Cloud Storage Fees Can Add Up to Unwelcome Surprises

The cloud is such a critical component to many modern organizations’ IT infrastructure and it’s hard to imagine doing business without it. While the cloud delivers a wealth of benefits, it also comes with a few challenges that are tough on your bottom line.  

We’re all a little sick of hidden fees. They’ve gotten so bad that the government is writing new laws to curtail them in some industries. Cloud storage is similarly plagued by outrageous fees; our 2024 Cloud Storage Index survey data shows that nearly half of an organization’s cloud storage budget goes toward paying fees. How can this be? 

If you use a public cloud service provider like AWS or Microsoft Azure, you may be drawn to the flexibility that comes with pay-as-you-go cloud pricing: spinning up new storage on the fly, never running out of space, and only paying for the storage you use. But these “pay as you go” models are also “fee as you go,” gauging you not just for storing your data but everything else you do with it. Need to transfer data? System does an API request? You’ll incur a fee every single time until what may have seemed like a good deal is now wreaking havoc on your budget.    

If you look at the fine print, these fees are often fractions of a fraction of a penny for every instance and may look harmless to the untrained eye, but don’t be fooled. As your storage grows so do the API transactions, and that fee of $.02 per 1,000 transactions can become a several-thousand dollars bill. Depending on how much data you store and what your use cases are, your bill could be double or even triple the cost of your storage.  

As data volume and value rise, hidden fees just don’t make sense 

 This practice of tacking on hidden fees makes less and less sense as the world continues to become increasingly data driven. Not only is more data being generated—and in turn being stored—than ever before, but organizations are also putting that data to work in all kinds of innovative ways. Applications abound, from real-time analytics and AI training to predictive asset maintenance. Smart organizations are testing their backups to ensure smooth recovery processes after data breaches or unexpected outages. Some organizations are even digging into archived data to create new revenue opportunities.  

Storage that charges a fee every time you do anything can hinder innovation and discovery. Concern over fluctuating cloud storage costs forces tough decisions over what data you can afford to store or puts limitations on which data sets could be valuable in the future. When your focus is innovation and driving your organization to new heights, the last thing you want to think about is "how will this affect my cloud storage budget?"  

Is affordably and predictably priced cloud storage possible? 

You need a cloud storage service that allows you to access your data anytime--for any reason--while keeping costs predictable and manageable.  

When you choose cloud storage that has a single, consistent price and no hidden fees, you can put overages out of your mind. Store data with the confidence that your data is yours, not your cloud provider’s, and never be surprised by a storage bill again. That sort of clarity can do wonders for innovation and give organizations a boost to future success.  

Want to learn more?  

Of course, there’s more to understanding cloud fees than we can cover in one blog post. Register today for our free webinar where our resident industry expert Drew Schlussel breaks down the facts and figures of cloud pricing and helps you steer clear of unnecessary fees.