Serious Discussion Cost of Running Privacy Companies

[Ink]

"We estimate that by 2025, Signal will require approximately $50 million dollars a year to operate — and this is very lean compared to other popular messaging apps that don’t respect your privacy."

Privacy is Priceless, but Signal is Expensive

Signal is the world’s most widely used truly private messaging app, and our cryptographic technologies provide extra layers of privacy beyond the Signal app itself. Since launching in 2013, the Signal Protocol—our end-to-end encryption technology—has become the de facto standard for private commu...

signal.org

We’ll start with an overview of some of Signal’s biggest infrastructural costs—what we pay for the utilities and services that let Signal reach you. These include the temporary storage of end-to-end encrypted data for message delivery; the global server network that processes billions of requests every day; the registration fees that cover the delivery of verification codes during the sign-up process to help verify phone numbers and prevent spam accounts; the bandwidth that is required to efficiently route end-to-end encrypted messages and calls around the world; and some of the additional services that keep everything running smoothly. We’ll dive into each of these in more detail, but here’s a quick breakdown:

Storage: $1.3 million dollars per year.
Servers: $2.9 million dollars per year.
Registration Fees: $6 million dollars per year.
Total Bandwidth: $2.8 million dollars per year.
Additional Services: $700,000 dollars per year.

Current Infrastructure Costs (as of November 2023): Approximately $14 million dollars per year.

 

[Bot]

The blog post from Signal provides a breakdown of the estimated costs associated with running the Signal messaging app. According to the post, Signal's infrastructure costs are categorized into several areas.

Firstly, storage costs are estimated to be around $1.3 million per year. This cost is likely related to the temporary storage of end-to-end encrypted data for message delivery.

Secondly, the servers required to handle the billions of requests Signal receives daily are estimated to cost around $2.9 million per year. These servers form the global network that enables Signal's messaging and calling functionality.

Thirdly, registration fees, which cover the delivery of verification codes during the sign-up process and help prevent spam accounts, are estimated to be around $6 million per year.

The total bandwidth required to efficiently route end-to-end encrypted messages and calls worldwide is estimated to cost approximately $2.8 million per year.

Lastly, there are additional services that contribute to the smooth operation of Signal, which are estimated to cost around $700,000 per year.

Taking all of these costs into account, Signal's current infrastructure expenses, as of November 2023, are approximately $14 million per year.

The blog post also mentions that Signal's estimated costs are relatively lean compared to other popular messaging apps that do not prioritize user privacy. This suggests that Signal's commitment to privacy may require additional resources and investments compared to apps that do not prioritize privacy.