Online vs Offline Transfer Cost Comparator
Compare what each way of moving your data into AWS, Google Cloud or Azure costs, and how long each takes.
Each one fills in the fields below for a typical workload of that kind. You can change any of them.
Your internet link
Private connection
Physical transfer
Optional
- Method
- AWS Data Transfer Terminal
- Days
- 18 days
- Fastest
- AWS Data Transfer Terminal, 18 days
Candidates on the assumptions shown, not a recommendation.
Ways to move 450 TB into AWS
| Method | One-time cost | Days | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internet with AWS DataSync | $5,625.00 | 86 days | Misses it |
| New Direct Connect, 10 Gbps dedicated | $12,708.71 | 51 days | Meets it |
| AWS Data Transfer TerminalLowest costFastest | $7,500.00 | 18 days | Meets it |
Internet with AWS DataSync$5,625.00, 86 days
86 days of transfer at 18 hours a day.
| AWS DataSyncBasic mode, $0.0125 a GB copied. | $5,625.00 |
| Total | $5,625.00 |
New Direct Connect, 10 Gbps dedicated$12,708.71, 51 days
45 days to provision, then 5.7 days of transfer.
| AWS DataSyncBasic mode, $0.0125 a GB copied. | $5,625.00 |
| Direct Connect, 10 Gbps dedicated$2.25 an hour for the port, for 13 days including 7 days of testing | $683.71 |
| Carrier circuit$1,500.00 a month for 3.0 months (minimum 3) | $4,500.00 |
| Cross-connect$300.00 a month for 3.0 months | $900.00 |
| InstallationOne-off carrier fee | $1,000.00 |
| Total | $12,708.71 |
AWS Data Transfer Terminal$7,500.00, 18 days
10 days to copy onto your own drives, 7 days of travel, 1.0 days at the terminal.
| Terminal port-hours25 hours at $300.00, uploading at 40 Gbps; no per-GB fee | $7,500.00 |
| Total | $7,500.00 |
What this means
- Lowest-cost candidate that meets the deadline
AWS Data Transfer Terminal: about $7,500.00 one-time, in 18 days. It ranks first on the assumptions shown; change any of them and the ranking can change.
- Your current link is too slow for this deadline
Over the internet link the copy takes about 86 days.
- A new private connection has a lead time
Carriers usually need four to eight weeks to deliver a circuit; this page assumes 45 days. Order early if this row is the plan.
What this model assumes
Show
- Ingress is free on all three clouds, so no row has a per-GB network charge for data arriving. The costs are the service, the circuit, the appliance and the days.
- Private links run at 80%, all day, with 92% protocol efficiency, and are billed from 7 days before the copy for testing. Port prices are US list; European ports are within a few percent.
- Appliances stay on site for the whole copy. They arrive together and your storage sets the fill rate, so every device pays daily fees for the full period. Loading into the cloud takes about 14 days on Google (it states about 10 business days) and 5 days on Azure (an assumption; Microsoft does not publish one).
- Shipping is the published starting rate. Google lists freight from $120 to $500 a round trip by device and continent; Microsoft managed shipping for Data Box 120 and 525 is free.
- The AWS terminal needs your own drives, which are not priced, and a booking at a terminal city. Upload rate is what your drives reach over the 100 GbE ports.
- From another cloud, the source bills internet egress on its monthly tiers, starting again each month of copying, and the copy runs at the rate you set at 80%, all day. The second row assumes the source credits that egress because you are leaving it.
- Not counted: object storage request charges, storage while the move runs, and source-side licenses.
Prices verified 18 Oct 2026. List prices in USD for North America and Europe, plus the rates you enter.
Planning the target architecture?
Cloud Cost Audit: We review placement, network design and egress before the first bill arrives, so the migration does not carry avoidable transfer costs into the cloud. From $1,500, fixed. Nothing paid upfront.
Questions
Is it free to upload data to the cloud?
The network part is: AWS, Google Cloud and Azure charge nothing for inbound data transfer. The migration still costs money: the transfer service (DataSync and Storage Transfer Service charge $0.0125 a GB or GiB), a private circuit and its carrier, an appliance, and the weeks the move takes.
Is AWS Snowball still available?
Not to new customers. AWS stopped offering Snowball Edge to new customers on 7 November 2025, and support for all Snow devices in commercial regions ends on 31 December 2026. AWS points new customers to DataSync for online moves and the Data Transfer Terminal for physical ones.
When is a transfer appliance cheaper than the network?
Often for large moves with a deadline. Two Google Transfer Appliances for 450 TB list at about $4,000 with shipping, against $5,200 of Storage Transfer Service fees alone, and they are not limited by your link. The network wins when the link is fast enough and already paid for.
How much does a temporary Direct Connect or Interconnect cost?
The provider side is small: a 10 Gbps Direct Connect port is $2.25 an hour, a Dedicated Interconnect $2.328 plus $0.10 for the attachment. The carrier circuit, the cross-connect, the minimum term and the four to eight weeks it takes to deliver usually decide it.
What does Azure Data Box cost now?
The Next-Gen Data Box 120 and 525 have no service fee and no shipping fee with Microsoft managed shipping, with 10 days included, then $50 or $200 a day. Data Box Heavy is retired. For small moves, Data Box Disk is $50 an order plus $10 a disk a day.
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