Cost & pricing · 5 min read
Why Egress Fees Are Killing Your Geospatial Budget
Most cloud providers charge every time someone views your map. Learn how pay-for-storage and zero egress can cut costs for teams that serve lots of map views.
If you host geospatial data in the cloud, you've probably seen the bill spike when a map goes viral or a client embeds your tiles in a high-traffic app. That's egress: the cost of data leaving your cloud provider. For map tiles and vector data, every pan, zoom, and layer toggle can mean another request—and another line on the invoice.
Why geospatial is different
Traditional file storage is simple: you pay to store, and maybe a little to download. Geospatial workflows are different. One dataset might be served as thousands of tile requests per user session. Public-facing maps can generate millions of requests per month. At typical egress rates of $0.09/GB or more, bandwidth can easily outweigh storage costs.
The pay-for-storage alternative
A model that charges only for storage—and zero or minimal egress—aligns better with how teams actually use geospatial data. You store once; views are unlimited. That makes costs predictable and lets you share maps and APIs without worrying about traffic spikes. For teams building internal tools, public portals, or partner integrations, that predictability is a game-changer.
What to look for
When evaluating geospatial hosting, check the egress policy. Look for zero egress fees or at least a clear, high free tier. Prefer providers that stream tiles and vectors on demand from object storage rather than running separate tile servers that add both complexity and cost. Your future self will thank you when the next big project doesn't come with a bandwidth surprise.