GCP Cloud Storage has the same problem S3 has
Everything goes into Standard class. It's the default. It's what people know. And it's the most expensive option for data you don't access frequently
The four classes in Cloud Storage:
Standard: for data accessed frequently. Highest price per GB, no retrieval fees
Nearline: for data accessed less than once a month. About 50 percent cheaper than Standard, small retrieval fee
Coldline: for data accessed less than once a quarter. About 75 percent cheaper than Standard, higher retrieval fee
Archive: for data accessed less than once a year. About 95 percent cheaper than Standard, highest retrieval fee, minimum storage duration of a year
The retrieval fees are the caveat everyone needs to understand before changing storage classes. Moving data to Archive class and then reading it constantly is not cheaper. You need to know your access patterns
For data you don't know the access patterns on: Object Lifecycle Management
You define rules and GCP handles the transitions automatically. After 30 days without access, move to Nearline. After 90 days, Coldline. After 365 days, Archive or delete
For data with unpredictable access patterns: Autoclass
Similar to AWS Intelligent-Tiering. Objects are automatically moved between Standard and Nearline based on access patterns. Small management fee per object. No retrieval fees from Autoclass transitions
In most GCP accounts with significant storage spend, the combination of lifecycle policies on predictable data and Autoclass on unpredictable data reduces storage costs 30 to 60 percent
The data doesn't change. The cost of keeping it does
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