Why is egress so expensive?

It is priced per gigabyte where ingress is usually free. That asymmetry is a real network cost and also raises the price of leaving, which is worth understanding before building on one provider.

Should I reserve capacity?

For anything running continuously, usually yes: thirty to sixty percent is typical. The risk is committing to capacity you stop needing, since unused commitment is spend with nothing behind it.

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Cloud Cost Calculator

Cloud bill broken into compute, storage, egress and managed services. Egress is the line that surprises people: data going in is usually free and data coming out is not, which is what makes leaving expensive.

Also called: aws cost calculator, cloud bill estimator.

Monthly cost

₹45,620

₹45,620 a month: ₹24,820 compute, ₹4,000 storage, ₹1,800 egress and 15,000 managed services. Compute is 54.41% of the bill, and reserving it would save ₹9,928 a month. Data in is usually free and data out is charged, which is both a real cost and what makes leaving a provider expensive.

Compute

₹24,820

Storage

₹4,000

Data transfer out

₹1,800

Compute as a share

54.41%

Annual cost

₹5,47,440

Saving from reservations

₹9,928

Cost per VM

₹6,205

On egress

Data in is usually free and data out is charged, which is both a real cost and what makes leaving a provider expensive.

On prices

Prices are inputs, not constants. Provider pricing changes continuously, so take the current rate from the provider calculator rather than relying on a default here.

How this is calculated

Method and background

How this is calculated

Each component prices on its own unit, so a blended monthly figure hides where the money actually goes. Compute is usually the largest line and the most reducible, through reservations or committed use discounts of thirty to sixty percent for workloads that run continuously. Egress is the line worth watching: ingress is typically free and egress is charged per gigabyte, which is both a real cost and the mechanism that makes migrating away expensive.

the components price on different units, which is why a single blended rate hides where the money goes

n: VM count
h: Hours
e: Egress GB

Worked examples

Each of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.

a small production environment

Virtual machines: 4
Cost per VM hour: ₹9
Hours a month: 730
Block storage: 500 GB
Storage per GB month: ₹8
Data transfer out: 200 GB
Egress per GB: ₹9
Managed services and other: ₹15,000
Discount if reserved: 40%

Monthly cost₹45,620

4 x 8.5 x 730

Open this example

no VMs leaves only the other lines

Virtual machines: 0
Cost per VM hour: ₹9
Hours a month: 730
Block storage: 500 GB
Storage per GB month: ₹8
Data transfer out: 200 GB
Egress per GB: ₹9
Managed services and other: ₹15,000
Discount if reserved: 40%

Monthly cost₹20,800

boundary

Open this example

Method and limits

What it assumes

On-demand pricing with the rates you enter.

What it deliberately does not model

Provider pricing varies by region and changes continuously.
Committed use discounts require a commitment, and unused commitment is wasted spend.
Support plans are often a percentage of spend and are not included here.

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Frequently asked questions

Why is egress so expensive?: It is priced per gigabyte where ingress is usually free. That asymmetry is a real network cost and also raises the price of leaving, which is worth understanding before building on one provider.
Should I reserve capacity?: For anything running continuously, usually yes: thirty to sixty percent is typical. The risk is committing to capacity you stop needing, since unused commitment is spend with nothing behind it.