Cloud Storage Cost Calculator
Cost stored data, retrieval and other storage charges you enter.
What this calculator does
Volume multiplied by the user's own per-GB-month price over the months covered, with retrieval and other charges added only when the user enters them.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Price per GB-month
- — Take this from your own bill or the provider's price page. No provider price is built in..
- Data stored
- — number value.
- Months in the period
- — number value.
- Data retrieved (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result. Volume read back in the period..
- Price per GB retrieved (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result. Leave at 0 when retrieval is not charged separately..
- Other storage charges (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Price as of (optional)
- — The date you took these prices. It is shown with the result so the figure is never read as a current vendor price..
- Price source (optional)
- — Where the prices came from. Shown with the result..
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Storage cost = (Price per GB-month × GB stored × Months) + (GB retrieved × Price per GB retrieved) + Other charges
Worked example
4 TB kept for one month
Storage, retrieval and any other charge, each from your own price list.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: The Linux Foundation — Workload optimisation — FinOps Framework
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Stored volume priced per GB-month, plus optional retrieval and other charges the user enters.
The question it answers: What will this compute, storage, transfer, function, container, cluster or database cost us for the period, at our own rates?
The formula
Storage cost = (Price per GB-month × GB stored × Months) + (GB retrieved × Price per GB retrieved) + Other charges
- r — Price per GB-month
- (currency). From the user's own bill or price page.
- G — Data stored
- (GB). Average volume held in the period.
- m — Months
- (month). Months in the period.
- Gr — Data retrieved
- (GB). Optional. Volume read back in the period.
- rr — Price per GB retrieved
- (currency). Optional. Left at 0 when retrieval is not charged.
- o — Other charges
- (currency). Optional. Anything else on the storage line.
Units: Currency; gigabytes; months.
What kind of calculation this is
Business input model. The answer depends on business figures only you can supply, such as your own costs, rates or volumes. No market or benchmark values are assumed for you.
Method
Volume multiplied by the user's own per-GB-month price over the months covered, with retrieval and other charges added only when the user enters them.
Assumptions built into the result
- Mathematical: Every price is the one the user entered, in the currency they chose; no exchange rate is applied.
- Mathematical: Usage and prices cover the same period.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No provider price, instance rate, storage rate or transfer rate is built in.
- No typical discount, saving or industry average is suggested.
Limitations
- The result is only as current as the prices entered; a price taken months ago is not a current vendor price.
- Arithmetic over the figures entered — it cannot tell whether the usage or the rate card behind them is right.
- A single average volume is used; it does not model data growing through the period.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- FinOps Framework — workload optimisation — FinOps Foundation (FinOps Framework capability: workload optimisation — cloud resource cost is the metered quantity of a resource multiplied by the rate on the organisation's own rate card.)
- Published source
- The Linux Foundation — FinOps Framework
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Standards or government
- Applies to
- Currency
- Amounts stay in the currency you choose; no exchange rate is applied.
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