Cloud providers double egress fees: Your data's escape plan now costs more than the whole digital transformation

In 2026, the cloud economy is undergoing a significant shift with major cloud service providers announcing price increases, particularly for storage and egress components, with some rates doubling. This "Cloud Inflation" poses a challenge for businesses undergoing digitalization, potentially eroding the return on investment of their digital transformation. To navigate this new economics, companies can adopt a strategic approach, starting with an audit and data tiering to eliminate waste, such as unattached storage disks or idle virtual machines. By leveraging sovereign cloud and local hosting, businesses can store sensitive data on their own infrastructure while using global clouds for specific software-as-a-service tools. Commitment discounts, such as Committed Use Discounts, can also help offset price increases, with providers offering 50-70% off for a 1-year or 3-year commitment. By implementing these strategies, businesses can mitigate the impact of Cloud Inflation and optimize their digitalization efforts.