You’re Not Thinking Fourth Dimensionally! Finding the Hidden Fees in Cloud

When I say “you’re not thinking fourth dimensionally,” I mean it! That’s the trap so many cloud providers set—and unfortunately, a lot of MSPs fall right into it. These so-called “hidden fees” sneak up like a DeLorean at 88mph. But they’re not really hidden… they’re just buried so deep in fine print, you’d need a flux capacitor and a decoder ring to find them.

We’ve been there. We were an MSP ourselves before launching Cloud Services for MSPs. And we know how hard it is to give your clients a clean, predictable bill when you’re being ambushed by fluctuating fees from your cloud provider.

Let’s break it all down—because it’s time to start thinking fourth dimensionally!

The Infamous Egress Fees

Egress. That’s the fancy term for data leaving the cloud. Upload as much as you want—they love that. But once data starts coming out? That’s where they get you.

AWS and Azure will offer a little egress for free. But how do you know how much your client’s server will pull out in a given month? You don’t! We had clients for 25 years and still couldn’t predict that kind of usage.

So what happens? The bill comes in higher than expected. Now you’re stuck either eating the cost or explaining an unpredictable fee to your customer. Spoiler: neither option makes you look good.

And don’t fall for the recent noise about “free egress.” That was PR spin prompted by EU regulations. It’s not free egress for daily usage—it’s only for migrating away. You still have to file requests, follow steps, and cross your fingers that you qualify. Come on!

Transactional Fees – AKA: What Even Is That?

Ever tried to calculate transactional fees on a cloud provider’s site? It’s like trying to guess how many times your customer will open a file, rename it, search for it, or sneeze in its general direction.

According to Azure, a “transaction” can be as simple as enumerating a directory or modifying a data stream. So you’d better hope your customer doesn’t get curious and click around too much… because that’s going on your bill.

There’s no way to predict this. We joked that the next million-dollar product should be software that tracks these micro-actions and tells the client, “Hey! That file search just cost you a nickel!”

These fees aren’t tiny if you’re doing business at scale. And when you try to pad your fees to cover them, you either end up undercharging or overexplaining—or worse, losing the client.

Shut Down Your Server to Save Money? Seriously?

One cloud provider’s “pro tip” was to shut down your server during non-usage hours. Wait—so I tell my client the cloud is accessible anytime, anywhere… except at 1 a.m. on a Sunday because we’re saving money?

Even better, some platforms let you schedule the shutdown—but not the restart! Want to boot it back up automatically? Get ready to write PowerShell scripts. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t scream “ease of use.”

The flexibility cloud is supposed to give you? It just vanishes with these kinds of cost-saving gimmicks.

The Illusion of Three-Year Commitments

Long-term commitments with cloud providers might promise discounts, but dig deeper. You’re not locking in a server—you’re locking in resource levels. So if your client needs to scale down, guess what? Too bad. You’re still paying for unused resources.

We tried this once, thinking we were being smart with a big client. A year later, the company changed leadership, cut resources, and we were stuck holding the bag. Not great.

Three years is a long time. A lot can change. But your contract won’t care. So don’t let the promise of a “deal” lead you into a trap.