Calculator
Bandwidth and cloud/edge transfer cost
Simultaneous streams × bitrate sizes the link, with headroom shown separately. Transferred data is computed from real traffic, never inflated by the headroom factor.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and no figure is saved or put into a link.
What leaves the site
With on-site processing this is usually a handful of streams, not every camera.
Spare capacity so the link is not run at 100%. It does not create extra data.
Use your provider's quoted rate. Leave as not known if nothing is going to a cloud.
What to provision
Transferred data is computed from the actual traffic figure, not the headroom figure: applying headroom to bytes would overstate every cloud bill. Formula version 1.0.0.
PGAK processes on site, so in a typical deployment only alerts and the clips you choose leave the building. Confirm your own architecture before applying a cloud tariff to every camera.
How it is calculated
Required Mbps = streams × bitrate. Recommended link = required × (1 + headroom). Transferred GB = required Mbps × seconds ÷ 8 ÷ 1e9.
Worked example
8 streams at 2 Mbps, 24 hours a day for 30 days, with 30% link headroom.
16 Mbps of actual traffic, a 20.8 Mbps link to buy, and 5,184 GB transferred — headroom sizes the link, not the data.
Formula version 1.0.0. Reviewed 23 September 2026.
What this does not tell you
On-site processing means most footage never leaves the building; only apply cloud tariffs to what your architecture actually uploads.
Possible at your site subject to a survey — nothing here is a commitment until it is quoted.
Want this checked against your own site?
A PGAK business-case assessment goes through your cameras, your quotation and the numbers you entered here, and says plainly where the case is weak. Check your architecture.
The result above is yours to keep either way — print it, save it, no contact details required.
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