of hours and retrieval fees, so they only make sense for data you rarely need to access quickly.
Why does Cloudflare R2 show zero egress cost?
Cloudflare R2 was designed specifically to eliminate egress fees, which can dominate total cost for data-heavy applications. Its per-GB storage price is slightly higher than AWS S3 Standard, but if your workload serves a lot of data to the internet, R2's zero egress fee often makes it cheaper overall once egress is factored in.
What's the difference between hot, cool/nearline, and archive tiers?
Hot/Standard tiers offer instant access at the highest per-GB price, designed for frequently accessed data. Cool/Nearline/Infrequent Access tiers cost less per GB but charge higher retrieval fees, suited to data accessed monthly or less. Archive/Cold tiers are cheapest per GB but can take minutes to hours to retrieve, meant for rarely accessed compliance or backup data.
Does this calculator include API request costs?
No — this tool models per-GB storage cost and per-GB egress cost only, the two largest components of most storage bills. PUT/GET/LIST API request charges and early-deletion penalties on cold tiers are typically small relative to storage and egress but can add up for very high request-volume workloads.
How is annual cost calculated from the monthly estimate?
Annual cost is simply the total monthly cost (storage + egress) multiplied by 12, assuming your stored data volume and monthly egress stay constant. If your data grows over time, your actual annual bill will be higher than this straight-line estimate.

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