Cloud Storage
Object Storage
transparent pricing for object storage solutions
Achieve Budget Certainty with Transparent Pricing for Object Storage Solutions
Over half of European organizations overspent on cloud storage last year, often due to hidden fees for data egress and API calls. A transparent pricing model for object storage solutions eliminates this budget uncertainty. It provides a predictable foundation for your backup, disaster recovery, and archiving strategies.
Key Takeawys
Transparent pricing for object storage solutions eliminates hidden costs like egress and API fees, which cause 56% of European firms to exceed their cloud budgets.
Full S3 compatibility is essential for a seamless migration, protecting investments in existing tools and preventing vendor lock-in.
Storing data in EU-only data centers ensures GDPR compliance and digital sovereignty, a priority for 84% of European organizations.
In 2025, managing cloud costs has become a primary challenge for IT leaders, with global public cloud spending projected to exceed $679 billion. Many businesses feel locked into providers due to complex contracts and unpredictable fees, which delay critical projects for 55% of European firms. The demand for European data sovereignty adds another layer of complexity. This article outlines how transparent pricing for object storage solutions, built on an EU-native and S3-compatible platform, can resolve these challenges. It offers a clear path to cost predictability, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience without sacrificing performance.
Breaking Free from Opaque Cloud Cost Models
In 2025, three out of four enterprises have exceeded their cloud budgets, a clear sign that traditional cost models are broken. The primary issue is a lack of transparency, with hidden charges for data egress, API calls, and minimum storage durations creating significant financial uncertainty. Nearly half of all cloud-related billing in Europe is now attributed to various storage fees beyond actual capacity usage. This complexity directly impacts innovation, forcing 26% of companies to cut back on new AI projects. European businesses increasingly seek alternatives that offer predictable economics and clear SLAs. The goal is to find transparent cloud pricing that aligns with financial planning. This shift away from complex billing is the first step toward regaining control over IT expenditures.
The Power of Predictable by Design Economics
A truly transparent pricing model for object storage solutions is built on a simple premise: pay only for the storage you use. Impossible Cloud eliminates egress fees, API call charges, and minimum storage duration penalties entirely. This approach provides the financial predictability that 90% of European IT leaders, who have faced fee-related issues, are demanding. For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), this model is transformative, allowing them to build services with stable, defensible margins. The core benefit is simplicity, which reduces the 32% of cloud spend typically wasted on over-provisioned or unused resources. This economic clarity allows for better long-term cloud cost management and resource allocation. Such a straightforward model fosters trust and empowers businesses to scale without fear of financial surprises.
Ensuring Seamless Integration with S3 Compatibility
The S3 API has become the de facto industry standard, with a vast ecosystem of tools and applications built around it. Full S3 compatibility ensures that your existing applications, scripts, and backup tools continue to work without any code rewrites, protecting years of investment. This interoperability is critical for minimizing migration risk and avoiding vendor lock-in, a major concern for most IT decision-makers. Our platform supports not only basic object operations but also advanced capabilities like versioning and lifecycle management. This allows you to maintain your established data workflows and pipelines, making the transition to a cost-effective S3 solution seamless. This focus on open standards is fundamental to a flexible, future-proof cloud strategy.
Achieving Digital Sovereignty in EU Data Centers
Data sovereignty is a board-level concern, with 84% of European organizations planning to use sovereign cloud solutions. Storing data exclusively in certified European data centers ensures compliance with GDPR, which governs the data of all EU residents. Our platform offers country-level geofencing, giving you precise control over data residency and helping you avoid exposure to foreign regulations like the US CLOUD Act. This EU-centric approach provides the legal certainty required by regulated industries like finance and healthcare. For businesses aiming for GDPR-compliant storage, choosing a European provider is no longer just an option—it is a strategic necessity for building digital trust. This commitment to sovereignty prepares your organization for a resilient digital future.
Building Resilience with an Enterprise-Ready Architecture
Modern data resilience requires more than just backups; it demands an architecture built for consistency and availability. Our "Always-Hot" object storage model ensures all data is immediately accessible, eliminating the restore delays and API timeouts common with tiered storage systems. This simplifies operations and keeps third-party tools stable, a crucial factor for business continuity. For ransomware protection, we provide Immutable Storage with S3 Object Lock, which makes backup data tamper-proof. This feature creates a logical air gap, ensuring a clean recovery source is always available. Here is how our architecture supports enterprise needs:
Strong read/write consistency for mixed workloads.
Multi-AZ replication to eliminate single points of failure.
Identity-based IAM with MFA and role-driven policies.
Support for external identity providers via SAML/OIDC.
A first-class console UX for easy management without deep API expertise.
This robust foundation ensures your cloud data is secure and always available.
Preparing for 2025 EU Regulations: The Data Act and NIS-2
The European regulatory landscape is evolving, and your storage solution must be ready. The EU Data Act, fully applicable from September 2025, mandates data portability to prevent vendor lock-in, requiring providers to facilitate easy switching. By 2027, these switching charges, including egress fees, must be eliminated entirely. Our zero-egress-fee model already aligns with this future standard. The NIS-2 Directive also introduces stricter cybersecurity duties, demanding continuous security processes and supply-chain assurance from cloud providers. Our platform's design incorporates these principles, with features like multi-layer encryption and vulnerability management baked into operations. This proactive approach to compliance turns regulatory readiness into a competitive advantage. It ensures your archiving and backup strategy remains compliant for years to come.
Empowering the Channel: A Partner-Ready Platform
Your Next Steps Toward a Predictable Cloud Future
Adopting a transparent and sovereign object storage solution is a practical step toward financial control and operational resilience. It aligns your IT infrastructure with both current business needs and future regulatory demands. By eliminating hidden fees and ensuring data stays under EU law, you build a more robust and trustworthy digital foundation. Whether you are refining your 3-2-1 backup strategy, archiving legacy data, or seeking a resilient defense against ransomware, the principles of transparent pricing and data sovereignty apply. Start by assessing your current cloud storage costs, including all associated fees, to identify potential savings. A clear path to a more predictable and secure cloud environment is available today. Take the first step and see how a sovereign cloud alternative can transform your operations. Talk to an expert to get a personalized assessment.
More Links
Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) provides a research paper on cost-transparent cloud programming, focusing on making cloud resource costs more predictable and manageable.
Statista provides market outlook data for data center storage in Germany.
German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) provides statistics and tables related to cloud computing usage in German enterprises.
Fraunhofer ISST provides a report on resource-efficient cloud and data economy in Germany, focusing on Green IT aspects.
DIW (German Institute for Economic Research) discusses how cloud solutions can increase productivity.
Bitkom provides the Cloud Report 2024, containing charts and data about cloud adoption and trends.
Deloitte discusses cloud sovereignty and its three imperatives for the European public sector.
FAQ
What makes your object storage pricing transparent?
Our pricing is transparent because we have a simple, predictable model. We charge only for the storage capacity you use, with no fees for data egress, API calls, or minimum storage periods. This eliminates the billing surprises common with other providers.
Is your platform fully compatible with the S3 API?
Yes, our platform offers full S3 API compatibility. This ensures your existing applications, backup software, and management tools will work seamlessly without any changes, allowing for a smooth and risk-free migration.
How do you ensure data sovereignty and GDPR compliance?
We ensure data sovereignty by operating exclusively in certified European data centers. This keeps your data under EU jurisdiction and fully compliant with GDPR. We also offer country-level geofencing for even greater control over data residency.
What is 'Always-Hot' storage and how does it benefit me?
Our 'Always-Hot' storage architecture means all your data is always immediately accessible. Unlike tiered models, there are no delays or extra fees for retrieving archived data, which simplifies operations and ensures fast, predictable restores for all your applications.
How does your solution protect against ransomware?
We provide ransomware protection through Immutable Storage using S3 Object Lock. This feature makes your backups unchangeable and undeletable for a specified period, creating a logical air gap that guarantees you have a clean, tamper-proof copy of your data for recovery.
Is this solution suitable for Managed Service Providers (MSPs)?
Absolutely. Our platform is partner-ready, with a multi-tenant management console, automation via API/CLI, and a predictable pricing model with no egress fees. This allows MSPs to build profitable, scalable services with stable margins for their clients.
