A Brief Guide On Salesforce File Storage Cost

Overview
Salesforce is the market leader in the world of CRMs. A CRM system has to keep a lot of files like proposals, contracts, RFPs, invoices etc. Salesforce provides an easy way to upload files at various places like the notes & attachment section on a record, chatter feed, the dedicated files tab etc. While this gets the job done at times, Salesforce really isn’t the tool for file storage. As the storage needs increase, Salesforce gets pretty expensive, very fast. In this article, we will talk about the file storage limits in Salesforce and the ways to keep the file storage cost in check.
File Storage limits in Salesforce
Each Salesforce edition comes with a base storage, and additional storage per user license.
Here are the current limits on file storage -

These limits are mentioned in detail in the Salesforce help docs here-
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.overview_storage.htm&type=5
For an Enterprise edition with 10 paid users, the total available file storage will be
= 10 GB + (2 GB x10) = 30 GB
Additional storage can be purchased at $5 per GB per month.
Assuming a company on Enterprise edition has 10 user licenses, but needs 100 GB files storage, they would need to buy additional 70 GB of storage which would cost an extra $350 per month. This cost increases linearly as the file storage need increases.
How to reduce the file storage cost in Salesforce
Organizations generally use dedicated file storage systems like Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint etc. These system offer file storage at a fraction of the cost that Salesforce charges. Since these are dedicated file storage systems, they provide a lot of additional features too, like collaboration, sharing, versioning etc.
One of the most recommended ways is to integrate Salesforce with these systems, keep the files stored there and just link those files with Salesforce records. This way, a Salesforce user gets the same(rather enhanced) file capabilities, while not spending a bomb on storage.
How to integrate external file system with Salesforce
Salesforce is highly customizable, hence it’s very easy to integrate it with an external file system like Google Drive, SharePoint, etc. You can build an integration using Salesforce file connect or use a connector app from AppExchange. It is generally cheaper to pick a connector app than to build the integration in house.
How CloudFiles can help save the file storage cost in Salesforce
CloudFiles is a file enablement tool, available on AppExchange. It can be used to connect Salesforce with all the popular file storage platforms. CloudFiles supports Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox & Box.
In addition, to saving the file storage costs, CloudFiles enables its users to easily share files with their customers. CloudFiles links are secure and provide many intelligent features on files like live chat, white-labeling, engagement tracking etc.
If your organization has large file storage needs, CloudFiles can help reduce the Salesforce file storage cost, and enhance the file capabilities at the same time.