How do OCI block volume performance tiers work?

Each performance tier provides a different IOPS and throughput rate per GB. Lower Cost provides 2 IOPS/GB, Balanced provides 60 IOPS/GB, and Higher Performance provides 75 IOPS/GB. The maximum IOPS scales linearly up to a cap — 25,000 IOPS for Balanced and 35,000 IOPS for Higher Performance on volumes up to 32 TB. You can also purchase additional performance units (VPUs) to increase IOPS beyond the default for your tier.

Can I change a block volume's performance tier without downtime?

Yes, you can change the performance tier of a block volume online without detaching it or stopping the attached instance. The change takes effect within seconds. This is useful for temporarily boosting performance during batch processing or migration tasks and then reverting to a lower-cost tier. You can also resize volumes online, and the new capacity is immediately available after extending the filesystem.

OCI Block Volume Calculator

StorageOCI

Calculate OCI Block Volume IOPS, throughput, and monthly costs by performance tier.

Last verified: May 2026

Block Volume Configuration

Volume Size (GB)

VPUs per GB (0-120)

Raw Output

Output will appear here...

See It in Action

Your team is provisioning storage for a new PostgreSQL database needing 20,000 IOPS sustained. Naive approach: AWS-style 'pick a high IOPS tier'. The calculator shows: 256 GB Higher Performance volume = $19/month + 19,200 IOPS (close, may bottleneck); 384 GB Higher Performance = $29/month + 25,000 IOPS. Better path: 320 GB Balanced volume = $7/month delivers 19,200 IOPS at the lowest tier. The team saves $264/year on each of 30 database volumes ($7,920 fleet savings).

What This Tool Does

OCI Block Volumes offer configurable performance tiers — Lower Cost, Balanced, and Higher Performance — with different IOPS and throughput limits per GB. Unlike AWS EBS where you choose from fixed volume types, OCI lets you select a performance level and the IOPS and throughput scale linearly with volume size within that tier. The Block Volume Calculator helps you determine the right volume size and performance tier combination to meet your IOPS and throughput requirements. It also calculates costs including any additional performance units purchased beyond the included baseline.

Technical Details

The calculator takes inputs (volume size, performance tier, expected workload IOPS/throughput needs) and computes: IOPS available at that size+tier, throughput available, monthly cost (per-GB rate × size + optional VPU/performance-units cost). It also models backup costs based on data change rate and retention policy.

Common Use Cases

1Calculating the minimum block volume size needed to achieve 25,000 IOPS for an Oracle Database workload
2Comparing the cost of a large Balanced volume versus a smaller Higher Performance volume to meet the same IOPS target
3Estimating backup costs based on volume size and change rate for block volume backups stored in Object Storage
4Determining the maximum throughput achievable for a data analytics workload that needs sustained sequential read performance

Common Questions

How do OCI block volume performance tiers work?: Each performance tier provides a different IOPS and throughput rate per GB. Lower Cost provides 2 IOPS/GB, Balanced provides 60 IOPS/GB, and Higher Performance provides 75 IOPS/GB. The maximum IOPS scales linearly up to a cap — 25,000 IOPS for Balanced and 35,000 IOPS for Higher Performance on volumes up to 32 TB. You can also purchase additional performance units (VPUs) to increase IOPS beyond the default for your tier.
Can I change a block volume's performance tier without downtime?: Yes, you can change the performance tier of a block volume online without detaching it or stopping the attached instance. The change takes effect within seconds. This is useful for temporarily boosting performance during batch processing or migration tasks and then reverting to a lower-cost tier. You can also resize volumes online, and the new capacity is immediately available after extending the filesystem.

Expert Tips

TIP

OCI Block Volumes can change performance tier ONLINE without detaching — a feature AWS EBS doesn't support without volume modification + cooldown. Use this for cost optimization: run at Lower Cost tier most of the time, bump to Higher Performance during heavy batch processing, drop back when done.

TIP

Performance scales LINEARLY with volume size. A 256 GB Balanced volume gives 15,360 IOPS; a 512 GB Balanced volume gives 25,000 IOPS (capped). For IOPS-bound workloads, sometimes the cheapest path to more IOPS is just a bigger volume — not a higher-priced tier.

TIP

Backups are stored in Object Storage and billed separately. Incremental backups only store changes, but if your data churn rate is high, backup storage can exceed the volume cost. Lifecycle policies on backup retention (e.g., daily for 7 days, weekly for 30 days, monthly for 1 year) prevent runaway costs.

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