Cloud Archival Storage

Archive cold data on S3-compatible Object Storage Classes, from €0.0042 per GB per month

Archival Storage keeps cold data on Simple Object Storage at €0.0042 per GB per month, 77% below Standard Storage and one of the lowest instant-access archival rates in Europe. Same buckets, same S3 API, same European zone: no data to move and no new endpoint to integrate, on GDPR-compliant European infrastructure. Archival Storage already carries the rate planned for the Cold Storage Class in early 2027. With a 10 TB minimum billed per bucket, it costs less than Standard from around 2.3 TB, and a request takes less than 3 minutes.

Request Archival Storage

Compare Exoscale Storage Classes

Archival Storage is the only Class below Standard pricing that you can activate today. Warm and Cold Storage are planned for early 2027 and are shown for comparison: each Class trades storage price against retrieval cost and minimum duration. Moving a bucket to Cold Storage at launch keeps the same storage price, the same data and the same S3 API.

	Standard Live	Archival Storage Available now, on request	Warm Storage Planned early 2027	Cold Storage Planned early 2027
Storage price /GB/month	€0.0184	€0.0042	€0.0113	€0.0042
Storage price /GiB/hour	€0.00002750	€0.00000626	€0.00001689	€0.00000626
vs Standard	baseline	−77%	−39%	−77%
Retrieval	Free	Free	€0.009 per GiB retrieved	€0.027 per GiB retrieved
Minimum duration	None	None	30 days	90 days
Minimum billed volume	None	10 TB per bucket 9,313 GiB	None	None
Egress traffic	Standard rates	Standard rates	Standard rates	Standard rates
Availability SLA	99.95%	99.85%	99.9%	99.85%
Object lock and retention	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Best for	Hot data, frequently accessed workloads	Cold archives, long-term backups, retention data	Infrequent access: backups, logs, DR	Cold archive, long-term retention

[1]

Volume tiers (512 TiB / 1 PiB) apply to the Standard Class only. No volume tiers or additional discounts apply on Archival, Warm, or Cold Storage. Monthly prices are rounded approximations; billing is per GiB/hour.
[2]

Retrieval is a one-time fee per GiB of data retrieved, not a recurring per-hour rate, and the rates shown are rounded approximations. Retrieval on Archival Storage is free today; the Cold Storage retrieval fee and its 90-day minimum duration apply once that Class launches.
[3]

When the Warm and Cold Storage Classes launch in early 2027, a 30-day window opens to move each enrolled bucket to the Storage Class of your choice. Moving to Cold Storage keeps the same storage price, without the 10 TB minimum. Buckets not migrated within that window return to Standard Class pricing.

Archival Storage: cold storage pricing on the Object Storage you already run

Archival Storage combines a cold storage rate with instant access. Deep-archive tiers can advertise a lower price per GB, but reading data back requires a restore operation, often of several hours, and adds retrieval fees and minimum storage durations. On Archival Storage, objects stay readable with a standard S3 GET, retrieval is free today, and there is no restore step and no minimum storage duration.

Nothing changes for existing applications: same buckets, same S3 API, same European zone. Once a request is accepted, usage is billed at the Standard rate, and the difference down to the Archival Storage rate comes back as a monthly discount on the same invoice, starting with the next full billing period.

Archival storage on Simple Object Storage

What Archival Storage is built for

Archival Storage is built for data you keep and rarely read back. Each request is checked against the requirements below, and the rate is granted on the buckets that meet them.

Sized for Real Archives

Each enrolled bucket is billed for at least 10 TB, metered as 9,313 GiB, even if it holds less: a floor of €42 per month. From around 2.3 TB of archived data, Archival Storage already costs less than the Standard Class.

Built for Cold Data

Archival Storage holds cold archives, long-term backups, and retention data. Hot, frequently accessed data stays on the Standard Class.

No Object Lock or Retention

These features are not available on Archival buckets today, and arrive with the Cold Storage Class. Workloads that need immutability now should stay on the Standard Class.

How to activate Archival Storage

Submit a request

Open the activation request form and submit the organization ID and the bucket name to enroll: one request per bucket, less than 3 minutes each.

Review

Each bucket is checked against the requirements above. Buckets that meet them are granted the Archival rate, and there is no separate confirmation to wait for.

Monthly discount

Nothing else is required. Once granted, the discount starts with the next full billing period and appears on that month's invoice, which is where you see it applied.

Request Archival Storage for your buckets

Submit the organization ID and bucket name to enroll. One request per bucket, and each request is reviewed against the requirements above before activation. It takes less than 3 minutes.

When the Warm and Cold Storage Classes launch in early 2027, a 30-day window opens to move each enrolled bucket to the Class of your choice; buckets not migrated within that window return to Standard Class pricing.

Preview of the Archival Storage activation request form

Request Archival Storage

Frequently asked questions about Object Storage Classes

What is a Storage Class in object storage?

A Storage Class defines how objects are stored and billed within the same bucket infrastructure. Each Class trades storage price against retrieval cost, minimum storage duration, and availability SLA, so rarely accessed data can cost much less than hot data. A single S3-compatible API covers all Classes, so choosing a Class is a billing decision rather than a technical migration: the endpoint, the credentials and the tooling stay the same.

What are the four Object Storage Classes?

The four Classes on Simple Object Storage are Standard, Archival Storage, Warm Storage, and Cold Storage. Standard is live today and stores hot, frequently accessed data. Archival Storage is available on request, for archival workloads. Warm and Cold Storage are planned for early 2027: Warm Storage targets infrequently accessed data such as backups and logs, while Cold Storage targets long-term archives.

Which is the cheapest Storage Class?

Archival Storage and the future Cold Storage Class share the lowest rate: €0.0042 per GB/month, 77% below Standard. Archival Storage applies that rate to enrolled buckets today, and an enrolled bucket moved to Cold Storage during the 30-day launch window keeps it. Buckets not migrated within that window return to Standard Class pricing. Warm Storage sits between the two at €0.0113 per GB/month, for data you read back more often.

How do I compare S3-compatible archival storage prices in Europe?

Weigh the total cost, not the storage line alone. Deep-archive tiers can advertise a lower price per GB but require a restore operation, often of several hours, and add retrieval fees and minimum storage durations, so the lowest headline rate is rarely the lowest bill. Archival Storage stores long-term data at €0.0042 per GB/month, one of the lowest instant-access archival rates in Europe, and retrieval is free and instant: objects stay readable with a standard S3 GET.

What is Exoscale Archival Storage?

Archival Storage stores cold data on Simple Object Storage at €0.0042 per GB/month, the same rate the Cold Storage Class will carry when it launches in early 2027. Activation is on request, one request per bucket, and the difference down to the Archival Storage rate comes back as a monthly discount, starting with the next full billing period. Compared to Standard, the availability SLA is 99.85% instead of 99.95%, and object lock and retention are not available on Archival buckets until they move to the Cold Storage Class.

Who is Archival Storage for?

Teams with genuine archival needs: cold archives, long-term backups, and retention data. Each enrolled bucket is billed for at least 10 TB of storage, metered as 9,313 GiB, even if it holds less, so the rate pays off from around 2.3 TB of archived data per bucket. At 10 TB, the same data costs €42 per month instead of €184 on the Standard Class. Requests are reviewed individually, and hot workloads stay on Standard.

What happens when the Warm and Cold Storage Classes launch?

A 30-day window after launch allows moving each bucket to the Storage Class of your choice. Moving to Cold Storage keeps the same €0.0042 per GB/month: the data, the buckets, the S3 API and the zone stay as they are, the 10 TB minimum no longer applies, and object lock becomes available. Cold Storage adds a retrieval fee of €0.027 per GiB read back and a 90-day minimum duration. Buckets not migrated return to Standard Class pricing.

How is the discount applied to my invoice?

Usage is billed at the Standard rate, and the difference down to the Archival Storage rate comes back as a monthly discount on the invoice. Billing accrues at the end of each month, and the discount starts with the next full billing period. For example: when a bucket is granted the Archival rate on June 20th, the discount covers July usage and appears on the July invoice, issued at the end of that month.

Do egress and network fees change between Storage Classes?

No. Egress traffic is billed at standard rates on every Storage Class, and inbound traffic stays free. Retrieval fees are a separate, per-GiB charge that only applies to the Warm and Cold Storage Classes once they launch; the Standard Class and Archival Storage have none today. Durability does not change either: objects are replicated on three high-availability nodes in the selected zone whatever the Class, so the lower SLA is an availability commitment, not a change in how data is stored.

Is this a European alternative to Amazon S3 Glacier?

Yes. Like S3 Glacier, Archival Storage and the future Cold Storage Class target long-term data archiving at cold storage prices, through a fully S3-compatible API. Two differences matter: data stays in the selected European zone, on GDPR-compliant, ISO 27001-certified infrastructure operated by a European provider, and retrieval on Archival Storage is free and instant, with no restore step to wait through.