Files.com is a service hosted in the cloud, and in many use cases, file data is both passed through our network for file transfers and stored on our storage.

Files.com also supports a wide variety of integration scenarios, including the ability to access other cloud and on-premise storage, and the use of a variety of apps.

Because of the wide variety of situations, the topic of Billable Usage is somewhat complex.

We try to have our approach to charging for Usage be customer-friendly. The approach when using integrations and apps, we try to build these such that file transfers only travel through our network where required for security or performance. We are able to support direct transfer of files from your app through to the other cloud or on-premise service for the most popular combinations of apps and integrations. More on this below.

Where we do use the Files.com network for transfer and storage, we charge reasonable prices with no minimums. Pricing starts at $0.10/GB and can scale to as low as $0.04/GB with an appropriate annual commitment. Please contact us to learn more about annual commitments for Usage.

We bill based on one total monthly number called "Usage," representing your total billable usage of the Files.com Service. This "Usage" number is the sum of your "Storage Usage" and your "Transfer Usage."

Admins can find the Usage information on the Usage page of your site. Usage information is available for Storage Usage, Transfer Usage, Users and API Calls.

You can find the details on Usage calculation in our Terms of Service.

Usage Calculation Timing

Usage is calculated for each 30-day “Usage Period” that your account is open.

If your account is billed monthly, your Usage Period will coincide with your monthly billing term.

If your account is billed annually, we divide your annual billing term into twelve Usage Periods. If your account is billed on some other interval, we will divide your billing term into Usage Periods that are 30 days long.

Each Usage Period is evaluated independently, and unused usage does not "rollover" from one Usage Period to the next.

Storage Usage

Storage Usage applies to files actually stored on Files.com. Files stored on a remote server mount, such as Azure, S3, Box, etc., do not count at all toward this category of Usage.

Active Files are the set of files that at any given time either were uploaded to your account within the last 30 days (whether or not they are currently deleted), or were uploaded to your account more than 30 days ago, and not yet permanently deleted.

Deleted files backed up, which are files that are deleted but retained because you have enabled our feature to keep deleted files for possible restoration, are not counted as permanently deleted. If you have disabled this feature by setting it to 0 days, then files are treated as permanently deleted as soon as they are deleted.

Recent file uploads deleted, which are files uploaded within the past 30 days and then deleted, are counted as Active Files.

We calculate your Storage Usage multiple times a day; therefore, changes, including deletions, are not reflected in real-time. When you delete files to reduce disk usage, the files will be deleted immediately, but the updated Storage Usage, including the Active Files and folder breakdown under the current storage snapshot, may take up to 24 hours to reflect these changes.

Storage Usage is calculated by taking the sum of the actual number of bytes contained in each “Active Files” plus a 64kb “Overhead” per file. The Overhead is to account for the storage costs of metadata such as logs, behaviors, permissions, and notifications associated with each file, as well as overhead costs that are passed through to us by Amazon S3.

For each Usage Period, we consider your overall Storage Usage to be the highest level of Storage Usage recorded during that Usage Period.

User count or user's status has no relation to storage usage. Your site's storage usage will not be reduced if you disable users. If the file or folder is stored in Files.com, it counts toward storage usage.

Transfer Usage

Transfer Usage is the sum of the total number of bytes transferred from the Files.com network on behalf of your site during the Usage Period.

Files.com offers storage in various "Regions" around the globe (for example: Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Germany are each considered a separate region). Transfer Usage is calculated for each Region and then summed together, transfer usage resulting from Files.com storage is referred to as Native inbound or Native outbound. Moving or copying a file from one Region to another is counted as transfer in the receiving Region, plus its upload date for the purpose of Storage Usage is reset.

Many activities related to Remote Server Sync or Remote Server Mount result in billable transfer usage, but many do not. The below points summarize which activities are billable with regard to Remote Server Sync or Remote Server Mount:

Syncing files between Files.com and another Files.com site (either direction) is not billable Usage to either Files.com customer.

Syncing files between Files.com and any other type of Remote Server Sync (both directions) is billable Usage.

Uploading files to a Remote Server Mount or Downloading files from a Remote Server Mount results in billable Usage if that traffic actually flows through Files.com's network. See the next section to learn exactly when this happens.

Examples of contributors to Usage

To further clarify the file actions which contribute to Storage Usage and Transfer Usage, here are some examples:

File upload: Uploading files, creating, or updating new versions will contribute to storage usage. Using Sync and Mount will contribute to transfer usage because of the files flowing through Files.com network.

Download: Downloading a file using any of the supported methods as well as viewing a file using file preview in Files.com will contribute to transfer usage.

Deletes: When files are deleted, the files will contribute to reduction in file storage, however, these files are subject to a minimum of 30-day retention period.

Copy: When copying files, this equates to a file upload and will contribute to an addition in storage usage. If the copy of files is within a mount, between mounts, between Files and a mount, or between regions, this counts as an upload + download.

Moving: Moving files within the same region on Files.com will not result in any additional storage or transfer usage. However, if moving a file within a mount, between mounts, between Files and a mount, or between regions, this counts as an upload + download.

Transfer usage can also be affected by errors and conditions at the remote server, outside the control of Files.com.

For example, some remote servers that run out of storage space can still receive files but will fail to save those files. If you are using a Remote Sync, Automation, or a file transfer client which performs automatic retries, then the automatic retries will continue trying to transfer the files until they are successfully delivered to the remote server. Each retry will contribute to Transfer Usage.

To avoid this, monitor the Files.com logs to determine which remote server affected, pause any Remote Syncs or Automations to that remote server, and ask the operator of that remote server to resolve all storage issues.

When Does Traffic Flow Through Files.com's Network For Remote Server Mount

Traffic always flows through Files.com's network if the FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV are being used in any way, either as the client app or the remote server. Any use of FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV will always result in billable Usage in conjunction with Remote Server Mount. This is due to technical limitations related to these protocols.

Otherwise, if you are using one of Files.com's recommended client apps, including our Desktop App for Windows/Mac, iOS App, Android App, or CLI App for Windows/Mac/Linux, Files.com will route upload and download traffic directly to the Remote Server Mount if that capability is securely supported by the remote server. If this happens, that Usage will not be billable.

Currently this is fully supported for the Amazon S3 remote server type, and partially supported for Wasabi, Backblaze, and S3 Compatible remote server types.

We are investigating the ability to provide this capability for Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Sharepoint, Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, and Rackspace. If the ability to enable direct uploads for any of these remotes without having to pay for Usage is important to you, please let us know.

Usage Caps, Limits, or Reports by User or Folder

Files.com does not currently offer the ability to set limits, quotas, nor report on Usage by user, folder, or inbox.

We do have customers achieving similar goals by using our Webhooks to update an external database of usage by user or folder.

For example, a Webhook includes a parameter indicating the size of the files being transferred.

When a user's measured "usage" reaches your predefined limit, you could disable the user's access via the API or SDK (set the user's disabled attribute to true) and delete any files you wish. Then, re-enable the user again via the API or the web interface when you deem it appropriate.