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This is a common question that comes up when we work on transforming, ingesting, and preparing data for analytics. If our data pipelines are already running smoothly on local servers, why should we even consider moving to the cloud?

The Short Answer

Moving your data to the cloud becomes a smart move when:

• Server maintenance becomes time-consuming
• You require third-party support just to keep things running
• Frequent updates, upgrades, and licenses are eating into your budget and time
• Your orchestrator server is creating more headaches than insights

At this point, cloud solutions can save effort, reduce operational overhead, and scale more efficiently.

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A Cost Example: Small and Medium Business Scenario

Let’s say a business needs to ingest daily data from an API, transform it, and store the output in Parquet files. The total warehouse size is around 200 MB, enough to store 5 years of sales, stock, and quotes data, this could be the case for many small-to-medium businesses.

*These estimates are based on a 200 MB warehouse with light daily ingestion and storage.

Full Cost Picture for a Small Business

When we estimate “moving to the cloud”, we can’t stop at storage and pipelines. A small business usually faces three layers of cost:

1. Platform License / Subscription – the minimum fee to use the service
2. Compute & Storage – the actual cost of running jobs and saving data
3. Analytics / Dashboard License – so end users can view and share insights

Here’s how this looks across providers:

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AWS (Glue + S3 + Athena + Power BI Pro)

• Platform license: None, AWS is pure pay-as-you-go, no upfront license fee.
• Storage & compute: ~$1/month for 200 MB warehouse + daily small ETL jobs.
• Analytics license: Power BI Pro $22.60 NZD per user/month.
• Total for 5 users: Around $113 NZD/month 

* AWS is the cheapest infra-wise, but every analyst still needs a Power BI Pro seat to consume dashboards.

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Google Cloud (BigQuery + Cloud Storage + Looker Studio Pro)

• Platform license: None, like AWS, it’s pay-as-you-go.
• Storage & compute: ~$0.05–$0.10/month for 200 MB warehouse + light queries.
• Analytics license: Looker Studio Pro $9 USD (~$15 NZD) per user/month.
• Total for 5 users: Around $75 NZD/month (~$55 USD).

* Still very cheap infra. The main cost is user licenses if you go Pro (the free Looker Studio has limits).

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Azure (Data Factory + Data Lake + Synapse + Power BI)

• Platform license: No upfront fee, but pipelines have a minimum cost (~$8–$10/month for even light workloads).
• Storage & compute: Still negligible for 200 MB.
• Analytics license:
  • Power BI Pro: $22.60 NZD/user/month.
• Total for 5 users: Around $140 NZD/month.

* Azure costs more for orchestration but is the most natural fit if you’re already a Microsoft shop.

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Microsoft Fabric

• Platform license: Requires a Fabric capacity license (not just pay-as-you-go). Current entry tier: F2 at ~$329 NZD/month (~$200 USD).
• Storage & compute: Included within Fabric capacity.
• Analytics license: Covered under Fabric — but each consumer still needs a Power BI Pro license ($22.60 NZD/user/month).
• Total for 5 users: Around $400 NZD/month.

* Fabric is powerful but overkill for a 200 MB warehouse. Its cost only makes sense when you scale or already need enterprise-level analytics.

* These prices are estimated based on data available in The Internet, and these can vary due different scenarios and supplier pricing change.

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Key Takeaways

• AWS and Google Cloud → infra is almost free, but you still pay ~$50–$70 USD/month for 5 Power BI or Looker Pro seats.
• Azure → slightly higher baseline (~$100 USD/month for 5 users).
• Microsoft Fabric → far more expensive (~$400 USD/month minimum), unless you’re already investing in enterprise analytics.

For a small business with light data (200 MB):
* The main cost isn’t the cloud servers, it’s user licenses for dashboards.

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Power BI and the Cloud: A Perfect Match

One of the most common questions is: Which cloud should I choose if my organisation uses Power BI?

The short answer: any of them.

Power BI now has native connectors for AWS, Google, and Azure/Fabric, which means you can connect directly without complex workarounds.

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Data Governance and Security

A key factor when moving to the cloud is data governance:

• Who gets access to what?
• How do you manage roles and permissions?
• What policies need to be in place to secure sensitive data?

At the beginning, setting up governance and role security may feel tedious. But once configured, it becomes an asset that protects your organisation and ensures compliance.

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Our Advice at Excel in BI

At Excel in BI, we help businesses and their teams transition smoothly to the cloud. Our philosophy is simple:

The best tech solution is the one that is reliable and easy for your team to understand.

We train your staff, simplify your data processes, and ensure your pipelines are both efficient and future-proof.

If you’d like to dive deeper into this topic, we invite you to join our free webinars, where we discuss cloud migration, Power BI, and other data challenges faced by businesses today.

👉 Register for our next free webinar