What is edge storage?

Edge storage, defined#

Edge storage is data storage distributed across servers close to end users, at the edge of the network, rather than held in a single central data centre. When a user requests a file, it is served from a nearby location instead of crossing continents, which means faster downloads, lower latency, and less load on core infrastructure.

In practice, edge storage usually means object storage (the model popularised by Amazon S3, where files are stored as objects in buckets and accessed over HTTP) combined with edge delivery, so reads are answered from the location nearest the requester.

How edge storage works#

You upload objects through an API (with Edge, an S3-compatible one) and the platform handles placement and replication across the edge network. When the data is requested, it’s cached and served from the edge server nearest to the user, so a photo uploaded in London is served to a user in Singapore from Singapore’s side of the world, not from London.

This pairs naturally with a CDN: the storage layer is the durable source of truth, and the delivery layer keeps hot content at the edge. On Edge the two are part of the same platform, so buckets work as CDN origins without extra configuration or transfer fees between services.

Edge object storage solutions#

Edge Storage is scalable object storage built for edge deployments: S3-compatible, backed entirely by NVMe, and delivered from the network’s edge locations with 99.99% durability. It’s designed for the workloads object storage does best: static assets, media files, user uploads, backups, CDN origins, data lakes, and logs.

• S3-compatible API: Works with existing S3 tooling and SDKs, so migrating is a config change rather than a rewrite.
• All NVMe: Every object lives on NVMe storage. There are no cold tiers or retrieval delays, so data is instantly accessible.
• Encrypted at rest: AES-256 encryption for all stored data, with signed URLs and fine-grained access control.
• Versioning built in: Automatic version history for all objects, so previous versions can be restored at any time.

What edge storage costs#

Edge Storage is free for the first 5 GB, then $0.015 per GB-month, with no egress fees and no per-request charges at any volume. Storage is the only line item. Paid usage is opt-in: you set a monthly budget, and usage is billed hourly from a prepaid balance, so a surprise bill is impossible by design.

Here’s how the published standard rates compare:

Published standard on-demand rates. See storage pricing for a calculator that models your exact workload.

Why zero egress fees matter#

With traditional cloud storage, keeping data is cheap but serving it is expensive. At $0.09–0.12 per GB of egress, a product that stores 250 GB but serves 500 GB a month pays far more for downloads than for storage itself. The more successful your product, the worse the bill.

Edge charges nothing for egress or requests, at any volume. The economics flip: costs track how much you store, not how popular you are. For media-heavy products, user-generated content, and anything that pairs storage with a CDN, this is usually the single biggest line-item saving of moving to edge storage.