{"id":84287,"date":"2024-08-29T09:36:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T16:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=84287"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:02:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:02:55","slug":"calculate-cost-cloud-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Tips for Creating a Predictable Cloud Storage Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"820\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png\" alt=\"A decorative image showing buildings, data, and icons indicating cost. \" class=\"wp-image-111550\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"abstract\" style=\"line-height: 1.8; margin: 24px 12px; padding: 24px 12px 10px 12px;\"><h4>Editor\u2019s Note<\/h4>\n<p>This post has been updated since it was originally published.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With spending on public cloud services expected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idc.com\/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS52460024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">double by 2028<\/a>, many businesses are looking for ways to cut cloud costs\u2014or at least gain predictability in their spend. Forecasting cloud storage costs should be straightforward once you know what to look for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m sharing five tips you can use when doing your due diligence on the cloud storage vendors you are considering. The goal is to create a cloud storage forecast that you can rely on each and every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the TL\/DR, check out this quick video. Or read on to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Cost of Cloud Storage\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hxYLLZArPW4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip 1: Navigate tiered pricing structures carefully<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many cloud providers still use tiered pricing structures, which can be misleading if not carefully understood. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AWS S3 Storage Pricing Example<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this post, we\u2019re comparing with hypothetical data stored in AWS S3\u2019s U.S. East Region (N. Virginia) using pricing available at the time of publishing. Note that many factors may affect your final price, including selecting a different region, choosing a different storage tier, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First 50 TB\/month = $0.023 per GB<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next 450 TB\/month = $0.022 per GB<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over 500 TB\/month = $0.021 per GB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to receive lower pricing, you have to reach a specific amount of data stored. But, the lower rate only applies to data above the threshold for that tier. In other words, you don\u2019t get a discount on the cumulative amount\u2014each pricing tier is reflected in the data you\u2019re storing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mistake sometimes made is estimating your entire storage cost based on the level for the total data stored. For example, if you had 600TB of storage, you could wrongly calculate as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><code>600,000GB x $0.021 = $12,600\/month<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When, in fact, you should do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><code>(50,000GB x $0.023) + (450,000GB x $0.022) + (100,000GB x $0.021) = $13,150\/month<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That was just for storage. Make sure you consider the tiered pricing tables for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/cloud-101-data-egress-fees-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">data retrieval<\/a>, and API transactions as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip 2: Don\u2019t choose the wrong storage class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many cloud providers, especially hyperscalers, now offer a wider array of storage classes than ever before. The idea is that you can trade service capabilities for lower costs. If you don\u2019t need immediate access to your files or don\u2019t want data replication or 11 nines of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/cloud-storage-durability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">durability<\/a>, you can choose to downgrade your service and gain cost savings. The biggest problem with this method is that you have to know what you are going to do with your data to pick the right service\u2014as well as correctly anticipate future business needs\u2014because mistakes can get very expensive. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You choose a low cost, cold storage tier that takes hours or days to restore your data. What can go wrong? You need some files back immediately (if, for example, your backups are corrupted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/complete-guide-ransomware\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ransomware<\/a>) and you end up paying 10-20 times the cost to expedite your restore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You choose one storage class and decide you want to upload some data to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/b2\/solutions\/compute.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">compute<\/a>-based application or to another region\u2014features not part of your current service. The good news? You can usually move the data. The bad news? Even if you\u2019re transferring within the same cloud storage company\u2019s infrastructure, you\u2019re often charged a transfer fee to move the data because you didn\u2019t choose the right storage class when you started. These fees often eradicate any \u201csavings\u201d you had gotten from the lower priced tier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basically, if your needs change as they pertain to the data you have stored, you will pay more than you expect to get your data where you need it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip 3: Don\u2019t pay for deleted (or modified) files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some cloud storage companies have a minimum amount of time you are charged for storage for each file uploaded. Typically this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/lets-be-honest-retention-minimums-are-delete-penalties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">minimum period<\/a> is between 30 and 90 days. You are charged even if you delete the file before the minimum period. For example (assuming a 90 day minimum period), if you upload a file today and delete the file tomorrow, you still have to pay for storing that deleted file for the next 88 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This \u201cfeature\u201d often extends to files deleted due to versioning. If you set your system to keep three versions of each file, with older versions automatically deleted, you end up paying for those deleted versions for the full minimum duration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a typical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/solutions\/backup-and-archive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">backup workflow<\/a>, let\u2019s say you are using a cloud storage service to store your files and your backup program is set to a 30 day retention. That means you will be perpetually paying for an additional 60 days worth of storage (for files that were pruned at 30 days). In other words, you would be paying for a 90 day retention period even though you only have 30 days worth of backups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip 4: Beware of hidden minimums<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the cloud storage market has matured, pricing models have become more complicated. To create an accurate budget, it&#8217;s crucial to understand all potential cost components, including some that might not be immediately obvious. Here are two key areas to examine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Minimum monthly charges:<\/strong> Some providers charge a set fee regardless of how little you store. For instance, you might pay for 1TB even if you only use 100GB.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Minimum file sizes: <\/strong>Some services round up small files to a minimum billable size, often 128KB. While this might seem insignificant, it can add up quickly if you have millions of small files.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip 5: Be suspicious of the fine print<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Misdirection is the art of getting you to focus on one thing so you don\u2019t focus on other things going on. Practiced by magicians and some cloud storage companies, the idea is to get you to focus on certain features and capabilities without delving below the surface into the fine print. (And, sometimes the prices this technique generates feels like someone has pulled a rabbit out of a hat\u2014to your company\u2019s detriment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the fine print and as you scroll through the multi-page pricing tables and linked pages of all of the rules that shape how you can use a given cloud storage service. Stop and ask, \u201cWhat are they trying to hide?\u201d If you find phrases like: \u201cWe reserve the right to limit your egress traffic,\u201d or \u201cNew users get free usage tier for 12 months,\u201d or \u201cProvisioned requests should be used when you need a guarantee that your retrieval capacity will be available when you need it,\u201d take heed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, even if it seems like you can turn the tables and use things like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-free-credit-trap-building-saas-infrastructure-for-long-term-sustainability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">free credits<\/a> in the short term, remember that you\u2019ll want to have a plan for your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/shooting-for-the-clouds-how-one-photo-storage-service-moved-beyond-physical-devices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">long-term infrastructure<\/a> when those credits run out as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to build a predictable cloud storage budget<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As organizations increasingly rely on cloud storage for everything from day-to-day operations to long-term data archiving, the ability to accurately forecast and control these costs can significantly impact overall IT budgets and business planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first place to start is data storage as it\u2019s generally the easiest for a company to calculate. For a given month, you can calculate your data volume as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><code>Data stored = current data + new data \u2013 deleted data<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take that total and multiple by the monthly storage rate and you\u2019ll get your monthly storage costs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Things can get more complicated if your business regularly uploads and downloads data. The data stored at the end of the month <em>should<\/em> get you at least in the ballpark. But, creating a predictable cloud storage budget requires a holistic understanding of your data needs, usage patterns, and the pricing structures of your chosen provider. It&#8217;s not just about estimating how much data you&#8217;ll store, but also how you&#8217;ll interact with that data over time. Will you be frequently accessing and modifying files, or primarily using the storage for long-term archiving? Are there seasonal fluctuations in your data storage or retrieval patterns? These factors can all influence your overall costs, and we\u2019ll walk through a scenario to show that next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let\u2019s do the math<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To illustrate how to calculate your cloud storage costs, let&#8217;s work through an example using current Backblaze B2 pricing. We&#8217;ll focus on a single month for a growing business that is backing up business data to the cloud and verifying their backups have zero errors during recovery:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Initial storage at the beginning of the month: 100TB<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New data added during the month: 10TB<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Data deleted during the month: 5TB<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Downloads during the month (egress): 75TB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Backblaze has built <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/pricing#calculator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a cloud storage calculator<\/a> that computes costs for all of the major cloud storage providers. Using this calculator, we find that Amazon S3 would cost $2,675 to store this data for a month, while Backblaze B2 would charge just $630.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using those numbers for storage and assuming you download 75TB a month for backup validation testing, you get a total monthly cost of $8,725 for Amazon S3; Backblaze B2 would be $630 a month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The additional cost you see from AWS S3 is from download costs, also known as egress fees, and they can certainly take a toll on your budget. Backblaze offers free egress up to three times the amount you have stored so you can move data when and where you prefer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The chart below provides the breakdown of the expected cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-66\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-66\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><th class=\"column-2\"><strong>Backblaze B2<\/strong><\/th><th class=\"column-3\"><strong>Amazon S3<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Storage<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">$630<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">$2,675<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Egress<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Free*<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">$6,050<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><strong>Totals:<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><strong>$630<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"column-3\"><strong>$8,725<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-66 from cache -->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>*Up to 3x of average monthly data stored, then $0.01\/GB for additional egress.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course each month you will add and delete storage, so you\u2019ll have to account for that in your forecast. And, as we mentioned above, there may also be other fees like minimum storage duration fees or API transaction fees. Using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/pricing#calculator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the cloud storage calculator<\/a> noted above, you can get a reasonable estimate of your total cost over the budget forecasting period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, you can use the Backblaze B2 storage calculator to address potential use cases that are outside of your normal operations, such as if you delete a large project from your storage or you need to download a large amount of data. Running the calculator for these types of actions lets you obtain a solid estimate for their effect on your budget before they happen and lets you plan accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Understanding cloud storage pricing gives you options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creating a predictable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cloud storage<\/a> forecast is key to taking full advantage of all of the value in cloud storage. Organizations like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/case-studies\/austin-city-limits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Austin City Limits<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/case-studies\/amplify\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amplify<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/case-studies\/runbiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Runbiz<\/a> were able to move to the cloud because they could reliably predict their cloud storage cost with Backblaze B2. You don\u2019t have to let pricing tiers, hidden costs, and fine print stop you. Backblaze makes predicting your cloud storage costs easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br \/>Editor\u2019s Note: This post refers to past pricing; please refer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Backblaze Pricing Comparison<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cloud storage pricing models can be tricky\u2014but they don&#8217;t have to be. Here are some tips for helping you estimate your cloud storage budget. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":111550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,434,438],"tags":[468],"class_list":["post-84287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-storage","category-featured-1","category-featured-cloud-storage","tag-b2cloud","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Accurately Calculate the Cost of Cloud Storage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Understanding your cloud storage budget is an integral part of creating a budget for your company as a whole. Here are five tips for predicting this budget.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Accurately Calculate the Cost of Cloud Storage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Understanding your cloud storage budget is an integral part of creating a budget for your company as a whole. Here are five tips for predicting this budget.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage &amp; Cloud Backup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-29T16:36:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T21:02:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Accurately Calculate the Cost of Cloud Storage","description":"Understanding your cloud storage budget is an integral part of creating a budget for your company as a whole. Here are five tips for predicting this budget.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Accurately Calculate the Cost of Cloud Storage","og_description":"Understanding your cloud storage budget is an integral part of creating a budget for your company as a whole. Here are five tips for predicting this budget.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/","og_site_name":"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage &amp; Cloud Backup","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze","article_published_time":"2024-08-29T16:36:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T21:02:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":820,"url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"David Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@backblaze","twitter_site":"@backblaze","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Johnson","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/"},"author":{"name":"David Johnson","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/251ac62883649ad50a2841901a7e65b1"},"headline":"Five Tips for Creating a Predictable Cloud Storage Budget","datePublished":"2024-08-29T16:36:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T21:02:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/"},"wordCount":1798,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","keywords":["B2Cloud"],"articleSection":["Cloud Storage","Featured","Featured-Cloud Storage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/","name":"How to Accurately Calculate the Cost of Cloud Storage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","datePublished":"2024-08-29T16:36:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T21:02:55+00:00","description":"Understanding your cloud storage budget is an integral part of creating a budget for your company as a whole. Here are five tips for predicting this budget.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","width":1440,"height":820,"caption":"A decorative image showing buildings, data, and icons indicating cost."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/calculate-cost-cloud-storage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Tips for Creating a Predictable Cloud Storage Budget"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/","name":"Backblaze Cloud Solutions Blog","description":"Cloud Storage &amp; Cloud Backup","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Backblaze","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/backblaze_icon_transparent.png?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/backblaze_icon_transparent.png?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Backblaze"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze","https:\/\/x.com\/backblaze","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/Backblaze","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Backblaze"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/251ac62883649ad50a2841901a7e65b1","name":"David Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/David-Johnson-Profile-150x150.png","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/David-Johnson-Profile-150x150.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/David-Johnson-Profile-150x150.png","caption":"David Johnson"},"description":"David Johnson is the Director of Product Marketing at Backblaze, where he specializes in cloud backup and archiving for businesses. With extensive experience building the product marketing function at Vultr, he brings deep knowledge of the cloud infrastructure industry to Backblaze. David's passion for technology means his basement is a mini data center, filled with homelab projects where he spends his free time enhancing his knowledge of the industry and becoming a better informed expert on all things backup and archive. Connect with him on LinkedIn.","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/author\/davidjohnson\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bb-bh-Cost-of-Cloud-Storage_Final-1-e1724946563303.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}