What makes this different
Not just a pricing table
Every other tool shows you compute costs. We show you what actually ends up on the invoice.
Egress costs included
AWS charges $0.09/GB out. DigitalOcean includes 1 TB free. The difference on a real workload can be hundreds of dollars.
NAT Gateway modeling
The most-complained-about AWS charge. $0.045/hour + $0.045/GB - that's $33/month minimum before you transfer a single byte.
Multi-AZ cost impact
$0.01/GB each way for data crossing Availability Zones. In a multi-AZ setup, every request from your app to your database costs extra.
Workload-based, not instance-based
You tell us what your app does. We figure out the right instance type and calculate total cost - including all the line items.
Opinionated recommendation
We don't just show numbers. We tell you which provider is best for your specific workload and why - with the math to back it up.
Shareable estimates
Every calculation generates a unique URL you can share with your team, include in a proposal, or revisit later.
Simple process
How it works
Describe your workload
Tell us what your app does - API, static site, background job, or full-stack. Pick how it runs: always-on VM or serverless.
Set your compute & data needs
Choose vCPUs, RAM, and most importantly - how much data you transfer out per month. That's the number most estimates skip.
Tell us about services
Load balancer? Managed database? CloudWatch logging? NAT gateway? Each one adds to the real bill. We include them all.
Get a real, shareable estimate
Side-by-side breakdown across 6 providers. Hidden costs called out. A clear recommendation. A URL you can share.
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Calculate your real cloud cost
Free. No signup. Takes 60 seconds.
Step 1 of 5
What kind of workload?
Choose the type that best describes your application.
Provider comparisons
Detailed cost breakdowns
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Stop guessing.
Know your real bill.
Takes 60 seconds. No signup. Just the numbers - including the ones your cloud provider hopes you don't notice.
Calculate my real costFAQ
Frequently asked questions
Why is my cloud bill higher than my estimate?
Most cloud cost estimates only include compute (instance hours). Your actual bill also includes egress fees ($0.09/GB out of AWS after 100 GB free), NAT gateway charges ($0.045/hour + $0.045/GB processed), inter-AZ data transfer ($0.01/GB each direction), CloudWatch log ingestion ($0.50/GB), and load balancer LCU charges. Together these can add 40-200% on top of your compute cost. Use our calculator to model the full bill including all these hidden line items.
What is AWS egress cost and why does it matter?
AWS egress cost is the fee charged for data transferred out of AWS to the internet. AWS charges $0.09 per GB after the first 100 GB free each month. For an API serving 1 TB of responses monthly, that is $82.80 in egress alone - before compute, database, or any other service. DigitalOcean includes 1-2 TB free per Droplet. This single line item is often the biggest hidden cost on an AWS bill.
What is a NAT gateway and why does it cost so much on AWS?
A NAT gateway allows instances in a private subnet to reach the internet without being directly exposed. AWS charges $0.045/hour per NAT gateway (approximately $33/month just to have it running) plus $0.045/GB for every byte that passes through it. A production setup with multi-AZ typically runs two NAT gateways, costing $66/month before any data charges. None of the other major cloud providers charge separately for this equivalent functionality at the same rate.
Is AWS cheaper than GCP or Azure?
It depends entirely on the workload. For compute alone, the prices are within 5-10% of each other across equivalent instance types. The difference becomes significant when you factor in data transfer costs. AWS charges $0.09/GB for egress; GCP charges $0.085/GB after 200 GB free. For storage, Azure Blob Storage is often cheapest. For bandwidth-heavy workloads, DigitalOcean is typically 60-80% cheaper than the big three due to its included bandwidth model. Use the calculator above to compare your specific configuration.
What are the hidden costs of cloud computing?
The most common hidden cloud costs are: (1) Egress fees - charged per GB of data sent to the internet; (2) NAT gateway - hourly fee plus per-GB processing charge on AWS; (3) Inter-AZ data transfer - $0.01/GB each way for traffic between Availability Zones; (4) CloudWatch Logs - $0.50/GB ingested, $0.03/GB stored; (5) Elastic IP addresses - charged when not attached to a running instance; (6) Snapshot storage - accumulates silently over time; (7) RDS Multi-AZ - doubles your database compute cost. These items rarely appear in initial estimates but regularly account for 30-50% of a production AWS bill.
How much does AWS data transfer cost?
AWS data transfer pricing has several components: internet egress is $0.09/GB (first 10 TB/month) after 100 GB free. Inter-AZ transfer is $0.01/GB each direction. Inter-region transfer ranges from $0.01 to $0.08/GB depending on regions. NAT gateway adds $0.045/GB on top of egress for traffic through the gateway. Data transfer in (ingress) is free. CloudFront can reduce egress costs - the first 1 TB/month from CloudFront to the internet is free.
What is the cheapest cloud provider for a startup?
For most startups with standard web workloads (API + database + some storage), DigitalOcean or Hetzner are typically 40-70% cheaper than AWS when the full bill is compared. DigitalOcean includes 1-2 TB of bandwidth per Droplet, has no NAT gateway charges, and offers simple flat-rate managed databases. AWS makes sense when you need specific AWS services (Lambda, SQS, RDS Aurora), require compliance certifications that depend on AWS, or need enterprise support. Use the calculator above to compare your specific workload across providers.
What is cloud cost optimization?
Cloud cost optimization is the process of reducing cloud spending without reducing capability. The most impactful optimizations are: (1) Right-sizing instances - moving from over-provisioned to correctly sized VMs; (2) Reserved instances or committed use discounts - saving 30-60% vs on-demand for predictable workloads; (3) Switching to ARM/Graviton instances on AWS - up to 40% cheaper than equivalent Intel instances; (4) Reducing egress - using a CDN, co-locating services in the same region/AZ, or switching providers for bandwidth-heavy workloads; (5) Turning off development resources outside working hours. Start by understanding what your bill actually contains - which is what this tool helps with.
How do I compare cloud costs between AWS, GCP, Azure and DigitalOcean?
The challenge with cloud cost comparison is that providers price differently - AWS charges separately for compute, egress, NAT, and inter-AZ transfer; DigitalOcean bundles bandwidth into a flat droplet price. A fair comparison requires modeling the same workload on each platform including all line items. This tool does exactly that: you describe your workload (compute type, data transfer volume, managed services), and it calculates the full monthly bill on each provider including hidden fees, with a clear recommendation.
Does this cloud cost comparison tool require signup?
No. HiddenCloudCost is completely free and requires no account, email, or payment information. Every estimate generates a shareable URL that encodes your inputs, so you can bookmark it or share it with your team without any account. All pricing data is sourced directly from provider documentation and updated weekly.
The only cloud cost comparison tool that includes what your bill actually shows
Every developer has had the same experience: you estimate your cloud bill, factor in compute costs, maybe add a database, and feel confident about the number. Then the invoice arrives and it is 40% higher than expected. The difference is almost always the same culprits - egress fees, NAT gateway charges, inter-AZ data transfer, and CloudWatch log ingestion. These are the hidden cloud costs that every major provider buries in footnotes and pricing calculators consistently undercount.
HiddenCloudCost is a free cloud cost comparison tool built specifically to surface those line items. Rather than asking you to pick an instance type and multiply by hours, it models your actual workload - how much data you transfer out, whether you run multi-AZ, whether you use a NAT gateway, what managed services you need - and builds a complete monthly estimate across AWS, GCP, Azure and DigitalOcean side by side.
Why cloud billing surprises developers
AWS alone has over 100 distinct pricing dimensions for a typical web application. Compute is straightforward - EC2 charges by the hour, Lambda charges per request. But cloud billing does not stop at compute. AWS charges $0.09 per GB of data transferred out to the internet after the first 100 GB. It charges $0.045 per hour just to have a NAT gateway running, plus $0.045 per GB of traffic that passes through it. It charges $0.01 per GB for data moving between Availability Zones in each direction. It charges $0.50 per GB for CloudWatch log ingestion. None of these appear prominently in standard pricing pages, yet together they routinely add $50 to $300 per month to a production workload that a developer estimated at $40 per month.
GCP and Azure have their own versions of the same problem. GCP charges $0.085 per GB for egress to non-Google destinations after 200 GB free. Azure's Standard Load Balancer charges per data processed in addition to the hourly rate. The specifics differ, but the pattern is the same: the obvious costs are straightforward, and the hidden cloud costs accumulate quietly.
How this cloud cost comparison works
Unlike tools that show you a static table of instance prices, HiddenCloudCost models a real workload. You describe what your app does - whether it is a REST API, a background job, or a full-stack application. You pick your compute type: EC2 (with Intel, AMD or Graviton instance families), Lambda, or ECS Fargate. You set your egress volume, storage needs, and whether you run multi-AZ. You select managed services including RDS PostgreSQL, RDS MySQL, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, OpenSearch, and MSK. The tool then calculates your complete monthly bill across all four providers, calls out the hidden line items explicitly, and tells you which provider is cheapest for your specific configuration.
The result is a shareable URL - every estimate encodes your inputs so you can send it to a colleague, include it in a technical proposal, or revisit it when pricing changes. All pricing data is sourced directly from provider documentation and updated weekly.
Cloud cost savings start with accurate estimates
The most effective cloud cost management is not optimizing after the fact - it is making the right architecture decision before you deploy. The difference between running a Node.js API on an AWS t3.medium versus a DigitalOcean equivalent Droplet is not just the compute price. It is the included bandwidth allowance (DigitalOcean includes 4 TB per month versus AWS's 100 GB), the load balancer pricing, and the absence of NAT gateway charges. For many workloads, the cloud cost savings from switching or rightsizing are 40 to 60 percent - not from optimization tools, but from picking the right provider for the workload from the start.
Whether you are evaluating your first cloud deployment, planning a migration, or trying to understand why your cloud bill is higher than expected, this tool gives you the complete picture. No sign-up, no credit card, no sales call. Just accurate numbers including the ones your current estimate forgot.