Why Cloud Storage Costs Keep Rising

Table of Contents

1. What’s Actually Driving Cloud Storage Costs Up?

Cloud bills almost never trend down.

Even companies that aren’t onboarding new applications or teams are seeing a steady climb in cloud storage costs.

According to Gartner , one of the largest drivers of cloud overspend is storage waste — the accumulation of underutilized, forgotten, or misaligned resources.

This isn’t a technical problem.

It’s an operational one.

And it hits every company, from a 10-person startup to a Fortune 500 finance team.

2. The Myth of “Storage Is Cheap”

When cloud adoption went mainstream, finance and executive teams were sold on one idea:

“Cloud storage is cheap and scales forever.”

That was once true.

It isn’t anymore.

Today’s reality looks different:

• Enterprise data is growing 3× faster than storage budgets.
• Primary block and file storage is one of the most expensive layers of cloud spend.
• Retention defaults keep data alive long after its business value dies.
• Teams don’t delete anything because “storage is cheap” has become cultural, not factual.

Modern cloud storage is more like compound interest: quiet, persistent, and painful to reverse once it accelerates.

3. Why Cloud Waste Becomes a Silent Budget Problem

Gartner notes three universal patterns that cause runaway storage cost growth:

A) Overprovisioning “just in case”

Teams allocate storage for peak capacity, but never shrink it after usage normalizes.

B) Orphaned and stale resources

Unattached volumes, abandoned snapshots, old file shares — no one knows who owns them.

C) Inefficient data lifecycle management

Data that should be archived or deleted sits in the highest-cost tiers indefinitely.

Individually, these seem minor. Combined across hundreds of applications and thousands of users? They quietly create massive cloud waste.

4. The Three Hidden Cost Drivers Nobody Tells You

1. Default Settings Are Expensive

Cloud providers default workloads to high-performance (high-cost) storage classes. Unless your team overrides them every time, you’re overspending.

2. Snapshots & Backups Multiply Without Visibility

Backups are essential. But most organizations:

• Never adjust snapshot retention
• Never delete old replicas
• Don’t know how many exist

Gartner calls backup sprawl a “silent cost driver” — and for good reason.

3. “Cold” Data Lives in “Hot” Storage

Cloud bills spike when data sits in the wrong tier.

Inactive data (not accessed in 30+ days) is often stored in the most premium class. That’s like paying Manhattan rent for a storage closet.

5. What Leaders Should Ask Their Infra Teams

You don’t need to be technical.

You just need the right questions.

Here are the exact five questions that expose 80% of cloud waste:

• “How much of our storage is unused, orphaned, or underutilized?”
• “What percentage of our data is ‘cold’ and should be on cheaper storage?”
• “Do we have mandatory tagging and ownership for volumes, buckets, and file shares?”
• “Are our snapshot and backup retention policies workload-specific or default?”
• “When was our last lifecycle or storage cleanup review?”

If your team can’t answer these cleanly, the problem isn’t the cloud. It’s visibility.

6. A Simple Framework for Reducing Cloud Storage Costs

This is the 90-day non-technical roadmap we give to CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs.

Phase 1: Visibility (Days 1–30)

• Inventory all storage
• Identify orphaned or stale data
• Map “hot vs. cold” data patterns

This is where most organizations discover 20–40% storage waste.

Phase 2: Clean Up & Rightsize (Days 30–60)

• Delete unused volumes
• Resize over-provisioned storage
• Remove old snapshots
• Move cold data to cheaper tiers

These are tactical, low-risk savings moves.

Phase 3: Put Basic Controls in Place (Days 60–90)

• Mandatory tagging
• Standardized retention policies
• Quarterly lifecycle reviews
• Dedicated owner for storage governance

At this stage, most companies see 10–25% annualized savings without touching apps.

7. Expert Commentary