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Container Registry Migration Calculator

Plan a Container Registry to Artifact Registry move: copy time, dual-running cost and the change in monthly storage bill.

About Container Registry Migration Calculator

The migration itself is a bulk copy whose duration is governed by aggregate throughput, but the cost story is the per-GB difference: Artifact Registry lists higher than the Cloud Storage bucket rate Container Registry used, so the bill only stays flat if you prune. Overlap is the hidden line — every day both registries are live, you pay for both. Container Registry is deprecated, so this migration is not optional, and the two things that go wrong are an unbounded overlap period and copying images nobody deploys. Confirm both per-GB rates for your region in the Google Cloud pricing calculator before you commit to a number.

Formula

Container Registry Migration

copied GB = stored GB × (1 − pruned share); copy hours = the larger of copied GB × 8,000 Mb ÷ (per-worker Mbps × workers) ÷ 3,600 and images × per-image overhead ÷ workers ÷ 3,600; dual-run cost = (old + new monthly) × overlap days ÷ 30.44.

pruned share
Images retired during the move rather than copied
aggregate throughput
Per-worker copy rate multiplied by parallel workers
per-image overhead
Manifest read, rewrite and verify time, which dominates for registries of many small images
dual run
Period both registries are billed because pipelines still reference the old host

Worked example

With the default values below, Container Registry Migration Calculator returns Artifact Registry Monthly Cost of $48.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Data in Container Registryaccepts 0–1,000,000 GB
800 GB
Images to copyaccepts 1–10,000,000 images
4,000 images
Container Registry storage price per GBaccepts 0–10 USD/GB-month
0.026 USD/GB-month
Artifact Registry storage price per GBaccepts 0–10 USD/GB-month
0.1 USD/GB-month
Copy throughput per workeraccepts 1–100,000 Mbps
200 Mbps
Parallel copy workersaccepts 1–1,000 workers
8 workers
Per-image manifest overheadaccepts 0–600 seconds
3 seconds
Days both registries stay liveaccepts 0–365 days
30 days
Old images pruned instead of copiedaccepts 0–99 %
40 %
Manifests and pipelines referencing the old hostaccepts 0–100,000 references
120 references
Effort to update one referenceaccepts 0–480 minutes
6 minutes

Results

Artifact Registry Monthly Cost
$48.00
Container Registry Monthly Cost
$20.80
Change in Monthly Bill
$27.20
Data to Copy
447 GiB
Copy Duration
0.7 hours
Cost of Running Both Registries
$67.81
Effort to Repoint References
12.0 hours
Migration Verdict
Storage bill will rise noticeably — prune harder before copying, since Artifact Registry costs more per GB

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Container Registry Migration
  3. 3Artifact Registry Monthly Cost= 48.00
  4. 4Container Registry Monthly Cost= 20.80
  5. 5Change in Monthly Bill= 27.20
  6. 6Data to Copy= 480,000,000,000
  7. 7Copy Duration= 0.7 hours
  8. 8Cost of Running Both Registries= 67.81

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 11 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Container Registry Migration calculated?

copied GB = stored GB × (1 − pruned share); copy hours = the larger of copied GB × 8,000 Mb ÷ (per-worker Mbps × workers) ÷ 3,600 and images × per-image overhead ÷ workers ÷ 3,600; dual-run cost = (old + new monthly) × overlap days ÷ 30.44. The migration itself is a bulk copy whose duration is governed by aggregate throughput, but the cost story is the per-GB difference: Artifact Registry lists higher than the Cloud Storage bucket rate Container Registry used, so the bill only stays flat if you prune. Overlap is the hidden line — every day both registries are live, you pay for both.

Why does Container Registry Migration matter?

Container Registry is deprecated, so this migration is not optional, and the two things that go wrong are an unbounded overlap period and copying images nobody deploys. Confirm both per-GB rates for your region in the Google Cloud pricing calculator before you commit to a number.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 11 inputs: Data in Container Registry, Images to copy, Container Registry storage price per GB, Artifact Registry storage price per GB, Copy throughput per worker, Parallel copy workers, Per-image manifest overhead, Days both registries stay live, Old images pruned instead of copied, Manifests and pipelines referencing the old host, Effort to update one reference. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

Can I redirect gcr.io traffic instead of updating every manifest?

Artifact Registry can serve gcr.io hostnames from a redirected domain, which buys time by keeping old references working. It is a bridge rather than a destination — the effort estimate here is what it costs to finish the job properly.

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