Find out what your UK Biobank analysis could cost.
“I was surprised by how low compute costs were for my project. I did my whole analysis for under £5.”
Dr Dylan Williams, University College London, UK
The UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform (UKB-RAP) provides unmatched access to UK Biobank’s vast database within a restricted, consistent and sophisticated research environment. With over 30 petabytes of individual-level data stored centrally, the UKB-RAP minimises the risks and costs associated with local storage or data transfer.
With a range of financial support available in credits towards the cost of analyses, many researchers can conduct their analysis with little to no cost at all.
When you run analyses on UKB-RAP, you can choose how your compute is set up. Use this tool to see how different configurations change the cost profile for your analysis.
New to cloud computing?
This tool uses terms like spot and on-demand instances. In most cases, we recommend you use spot instances to save on costs.
Find detailed guidance on understanding cloud computing, virtual machines and instances and balancing speed and cost on UKB-RAP on our researcher Community, a hub for knowledge, collaboration and learning.
More about costs
Access to UK Biobank data involves a fee. The costs shown in this calculator relate to using UKB-RAP only and not the initial access fee.
You could be eligible for free financial support, including reduced access fees or £1,000 in credits to support with costs in the platform. Explore our financial support to see what support is available to you.
Get started with your estimate
Compute
The processing power and memory required for your analysis
Compute
The processing power and memory required for your analysis
Choose from a selection of pre-built instance types based on typical projects, or build your own custom instance.
Added to project:
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Nothing added yet
Next steps
Add a compute instance
Pre-built instance types
Low compute + low memory
Suitable for small datasets and simple analyses.
Low compute + low memory
Suitable for small datasets and simple analyses.
Low compute + high memory
Suitable for moderate datasets and standard analyses.
Low compute + high memory
Suitable for moderate datasets and standard analyses.
High compute + low memory
Suitable for intensive computations on moderate datasets.
High compute + low memory
Suitable for intensive computations on moderate datasets.
High compute + high memory
Suitable for large datasets and complex analyses.
High compute + high memory
Suitable for large datasets and complex analyses.
Machine learning
Suitable for machine learning and deep learning tasks.
Machine learning
Suitable for machine learning and deep learning tasks.
Custom instance type
Build a custom configuration
Description
Build a custom configuration
Description
Storage
The amount of space required to hold your uploaded data
Storage
The amount of space required to hold your uploaded data
Note:
- We only charge for storage of your own uploaded data. UK Biobank data is stored free of charge.
- Storage is billed incrementally as your data accumulates; you are not charged the full estimated amount upfront. Try to take this into account when building your estimate.
Added to project:
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Nothing added yet
Next steps
Add storage
Data transfer
Costs for moving your derived data out of the platform
Data transfer
Costs for moving your derived data out of the platform
Note: Transfer fees only apply to data transferred out of the platform. There are no fees for inbound transfer.
Added to project:
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Nothing added yet
Next steps
Add data transfer
Total costs
The total estimated costs for your project
Total costs
The total estimated costs for your project
Project requirements
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Nothing added to your project requirements
Use the sections above to add compute, storage, and data transfer
Use the sections above to add compute, storage, and data transfer
Long term data storage
Data transfer
Estimated total
All researchers receive £40 of credit when joining UKB-RAP to contribute to compute and storage costs. You may also be eligible for an additional £1,000 in funding support.
We’ll remember your project on this device for 7 days. You can also export your project details as a PDF to share with colleagues or save for later.
Estimated totals:
Hear from other researchers
Dr Dylan Williams, University College London, UK
Dylan’s project used UK Biobank data to explore the connection between a specific gene variation and risk of Alzheimer’s.
I was surprised by how low compute costs were for my project. I did my whole analysis for under £5.
Professor Brian Browning, University of Washington, USA
Brian’s project built a pipeline for filtering, phasing and indexing whole-genome sequencing data for the entire UK Biobank cohort.
Our project was computation intensive, so we explored ways to save on costs by using spot instances when possible, and selecting the lowest cost compute that was necessary to accomplish a task.
In the end the whole process, including testing, statistical phasing and QC filtering, cost about £14,000.
Join us for a webinar providing you with a clear and practical overview of cloud computing costs within UK Biobank.
Disclaimer
The costs generated by this calculator are estimates only and are provided for general guidance. They do not constitute a formal quote, offer, or guarantee of pricing. Actual costs may vary based on a number of factors including instance usage (added computational time, time taken to spin up/down instances), pro-rataed storage periods, and other variations from the inputted values. Pricing is subject to change at any time. UK Biobank does not provide any warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the cost estimates generated. UK Biobank accepts no liability for any reliance placed on these estimates or for any loss or damage arising from their use.