Cloud Cost Calculator
Estimate monthly cloud infrastructure costs from compute, storage, and data transfer.
About this calculator
Cloud bills are made up of three cost drivers that scale independently — compute, storage, and data transfer — and mixing them up is the most common way teams misjudge a cloud spend estimate. This calculator prices compute as instance count × hourly rate × hours actually run per month (744 hours means 24/7; anything less models dev or staging instances that get shut down nights and weekends), then applies your reserved-instance or savings-plan discount percentage to that on-demand figure to show the discounted rate side by side — realistic reference points are roughly 30% off for a 1-year commitment and up to 60% off for 3-year reserved terms. Storage is priced per instance (storage GB × price per GB, then multiplied by instance count), separate from compute entirely, since block storage persists and bills independently of whether the instance is running.
Data transfer models the near-universal cloud pricing pattern where the first 1 GB of monthly outbound transfer is free and everything above that is billed per GB — only egress (data leaving the cloud) is modeled here, not inbound transfer, which most providers don't charge for. The calculator sums these into on-demand and reserved monthly and annual totals, shows the annual savings from committing to reserved pricing, and computes an effective cost per vCPU-hour so you can compare instance types or providers on a normalized basis. RAM per instance is collected for context but doesn't factor into the cost math here, since pricing is driven by the instance's hourly rate rather than its raw specs — swap in your actual provider's rate card for a precise number.
Inputs
Results
Monthly (on-demand)
$454.35
Monthly (with savings)
$454.35
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the number of Instances, vCPUs per Instance, and RAM per Instance (GB).
- Input the On-Demand Hourly Rate and Hours per Month for the target compute tier.
- Add Storage per Instance (GB) and Storage Price per GB.
- Enter Data Transfer Out (GB/month) and Transfer Price per GB.
- Set Reserved Discount % to compare on-demand vs. reserved instance pricing.
- Review Total Monthly Cost and Annual Cost with and without reserved pricing.
How the result changes with Number of instances
| Number of instances | Monthly (on-demand) | Monthly (with savings) |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | $249.63 | $249.63 |
| 2.25 | $351.99 | $351.99 |
| 4.5 | $659.07 | $659.07 |
| 7.5 | $1,068.51 | $1,068.51 |
What each input means
- Number of instances
- Total compute instances (VMs, EC2, Droplets) running.
- vCPUs per instance
- Virtual CPUs per instance for cost-per-vCPU calculations.
- RAM per instance (GB)
- Memory per instance (used for reference, pricing based on hourly rate).
- Hourly rate per instance ($)
- On-demand hourly cost per instance (e.g., t3.xlarge ~$0.17/hr).
- Hours per month
- Hours each instance runs per month (744 = 24/7, lower for dev/staging).
- Storage per instance (GB)
- EBS/block storage attached per instance.
- Storage price per GB ($)
- Monthly cost per GB of block storage (gp3 ~$0.08, io2 ~$0.125).
- Data transfer out (GB/mo)
- Monthly outbound data transfer from cloud to internet.
- Transfer price per GB ($)
- Price per GB of outbound data transfer (AWS ~$0.09).
- Reserved/savings discount %
- Discount from reserved instances or savings plans (1yr ~30%, 3yr ~60%).
What each result means
- Monthly (on-demand)
- Total monthly cost at on-demand pricing.
- Monthly (with savings)
- Total monthly cost with reserved/savings discount applied to compute.
- Annual (on-demand)
- Projected annual cost at on-demand rates.
- Annual (with savings)
- Projected annual cost with reserved discount.
- Annual savings from reserved
- How much you save yearly by committing to reserved pricing.
- Compute cost / month
- Monthly compute charges (with discount if applicable).
- Storage cost / month
- Monthly block storage charges.
- Data transfer cost / month
- Monthly outbound data transfer charges.
- Effective cost per vCPU-hr
- All-in cost divided by total vCPU-hours.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersNumber of instances = 3, vCPUs per instance = 4, RAM per instance (GB) = 16, Hourly rate per instance ($) = 0.17 = 10 input(s) provided
- Calculate MonthlyMonthly = computeOnDemand + storageCost + dataTransferCost454.35 = $454.35
- Calculate MonthlyMonthly = computeReserved + storageCost + dataTransferCost454.35 = $454.35
- Calculate AnnualAnnual = monthlyOnDemand * 125452.2 = $5,452.2
- Calculate AnnualAnnual = monthlyReserved * 125452.2 = $5,452.2
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't changing the RAM per instance value affect my total cost?
RAM is collected for reference only — pricing in this model is driven entirely by the instance's hourly rate, which in real cloud pricing already reflects its bundled vCPU/RAM tier, not by a separate per-GB RAM charge. To make RAM affect your total, choose an hourly rate that already reflects the RAM tier you actually want priced.
How does the reserved/savings discount percentage actually change the numbers?
The discount is applied only to the compute portion of the bill (reserved compute = on-demand compute × (1 − discount%)) — storage and data transfer costs stay identical in both the on-demand and reserved scenarios. That's why "Annual Savings from Reserved" only ever reflects compute-side savings, even at a large discount percentage.
Why is only part of my data transfer out billed?
The calculator models the near-universal cloud pricing convention where the first 1 GB per month of outbound (egress) transfer is free, and only usage above that 1 GB is billed at your entered per-GB rate. It only prices egress, too — inbound data transfer isn't charged by most providers and isn't modeled here.
What does "Effective cost per vCPU-hour" let me compare that the monthly total doesn't?
It normalizes your total reserved-pricing monthly cost against the total vCPU-hours actually consumed (instance count × vCPUs × hours per month), giving a single figure you can compare across different instance types, providers, or fleet configurations — independent of how many instances or hours you happened to enter.
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