Storage Costs
Understanding storage costs helps you budget effectively and avoid service interruptions. This guide explains how to calculate costs and fund your account for Filecoin storage.
How Storage Costs Work
Section titled “How Storage Costs Work”Storage operates on a pay-per-epoch model where you deposit USDFC tokens and set allowances that control how much the storage service can spend.
Pricing Components
Section titled “Pricing Components”| Component | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $2.50/TiB/month | Minimum $0.06/month per data set (~24.567 GiB threshold) |
| CDN Egress | $14/TiB downloaded | 1 USDFC top-up ≈ 71.5 GiB of downloads |
| CDN Setup | 1 USDFC (one-time) | Per data set; reusing existing data sets incurs no cost |
Pricing Logic:
- Storage < 24.567 GiB: Minimum $0.06/month applies
- Storage ≥ 24.567 GiB: Actual cost
(bytes / TiB) × $2.50/month - CDN data sets require 1 USDFC setup on first creation only
- CDN egress credits can be topped up anytime
Real-World Cost Examples
Section titled “Real-World Cost Examples”Example 1: NFT Collection (10,000 × 5 KiB ≈ 48.82 MiB)
Section titled “Example 1: NFT Collection (10,000 × 5 KiB ≈ 48.82 MiB)”// 48.82 MiB less than 24.567 GiB threshold// Price is $0.06/monthconst const PRICE_PER_MONTH: 0.06
const months: 24
const PRICE_FOR_24_MONTHS: number
const PRICE_PER_MONTH: 0.06
| Duration | Total Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 month | 0.06 USDFC |
| 24 months | 1.44 USDFC |
Example 2: User Content Platform with CDN
Section titled “Example 2: User Content Platform with CDN”- Storage: 1,000 users × 100 MiB ≈ 100,000 MiB
- Traffic: 1,000 users × 100 MiB/month ≈ 100,000 MiB/month egress
const const STORAGE_PRICE_PER_TIB_PER_MONTH: 2.5
const CDN_EGRESS_PRICE_PER_TIB: 14
const storageMiB: 100000
const egressMiB: 100000
const storageTiB: number
const storageMiB: 100000
const egressTiB: number
const egressMiB: 100000
const storageCostPerMonth: number
const storageTiB: number
const STORAGE_PRICE_PER_TIB_PER_MONTH: 2.5
const egressCostPerMonth: number
const egressTiB: number
const CDN_EGRESS_PRICE_PER_TIB: 14
const totalCostPerMonth: number
const storageCostPerMonth: number
const egressCostPerMonth: number
const totalCostFor24Months: number
const totalCostPerMonth: number
| Cost Component | Per Month | 24 Months |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | ≈ 0.238 USDFC | ≈ 5.71 USDFC |
| CDN Egress | ≈ 1.334 USDFC | ≈ 32.016 USDFC |
| Total | ≈ 1.572 USDFC | ≈ 37.728 USDFC |
Warm Storage Service Approvals
Section titled “Warm Storage Service Approvals”Before uploading, approve the WarmStorage operator and fund your account. FWSS requires a 30-day prepayment buffer—when your balance drops below 30 days, the provider may remove your data.
Approval Components:
| Component | Purpose | Formula When Adding Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit Amount | USDFC tokens for storage duration | Total cost for desired months |
| Rate Allowance | Max spending per epoch (cumulative) | currentRateUsed + newRate |
| Lockup Allowance | 30-day prepayment buffer (cumulative) | currentLockupUsed + (newRate × 86,400) |
| Max Lockup Period | Safety limit on locked funds | constant of 86,400 epochs (30 days) |
Detailed Calculator Guide
Section titled “Detailed Calculator Guide”Learn how to calculate storage costs, required operator allowances and fund your account for future storage needs.
In this guide we will calculate the costs for a 1 GiB storage capacity for 12 months.
Step 1: Calculate Base Storage Costs
Section titled “Step 1: Calculate Base Storage Costs”Get pricing information and calculate the cost per epoch for your storage capacity:
// Get pricing structureconst const warmStorageService: WarmStorageService
class WarmStorageService
WarmStorageService.create(options?: { transport?: Transport; chain?: Chain;}): WarmStorageService
const minimumPricePerMonth: bigint
const epochsPerMonth: bigint
const pricePerTiBPerMonthNoCDN: bigint
const warmStorageService: WarmStorageService
WarmStorageService.getServicePrice(): Promise<getServicePrice.OutputType>
const bytesToStore: bigint
const SIZE_CONSTANTS: { readonly KiB: 1024n; readonly MiB: bigint; readonly GiB: bigint; readonly TiB: bigint; readonly PiB: bigint; readonly MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE: 1065353216; readonly MIN_UPLOAD_SIZE: 127; readonly DEFAULT_UPLOAD_BATCH_SIZE: 32;}
type GiB: bigint
let pricePerMonth: bigint
const pricePerTiBPerMonthNoCDN: bigint
var BigInt: BigIntConstructor(value: bigint | boolean | number | string) => bigint
const bytesToStore: bigint
var BigInt: BigIntConstructor(value: bigint | boolean | number | string) => bigint
const SIZE_CONSTANTS: { readonly KiB: 1024n; readonly MiB: bigint; readonly GiB: bigint; readonly TiB: bigint; readonly PiB: bigint; readonly MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE: 1065353216; readonly MIN_UPLOAD_SIZE: 127; readonly DEFAULT_UPLOAD_BATCH_SIZE: 32;}
type TiB: bigint
let pricePerMonth: bigint
const minimumPricePerMonth: bigint
let pricePerMonth: bigint
const minimumPricePerMonth: bigint
const pricePerEpoch: bigint
let pricePerMonth: bigint
const epochsPerMonth: bigint
var console: Console
Console.log(...data: any[]): void
The console.log() static method outputs a message to the console.
log("Monthly cost:", let pricePerMonth: bigint
var console: Console
Console.log(...data: any[]): void
The console.log() static method outputs a message to the console.
log("Per-epoch cost:", const pricePerEpoch: bigint
Step 2: Calculate Required Allowances
Section titled “Step 2: Calculate Required Allowances”Calculate cumulative allowances for your new storage, accounting for existing usage.