From Google's cloud to iCloud to Microsoft's OneDrive, every company who offers a cloud backup limits space and asks you to pay a recurring fee if you want more storage. For many people, this is an annoyance and a source of frustration.
What is The Cloud, anyway?
The cloud is a general term for a computer that stores files and hosts apps in one place, but that can be accessed from anywhere, so long as you are connected to the internet. This is extremely useful--your phone, for example, can upload all of its photos and contacts to a computer far away and you can log in on whatever device you want in order to access them. Because the files stored in the cloud are still being stored on a physical computer, this comes with some costs.
1. Cost of storage devices
Hard drives are expensive, especially ones that have plenty of space and are fast enough to let you access files quickly. In 2024, the cost of an enterprise-grade hard drive was upwards of $1500. For a company that offers a cloud service, this price adds up, and quickly. Even when companies limit space to a few gigabytes per user, they will still be spending quite a lot just to store that data on their servers.
On top of that, cloud providers do not just store one copy of your files. To prevent data loss in the event of a disaster, multiple backups are kept on computers in other locations. This multiplies the storage cost.
2. Cost of electricity
Next, the computers, or servers, that hold the files use a lot of electricity just to be up and running 24/7. If the servers are turned off, they cannot send files out when you need them, so they must be on constantly. Because there are enough servers to hold all of the files for all of the users, this can be expensive. The cost of electricity to run a single server for a year ranges from $124 to $498 per year depending on the model and usage. A large cloud provider needs entire rooms or buildings full of servers to hold all the files, so this price is multiplied.
3. Maintenance costs
Tech companies have to hire a lot of programmers and other personnel just to keep their sites running and bug-free. The more scaled up their cloud service is, the more experts they must employ in order to maintain the computers and the cloud security. Like everything else in this article, that is expensive. In 2025, the average programmer makes $99,000 per year, and companies have to pay them in order to keep them around.
Conclusion
While it may be frustrating to be limited in your free cloud storage, there are a lot of costs associated with running and maintaining this useful technology. The storage devices themselves, cost of electricity to constantly run, and salaries for the programmers who maintain them are all pricey factors that add to the overall cost of running a cloud for millions of users. No matter where you put your files, storage costs money, and paying a small fee for more gigabytes may be worth it, depending on your needs.
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