Calculator Inputs
This model treats the starting archive value as new cold data added during month one.
Example Data Table
| Parameter | Example Value | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Planning Horizon | 36 months | Sets the total analysis period. |
| Starting Monthly Archive Intake | 12 TB | Represents new cold data added in month one. |
| Monthly Growth | 4% | Expands future archived volume every month. |
| Retention Period | 24 months | Controls how long each month’s data remains billable. |
| Replication Factor | 2.0 | Reflects duplicated copies for resilience. |
| Compression Savings | 30% | Reduces physical capacity after optimization. |
| Storage Cost | $0.0012 per GB-month | Defines the base archive holding charge. |
| Retrieval and Egress | 1.5% retrieval, 60% egress | Adds access and network expense to the plan. |
Formula Used
This calculator models recurring archive intake over time. It then applies replication, compression, retention, access, request, and transfer costs.
New Logical Data(m) = Starting Intake × (1 + Growth Rate)m-1
New Physical Data(m) = New Logical Data × Replication Factor × (1 - Compression Savings)
Active Stored TB(m) = Sum of retained physical data across active months
Storage Cost(m) = Active Stored TB × 1024 × Storage Cost per GB-Month
Retrieval Cost(m) = Active Stored TB × Retrieval % × 1024 × Retrieval Fee per GB
Egress Cost(m) = Retrieved TB × Egress % × 1024 × Egress Fee per GB
Request Cost(m) = (API Requests ÷ 1000) × Request Cost per 1000
Total Cost(m) = Storage + Retrieval + Egress + Request + Transition
The model uses 1 TB = 1024 GB for billing conversion.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the number of months you want to forecast.
- Set the starting monthly archive intake in terabytes.
- Enter expected monthly growth for archived data.
- Choose how long archived data remains retained.
- Set replication and compression values for your environment.
- Enter storage, retrieval, egress, request, and transition rates.
- Click the calculate button to generate your projection.
- Review the summary cards, chart, and monthly table.
- Download a CSV or PDF report for budgeting discussions.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does this calculator estimate?
It estimates long-term archive costs by modeling growth, retention, compression, replication, retrieval, egress, request charges, and transition fees over a selected planning horizon.
2. Why does retention matter so much?
Retention determines how many months of archived data remain active and billable. Longer retention increases stored capacity and usually raises storage, retrieval, and network costs.
3. How does compression affect the estimate?
Compression lowers the physical storage footprint. A higher savings percentage reduces stored terabytes, which can cut storage cost, retrieval cost, and transition fees.
4. Why include a replication factor?
Replication models extra copies used for durability or geographic resilience. More copies improve protection, but they also multiply the physical storage required.
5. What are retrieval charges?
Retrieval charges apply when archived data is accessed again. Some cold tiers charge separately for reading back stored content, especially during audits, restores, or compliance reviews.
6. Why is egress separated from retrieval?
Retrieval measures access from archive storage. Egress covers outbound data transfer beyond the platform boundary. Many providers bill these as separate events.
7. Can this model support lifecycle planning?
Yes. The transition fee field helps estimate lifecycle or migration charges when data moves into a colder tier. You can compare several policies by changing inputs.
8. How should I compare different providers?
Run the same workload assumptions across multiple pricing sets. Compare peak stored capacity, effective TB-month cost, retrieval expense, and total projected spend over the same horizon.