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Reference Glossary

Egress fee

An egress fee is the per-GB charge a cloud provider bills when data leaves its network — for example, when someone downloads an asset from a cloud-hosted DAM.

Last verified

7 Aug 2026

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Why it matters in a DAM

DAM usage is download-heavy by design: agencies pull whole campaign folders, marketing teams export video renditions, brand partners sync entire libraries. On AWS S3, egress runs about $0.09/GB after a 100GB monthly free allowance, so a single 50GB brand-refresh export to an external partner adds several dollars in bandwidth cost alone — and across hundreds of downloads a month, egress can end up exceeding the storage bill it sits on top of.

A worked example

AWS S3 to internet First 100GB/month free, then ~$0.09/GB (US/EU), tiering down to $0.05/GB above 150TB
S3 to CloudFront (same provider) Free — egress fees apply only when data leaves the provider's network
Cloudflare R2 $0 egress fee; storage billed at $0.015/GB-month instead
Example cost A 500GB video archive downloaded once by a partner costs roughly $45 on AWS list pricing, $0 on R2

Common mistake

Choosing a cloud storage backend for a self-hosted DAM based only on the advertised per-GB storage price, without modeling how much data actually leaves the network each month for partner syncs, external exports, and CDN cache misses.

An egress fee is what a cloud storage provider charges to move data out of its network — typically metered per gigabyte and billed monthly. It’s separate from the storage cost: a file can sit cheaply in the cloud for a year and never generate a storage-side surprise, but the moment it’s downloaded at scale, egress becomes the line item that actually moves the bill.

DAM platforms are structurally exposed to this because downloading is the whole point of the product. Bulk ZIP exports of campaign folders, agencies syncing entire brand libraries, video renditions pulled by an editorial partner — every one of those moves data across the provider’s network boundary, and on a provider like AWS S3 that means roughly $0.09 per GB after the first 100GB each month is used up.

Not every provider charges this way. Cloudflare R2, for instance, charges $0 in egress fees and instead prices storage itself slightly higher, explicitly positioning egress-free pricing as the differentiator against providers like AWS. For a DAM with heavy external distribution — agencies, franchisees, licensees pulling large volumes of assets — the egress line item, not the storage line item, is often the bigger factor in choosing where the library actually lives.

Egress rates vary enough between providers to be worth comparing directly before picking where a library lives:

ProviderTypical internet egress rate
AWS S3~$0.09/GB after a 100GB/month free allowance
Google Cloud Storage~$0.12/GB on the Premium tier (first 1TB), ~$0.085/GB on the Standard tier
Azure Blob Storage~$0.087/GB
Cloudflare R2$0 — no egress fee

Frequently asked

Does viewing a thumbnail in a DAM count as egress?

Small preview images generate egress too, but the volumes are tiny compared to downloading full-resolution masters or video files — egress cost is dominated by bulk exports and large-file downloads, not everyday browsing.

Is there a way to avoid egress fees entirely?

Some providers, notably Cloudflare R2, charge zero egress fees and price storage slightly higher instead; using a CDN in front of the same provider's storage (e.g., S3 to CloudFront) can also avoid egress on cached content.

Does egress apply to internal use within the same cloud provider?

Generally no — transfers within the same provider's network, such as S3 to an EC2 instance in the same region, or S3 to that provider's own CDN, are typically free; egress fees apply specifically to data leaving the provider's network to the public internet.

How does egress affect choosing a DAM hosting model?

A DAM with heavy external distribution — agencies, franchisees, or partners regularly pulling large asset volumes — should model egress cost explicitly, since it can exceed the storage bill and make an egress-free provider meaningfully cheaper overall.

Do egress fees differ by region?

Yes — on AWS, the US and Europe carry the standard first-tier rate, while regions like Asia Pacific (Singapore) run about 33% higher, so a globally distributed team's bill depends partly on where the storage bucket is located.

Can a DAM admin see egress costs broken out separately?

It depends on the hosting model — a cloud-native DAM billed as a flat subscription may bundle egress into the price, while a self-hosted DAM running on raw cloud storage will typically show egress as its own line item on the cloud provider's invoice.

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