Store less data
Programmers like to keep data around in case they might ever need it again. That’s a good habit until your app starts scaling and it’s repeated a bazillion times. If you don’t call the user, do you really need to store their telephone number? Tossing personal data aside not only saves storage fees but limits the danger of releasing personally identifiable information. Stop keeping extra log files or backups of data that you’ll never use again.
Store data locally
Many modern browsers make it possible to store data in object storage or even a basic version of a classic database. The WebStorage API offers a simple key-value store while the IndexedDB stores hierarchical tables and indexes them too. Both solutions were intended to be smart, local caches for building more sophisticated web applications that also responded quickly without overloading the network connection. But they can also be used to save storage costs. If the user wants to save endless drafts, well, maybe they can pay for it themselves.
Move the work elsewhere
While many cloud providers charge the same no matter where you store your data, some are starting to change the price tag based on location. AWS, for instance, charges $0.023 per gigabyte in Northern Virginia but $0.026 in Northern California for S3 storage. Alibaba recently cut its prices in offshore data centers much more than the onshore ones. Location matters quite a bit in these examples. Unfortunately, it may not be easy to take advantage of these cost savings for large blocks of data. Some cloud providers have exfiltration charges for moving data between regions. Still, it’s a good idea to shop around when setting up new programs.
