Two ways to pay for moving data
| Model | How it works | Budget behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Per GB | You pay for each gigabyte transferred, sometimes after a small free allowance | Grows with every capture, delivery and re-send; hard to forecast in a busy season |
| Flat monthly plan | A fixed price that includes a monthly transfer allowance | Predictable up to the allowance; check what happens above it |
Neither is better in general. The answer depends on how much you move each month, how steady that is, and how many people download each delivery.
Work out your monthly volume
- 1Add up the captures you move from the field in a typical month: number of flight days times the size of a day's capture.
- 2Add the deliverables you send to clients, engineers and other recipients.
- 3Check how each service counts downloads. Where charges apply when data leaves the platform, a delivery downloaded by three people can be charged three times.
- 4Look at your busiest month as well as an average one; per-GB bills follow the peaks.
What each model costs at different volumes
The table uses published list prices retrieved on 30 October 2026, with 1 TB counted as 1,000 GB. MASV is used as the per-GB example because it publishes its prices; check the current pages before deciding.
| Data moved per month | MASV pay-as-you-go ($0.25/GB after 15 GB free) | MASV annual plan, billed monthly | Ripton Cloud plan that includes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 GB | about $121 | $110 (500 GB plan) | Starter, $99 (750 GB) |
| 1 TB | about $246 | $215 (1 TB plan) | Professional, $499 (5 TB) |
| 2 TB | about $496 | $410 (2 TB plan) | Professional, $499 (5 TB) |
| 5 TB | about $1,246 | No published plan; a 5 TB credit pack is $1,229, valid 180 days | Professional, $499 (5 TB) |
| 15 TB | about $3,746 | No published plan | Business, $1,499 (15 TB) |
Costs that do not show on the price page
- Storage: hosted services may charge for keeping files; MASV lists $0.07 per GB per month after 5 free days.
- Recipients: check whether people you send to need a paid seat or account.
- Your own infrastructure: a self-hosted tool runs on a server or cloud machine you provide, and cloud providers can charge for data leaving their network.
- Above the allowance: on a flat plan, find out the overage price before you need it.
- Commitments: annual plans and credit packs are cheaper per GB but lock in spend or expire.
Which model fits
| Per-GB pricing fits when | A flat plan fits when |
|---|---|
| You move under about 1 TB a month | You move several terabytes every month |
| Volume is irregular or seasonal | Volume is steady and you need a predictable budget |
| You do not want to run any server | You want data on your own servers or cloud account |
| Few people download each delivery | Each delivery goes to several clients, engineers or partners |
Ripton Cloud's plans
| Plan | Price per month | Transfer included per month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 25 GB, 10 GB max file |
| Starter | $99 | 750 GB, 100 GB max file |
| Professional | $499 | 5 TB, no file-size limit |
| Business | $1,499 | 15 TB, no file-size limit |
| Enterprise | From $2,500 | 15 TB included, then metered |
Annual billing includes two months free. Recipients and guests never use a paid seat, and any overage is priced and disclosed in advance. Ripton Cloud runs on nodes you host, so include that server or cloud machine in your comparison.
Sources
- MASV pricing
Pay-as-you-go, annual plans, credit packs and storage. Retrieved 30 October 2026.
- IBM Aspera pricing
Pay As You Go and edition pricing. Retrieved 30 October 2026.
- Ripton Cloud pricing
Current plans, allowances and annual billing.