Planning research with UK Biobank just got easier thanks to our new cost calculator. Free to use, with no login or commitment required, the tool helps researchers approach the resource with a realistic sense of what their work will cost, and supports better-informed conversations with team members, departments, and funders.
Cloud computing has made it possible to run analyses at a scale that would have been impractical just a few years ago, from population-level genomics to machine learning applied to large, complex datasets.
Around 90% of projects on UKB-RAP come in under £1,000, often covered in full by UK Biobank’s researcher credits.
On UK Biobank’s platform (UKB-RAP), all data access and analysis takes place in the cloud via Amazon Web Services (AWS), where researchers can run computationally intensive work without needing to maintain their own high-performance infrastructure.
The associated costs depend on a combination of factors: the type of compute instance used, how long it runs, the memory or specialist hardware required (such as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs), and how much data a project stores or transfers. For those without a background in cloud computing, navigating these variables alongside concepts like instance types and spot versus on-demand pricing can add complexity to the planning process.
Model your costs
Our cost calculator reduces this complexity by bringing these variables together in one place. By adjusting a range of inputs, researchers can understand how different choices affect overall cost and make decisions that suit their analysis and budget.
You can model a broad range of scenarios, from straightforward workflows to intensive machine learning tasks – choosing from preset compute options or building a custom configuration to match your specific needs. Once you have a completed setup, you can download the results to share with collaborators or to support a funding application.
In practice, many researchers find costs lower than expected. Around 90% of projects on UKB-RAP come in under £1,000, often covered in full by UK Biobank’s researcher credits. For projects requiring additional resource, further funding support programmes are available.
See what your research could cost
If you’d like to learn more about cloud costs in UK Biobank, sign up to our webinar on 20 May 2026.
Join us for a webinar providing you with a clear and practical overview of cloud computing costs within UK Biobank.
Explore more
Find out what your UK Biobank analysis could cost by using our cost calculator tool to produce and download an estimate.
UK Biobank is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing global health research. To make our data as accessible as possible, we offer financial support through several funding programmes.