Buying an array and paying support, or subscribing to committed capacity with burst? Put in the figures from your own quotes and see the total cost of each over the term, year by year, and where they cross.
Updated 12 October 2026
C4C is an official Dell Technologies, NetApp, HPE and VAST Data partner, tied to none. Nick Watson and Paul Smith each spent over a decade at EMC selling enterprise arrays to finance, banking and telcos. We model ownership and consumption on the same basis and negotiate the terms that decide the outcome. Talk to us.
The defaults are illustrative only, not any vendor’s price. Replace every figure with your own quote.
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Tell us your capacity, growth and the options you are considering. We will model them on the same basis and tell you which terms matter. No need to share quotes.
Capacity needed grows from your year 1 figure by your growth rate each year. Owning is the purchase price in year 1, annual support from the year you choose, and expansion at your price per TiB whenever need exceeds the capacity bought. Storage as a service charges the committed capacity at your committed rate every month whether used or not, burst capacity above it at your burst rate up to the allowed percentage, and treats any need beyond that as a raised commitment at the committed rate. Totals are cash cost over the term, before any discounting.
It depends on the contract, and the answer changes the accounting. Under IFRS 16, a contract is a lease if it gives you the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for payment (IFRS Foundation). Two details decide most storage contracts. If the supplier has a real right to substitute the equipment throughout the term, there is no identified asset. And if you use only part of a shared system that is not physically distinct, it counts as an identified asset only if your share is substantially all of its capacity. A dedicated array in your data centre is more likely to contain a lease than capacity on shared equipment.
This now matters for most UK companies, not just IFRS reporters. The amended FRS 102 brings most leases onto the balance sheet for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, on a model largely based on IFRS 16, with exemptions for short term and low value leases (ACCA). A lease on the balance sheet moves cost from operating expense to depreciation and interest, which affects EBITDA, net debt and possibly loan covenants. So the old assumption that a subscription is simply operating expenditure needs checking with your finance team and auditors before it goes into a business case.
With most storage as a service programmes the hardware stays the vendor’s and goes back at the end, so plan the exit before you sign. Dell’s APEX subscription terms, for example, require you to migrate and erase your data and make the equipment available for collection within seven days of the end of the term, keep billing you until that has happened, and continue month to month if you have not given notice (Dell, November 2024). NetApp offers a non returnable disk option under Keystone, so you can keep and destroy the storage media yourself while NetApp recovers the rest of the equipment (NetApp).
That means a subscription needs the same migration planning as a refresh, timed so the new platform is ready before the old one has to go back. Ask for the end of term, renewal notice and data handling terms in writing, and decide whether you need to keep the drives.
If you own arrays today, check their support dates in our Dell EMC and NetApp lifecycle guides or the storage end of life checker.
Sometimes. Storage as a service usually costs more per TiB over a full term than a well negotiated purchase, but you pay for what you commit to and use rather than buying capacity up front, and many programmes include hardware refresh. It tends to win when growth is uncertain or you want to avoid a large purchase, and owning tends to win when growth is predictable and you keep arrays for their full life. This calculator compares the two on your own numbers.
Most programmes charge a committed capacity at a rate per TiB per month, billed in full whether or not you use it, plus burst capacity above the commitment, often at a different rate and up to a limit. Terms, minimums, refresh rights and guarantees vary by vendor. Our storage as a service comparison sets out how Dell APEX, NetApp Keystone, Everpure Evergreen and HPE programmes work.
Because storage prices are quote specific and depend on the platform, capacity, term and discount, and we do not publish vendor pricing. The defaults are illustrative only so the calculator shows a result. Replace every figure with the numbers from your own quotes.
With owned storage, growth beyond the capacity you bought means buying expansion. With storage as a service, growth first uses the burst allowance and then usually means raising the commitment. The year by year table shows when each happens on your figures.
Not necessarily. If the contract gives you control of an identified asset, such as a dedicated array the supplier cannot substitute, it may contain a lease, and under IFRS 16 and the amended FRS 102, effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, most leases go on the balance sheet. Confirm the treatment with your finance team and auditors. The calculator compares cash cost only.
Usually you migrate and erase it, and the vendor collects the hardware. Dell’s APEX terms, for example, require this within seven days of the end of the term and keep billing until it is done. Some programmes, such as NetApp Keystone’s non returnable disk option, let you keep and destroy the drives. Plan the migration before the term ends.
Yes. C4C is an official Dell Technologies, NetApp, HPE and VAST Data partner, tied to none, so we can model a purchase against a consumption programme on the same basis and negotiate the terms that decide the outcome. You do not need to share quotes to start a conversation.