CDN Cost Calculator: Bandwidth, Requests, Origin Egress, and Peak-Month Planning
Use the full CDN planner when one number is not enough. This page keeps edge bandwidth, request fees, and origin egress visible together so you can see which cost surface really dominates the month.
Maintained by CloudCostKit Editorial Team. Last updated: 2026-04-19. Editorial policy and methodology.
Best next steps
Use this calculator for the first estimate, then validate the answer with the closest guide or companion tool.
Which number moved first?
- Bandwidth moved when viewer-facing edge delivery or regional mix is the main issue.
- Request fees moved when small assets, bots, or cache-key sprawl inflate billable requests.
- Origin egress moved when lower cache hit rate or refill overhead leaves the origin paying more than expected.
- Use this page when you need to keep all three surfaces visible before deciding where to optimize.
Scenario menu for real CDN planning
- Image-heavy storefront: asset weight and merchandising peaks shape the month.
- Video or download distribution: delivered GB dominates and peak release windows matter.
- Dynamic API at the edge: request share and origin leakage can outrank bandwidth.
- Launch month with lower cache hit rate: all three cost surfaces can move together.
Inputs
CDN planning scenarios
Edge bandwidth (GB / month)
Edge rate ($ / GB)
Requests (per month)
Request fee ($ / 10k)
Cache hit rate (%)
Lower hit rate raises origin egress exposure.
Origin rate ($ / GB)
Use the billed origin egress rate, not the CDN edge rate.
Origin overhead (%)
Captures revalidation or multi-POP refill overhead.
Peak month assumptions
Traffic multiplier (%)
Peak hit rate (%)
Results
Modeled monthly total
$521.70
Bandwidth share
46%
Request share
43.1%
Origin egress share
10.9%
Estimated origin egress
630 GB
Dominant cost surface
Bandwidth
| Surface | Baseline | Share | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edge bandwidth | $240.00 | 46% | $384.00 |
| Request fees | $225.00 | 43.1% | $360.00 |
| Origin egress | $56.70 | 10.9% | $181.44 |
| Total | $521.70 | 100% | $925.44 |
Planner interpretation
Custom CDN delivery model
Use this planner when bandwidth, request, and origin surfaces all need to stay visible in one model.
- Dominant cost surface: Bandwidth
- Bandwidth share vs request share: 46% vs 43.1%
- Origin egress exposure: 630 GB/month, or 10.9% of the modeled cost.
- Peak month total: $925.44
Next action
- Check which cost surface actually dominates before you optimize the wrong number.
- Validate edge, request, and origin inputs back to billing or analytics before procurement review.
When to start here instead of a narrow calculator
- Start here when you do not yet know whether bandwidth share, request share, or origin egress share is the dominant cost surface.
- Start with the narrow calculators when one line item is already clearly isolated and you only need deeper math on that slice.
- Keep this page tool-first: use it to compare surfaces, then route to the narrower calculator or guide for the next decision.
What this planner still misses
- WAF, bot mitigation, edge functions, logs, and image-optimization add-ons.
- Contracted discounts or provider-specific tier tables that require a vendor-specific worksheet.
- Operational changes that affect cache hit rate abruptly, such as invalidation storms or launch-day cache churn.
Next step by intent
Bandwidth is clearly dominant
Go deeper on delivered edge GB, effective $/GB, and peak delivery windows.
Request fees are clearly dominant
Go deeper on request-unit math, bots, cache-key sprawl, and request-class assumptions.
Origin egress is the next risk
Go deeper on cache-hit decay, refill overhead, and how much traffic the origin still serves.
Need diagnosis before more math
Use the guide when you still need to define the bill boundary and decide what belongs in the model.
Example scenario
- Image-heavy storefront: bandwidth is often the largest cost surface, but campaign peaks can still shift the request and origin share.
- Dynamic API at the edge: request share and origin egress share can overtake bandwidth even when delivered GB looks modest.
- Launch month with lower cache hit rate: a peak window can raise all three surfaces together, especially origin exposure.
Included
- One planner for bandwidth share, request share, and origin egress share.
- Scenario presets for storefront, video or download delivery, dynamic API edge traffic, and launch-month cache misses.
- Peak-month comparison and next-action guidance after the estimate.
Not included
- Provider-specific rate cards or contract negotiation details.
- Adjacent CDN add-ons such as WAF, logs, and image processing fees unless you add them separately.
How we calculate
- Modeled total = edge bandwidth cost + request-fee cost + estimated origin egress exposure.
- Bandwidth share vs request share tells you whether bytes or request units dominate the edge bill.
- Origin egress share shows how much cache misses or refill overhead still leak cost back to the origin.
- Peak-month modeling keeps launch or incident traffic from disappearing into one average month.
FAQ
When should I use the full planner instead of narrow calculators?
Use this page when you need to compare bandwidth, request fees, and origin egress together. Use narrow calculators when you already know which one line item moved first.
Which number moved first on the CDN bill?
If viewer delivery jumped, start with bandwidth. If bots or small-object traffic jumped, request fees may have moved first. If cache hit rate fell, origin egress is usually the next number to inspect.
What scenarios does this page model best?
Image-heavy storefront, video or download delivery, dynamic API at the edge, and launch-month traffic with lower cache hit rate.
What should I validate before using the output in planning?
Confirm edge GB, request units, cache hit rate, and origin pricing against billing, analytics, or a written traffic assumption set. Then compare baseline and peak separately.
Related tools
Related guides
Cloud CDN pricing (GCP): bandwidth, requests, and origin egress (cache fill)
A practical Cloud CDN cost model: edge bandwidth, request volume, and origin egress (cache fill). Includes validation steps for hit rate by path, heavy-tail endpoints, and purge/deploy events that reduce hit rate.
CloudFront vs Cloudflare CDN cost: compare the right line items (bandwidth, requests, origin egress)
A practical comparison checklist for CloudFront vs Cloudflare pricing. Compare bandwidth ($/GB), request fees, region mix, origin egress (cache fill), and add-ons like WAF, logs, and edge compute. Includes a modeling template and validation steps.
API Gateway vs ALB vs CloudFront cost: what to compare (requests, transfer, add-ons)
A practical cost comparison of API Gateway, Application Load Balancer (ALB), and CloudFront. Compare request pricing, data transfer, caching impact, WAF, logs, and the hidden line items that change the answer.
Azure CDN pricing: estimate bandwidth, requests, and cache fill
A practical Azure CDN estimate: edge bandwidth, request volume, and origin egress (cache fill). Includes validation steps for hit rate, purge behavior, and big endpoints.
Azure Front Door pricing: model requests, bandwidth, and origin traffic
A practical Azure Front Door cost model: edge bandwidth, request volume, logging, and origin traffic (cache fill). Includes a checklist to validate hit rate and avoid double-counting egress.
CDN request pricing: estimate $ per 10k / 1M requests (and when it dominates)
Some CDNs charge request fees in addition to bandwidth. Learn what counts as a billable request, how to estimate requests/month from RPS or analytics, and how to model per-10k vs per-1M pricing without unit mistakes.
Disclaimer
Educational use only. Not legal, financial, or professional advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs and assumptions shown on this page. Verify pricing and limits with your providers and documentation.
Last updated: 2026-04-19. Reviewed against CloudCostKit methodology and current provider documentation. See the Editorial Policy .