Cloud Bandwidth Cost Analysis
5minTL;DR: Compare data transfer pricing across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to optimize your cloud spending.
Bandwidth costs are often the largest hidden expense in cloud bills. Unlike compute and storage, egress (data leaving the cloud provider) is expensive and varies significantly between providers.
AWS: First 100GB/month free (12 months), then $0.09/GB up to 10TB. Pricing drops to $0.085/GB for 10-50TB and $0.07/GB for 50-150TB. Data transfer between AZs is $0.01/GB each way. CloudFront CDN egress is cheaper: $0.085/GB for first 10TB.
Google Cloud: Network pricing is simpler. Premium tier: $0.12/GB for first 1-10TB in US. Standard tier: $0.085/GB. Inter-region egress varies ($0.02-0.15/GB). Google charges $0.01/GB between zones in the same region.
Azure: First 100GB/month free in most regions. Then $0.087/GB for first 10TB (Zone 1). Inter-region egress to same continent is $0.01-0.05/GB. Cross-continent is $0.05-0.08/GB.
Cost optimization strategies: use a CDN for static assets (reduces origin egress 60-80 percent), keep services in the same region/zone, compress responses, cache aggressively at the application layer, and consider a multi-cloud architecture if egress is a significant cost driver.
Use the devvkit Bandwidth Cost Calculator to model your specific usage across providers.
Compare data transfer pricing across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to optimize your cloud spending.