BQ pricing calculator results- Is regional storage expensive than multi-region?

[dheerajpanyam]

From the new Google Cloud pricing calculator it seems like regional storage is more expensive than multi-region , wonder why it is the case? I hope it is not a defect with the GCP calculator. From what i understand Multi-Region replicates the dataset in 2 different geographic location so I am assuming it should be more expensive than Regional Storage.

[kbotzum]

This is unfortunately an aspect of a confusing feature name. BQ multi-region does not mean a dataset is stored in multiple regions, rather it means a dataset is stored in *some* region within the multi-region. It is not more reliable, but rather gives us more flexibility in data placement. Note that if you are interested in increasing reliability and access to BQ data, you can replicate datasets and enable disaster recovery. 

ref: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/locations#multi-regions (see the note)
      https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/managed-disaster-recovery 

[dheerajpanyam]

Thanks @kbotzum .  I guess Multi-Region is cheaper since you do not have control over where data is placed. All you know is the data resides somewhere in US , for example if you choose US as a Multi-Region location.