What to Expect on Your GCP Bill
bioAF is free and open source software. The costs below come from Google Cloud Platform for the infrastructure that bioAF runs on.
Base platform
These components are provisioned during setup and are required for bioAF to function.
| Component | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| GKE Autopilot | Runs pipelines and notebook sessions | Usage-based; scales to near-zero when idle |
| Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL) | Stores experiments, samples, metadata, audit logs | Usage-based |
| GCS buckets | Stores FASTQ files, pipeline outputs, results | Usage-based; scales with data stored |
| Monitoring & logging | Health checks and log collection | Runs on GKE, no extra cost |
| Backups | PostgreSQL snapshots, config exports, Terraform state (all stored in GCS) | Usage-based |
Optional components
These are enabled through the bioAF UI as your team needs them. Each shows a cost estimate before you provision it.
| Component | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| JupyterHub | Interactive Python notebooks | Usage-based; charged per session hour |
| RStudio Server | Interactive R sessions | Usage-based; charged per session hour |
| cellxgene | Single-cell data visualization | Usage-based |
| Meilisearch | Full-text search across the platform | Usage-based |
Cost-saving features
- GKE Autopilot scales to near-zero when no pipelines or sessions are running
- Notebook sessions auto-stop after a configurable idle timeout
- The Cost Center in bioAF shows real-time spending, per-component breakdowns, and lets you set budget alerts
How does this compare to hiring?
A full-time DevOps or infrastructure engineer costs $150,000–$200,000/year in salary alone. bioAF's base infrastructure costs roughly $1,300/year idle, plus usage costs when pipelines and notebooks are running. For a team of 5–30 researchers, the cloud bill is typically a fraction of one engineer's salary.
Controlling costs
- Disable what you’re not using: components can be toggled off at any time
- Set budget alerts: bioAF will notify you when spending approaches your threshold
- Use idle timeouts: notebook sessions automatically shut down when not in use
- Review the Cost Center regularly: the dashboard shows trends and projections