Media project: fifteen TB object storage cheap. Viral launch: eighty TB served in seventy-two hours. Egress invoice: €7,200 — never budgeted. Monthly storage stayed ~€300.
Egress fees shape cloud economics. Inquiry compares ingress + storage + egress, not stored-GB headline price.
Directors who budget only storage and compute often find egress dominates on first massive export.
Where egress hides
Public object storage, backups to another cloud, outbound migration, cross-region replication, emergency restore — each outbound flow is billed.
| Usage | Egress GB/mo | @ €0.09/GB |
|---|---|---|
| 500 GB site traffic | 500 | €45 |
| 10 TB export | 10,000 | €900 |
| 2 TB offsite backup | 2,000 | €180 |
Reducing the bill
CDN in front of bucket, compression, cold lifecycle, contractual cap. Use compare tool and bandwidth inquiry. Simulate monthly egress before signing.
Read full grids
Egress lines hide in network tabs. Cross-read leaving the cloud. Use directory for EU offers with included traffic.
The peak: lock-in exits through the door
Model egress for the leadership review
When leadership asks for cloud cost, slides show compute and storage. Rarely egress. Yet a media site serving assets from a public bucket pays egress on every visit. Daily backup to another provider may bill full export each cycle. Over thirty-six months those lines can exceed hardware.
Compare two numeric scenarios before signing: moderate growth with ten percent of traffic from the bucket, then viral launch or full migration. If scenario two breaks the business case, you learn before data captivity. Legal should also read clauses limiting export throughput — reversibility is not only a network question.
Go further with the inquiry
Apply the article to your concrete case: what volume, what service level, what contractual constraints from clients or regulators? Write answers before opening the pricing page. Request written documents — full grid, DPA, certification scope, renewal terms — not homepage screenshots.
Compare at least two providers via the directory and compare tool on identical thirty-six-month assumptions. Share the short list with whoever signs the contract and whoever operates infrastructure daily. Archive terms dated at subscription so due diligence is defensible later.
Model egress for the leadership review
When leadership asks for cloud cost, slides show compute and storage. Rarely egress. Yet a media site serving assets from a public bucket pays egress on every visit. Daily backup to another provider may bill full export each cycle. Over thirty-six months those lines can exceed hardware.
Compare two numeric scenarios before signing: moderate growth with ten percent of traffic from the bucket, then viral launch or full migration. If scenario two breaks the business case, you learn before data captivity. Legal should also read clauses limiting export throughput — reversibility is not only a network question.
Model egress for the leadership review
When leadership asks for cloud cost, slides show compute and storage. Rarely egress. Yet a media site serving assets from a public bucket pays egress on every visit. Daily backup to another provider may bill full export each cycle. Over thirty-six months those lines can exceed hardware.
Compare two numeric scenarios before signing: moderate growth with ten percent of traffic from the bucket, then viral launch or full migration. If scenario two breaks the business case, you learn before data captivity. Legal should also read clauses limiting export throughput — reversibility is not only a network question.
Decide and move forward without blind spots
Start by framing your real scenario on one page: volumes, client constraints, required support level, and a thirty-six-month budget including domain, backup, and essential add-ons. Compare at least two hosts via the directory and compare tool with identical assumptions, archive pricing grids dated on subscription day, then have both the contract signer and daily infrastructure operator validate the short list.
Frequently asked questions
What is billed egress?
Billing for traffic leaving the cloud to the internet, another region, or another provider. Ingress and storage are often cheap; egress can dominate.
When does egress explode?
On outbound migration, external backup, heavy media from object storage, cross-region replication, or post-incident restore.
How to estimate before signing?
Simulate monthly egress gigabytes — site traffic, exports, backups — multiply by rate and compare included or capped offers.
Do European hosts charge the same?
No: some include generous VPS traffic; hyperscalers often bill per gigabyte. Read the full grid.
Behind cheap cloud, the bill arrives at the exit door.