One of the most frequently asked questions we get is: How much will Snowflake cost me each month? Snowflake’s pricing model can seem complex at first, but we’re here to break it down into simple steps so you can estimate your costs with confidence.

In this post, we’ll explain the three key cost drivers—storage, compute, and services—and guide you through calculating your Snowflake monthly cost. By the end, you’ll be able to build your own Snowflake cost estimate using our expert tips.

How Much Does Snowflake Cost Per Month?

First, the good news: Snowflake pricing is usage-based, meaning you only pay for what you use. This allows for maximum flexibility and control over your Snowflake costs.

Snowflake’s pricing model is built on three core layers: storage, compute, and services. Let’s break down each layer so you can understand how your monthly Snowflake bill is calculated.

1. The Storage Layer: Costs for Storing Data

Storage costs are the easiest to understand. You are charged based on the amount of data you store, regardless of whether it’s being actively used.

Savings tip: Snowflake offers up to a 55 percent discount on storage if you commit to upfront payments over a year. This can significantly lower your overall Snowflake data storage cost.

How it’s charged: Storage costs are billed per gigabyte per month, with pricing varying slightly by region.

2. The Compute Layer: Costs for Querying Data

Compute costs in Snowflake are more complex because they are based on the compute power you use to run queries and other operations. Here’s what you need to know:

• Pricing tiers: Snowflake offers five editions, with Standard Edition being the most common. Each tier has different features and associated costs, which can affect your total compute usage.

• Cost unit: Compute power is measured in credits, which represent the cost of running a compute instance for one hour. An XS warehouse uses 1 credit per hour.

• Metering: Compute costs are charged by the second, but Snowflake rounds up to the nearest minute if your compute instance runs for less than one minute.

• Warehouse sizes: Snowflake offers different instance sizes (XS to 4XL), each doubling the capacity of the previous size. For example:

XS = 1 credit per hour.

S = 2 credits per hour.

M = 4 credits per hour, and so on.

We did not mention the Virtual Private Snowflake edition. That’s a custom installation for organizations that have strict compliance requirements, so let’s leave that out of scope.

3. The Services Layer: Costs for Platform Interactions

The services layer covers actions like logging in, managing metadata, and monitoring your account. These are essential operations but do not involve processing data directly.

Charges: Snowflake does not typically charge for these actions unless the services cost exceeds 10 percent of your total monthly bill.

Calculating Your Total Snowflake Monthly Cost

To calculate your total Snowflake monthly cost, use this formula:

Storage cost + (minutes consumed x cost per node x nodes per cluster)

Step-by-step example:

1. Storage layer: You store 500 GB of data. At $23 per TB/month, that’s $11.50/month.
2. Compute layer: You run a Medium (M) warehouse for two hours/day, 20 days a month.
   • 2 hours/day = 40 hours/month.
   • M warehouse = 4 credits/hour.
   • Total compute cost = 160 credits/month (40 hours x 4 credits).
   • At $2.50 per credit, compute costs are $400/month.
3. Services layer: Services are 5 percent of your total bill, adding $20.58.

Total monthly cost: $11.50 (storage) + $400 (compute) + $20.58 (services) = $432.08/month.

Pro Tips for Reducing Snowflake Costs

1. Enable auto-suspend: Ensure your warehouses are set to automatically suspend when not in use. This prevents unnecessary compute costs from idle time.
2. Optimize storage: Snowflake automatically compresses data, but you can further reduce Snowflake storage costs by regularly reviewing your data and deleting or archiving unnecessary files.
3. Query optimization: Use Snowflake’s Query Profile tool to identify inefficient queries that could be driving up compute costs. Optimizing your queries can lead to significant savings on Snowflake compute costs.

Buying Snowflake Directly vs. Through a Partner

You can buy Snowflake capacity directly, but partnering with a Snowflake reseller like us can offer additional benefits. We provide insights from real-world projects and can help you optimize your Snowflake usage to reduce costs.

As Belgium’s first Snowflake partner, we specialize in helping businesses manage and forecast their Snowflake costs. Contact us to discuss how we can assist with your project and help you reduce your Snowflake bill.