Meter
Retrieval makes cold data readable; egress moves it to you
Retrieval makes cold data readable; egress moves readable bytes to a destination outside the provider network. A restore can incur retrieval, request, temporary-copy storage, and egress charges without deleting the source object.
Put your own numbers through the calculator to see what this meter does to a normal month and to the day you restore.
Retrieval and egress measure different work
Two meters can apply to the same byte. Retrieval is the provider's charge for accessing data in an infrequent or archive tier, or for turning an offline object into a readable copy. Egress is the network charge for sending those readable bytes to the public internet, another region, or another destination class. [1] [3]
A typical backup restore from an archive to local hardware usually incurs both retrieval and internet egress. Restore and GET calls add request charges, and a temporary restored copy can add storage too. None of those read-only actions is an early deletion. [2] [1]
| Meter | What activates it | What it is not | Source ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retrieval | Reading an online cold object or restoring an offline archive, when the selected class publishes a retrieval rate [1] [3] | It is not a charge for crossing the provider's network boundary | [1] [3] |
| Egress | Moving readable bytes to a destination whose transfer rule is billable [1] | It is not the work required to make an archive readable | [1] |
| API requests | RestoreObject, GET, HEAD, LIST, multipart, or provider-equivalent calls [1] | Request count is separate from the number of bytes retrieved or transferred | [1] |
| Early deletion | Delete, overwrite, move, or transition before a published minimum, subject to provider-specific exceptions [1] [3] | does not apply to a read-only restore that leaves the source object in place | [1] [3] |
An archived restore crosses several billing checkpoints
An offline object first needs a restore request. Amazon S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval and Deep Archive create a temporary readable copy; the archived source remains in its original class unless a separate copy or transition changes it. [2]
After readability is restored, a backup client issues GET or range requests and sends bytes to the recovery destination. Retrieval can therefore finish before egress starts, and a restore kept inside the same provider network can have retrieval without public-internet egress. [4] [1]
| Restore stage | Possible bill line | Operational test | Source ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Request the archive | Restore request charge | How many objects or batches were submitted, and which speed was selected? [4] | [4] |
| Make data readable | Retrieval per GB and temporary-copy storage | Does the class charge retrieval, and how long is the readable copy retained? [1] [2] | [1] [2] |
| Read the objects | GET, HEAD, LIST, or equivalent request charges | How many objects, parts, metadata checks, and list pages did the tool touch? [1] | [1] |
| Move bytes to recovery | Egress or data transfer | Where did the bytes go, and which allowance and destination rule applies? [1] | [1] |
| Leave the source intact | Early deletion: does not apply | A temporary restore copy does not delete, overwrite, move, or transition the archived source [2] | [2] |
A 1,000 GB restore exposes both charges
A concrete Deep Archive restore separates the meters. Assume 1,000 GB in S3 Glacier Deep Archive in US East, Standard retrieval, a public-internet destination, and the full 100 GB monthly AWS transfer allowance still available. The captured retrieval rate is $0.02 per GB and the first paid internet-transfer band is $0.09 per GB. [5] [1]
This example isolates retrieval and egress so the distinction is visible. Restore requests, GET requests, and temporary S3 Standard copy storage are additional lines. Early deletion is not among them: does not apply, because the archived source is only read. [1] [2]
| Line | Arithmetic | Charge | Source ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard retrieval | 1,000 GB x $0.02 per GB | $20.00 | [5] |
| Free internet-transfer allowance | min(1,000 GB, 100 GB) = 100 GB | $0.00 | [1] |
| Internet egress | (1,000 GB - 100 GB) x $0.09 per GB | $81.00 | [1] |
| Retrieval plus egress subtotal | $20.00 + $81.00 | $101.00 | [5] [1] |
| Early deletion | does not apply because the scenario does not delete, overwrite, move, or transition the source object | $0.00 | [1] [2] |
The retrieval rule changes by vendor and class
Every provider in the 18-vendor registry remains visible because a missing retrieval rate must not become zero. Hot classes can publish not charged, while infrequent and archive classes can publish a per-GB rate, a temporary-copy charge, an allowance without an overage rate, or not published.
Rows below use representative regions and the currencies published by each source. Region-dependent schedules are labeled rather than flattened into a universal number. Egress remains a separate destination meter even where retrieval is not charged.
The retrieval rule changes by vendor and class18 rows
| Provider | Retrieval rule by applicable class | Source ref |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon S3 | Standard: not charged. Standard-IA and One Zone-IA: $0.01/GB. Glacier Instant: $0.03/GB. Glacier Flexible: $0.03 expedited, $0.01 standard, $0 bulk. Deep Archive: $0.02 standard or $0.0025 bulk. Intelligent-Tiering standard and bulk: not charged; expedited Archive Access: $0.03/GB. Express One Zone: $0.0006/GB [1] [5] | [1] [5] |
| Azure Blob Storage | Hot: not charged. Cool: $0.01/GB. Cold: $0.03/GB. Archive standard: $0.02/GB East US or $0.024/GB West Europe; high priority: $0.10/GB East US or $0.13/GB West Europe [6] [7] | [6] [7] |
| Google Cloud Storage | Standard and Rapid: not charged. Nearline: $0.01/GiB. Coldline: $0.02/GiB. Archive: $0.05/GiB [3] | [3] |
| Cloudflare R2 | Standard: not charged. Infrequent Access: $0.01/GB; reads and copies count as retrieval. Internet egress is separately not charged [8] | [8] |
| Backblaze B2 | not charged; no cold retrieval tier in the captured offer [9] | [9] |
| Wasabi | not charged; API request and egress policies remain separate constraints [10] | [10] |
| IDrive e2 | not charged [11] | [11] |
| DigitalOcean Spaces | Standard: not published as a separate retrieval meter. Cold Storage costs $0.01/GiB after the monthly allowance equal to average daily Cold storage; public-internet egress is a separate shared allowance and overage [12] | [12] |
| Scaleway Object Storage | Standard: not charged. Glacier restore: €0.009/GB; a USD rate is not published [13] | [13] |
| OVHcloud Object Storage | Standard and High Performance: not charged. Infrequent Access: $0.0044/GB. Active Archive: $0.0212/GB. Cold Archive rate: not published on the checked product text [14] [15] | [14] [15] |
| Hetzner Object Storage | not charged; egress from a GET remains a separate meter [16] | [16] |
| Akamai Cloud Object Storage | not charged; no paid cold retrieval tier is published in the captured offer [17] | [17] |
| Vultr Object Storage | Online tiers: not charged. Archive must be restored and its readable copy uses Standard storage, but a per-GB archive retrieval rate is not published [18] [19] | [18] [19] |
| Storj | not charged as a separate retrieval meter [20] | [20] |
| Oracle OCI Object Storage | Standard: not charged. Infrequent Access: $0.01/GiB. Archive retrieval: not charged, but restored objects are billed in Standard while readable [21] [22] | [21] [22] |
| Tigris | Standard: not charged. Infrequent Access: $0.01/GB. Archive: not charged for retrieval but the temporary Standard copy is billed. Archive Instant Retrieval: $0.03/GB [23] | [23] |
| Filebase | not charged for S3-compatible object storage [24] | [24] |
| Telnyx Cloud Storage | not charged; no paid retrieval tier is published in the captured offer [25] | [25] |
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these pages, on the date shown. Each numbered reference in the text links to its entry here. Vendors change prices; if a date looks old, check the source. Three vendors publish a machine-readable feed and the rest are re-checked by hand, which is why the dates are not uniform.
The source ledger25 sources
- 1Amazon Web Services: S3 pricingaws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 2AWS documentation: Restoring objectsdocs.aws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 3Google Cloud: Storage pricingcloud.google.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 4AWS documentation: Restoring objects retrieval optionsdocs.aws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 5AWS Price List API: Us east 1pricing.us-east-1.amazonaws.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 6Azure Retail Prices API: Retail pricesprices.azure.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 7Azure Retail Prices API: Retail pricesprices.azure.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 8Cloudflare developer docs: R2 pricingdevelopers.cloudflare.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 9Backblaze: Cloud storage pricingwww.backblaze.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 10Wasabi: Faqwasabi.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 11IDrive: S3 storage e2 pricingwww.idrive.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 12DigitalOcean: Spaces object storagewww.digitalocean.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 13Scaleway: Storagewww.scaleway.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 14OVHcloud: Public cloud priceswww.ovhcloud.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 15OVHcloud: Cold archivewww.ovhcloud.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 16Hetzner documentation: Object storage overviewdocs.hetzner.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 17Akamai techdocs: Object storage pricingtechdocs.akamai.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 18Vultr documentation: How is object storage billeddocs.vultr.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 19Vultr documentation: Limitsdocs.vultr.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 20Storj: Pricingwww.storj.io · checked 2026-07-26
- 21Oracle documentation: Understandingstoragetiersdocs.oracle.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 22Oraclewww.oracle.com · checked 2026-07-25
- 23Tigris: Pricingwww.tigrisdata.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 24Filebase: Account pricingfilebase.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 25Telnyx supportsupport.telnyx.com · checked 2026-07-25