How much does cloud hosting cost per month?

A small web application typically costs $50-300/month depending on resources. A single small instance (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) costs about $30-50/month. Add storage ($0.08-0.23/GB for SSD), data transfer ($0.08-0.12/GB egress), and you get a baseline cost. Our calculator lets you configure exact resources and compare across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

Which cloud provider is cheapest: AWS, Azure, or GCP?

It depends on your workload. GCP offers automatic sustained-use discounts (up to 30% off). Azure is often cheapest for enterprises using Microsoft products. AWS has the broadest free tier and most instance types. For compute-heavy workloads, GCP is often cheapest. For storage, all three are similarly priced. Use our calculator to compare for your specific usage.

How do I estimate cloud computing costs?

Break your workload into four categories: 1) Compute — count instances, vCPUs, RAM, and hours/month. 2) Storage — total GB needed and type (SSD/HDD/Object). 3) Data transfer — estimate monthly egress in GB. 4) Serverless — requests per month and duration. Multiply each by the provider's per-unit price and sum them up. Our calculator automates this process.

What is data transfer egress and why is it expensive?

Egress is outbound data leaving a cloud provider's network to the internet or another region. Cloud providers charge $0.05-0.12 per GB for egress, while ingress (data in) is free. This can add up quickly for content-heavy applications. Strategies to reduce egress costs include using a CDN, caching, compressing responses, and keeping inter-service traffic within the same region.

When should I use serverless vs dedicated instances?

Serverless (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions) is ideal for sporadic or event-driven workloads with variable traffic. It's cost-effective under ~1 million requests/month. For consistent, high-traffic workloads, dedicated instances are cheaper because serverless per-request costs add up. Our calculator helps you compare both approaches.

How can I reduce my cloud bill?

Top strategies: 1) Use reserved/committed instances for steady workloads (save 30-60%). 2) Right-size instances — eliminate unused resources. 3) Use spot/preemptible instances for batch jobs (save up to 90%). 4) Schedule non-production environments to shut down off-hours. 5) Optimize data transfer by using CDNs and same-region traffic. 6) Choose the right storage tier for your access patterns.

Cloud Cost Calculator

Our cloud cost calculator helps developers, DevOps engineers, and businesses estimate their monthly and yearly cloud spending across the three major providers: AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Configure compute instances (vCPUs, RAM, hours), storage (SSD, HDD, object storage), data transfer (egress), and serverless workloads (Lambda/Functions) to get accurate cost comparisons. Make informed decisions about which provider offers the best value for your specific workload.

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calendar_today Updated: April 2026

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New

memory Compute Instances

Number of Instances

instances

Instance Size

vCPUs

RAM (GB)

Hours per Month

hrs

Estimated Monthly Cost cloud

$86.14

Cheapest: GCP

Monthly

$86.14

Yearly

$1,033.68

Provider Comparison (Monthly)

Cost Breakdown

savings Potential Savings

Switch to GCP to save $4.20/month ($50.40/year)

Input Values

Service Type

Compute

Storage

Data Transfer

Serverless

Number of Instances

vCPUs per Instance

RAM per Instance (GB)

Hours per Month

Storage (GB)

Storage Type

SSD

HDD

Object Storage

Data Egress (GB/month)

Serverless Requests/month

Avg Duration (ms)

Function Memory (MB)

tips_and_updates Tips

• Use reserved instances or committed-use discounts to save 30-60% on long-running workloads
• Right-size your instances — most cloud VMs are overprovisioned by 40% or more
• Choose the right storage tier: use object storage (S3/Blob/GCS) for infrequently accessed data instead of SSD
• Data transfer between regions and out to the internet is a hidden cost — keep traffic local when possible
• Serverless (Lambda/Functions) is cheaper for sporadic workloads but expensive at scale
• Enable auto-scaling and shut down dev/test instances outside business hours to cut costs by 65%
• Use spot/preemptible instances for fault-tolerant batch jobs to save up to 90%
• Monitor costs weekly with native tools (AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Billing Reports)

How to Use This Calculator

cloud

Select Service Type

Choose between Compute, Storage, Data Transfer, or Serverless tabs to configure each part of your cloud infrastructure.

tune

Configure Resources

Set the number of instances, vCPUs, RAM, storage amount, egress volume, or serverless parameters for your workload.

compare

Compare Providers

View side-by-side cost comparisons across AWS, Azure, and GCP for your exact configuration.

payments

Review Total Cost

See monthly and yearly totals broken down by service category. Adjust resources to optimize your cloud budget.

The Formula

Cloud costs are composed of multiple service categories. Compute is typically the largest expense, priced by vCPU and RAM hours. Storage costs depend on type (SSD vs HDD vs object) and amount. Data transfer charges apply mainly to outbound (egress) traffic. Serverless is billed per request and per compute-second (GB-s). Each provider prices these differently, so comparing across AWS, Azure, and GCP can reveal significant savings.

Total Monthly Cost = Compute Cost + Storage Cost + Data Transfer Cost + Serverless Cost

lightbulb Variables Explained

Compute Cost Number of instances x (vCPU price + RAM price) x hours/month
Storage Cost Storage GB x price per GB/month (varies by storage type)
Data Transfer Cost Egress GB x price per GB (first 100 GB/month often free)
Serverless Cost (Requests x price per request) + (GB-seconds x price per GB-second)

tips_and_updates Pro Tips

Use reserved instances or committed-use discounts to save 30-60% on long-running workloads

Right-size your instances — most cloud VMs are overprovisioned by 40% or more

Choose the right storage tier: use object storage (S3/Blob/GCS) for infrequently accessed data instead of SSD

Data transfer between regions and out to the internet is a hidden cost — keep traffic local when possible

Serverless (Lambda/Functions) is cheaper for sporadic workloads but expensive at scale

Enable auto-scaling and shut down dev/test instances outside business hours to cut costs by 65%

Use spot/preemptible instances for fault-tolerant batch jobs to save up to 90%

Monitor costs weekly with native tools (AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Billing Reports)

Estimate & Compare Cloud Computing Costs

Our free cloud cost calculator estimates monthly and yearly spending for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Compare compute, storage, data transfer, and serverless pricing across providers to find the best value for your workload.

Cloud Cost Calculator for AWS, Azure & GCP

How much will your cloud infrastructure cost? Our calculator breaks down pricing for compute (EC2, Azure VMs, Compute Engine), storage (S3, Blob, GCS), data transfer, and serverless functions. Enter your resource requirements and get instant cost comparisons across all three major cloud providers.

Compare Cloud Provider Pricing

AWS, Azure, and GCP each have different pricing structures. AWS offers the most instance types and a broad free tier. Azure provides enterprise licensing benefits. GCP has automatic sustained-use discounts. Our side-by-side comparison shows exactly where each provider is cheapest for your specific workload.

Serverless vs Instance-Based Pricing

Should you use serverless functions or dedicated instances? Serverless (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Functions) charges per request and per compute-second, ideal for variable workloads. Dedicated instances are better for steady traffic. Our calculator helps you compare both approaches to find the most cost-effective architecture.

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