Decentralized Storage Cost Calculator
Calculate Your Total Storage Costs
Compare storage costs across decentralized platforms including hidden egress fees. Enter your data volume and access patterns to see which solution makes the most financial sense for your use case.
Total Cost Estimate
Cost Breakdown
Enter your storage details to see cost comparisons across decentralized platforms
By now, you’ve probably heard that decentralized storage is cheaper than Amazon S3 or Google Cloud. But if you’re thinking about using it, you need to know what decentralized storage cost actually looks like - not just the headline numbers, but the hidden fees, the surprises, and the real-world trade-offs.
How Much Less Are You Really Saving?
The most common claim you’ll see is that decentralized storage is 80% cheaper than traditional cloud providers. That’s true - on paper. The average cost for 1TB per month across major decentralized platforms is $2.11, compared to $9.88 for centralized services like Google Drive or Dropbox. But here’s the catch: those averages hide a wild range. Some platforms charge pennies. Others charge more than Amazon. Take Filecoin. For bulk archival storage, you’re looking at $0.19 per TB per month. That’s not a typo. Amazon S3 charges $23 for the same amount. For an organization storing 50TB, that’s a $12,000 annual saving. The Internet Archive uses Filecoin to store billions of web pages because of this price gap. It’s not hype - it’s economics. But then there’s Swarm. At $335.54 per TB per month, it’s more expensive than AWS. Why? Because supply is tiny and demand is high. It’s not a pricing mistake - it’s a design choice. Swarm prioritizes permanence and redundancy over affordability. So when someone says "decentralized storage is cheap," they’re only talking about some platforms. Not all.The Real Cost Breakdown: Storage vs. Egress
The biggest trap for new users is forgetting about egress fees. You pay to store data. But you also pay to get it back. Storj is a perfect example. Their storage rate is $0.004 per GB - which equals $4 per TB per month. Sounds great. But download bandwidth? $7 per TB. That’s 75% more than what you paid to store it. If you’re running a website that serves images or videos, or if you’re backing up data you need to restore often, your bill could easily double or triple. One user on Trustpilot put it bluntly: "The $4/TB storage price is great until you realize downloading your data costs 7x more." Compare that to Filecoin. They don’t charge separate egress fees. You pay once, and you can retrieve as much as you want. That’s why it’s the go-to for long-term archival. If you’re storing data you rarely touch - like old research files, legal documents, or AI training datasets - Filecoin’s model wins. But if you’re building an app that needs fast, frequent access? Storj’s pricing could kill your budget.Platform Showdown: Filecoin, Storj, Sia, Arweave
| Platform | Storage Cost (per TB/month) | Egress Fee (per TB) | Best For | Key Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filecoin | $0.19 | None | Archival, large datasets, AI training | Price volatility affects provider supply |
| Storj | $4.00 | $7.00 | Enterprise, Microsoft integrations | High retrieval costs for active data |
| Sia | $1.00-$2.00 | Variable | Individuals, small backups | Siacoin price swings change real cost |
| Arweave | $15.00-$25.00 | None | Permanent, one-time payment storage | High upfront cost for long-term use |
| BTFS | $2.24 | None | BitTorrent users, TRON ecosystem | Smaller network, less redundancy |
| Swarm | $335.54 | None | High-permanence, niche use cases | Extremely limited supply |
Filecoin’s low price comes with a trade-off: stability. When the FIL token dropped from $200 to $6 in 2024, storage providers pulled out because they couldn’t cover hardware costs. Network capacity shrank. That’s not a glitch - it’s built into the model. Your data is only as safe as the economic incentive keeping providers online.
Sia’s pricing looks stable on paper, but it’s tied to Siacoin. If the coin spikes, your storage gets cheaper. If it crashes? You might end up paying more than expected. One developer on GitHub noted that contract formation fees sometimes exceeded storage costs during a token dip. That’s not a bug - it’s how the system works.
Arweave is the outlier. You pay once - around $20 per TB - and your data is stored forever. No monthly bills. No egress fees. But if you need to update or delete data? Too bad. It’s permanent. That’s great for historical records, legal documents, or blockchain state data. Useless for a blog or a video library.
Why Some Platforms Are Getting More Expensive
You might assume that as technology improves, prices go down. That’s true for hardware - HDDs dropped from $0.11 per GB in 2009 to $0.01 per GB in 2025. But decentralized storage doesn’t always follow that trend. Swarm is expensive because there aren’t enough providers. The network is small, and the protocol is designed to reward deep redundancy, not low cost. It’s like trying to rent a house in a town with only three landlords - prices stay high because supply is limited. Storj’s $4/TB rate is higher than Sia’s because they’ve optimized for enterprise reliability. They partner with Seagate and Microsoft. Their nodes are in more countries. Their uptime is higher. You’re paying for that consistency. And then there’s Walrus - a new platform launching in early 2026. Early benchmarks suggest it could offer $0.10/TB/month with low egress fees, targeting AI data storage. If it delivers, it could reset the entire market.Who Should Use Decentralized Storage?
If you’re a hobbyist backing up family photos? Maybe not yet. The setup is clunky. You need a crypto wallet, tokens, and the patience to troubleshoot failed uploads. Onboarding takes 3-5 hours for someone who’s tech-savvy. But if you’re an organization storing petabytes of research data? Filecoin is already saving you tens of thousands a year. The Russian Independent Media Archive moved six million documents to decentralized networks to avoid censorship. The Underground Physics Group at UC Berkeley uses Seal Storage to protect neutrino data from server failures. Enterprises are adopting it because the math works. Even with egress fees, Storj is still cheaper than AWS for static content. And with Microsoft’s integration, you can use it inside Teams and OneDrive without rewriting your apps.
The Hidden Costs You Can’t Ignore
There’s the time cost. Setting up decentralized storage isn’t like clicking "Subscribe" on Dropbox. You need to understand encryption keys, file sharding, and redundancy settings. Mistakes mean data loss. There’s the volatility cost. If you’re storing data on Sia and Siacoin crashes, your monthly bill might double. You can’t lock in a price like you can with Google Cloud. And there’s the reliability cost. A decentralized network isn’t a company with SLAs. If a node goes offline, your data might be unreachable for days. Some platforms auto-repair. Others don’t. You have to check the docs.What’s Next?
The market is shifting. Hybrid models are emerging - combining SSDs for speed with HDDs for bulk storage. Some platforms are testing quantum-resistant encryption. Others are building bridges to traditional cloud APIs so you don’t need to rewrite your code. The bottom line? Decentralized storage isn’t just cheaper. It’s fundamentally different. It’s not a drop-in replacement. It’s a redesign of how data is stored, paid for, and accessed. If you’re storing data you’ll never touch again - go with Filecoin or Arweave. If you need predictable, frequent access - Storj works, but budget for egress. If you’re just backing up your photos? Stick with Google Drive for now. The technology isn’t ready for everyone - but it’s ready for a lot of people who need it most.Is decentralized storage really cheaper than cloud services?
Yes - but only if you pick the right platform and understand the full cost. Filecoin can be 100x cheaper than AWS for archival storage. But if you download data often, Storj’s egress fees can make it more expensive than Google Drive. Always calculate storage + retrieval costs, not just storage.
Can I use decentralized storage for my website?
You can, but it’s not ideal for high-traffic sites. Egress fees make frequent access expensive. Some platforms like BTFS are designed for content delivery, but most decentralized networks aren’t optimized for low-latency streaming. For static assets like images or PDFs, it’s possible - but test costs first.
What happens if the crypto price crashes?
On platforms like Sia and Filecoin, storage providers may leave the network if token values drop too low. This reduces storage capacity and can slow down uploads or make data harder to retrieve. Filecoin saw this happen in 2024 - network capacity dropped by 30% after FIL’s price crashed. Choose platforms with fixed pricing (like Storj) if you need stability.
Do I need to know blockchain to use decentralized storage?
You don’t need to be an expert, but you need to understand wallets, tokens, and fees. Setting up a wallet, buying crypto, and managing storage contracts takes time. Enterprise tools like Storj’s API or Filecoin’s enterprise dashboard help, but beginners should expect a learning curve.
Is decentralized storage secure?
Yes - your files are encrypted before they leave your device, and only you hold the key. No provider can access your data. That’s a big advantage over centralized clouds where companies can (and sometimes do) scan your files. But if you lose your key, you lose your data - permanently.
Will decentralized storage replace cloud services?
Not entirely. Cloud providers offer speed, support, and reliability that decentralized networks still struggle with. But for archival, compliance-heavy, or censorship-resistant storage, decentralized options are already winning. The future is hybrid - using both, depending on the use case.
What’s the best decentralized storage for AI data?
Filecoin is currently the top choice. Its low cost and no egress fees make it ideal for storing massive AI training datasets. New platforms like Walrus, launching in 2026, are specifically designed for AI and could become the new standard. Avoid platforms with high retrieval fees - you’ll be downloading data constantly.
