The Cost of Moving Data Is Shifting
Bandwidth, often called data transfer or egress, has long been one of the most unpredictable line items on a hosting bill. In 2025 and into 2026, several major providers have adjusted their pricing structures, some cutting rates to attract customers and others restructuring how they meter and bill outbound traffic.
For site owners running high-traffic applications, media-heavy platforms, or multi-region deployments, these changes can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in monthly savings or unexpected cost increases. Here is a breakdown of where things stand right now.
AWS: Free Tier Expansion and Tiered Reductions
Amazon Web Services remains the most expensive hyperscaler for data transfer, but the company has made incremental moves to soften the blow. AWS now provides 100 GB of free outbound data transfer per month, aggregated across all services and regions (excluding China and GovCloud). This is up from the previous 1 GB free tier that existed before late 2021.
Beyond the free tier, AWS charges $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB of outbound transfer from most regions, dropping to $0.085 per GB for the next 40 TB, and $0.07 per GB for the next 100 TB. For customers moving more than 500 TB monthly, custom pricing is available through direct sales engagement.
AWS also introduced a policy under the European Data Act allowing EU customers to request reduced data transfer rates for eligible use cases. Additionally, customers migrating all data off AWS or off a specific AWS service can request free data transfer out during the migration period.
What This Means in Practice
A mid-size SaaS application pushing 5 TB of outbound data monthly from US-East will pay roughly $450 in egress fees alone on AWS. That same workload on several competitors costs significantly less, as we will see below.
Google Cloud Platform: Network Service Tiers
Google Cloud uses a two-tier pricing model for egress. The Premium Tier routes traffic through Google private backbone and charges $0.08 to $0.12 per GB depending on destination region. The Standard Tier uses public internet transit and costs $0.05 to $0.08 per GB.
In 2025, Google expanded its Always Free tier to include 200 GB of Standard Tier egress per month for Compute Engine instances, up from the previous allocation. Google also waives inter-zone transfer fees within the same region for certain configurations, a change that benefits Kubernetes clusters and distributed applications.
For customers using Cloud CDN, Google charges $0.02 to $0.05 per GB for cache egress depending on volume and region, making it one of the more competitive CDN-attached egress options among hyperscalers.
Microsoft Azure: Bandwidth Pricing Holds Steady
Azure has not made significant bandwidth pricing changes in the past year. Outbound data transfer starts at $0.087 per GB for the first 10 TB from most regions, with rates declining at higher tiers. Azure provides 100 GB of free outbound transfer per month, matching AWS.
Where Azure differs is in its peering and ExpressRoute pricing. Customers using Azure ExpressRoute with metered plans pay $0.025 per GB for outbound data, a substantial discount over standard internet egress. This makes Azure particularly cost-effective for hybrid cloud deployments with predictable traffic patterns.
DigitalOcean: Flat-Rate Simplicity
DigitalOcean continues to stand out with its straightforward bandwidth model. Every Droplet includes a generous outbound data transfer allowance starting at 500 GB per month on the smallest plan, scaling up with instance size. Overage is billed at a flat $0.01 per GB.
Ingress is completely free. Data transfer within and across VPCs in the same data center is also free. This pricing has remained stable through 2025 and into 2026, making DigitalOcean one of the most predictable options for bandwidth-heavy workloads.
For context, that 5 TB SaaS workload mentioned earlier would cost roughly $45 in overage on a mid-tier Droplet at DigitalOcean, compared to $450 on AWS. That is a 10x difference for the same amount of data leaving the network.
Vultr: Generous Allocations With Tiered Plans
Vultr includes substantial bandwidth allocations with its cloud compute plans. The entry-level VX1 General Purpose instance with 2 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM includes 5 TB of outbound transfer. Higher-tier plans include up to 10 TB. Overage is charged at $0.01 per GB, matching DigitalOcean.
Vultr has positioned its VX1 line as offering up to 82% better performance per dollar compared to hyperscaler cost-optimized plans. The bandwidth inclusion is part of that value proposition. For bandwidth-intensive applications like video streaming, file distribution, or API services, Vultr included allocations often eliminate overage charges entirely.
Akamai (Linode): The Network Transfer Pool
Since Akamai acquired Linode, the platform has undergone significant pricing restructuring. The newer G8 dedicated compute plans show 0 TB listed transfer, indicating a shift toward Akamai network transfer pool model rather than per-instance allocations.
Under this model, all compute instances in an account contribute to a shared transfer pool. Outbound transfer is then drawn from this pool rather than tracked per instance. Overage pricing sits at $0.005 per GB for most regions, making Akamai/Linode the cheapest overage rate among major providers.
Legacy Linode plans still include per-instance transfer (1 TB to 20 TB depending on plan size), but new G8 plans are clearly moving toward the pooled approach. This benefits customers running many small instances, as unused bandwidth from quiet servers offsets busy ones.
Hetzner: Europe Bandwidth Leader
Hetzner remains the price leader for bandwidth in Europe. Cloud servers include 20 TB of outbound traffic on most plans, with overage at approximately EUR 1.00 per TB (roughly $0.001 per GB). That is 10x cheaper than DigitalOcean overage and nearly 100x cheaper than AWS.
With data centers in Germany, Finland, the United States (Hillsboro, Oregon and Ashburn, Virginia), and Singapore (added in 2024), Hetzner now offers global coverage. The company bandwidth pricing has not changed significantly because it was already far below market rates.
The tradeoff: Hetzner offers less managed infrastructure, fewer integrated services, and a smaller ecosystem compared to hyperscalers. But for raw compute and bandwidth, the economics are hard to argue with.
Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance: Zero-Cost Egress Partnerships
Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance deserves mention as a structural shift in how egress is priced. Through partnerships with providers including DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and others, Cloudflare eliminates or heavily discounts egress fees for traffic flowing between member providers and Cloudflare network.
For sites using Cloudflare as a CDN or reverse proxy, this effectively makes origin egress free or near-free with participating providers. The alliance has expanded steadily, with Cherry Servers and Zenlayer among recent additions.
This model works because Cloudflare and partner providers interconnect directly, eliminating transit costs. The savings are passed to customers rather than absorbed as margin.
Comparison Table: Bandwidth Costs at a Glance
| Provider | Free Outbound | Standard Rate (per GB) | Overage Rate | Notable Policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | 100 GB/mo | $0.09 | Tiered from $0.09 | EU Data Act discounts available |
| Google Cloud (Premium) | 200 GB/mo | $0.08-$0.12 | Same as standard | Standard Tier at $0.05-$0.08 |
| Azure | 100 GB/mo | $0.087 | Tiered from $0.087 | ExpressRoute at $0.025/GB |
| DigitalOcean | 500 GB-11 TB (plan-based) | Included | $0.01 | Flat overage, no tiers |
| Vultr | 5-10 TB (plan-based) | Included | $0.01 | VX1 plans include 5+ TB |
| Akamai/Linode | Pooled across account | Included | $0.005 | Shared transfer pool model |
| Hetzner | 20 TB (most plans) | Included | ~$0.001 | Cheapest overage globally |
Key Trends Shaping Bandwidth Pricing
1. The Hyperscaler Premium Persists
AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure still charge 9x to 90x more per GB than independent providers. This gap has narrowed slightly with free tier expansions, but the fundamental pricing structure has not changed. Hyperscalers justify the premium through integrated services, global reach, and enterprise support.
2. Pooled and Flat-Rate Models Are Winning
The shift from per-instance metering to account-wide pools (Akamai/Linode) and flat overage rates (DigitalOcean, Vultr) reflects customer demand for predictability. Nobody wants to architect around bandwidth limits on individual servers.
3. CDN Integration Reduces Effective Egress Costs
Providers increasingly bundle CDN services or partner with CDN networks to reduce the effective cost of serving content. Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance is the most visible example, but AWS CloudFront, Google Cloud CDN, and Azure CDN all offer lower egress rates than direct internet transfer.
4. Regulatory Pressure in Europe
The European Data Act is forcing hyperscalers to offer reduced transfer rates for data portability. AWS has already implemented this for EU customers. Expect Google and Azure to follow with similar programs as enforcement timelines approach.
Recommendations for Different Workloads
High-traffic websites and media delivery: Pair a provider with generous included bandwidth (Hetzner, Vultr, DigitalOcean) with Cloudflare for caching. This combination often results in near-zero bandwidth costs regardless of traffic volume.
Enterprise multi-cloud deployments: Use private interconnects (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect) to reduce per-GB costs by 60-75% compared to public internet egress.
Startups and growing SaaS: Start with DigitalOcean or Vultr where bandwidth is predictable and cheap. Migrate compute-heavy workloads to hyperscalers only when you need specific managed services that justify the egress premium.
Budget-conscious projects: Hetzner offers the best raw bandwidth value globally. If your users are primarily in Europe or North America, the 20 TB included transfer and sub-penny overage rates are unmatched.
The Bottom Line
Bandwidth pricing in 2026 is a story of two markets. Hyperscalers continue charging premium rates but are slowly expanding free tiers and offering regulatory-driven discounts. Independent providers compete aggressively on included transfer and overage rates, with Hetzner, Vultr, and DigitalOcean leading on value.
The smartest approach for most workloads is to separate compute decisions from bandwidth decisions. Use a CDN layer (Cloudflare, Fastly, or provider-native options) to handle the bulk of outbound traffic, and choose your origin provider based on the full cost picture rather than compute pricing alone. A server that looks cheap on paper can become expensive quickly if you are pushing terabytes of data through it each month without adequate included transfer.