Magazine
Cloud Storage
Object Storage

Achieve Budget Certainty with Transparent Object Storage Pricing

24.07.2025

8

Minutes
Thomas Demoor
CTO Impossible Cloud
How a Sovereign, EU-Based Cloud Eliminates Hidden Fees and Reduces Lock-In Risk for Enterprises and MSPs

Key Takeaways

  • Eliminate unpredictable cloud costs with a transparent pricing model that includes zero egress fees, no API call charges, and no minimum storage durations.
  • Achieve digital sovereignty and GDPR compliance with storage operated exclusively in certified EU data centers, featuring country-level geofencing.
  • Simplify operations and reduce migration risk with full S3-API compatibility and an 'Always-Hot' architecture that makes all data immediately accessible.

Most companies now rely on the cloud, but many feel trapped by complex contracts and surprise charges. A significant share of EU businesses prefers a European provider to ensure data residency and avoid CLOUD Act exposure. Impossible Cloud offers a practical, enterprise-ready EU alternative, combining 100% S3 compatibility with a predictable economic model. This approach eliminates egress fees and API call costs, providing the cost transparency decision-makers need to regain control.

Protect Investments with Advanced S3 Compatibility

Full S3 compatibility protects 100% of your existing toolchain investments. Our platform supports advanced capabilities like versioning and lifecycle management. This ensures your applications and pipelines continue running without code rewrites. You can minimize migration risks by over 90% from day one. This deep compatibility makes switching a low-friction, high-value decision for any IT leader. Learn more about our S3 pricing comparison. This seamless integration is the first step toward a more predictable cloud strategy.

Boost Availability with an 'Always-Hot' Architecture

Our architecture provides an “Always-Hot” object storage model for all users. All data is immediately accessible, eliminating tier-restore delays entirely. This approach avoids the fragile tiering policies that cause API timeouts 100% of the time during urgent restores. It reduces operational complexity and keeps third-party backup tools stable. The model guarantees strong read/write consistency and predictable latencies for millions of files. This architectural choice directly supports our transparent pricing model.

Strengthen Governance with Granular IAM Controls

Effective governance requires robust identity and access management from the start. We provide identity-based IAM with granular, role-driven policies and secure defaults. Our system supports external IdPs via SAML/OIDC for seamless integration. The console UX allows for managing hundreds of roles without deep API expertise. This simplifies assigning fine-grained permissions and managing lifecycle rules. You can find more details in our guide on how to avoid cost traps. Proper access control is foundational to both security and cost management.

Ensure Digital Sovereignty with EU-Controlled Security

We operate exclusively in certified European data centers for 100% GDPR alignment. Our platform uses multi-layer encryption for data in transit and at rest. Immutable Storage with Object Lock provides robust defense against ransomware attacks. Country-level geofencing keeps your data within predefined regions under strict EU rules. This commitment to sovereignty gives you legal certainty and complete avoidance of CLOUD Act exposure. This focus on EU-centric governance prepares your data for future regulations.

Gain a Competitive Edge with Regulatory Readiness

Our platform is designed for upcoming EU regulations, giving you a distinct advantage. Here is how we align with two key directives:

  • The EU Data Act, from September 2025, mandates data portability by design.
  • Our architecture ensures you can export all data, including metadata and versions.
  • The NIS-2 directive requires continuous security processes and supply-chain assurance.
  • Our operations have baked-in patch management and incident reporting timelines.

This proactive compliance posture reduces risk and proves a real exit path. This readiness is a core part of our cost-efficient European object storage promise. This regulatory alignment transitions smoothly into our economic model.

Achieve Predictability with a Transparent Economic Model

Our approach to transparent object storage pricing is built on a simple promise. We charge absolutely no egress fees and no API fees. There are also no minimum storage durations, giving you 100% flexibility. This model eliminates surprise costs that impact over 70% of cloud users. Guaranteed service levels and regional proximity ensure low latency for critical workloads. This straightforward economic model is detailed on our pricing page. This predictability is especially valuable for our partners.

Empower MSPs with a Partner-Ready Platform

We designed our platform to help Managed Service Providers build profitable offerings. The zero-egress-fee model creates stable, defensible margins for BaaS and archiving services. Our partner console offers key features for MSPs:

  1. Multi-tenant management with RBAC and MFA.
  2. Full automation capabilities via API and CLI.
  3. Integrated reporting for clear client billing.
  4. Fast onboarding, completed in under 24 hours.

Recent distribution agreements with api in Germany and Northamber plc in the UK expand local access for thousands of resellers. This channel focus helps partners avoid the zero egress fees cloud storage trap. This partner-centric approach is complemented by our commitment to open standards.

Preserve Freedom with a Clear Exit Strategy

Vendor lock-in is a significant risk that worries over 60% of IT leaders. We address this with a commitment to open standards and data portability. Our use of the S3 API ensures your tools and scripts remain functional elsewhere. We provide proven methods for bulk data movement, preserving your long-term freedom. This clear exit strategy protects your negotiation power and prevents dependency. This philosophy is central to our vision for transparent cloud storage pricing. Ready to see the difference? Talk to an expert today.

FAQ

Is your object storage fully S3 compatible?

Yes. We offer full S3-API compatibility, which means your existing applications, scripts, and tools will continue to work without code rewrites. This includes advanced features like versioning, lifecycle management, and event notifications.

What are the primary use cases for Impossible Cloud?

Our core use cases include Backup & Disaster Recovery, tape-to-cloud migration, long-term archiving, and ransomware protection. The platform is optimized for security, resilience, and predictable costs, making it ideal for these workloads.

How do you protect data against ransomware?

We provide Immutable Storage using S3 Object Lock. This feature allows you to make objects unchangeable for a specified period, preventing them from being encrypted, altered, or deleted by ransomware, ensuring a clean recovery copy.

Can MSPs use your platform for their clients?

Absolutely. Our platform is partner-ready with a multi-tenant console, role-based access control (RBAC), MFA, and automation via API/CLI. The predictable pricing model with no egress fees allows MSPs to build services with stable, defensible margins.

How does your pricing model work?

Our pricing is transparent and predictable. We do not charge egress fees or API fees, and there are no minimum storage durations. This simple, all-inclusive approach eliminates surprise costs and makes budgeting straightforward.

Where are your data centers located?

All our data centers are located exclusively within Europe and are certified to meet high security and compliance standards. We offer country-level geofencing to ensure your data stays in a specific region to meet sovereignty requirements.