Sonatype Nexus Pricing Guide 2026

Nexus Repository OSS is free. Completely free. You can download it right now and run it on your own servers without paying Sonatype a dime.

So why are we writing a pricing guide?

Because “free” software is rarely free. The license cost is zero, but the total cost of ownership includes servers, databases, DevOps time, security patches, upgrades, and the inevitable 3 AM pages when something breaks. For many organizations, self-hosted “free” Nexus costs more than a fully managed alternative.

In this guide, we’ll break down what Nexus Repository actually costs - from OSS to Pro licensing, from cloud to self-hosted deployments - and help you calculate what you’ll really spend.

Nexus Pricing Tiers at a Glance

Sonatype offers Nexus Repository in several configurations:

Open Source Edition (OSS)

Pro Edition (Paid)

Sonatype Platform (Lifecycle + Repository)

The “Free” Illusion: What Nexus OSS Actually Costs

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Nexus Repository OSS is genuinely free software. But running it in production requires infrastructure, expertise, and ongoing operational investment.

What You Don’t Pay For

• Software license
• Support (community forums only)
• Enterprise features (SAML, HA clustering, staging)

What You Do Pay For

• Servers - Application servers, database servers, load balancers
• Storage - Blob storage for artifacts, backups
• Operations - Setup, maintenance, upgrades, security patches
• Downtime - When things break (and they will)
• Expertise - Someone has to know how to run it

OSS vs Pro Feature Comparison

Before we calculate costs, understand what you give up with OSS:

For many teams, the lack of SAML SSO and HA clustering in OSS is a dealbreaker. Enterprise security requirements often mandate Pro.

Real-World TCO: Calculating What You’ll Actually Spend

Let’s calculate the true total cost of ownership for running Nexus Repository in production. We’ll look at three scenarios: minimal OSS, production OSS, and Pro self-hosted.

Scenario 1: Minimal Nexus OSS Setup

Profile: Small team, single server, non-critical

Infrastructure (Annual)
├── EC2 t3.large (8GB RAM, 2 vCPU):      $1,200
├── 500 GB EBS storage:                   $  600
├── Elastic IP:                           $   44
├── Data transfer (modest):               $  200
└── Total Infrastructure:                 $2,044

Operations (Annual)
├── Initial setup (20 hours @ $75):       $1,500 (one-time)
├── Monthly maintenance (4 hrs/mo):       $3,600
├── Annual upgrade cycle:                 $  750
└── Total Operations:                     $4,350

First Year Total:                         $7,894
Ongoing Annual:                           $6,394

This is the absolute minimum - a single server with no redundancy. When it goes down (and it will), your CI/CD pipelines stop.

Scenario 2: Production Nexus OSS (High Availability)

Profile: Mid-size team, HA deployment, production-grade

Infrastructure (Annual)
├── 2x EC2 m5.xlarge (16GB, 4 vCPU):     $ 6,000
├── PostgreSQL RDS (db.m5.large):         $ 3,600
├── 1 TB S3 storage + requests:           $ 1,800
├── Application Load Balancer:            $ 1,200
├── Data transfer (500 GB/mo egress):     $ 5,400
├── Backup storage (500 GB):              $   600
├── CloudWatch monitoring:                $   480
└── Total Infrastructure:                 $19,080

Operations (Annual)
├── Initial HA setup (80 hours):          $6,000 (one-time)
├── DevOps time (0.25 FTE @ $160k):       $40,000
├── Security patches/upgrades:            $ 4,000
├── On-call burden:                       $ 2,000
└── Total Operations:                     $46,000

First Year Total:                         $71,080
Ongoing Annual:                           $65,080

Scenario 3: Nexus Pro Self-Hosted

Profile: Enterprise team, 50 developers, full Pro features

Licensing (Annual)
├── 50 users @ $120/user:                 $ 6,000
└── Total Licensing:                      $ 6,000

Infrastructure (Annual - same as Scenario 2)
├── Servers, database, storage, etc:      $19,080
└── Total Infrastructure:                 $19,080

Operations (Annual)
├── DevOps time (0.25 FTE):               $40,000
├── Training on Pro features:             $ 2,000
├── Enterprise support utilization:       Included
└── Total Operations:                     $42,000

Annual Total:                             $67,080

The Pro license adds $6,000 but provides SSO, HA clustering support, and enterprise support. For teams that need these features, the license cost is often the smallest part of the TCO.

TCO Summary

Nexus Repository Cloud Pricing

Sonatype now offers Nexus Repository as a cloud service, eliminating self-hosting complexity. But the pricing model introduces new considerations.

How Cloud Pricing Works

Nexus Repository Cloud uses consumption-based pricing with two metrics:

1. Storage - Total GB of artifacts stored in blob stores
2. Egress - Total GB downloaded from the cloud environment

Monthly Consumption = Storage (GB) + Egress (GB)

This combined metric determines your bill. Every artifact downloaded by your CI/CD pipelines counts toward consumption.

Cloud Cost Example

Team Profile:

• 100 GB stored artifacts
• 50 builds/day
• 200 MB average artifacts per build

Monthly Consumption:

Storage:     100 GB
Egress:      50 builds x 200 MB x 30 days = 300 GB
─────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total:       400 GB monthly consumption

Without published per-GB rates, exact costs require a quote from Sonatype. However, user reports suggest enterprise cloud pricing ranges from $3,000-$15,000+ monthly depending on scale.

Sonatype’s Bundling Strategy

Here’s what many teams discover during the sales process: Sonatype strongly prefers selling the full platform.

When you inquire about Nexus Repository Pro, the sales conversation often pivots to:

1. Sonatype Lifecycle - Software Composition Analysis (SCA) for vulnerability scanning
2. Sonatype Platform - Repository + Lifecycle bundled together
3. Firewall - Blocking vulnerable packages at the repository level

This bundling strategy serves Sonatype’s business goals but can dramatically increase costs:

When Nexus Repository Makes Sense

To be fair, Nexus Repository is a mature, capable product. It makes sense when:

Choose Nexus OSS If:

• You have experienced DevOps engineers with capacity to manage it
• Budget is extremely constrained and time is not
• You’re comfortable with community support only
• You don’t need SSO, HA, or staging workflows
• You’re running non-critical, internal-only repositories

Choose Nexus Pro If:

• Enterprise security requires SAML/SSO integration
• You need high availability clustering
• Staging and build promotion workflows are essential
• You want vendor support for critical infrastructure
• You’re already invested in Sonatype Lifecycle for security

Choose Nexus Cloud If:

• You want Nexus features without self-hosting
• Your organization mandates cloud-managed services
• You have budget for consumption-based pricing
• Egress patterns are predictable and modest

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Beyond infrastructure and licensing, self-hosted Nexus carries costs that are easy to overlook:

1. Upgrade Complexity

Nexus major version upgrades are non-trivial. The recent OrientDB deprecation (required migration to PostgreSQL by version 3.71.0+) forced many organizations into significant migration projects. Budget 20-40 hours per major upgrade.

2. Security Incident Response

When CVEs affect Nexus (they do), you’re responsible for patching. That means testing, staging, deploying, and potentially rolling back across your HA cluster. Under time pressure.

3. Knowledge Concentration Risk

Your Nexus expertise likely lives in one or two engineers’ heads. When they leave, go on vacation, or get hit by the proverbial bus, institutional knowledge walks out the door.

4. Opportunity Cost

Every hour spent maintaining Nexus is an hour not spent on your actual product. For most organizations, artifact repository management is undifferentiated heavy lifting.

The Predictable Alternative

For teams that need Maven repositories, Python, or Docker hosting without infrastructure burden or consumption anxiety, there’s a simpler option.

CloudRepo offers predictable, all-inclusive pricing with no egress fees:

The Key Differences

With CloudRepo:

• No egress fees - Download as much as your CI/CD needs
• No infrastructure to manage - We handle servers, upgrades, security
• No DevOps tax - Zero operational overhead
• Predictable bills - Same price every month
• Human support included - Real people, not forums

Cost Comparison

Let’s compare the “Production OSS” scenario (100 GB storage, 300 GB monthly transfer, 50 developers):

That’s not a typo. The “free” option costs 13x more than the paid managed service.

Questions to Ask Before Committing

If you’re evaluating Nexus Repository, get clarity on these points:

For Self-Hosted Deployments:

1. “Who will own ongoing operations?” - Be specific about the 0.25 FTE allocation
2. “What’s our HA strategy?” - Single server isn’t production-ready
3. “How will we handle major upgrades?” - Budget time and risk mitigation
4. “What’s our on-call plan?” - Repository down = CI/CD down
5. “Do we need features only in Pro?” - SSO, HA, staging are Pro-only

For Sonatype Sales Conversations:

1. “Can we get Repository Pro pricing without Lifecycle?” - Push back on bundling
2. “What are the exact per-GB rates for cloud consumption?” - Get specific numbers
3. “What happens when we exceed estimates?” - Understand overage handling
4. “What’s the contract term and exit clause?” - Avoid lock-in
5. “Can we get a cost cap on cloud consumption?” - Prevent runaway bills

Making the Right Choice

Nexus Repository is a legitimate option with a long track record. But “free” doesn’t mean what it seems.

The real question isn’t “What does Nexus cost?”

It’s “What does artifact management cost, and where do you want to spend that money?”

You can spend it on:

• Infrastructure and cloud bills
• DevOps engineering time
• On-call burden and incident response
• Upgrade cycles and security patches

Or you can spend a fraction of that on a managed service and redirect your engineering capacity toward your actual product.

The best repository manager is one that works without you thinking about it. When your artifact infrastructure requires constant attention, something is wrong with the equation.

Ready to see what predictable pricing looks like? Compare CloudRepo plans or start a free trial to test with your actual workflows. No credit card required, no consumption meters running, no infrastructure to provision.