Cloud cost
Storage class
A pricing/durability tier for stored data: the same bytes cost a different amount, and take a different amount of time to read back, depending which class they sit in.
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Definition
Every major object-storage service offers a ladder of classes trading a lower per-GB storage rate against a longer minimum storage commitment, a per-GB retrieval fee, or a slower restore time. AWS's runs from S3 Standard down through Standard-IA, Glacier Instant Retrieval, Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and Glacier Deep Archive. Picking the wrong class in either direction is a real cost: too hot wastes money on data nobody reads, too cold adds retrieval fees and early-delete penalties that can erase the saving entirely.
Block storage (EBS-style volumes) has its own, differently-shaped ladder: general-purpose SSD, provisioned-IOPS SSD, and two tiers of HDD. It's priced by provisioned size and performance rather than by access frequency.
Where it shows up
A storage class shows up on the bill as its own billing line: AWS S3 lists Standard, Standard-IA, Glacier Instant Retrieval, Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and Glacier Deep Archive as separate storage classes with their own per-gigabyte rate and, for the colder tiers, a retrieval fee on top.
What makes it expensive
The costly mistake runs in either direction: data left in a hot, expensive class that nobody reads, or data moved to a cold class before its minimum storage duration passes, triggering an early-delete penalty. Both look identical on an undifferentiated storage line. Report storage by class instead, and read each class against how often that data is actually touched.
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