Object storage
Object storage keeps data as objects in flat buckets (like Amazon S3, Azure Blob, or Google Cloud Storage), priced by gigabyte stored per month plus request and retrieval fees.
Object storage is the default home for backups, media, logs, and static assets. Beyond the per-GB storage rate, costs include request charges (PUT/GET), data retrieval from colder tiers, and egress when data leaves the provider. Storage classes (standard, infrequent access, archive) trade lower storage price for higher retrieval cost.
The biggest surprises are usually retrieval and egress on data that was assumed to be cheap because the at-rest storage price is low.
Related terms
Put the theory to work
Estimate and compare cloud costs across AWS, Azure, GCP, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, and Vultr with the free SpendArk calculator — no signup required.
Open the cloud cost calculator →Part of the SpendArk cloud cost & FinOps glossary.