Edge Storage Calculator
Size and cost cached data at the edge, including the replication amplification of pushing hot objects to every location.
About Edge Storage Calculator
Edge caches are not one copy of your data: anything popular enough ends up resident in every location, so the billed footprint is the hot set multiplied by the location count plus a single copy of the long tail. Evictions and purges then convert part of that footprint back into origin fetches you pay for again. Replication amplification is what makes an apparently small dataset expensive across 40+ locations, and it is the reason tiered caching exists — confirm the current per-GB storage and fetch prices with your provider, since edge storage is priced very differently from object storage.
Formula
Edge Storage
stored bytes = hot share × dataset × locations + cold remainder; cost = stored × storage price + stored × eviction rate × origin fetch price.
- hot share
- Objects popular enough to be cached in every location
- amplification
- Total stored capacity divided by the size of the dataset
- eviction rate
- Share of the cached footprint refetched from origin each month
Worked example
With the default values below, Edge Storage Calculator returns Monthly Edge Storage Cost of $452.10. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Cacheable datasetaccepts 0–10,000,000 GB
- 2,000 GB
- Share hot enough to sit in every locationaccepts 0–100 %
- 15 %
- Edge locationsaccepts 1–500 locations
- 40 locations
- Average object sizeaccepts 1–1,000,000 KB
- 180 KB
- Edge storage priceaccepts 0–10 USD/GB-month
- 0.015 USD/GB-month
- Cached data refetched each monthaccepts 0–500 %
- 20 %
- Origin fetch priceaccepts 0–10 USD/GB
- 0.09 USD/GB
Results
- Monthly Edge Storage Cost
- $452.10
- Stored Across All Locations
- 13,700.00 GB
- Footprint in Bytes
- 12 TiB
- Replication Amplification
- 6.85 × the dataset
- Capacity Charge
- $205.50
- Origin Refetch Charge
- $246.60
- Objects Held at the Edge
- 76,111,111
- Capacity Needed per Location
- 342.50 GB
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Edge Storage
- 3Monthly Edge Storage Cost= 452.10
- 4Stored Across All Locations= 13,700.00 GB
- 5Footprint in Bytes= 13,700,000,000,000
- 6Replication Amplification= 6.85 × the dataset
- 7Capacity Charge= 205.50
- 8Origin Refetch Charge= 246.60
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 7 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 Edge Storage calculated?
stored bytes = hot share × dataset × locations + cold remainder; cost = stored × storage price + stored × eviction rate × origin fetch price. Edge caches are not one copy of your data: anything popular enough ends up resident in every location, so the billed footprint is the hot set multiplied by the location count plus a single copy of the long tail. Evictions and purges then convert part of that footprint back into origin fetches you pay for again.
Why does Edge Storage matter?
Replication amplification is what makes an apparently small dataset expensive across 40+ locations, and it is the reason tiered caching exists — confirm the current per-GB storage and fetch prices with your provider, since edge storage is priced very differently from object storage.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 7 inputs: Cacheable dataset, Share hot enough to sit in every location, Edge locations, Average object size, Edge storage price, Cached data refetched each month, Origin fetch price. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.