Regional Data Transfer: The Hidden Cost of Cross-Region Queries

Regional Data Transfer: The Hidden Cost of Cross-Region Queries

Queries that access data across regions incur data transfer fees. Design your account architecture to keep data and compute in the same region.

Data Transfer Pricing

• Same Region: $0 (free)
• Same Cloud, Different Region: $0.02 - $0.08 per GB
• Different Cloud Provider: $0.08 - $0.12 per GB
• External Transfer: $0.09 - $0.12 per GB

Example Cost Impact

Scenario: Query transfers 100GB/day across regions

Same region: $0
Cross-region (AWS): 100GB × $0.02 × 30 = $60/month
Cross-region (different cloud): 100GB × $0.10 × 30 = $300/month

At enterprise scale (10TB/day):
10,000GB × $0.02 × 30 = $6,000/month
10,000GB × $0.10 × 30 = $30,000/month

Common Cross-Region Scenarios

1. Centralized Data, Distributed Users

Problem: Data in US East, European users query from EU West

Solution: Replicate data to EU region, users query local replica

2. Multi-Region ETL

Problem: Source in Asia Pacific, processing in US East, destination in EU West

Solution: Process data in same region as source, transfer only final results

Optimizing Account Architecture

-- Create warehouses in same region as databases
CREATE WAREHOUSE eu_analytics_wh WITH
WAREHOUSE_SIZE = 'MEDIUM'
COMMENT = 'EU region warehouse for EU data';

-- EU users use eu_analytics_wh
-- US users use us_analytics_wh

Use Database Replication

-- Replicate to target region
CREATE DATABASE analytics_eu
AS REPLICA OF account1.analytics_us;

-- Schedule refresh
ALTER DATABASE analytics_eu REFRESH;

Real-World Example

A global company had users in US, EU, and APAC querying central US database. Before: All data in US East, 50% of 10TB daily queries cross-region = 5TB, 5,000GB × $0.02 × 30 = $3,000/month transfer cost.

After: Primary in US East, replicated to EU Central and APAC Sydney, each region queries local replica. Daily replication 30TB/month, 30,000GB × $0.02 = $600/month, query transfers $0 (all same-region). Savings: $2,400/month (80% reduction).

Monitoring Cross-Region Transfer

SELECT
SOURCE_CLOUD,
SOURCE_REGION,
TARGET_REGION,
SUM(BYTES_TRANSFERRED)/1024/1024/1024 as GB_TRANSFERRED,
SUM(BYTES_TRANSFERRED)/1024/1024/1024 * 0.02 as APPROX_COST
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.DATA_TRANSFER_HISTORY
WHERE START_TIME >= DATEADD(month, -1, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
GROUP BY 1, 2, 3
ORDER BY GB_TRANSFERRED DESC;

Key Takeaways

• Cross-region data transfer costs $0.02-$0.12 per GB
• Design account architecture to co-locate data and compute
• Use database replication for multi-region access
• Replicate strategically (not all databases need replication)
• At scale, proper architecture can save $10,000s/month