Git LFS Cost Calculator

About the Git LFS Cost Calculator

Git Large File Storage (LFS) replaces large files in your repository with lightweight pointers while storing the actual file content on a remote server. While this keeps your Git repository fast, the storage and bandwidth for LFS objects come with costs that can add up significantly for teams with many large assets.

This calculator helps you estimate monthly Git LFS costs based on storage volume and bandwidth usage. Different platforms have different pricing models: GitHub charges for both storage and bandwidth separately, while GitLab includes more storage in premium plans and Bitbucket bundles LFS with repository storage.

Understanding these costs is especially important for game development, design teams, and data science projects where large binary files are common. Costs can range from a few dollars to hundreds per month depending on usage patterns.

When This Page Helps

Git LFS costs are easy to overlook until they show up on the bill. This calculator helps you forecast costs before committing to LFS, compare platform pricing, and decide whether alternative solutions like artifact registries or cloud storage might be more cost-effective.

How to Use the Inputs

1. Enter the total Git LFS storage used in GB.
2. Enter the storage rate per GB per month.
3. Enter the monthly bandwidth (git clone, fetch, pull) in GB.
4. Enter the bandwidth rate per GB.
5. Review the monthly and annual cost projections.
6. Compare against alternative storage solutions.

Example Calculation

Tips & Best Practices

• Cache LFS objects in CI to reduce bandwidth — each clone without cache downloads all tracked files.
• Use .lfsconfig to set custom LFS endpoints for different environments.
• Only track files that truly need versioning; use artifact storage for build outputs.
• GitHub includes 1 GB storage and 1 GB bandwidth free; data packs add 50 GB each.
• Monitor bandwidth spikes during release periods or when many developers clone.
• Consider cloud storage (S3, GCS) for files that don't need Git versioning.

Git LFS Pricing Models

GitHub charges per-GB for both storage and bandwidth with free tier included. GitLab includes generous LFS storage in its Premium and Ultimate plans. Bitbucket bundles LFS with repository storage limits. Self-hosted solutions eliminate per-GB charges but add infrastructure costs.

Bandwidth Optimization

Bandwidth is often the larger cost component, especially for teams with active CI/CD pipelines. Each pipeline clone downloads all LFS objects unless specifically configured to skip them. Use GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 in CI jobs that don't need large files.

Alternatives to Git LFS

For very large datasets or build artifacts, consider cloud storage (S3, GCS), artifact registries (Artifactory, Nexus), or DVC (Data Version Control). These solutions offer more flexible pricing and access patterns while keeping Git lean.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How much free LFS storage does GitHub provide?

  GitHub includes 1 GB of free LFS storage and 1 GB of free bandwidth per month for all accounts. Additional capacity is available in data packs: $5/month for 50 GB of storage and 50 GB of bandwidth.

• What counts as LFS bandwidth?

  Bandwidth includes downloading LFS objects during git clone, git fetch, git pull, and git checkout operations. Each CI pipeline clone that fetches LFS objects counts against bandwidth. Uploads (push) typically don't count.

• Is Git LFS cheaper than storing files directly in Git?

  LFS itself isn't cheaper for storage, but it dramatically reduces Git repository clone size and operation speed. The cost trade-off is paying for LFS hosting vs. the developer time wasted on slow Git operations with large files in the repo.

• Can I self-host Git LFS?

  Yes, GitLab self-managed and Gitea include LFS support. You pay only for the underlying storage infrastructure. This is typically cheaper at scale but requires setup and maintenance effort.

• What file types should I track with LFS?

  Track large binary files that change occasionally: images, videos, design files (PSD, Sketch), compiled binaries, datasets, and model files. Don't use LFS for text files or frequently-changing files, as it removes Git's diff capabilities.

• What happens if I exceed my LFS bandwidth limit?

  On GitHub, pushes and pulls will be blocked until bandwidth resets next month or you purchase additional data packs. On GitLab, behavior depends on your plan. Always monitor usage to avoid disruptions.