Colocation is priced from parts, and the parts are billed differently from one facility to the next. Two quotes with the same rent can be thousands apart over a contract once power, cross-connects and escalators are counted. Here's how each part works, and one deployment priced three ways.
The parts of a colocation price
| Part | How it's billed |
|---|---|
| Space | Per cabinet, per kW committed, or per square foot for cages |
| Power | All-in, metered at the billed PUE, or breakered on circuit size |
| Cross-connects | $100 to $500 to install, $150 to $300 a month each |
| Bandwidth | Blended IP from the facility, or your carriers' ports |
| Setup and remote hands | One-time install fees; hourly hands beyond any bundled hours |
| Escalator | The yearly step-up on recurring charges, often 2% to 5% |
Cross-connect ranges: Inflect, 2026-04-01. The escalator range is what buyers commonly see; your contract states yours.
Size sets the rate
Price per kW falls as the deployment grows. Retail full racks run $900 to $2,000 a month and all-in retail averages about $250 per kW. Digital Realty's Q2 2026 filing shows $293/kW for new Americas contracts under 1 MW and $156/kW above 1 MW.
Inflect, 2026-04-01; Digital Realty, second quarter 2026 results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1).
Three ways to bill power
All-in folds power into the rate per kW: simple, but you can't see what power costs. Metered passes through what you draw, times the facility's billed PUE, times the utility rate: fair if you run below your commit. Breakered charges for the circuit's full capacity whether you use it or not: predictable, and expensive if you over-provision.
One deployment, three models
10 kW in Chicago, two cross-connects, a 3% escalator, priced so the first months are close:
| Model | Basis | First month | 36-month total | Per kW per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-in | $250/kW covers space and power | $2,950 | $110,018 | $306 |
| Metered | $165/kW rent plus power at 70% draw, PUE 1.4 | $2,949 | $109,061 | $303 |
| Breakered | $165/kW rent plus $121/kW circuit charge on the full circuit | $3,310 | $123,371 | $343 |
The totals diverge because the escalator compounds on rent and circuit charges but not on metered power, and a breakered circuit bills capacity you don't draw. That's why every bid we return is normalized to one 36-month number.
Where quotes hide cost
- Cross-connects quoted separately from the space, or not at all
- Billed PUE left out of a metered quote
- Escalators that apply to power as well as rent
- Setup fees that only appear on the order form
- Renewal terms that reset the rate to the current rate card
Questions
All-in retail averages about $250 per kW per month; large deployments pay much less per kW, as Digital Realty's $156/kW for new contracts over 1 MW shows.
Metered is usually cheaper if you draw well below your committed kW; all-in is simpler and caps surprises. Model both over 36 months.