The Compare IQ Platform
Workload-based pricing intelligence for cloud storage.
Compare IQ models identical storage workloads across Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and platform providers — starting with backup and archive, the platform brings storage capacity, growth, retention, retrieval, API activity, data movement, region, and pricing assumptions into one side-by-side comparison.
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The result is customer-facing pricing intelligence that helps teams explain storage economics clearly and support more informed decisions.
Model the workload once. Compare it consistently across providers.
The Problem
From disconnected pricing inputs to a complete workload model
Cloud storage pricing is difficult to compare because the final cost depends on more than the published storage rate. Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud use different storage classes, retrieval charges, API structures, data-transfer fees, minimum-duration rules, and regional pricing — and platform providers may use entirely different commercial models.
Spreadsheets can compare individual rates. They struggle to show how the same workload behaves across every environment over time. Compare IQ brings those variables into a consistent workload model.
Before Compare IQ
× Multiple pricing pages
× Disconnected spreadsheets
× Inconsistent assumptions
× Technical dependencies
× Different comparison methods
With Compare IQ
✓ One defined workload
✓ Consistent provider assumptions
✓ Side-by-side economics
✓ Customer-ready outputs
✓ Repeatable comparison
The approach
More than a pricing calculator
Compare IQ does not simply compare price-list entries. It models identical, real-world storage scenarios across providers — showing how workload behavior affects cost, not just how much one unit of storage is advertised to cost.
Price lists show rates. Compare IQ shows how the workload will be priced.
Variables modeled across every provider
First workload module
Starting with backup and archive
It's a practical starting point because small differences in retention, growth, retrieval, storage tier, restore activity, and data movement can materially change long-term storage economics.
Compare IQ gives teams a consistent way to model those variables across Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and platform providers.
Price lists show rates. Compare IQ shows how the workload will be priced.
Why it Matters
$1,395,000
5-year spread between the highest and lowest provider for the same workload.
4.3%
Percentage of costs being driven by actual storage fees. API fees, metadata, Restore Costs, Egress Costs, and Landing Zone Costs account for the other 95.7%.
Step 5
Turn the model into a customer conversation
Present the results through structured, customer-facing outputs — so frontline teams can explain the model without rebuilding the analysis or depending on technical specialists for every conversation.
Step 4
Understand why the costs differ
Break the comparison into the cost drivers that matter. Adjust assumptions and immediately see how those changes affect the comparison.
Step 3
Compare providers side by side
Generate a normalized comparison across Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and platform providers. Platform providers can load their own pricing and compare it against the hyperscaler baseline using consistent workload assumptions.
Step 2
Model how the workload behaves
Define capacity and access patterns for warm and cold workloads — capacity, object size, retention, restore rate, growth, and ramp. Compare IQ applies the same assumptions across every selected tier and provider.
Step 1
Define the customer scenario
Capture the customer and commercial context, then select the cloud providers, regions, and storage tiers to compare — marking one provider as the anchor that drives tier selection and cost comparison.
The Workflow
How Compare IQ works
Five connected steps take one defined scenario all the way to a customer conversation.
Who it's for
Built for the teams guiding storage decisions
Platform providers
Load your pricing and compare your storage economics against Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud using identical workload assumptions.
Solution providers & partners
Compare provider options consistently and give customers a clearer explanation of the cost drivers and trade-offs.
Hyperscaler-aligned teams
Model storage workloads within or across cloud environments and explain how tiering, retention, retrieval, and movement affect cost.
Get Started
Ready to show customers what they will actually pay?
Model real usage, compare providers side by side, and give your sellers clear, defensible pricing before the quote.
See Compare IQ in action
See how your team can model scenarios, compare hyperscalers, and guide pricing conversations earlier in the deal.