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Version: User Guides (Cloud)

Storage Cost

In Zilliz Cloud, storage costs are incurred when you store data or backup files, regardless of whether your cluster is running.

Sources of storage costs​

You will be billed for storage in the following scenarios:

  • Cluster data storage: raw data and indexes stored in your clusters. If your cluster type is tiered-storage, additional cold data access costs may incur.

  • Backup storage: backup files you create for disaster recovery.

  • Volume storage: either structured data or collections of unstructured data files stored in a volume.

Cost calculation​

Storage Cost = Storage Unit Price x Data Size x Duration

  • Storage Unit Price: Determined by the cloud region and the cluster type. For detailed rates, refer to Zilliz Cloud Pricing.

  • Data Size: The size of all data stored or the size of backup files which is measured in GB.

  • Duration: The length of time data or backup files are stored in Zilliz Cloud.

Cold data access​

📘Note

This billing item is only applicable to tiered-storage clusters that are compatible with Milvus 2.6.x.

If your cluster type is tiered-storage, additional cold data access costs may incur. The following formula demonstrates how to calculate cold data access costs.

Cold Data Access Cost =  Cold Data Access Unit Price x Cold Data Size

  • Cold Data Access Unit Price: Determined by the cloud region. For detailed rates, refer to Zilliz Cloud Pricing Guide.

  • Cold Data Size: The size of cold data stored in object storage that is scanned during each read request (search or query). Data size is measured in GB.

Billing rules​

The billing rules of cluster, volume storage is slightly different from backup storage and cold data access.

  • Cluster Data and Volume Storage: Billed hourly, minimum charge of 1 hour.

  • Backup Storage: Billed daily, minimum charge of 1 day.

  • Cold Data Access: Billed per read request (search or query), minimum charge of 1 MB. Requests larger than 1 MB are billed based on the actual scanned data size.

Examples​

The following are some examples to help you understand how storage costs are calculated.

Example 1: Cluster storage cost​

Suppose your cluster configuration is as follows:

  • Cloud Provider & Region: AWS us-east-1 (Virginia)

  • Cluster Type: Performance-optimized

  • Data Size: 500 GB

  • Storage Duration: 29 days 23 hours 30 minutes

With the cloud provider and region, and the cluster type information, you can find on the Pricing Page that the storage unit price is $0.025/GB per month.

Due to the billing rule, any partial hour is rounded up to a full hour. The storage duration, 29 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes, will be rounded up to 30 days, which is equivalent to 1 month.

The total data storage cost is $0.025 x 500 × 1 = $12.50.

Example 2: Backup storage cost​

Suppose your cluster configuration is as follows:

  • Cloud Provider & Region: AWS us-east-1 (Virginia)

  • Cluster Type: Performance-optimized

  • Backup File Size: 20 GB

  • Backup File Retention Period: 44 days 6 hours

With the cloud provider and region, and the cluster type information, you can find on the Pricing Page that the storage unit price is $0.025/GB per month.

Due to the billing rule, any partial day is rounded up to a full day. So, the retention period, 44 days and 6 hours, will be rounded up to 45 days, which is equivalent to 1.5 months.

The total backup storage cost of the example cluster is $0.025 x 20 x 1.5 = $0.75.

Example 3: Volume storage cost​

If you upload 10 GB of data to a volume for import and keep it for 1 month, with a unit price of $0.04/GB per month, the cost is $0.04 × 10 × 1 = $0.40.

Example 4: Cluster cold data access cost​

Suppose your cluster configuration is as follows:

  • Cloud Provider & Region: AWS us-east-1 (Virginia)

  • Cluster Type: Tiered-storage

  • Cold Data Size: 200 GB

With the cloud provider and region, and the cluster type information, you can find on the Pricing Guide that the cold data access unit price is $0.0005/GB.

The total cold data access cost is $0.0005 x 200 = $0.1.

FAQs​

  1. Will I still be charged for storage if I suspend my cluster?

    Yes. Storage costs apply as long as your cluster data, backups, or volume files are retained, even when the cluster is suspended.

  2. Is there a minimum charge for storage? Yes. There is a minimum charge for storage.

    • Cluster and volume storage: Minimum 1 hour charge.

    • Backup storage: Minimum 1 day charge.