diff --git a/tests/waku_archive/test_retention_policy.nim b/tests/waku_archive/test_retention_policy.nim
index fbbcca4218..ff039adef9 100644
--- a/tests/waku_archive/test_retention_policy.nim
+++ b/tests/waku_archive/test_retention_policy.nim
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ suite "Waku Archive - Retention policy":
   test "size retention policy - windowed message deletion":
     ## Given
     let
-      # in megabytes
-      sizeLimit:float = 0.05
+      # in bytes
+      sizeLimit:int64 = 52428
       excess = 325
 
     let driver = newTestArchiveDriver()
@@ -92,9 +92,7 @@ suite "Waku Archive - Retention policy":
 
     ## Then
     # calculate the current database size
-    let pageSize = (waitFor driver.getPagesSize()).tryGet()
-    let pageCount = (waitFor driver.getPagesCount()).tryGet()
-    let sizeDB = float(pageCount * pageSize) / (1024.0 * 1024.0)
+    let sizeDB = int64((waitFor driver.getDatabaseSize()).tryGet())
 
     # NOTE: since vacuumin is done manually, this needs to be revisited if vacuuming done automatically
 
@@ -105,7 +103,7 @@ suite "Waku Archive - Retention policy":
     require (sizeDB >= sizeLimit)
     require (waitFor retentionPolicy.execute(driver)).isOk()
     
-    # get the number or rows from DB
+    # get the number or rows from database
     let rowCountAfterDeletion = (waitFor driver.getMessagesCount()).tryGet()
 
     check:
diff --git a/waku/common/databases/db_sqlite.nim b/waku/common/databases/db_sqlite.nim
index 837cf3ab86..f30fbdbd61 100644
--- a/waku/common/databases/db_sqlite.nim
+++ b/waku/common/databases/db_sqlite.nim
@@ -295,6 +295,20 @@ proc getPageCount*(db: SqliteDatabase): DatabaseResult[int64] =
 
   return ok(count)
 
+proc getDatabaseSize*(db: SqliteDatabase): DatabaseResult[int64] =
+  # get the database page size in bytes
+  var pageSize: int64 = ?db.getPageSize()
+
+  if pageSize == 0:
+    return err("failed to get page size ")
+
+  # get the database page count
+  let pageCount = ?db.getPageCount()
+
+  let databaseSize = (pageSize * pageCount)
+
+  return ok(databaseSize)
+
 proc gatherSqlitePageStats*(db: SqliteDatabase):
                             DatabaseResult[(int64, int64, int64)] =
   let
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/driver.nim b/waku/waku_archive/driver.nim
index 38cffb372f..d6cccd6721 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/driver.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/driver.nim
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ method getPagesCount*(driver: ArchiveDriver):
 method getPagesSize*(driver: ArchiveDriver):
                          Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.base, async.} = discard
 
+method getDatabaseSize*(driver: ArchiveDriver):
+                         Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.base, async.} = discard
+
 method performVacuum*(driver: ArchiveDriver):
               Future[ArchiveDriverResult[void]] {.base, async.} = discard
 
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/driver/postgres_driver/postgres_driver.nim b/waku/waku_archive/driver/postgres_driver/postgres_driver.nim
index e41f85b77c..11f7793816 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/driver/postgres_driver/postgres_driver.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/driver/postgres_driver/postgres_driver.nim
@@ -434,6 +434,15 @@ proc getInt(s: PostgresDriver,
 
   return ok(retInt)
 
+method getDatabaseSize*(s: PostgresDriver):
+                         Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async.} =
+
+  let intRes = (await s.getInt("SELECT pg_database_size(current_database())")).valueOr:
+    return err("error in getDatabaseSize: " & error)
+
+  let databaseSize: int64 = int64(intRes)
+  return ok(databaseSize)
+
 method getMessagesCount*(s: PostgresDriver):
                          Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async.} =
 
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/driver/queue_driver/queue_driver.nim b/waku/waku_archive/driver/queue_driver/queue_driver.nim
index 948521ccbb..9fd266e6d8 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/driver/queue_driver/queue_driver.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/driver/queue_driver/queue_driver.nim
@@ -289,6 +289,10 @@ method getPagesSize*(driver: QueueDriver):
                          Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async} =
   return ok(int64(driver.len()))
 
+method getDatabasesSize*(driver: QueueDriver):
+                         Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async} =
+  return ok(int64(driver.len()))
+
 method performVacuum*(driver: QueueDriver):
               Future[ArchiveDriverResult[void]] {.async.} =
   return err("interface method not implemented")
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/driver/sqlite_driver/sqlite_driver.nim b/waku/waku_archive/driver/sqlite_driver/sqlite_driver.nim
index a6039d4ece..1d0cbc5bc5 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/driver/sqlite_driver/sqlite_driver.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/driver/sqlite_driver/sqlite_driver.nim
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@ method getPagesSize*(s: SqliteDriver):
                          Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async.} =
   return s.db.getPageSize()
 
+method getDatabaseSize*(s: SqliteDriver):
+                         Future[ArchiveDriverResult[int64]] {.async.} =
+  return s.db.getDatabaseSize()
+
 method performVacuum*(s: SqliteDriver):
                          Future[ArchiveDriverResult[void]] {.async.} =
   return s.db.performSqliteVacuum()
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/builder.nim b/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/builder.nim
index 2c4b3cf12a..0588eb4bbc 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/builder.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/builder.nim
@@ -56,24 +56,27 @@ proc new*(T: type RetentionPolicy,
     var retentionSize: string
     retentionSize = policyArgs
     
-    # captures the size unit such as Gb or Mb
+    # captures the size unit such as GB or MB
     let sizeUnit = retentionSize.substr(retentionSize.len-2)
     # captures the string type number data of the size provided  
     let sizeQuantityStr = retentionSize.substr(0,retentionSize.len-3)
     # to hold the numeric value data of size
-    var sizeQuantity: float
+    var inptSizeQuantity: float
+    var sizeQuantity: int64
     
     if sizeUnit in ["gb", "Gb", "GB", "gB"]:
       # parse the actual value into integer type var
       try:
-        sizeQuantity = parseFloat(sizeQuantityStr)
+        inptSizeQuantity = parseFloat(sizeQuantityStr)
       except ValueError:
         return err("invalid size retention policy argument: " & getCurrentExceptionMsg())
-      # Gb data is converted into Mb for uniform processing
-      sizeQuantity = sizeQuantity * 1024
+      # GB data is converted into bytes for uniform processing
+      sizeQuantity =  int64(inptSizeQuantity * 1024.0 * 1024.0 * 1024.0)
     elif sizeUnit in ["mb", "Mb", "MB", "mB"]:
       try:
-        sizeQuantity = parseFloat(sizeQuantityStr)  
+        inptSizeQuantity = parseFloat(sizeQuantityStr)
+        # MB data is converted into bytes for uniform processing
+        sizeQuantity = int64(inptSizeQuantity * 1024.0 * 1024.0)
       except ValueError:
         return err("invalid size retention policy argument")
     else:
diff --git a/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/retention_policy_size.nim b/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/retention_policy_size.nim
index 8d645083bd..8b512230b2 100644
--- a/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/retention_policy_size.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_archive/retention_policy/retention_policy_size.nim
@@ -16,22 +16,22 @@ import
 logScope:
   topics = "waku archive retention_policy"
 
-# default size is 30 Gb
-const DefaultRetentionSize*: float = 30_720
+# default size is 30 GiB or 32212254720.0 in bytes
+const DefaultRetentionSize*: int64 = 32212254720
 
 # to remove 20% of the outdated data from database
 const DeleteLimit = 0.80
 
 type
   # SizeRetentionPolicy implements auto delete as follows:
-  # - sizeLimit is the size in megabytes (Mbs) the database can grow upto
+  # - sizeLimit is the size in bytes the database can grow upto
   # to reduce the size of the databases, remove the rows/number-of-messages
   # DeleteLimit is the total number of messages to delete beyond this limit
   # when the database size crosses the sizeLimit, then only a fraction of messages are kept,
   # rest of the outdated message are deleted using deleteOldestMessagesNotWithinLimit(),
   # upon deletion process the fragmented space is retrieve back using Vacuum process. 
   SizeRetentionPolicy* = ref object of RetentionPolicy
-      sizeLimit: float
+      sizeLimit: int64
 
 proc init*(T: type SizeRetentionPolicy, size=DefaultRetentionSize): T =
   SizeRetentionPolicy(
@@ -42,21 +42,12 @@ method execute*(p: SizeRetentionPolicy,
                 driver: ArchiveDriver):
                 Future[RetentionPolicyResult[void]] {.async.} =
   ## when db size overshoots the database limit, shread 20% of outdated messages 
+  # get size of database
+  let dbSize = (await driver.getDatabaseSize()).valueOr:
+    return err("failed to get database size: " & $error)
 
-  # get page size of database
-  let pageSizeRes = await driver.getPagesSize()
-  let pageSize: int64 = int64(pageSizeRes.valueOr(0) div 1024)
-
-  if pageSize == 0:
-    return err("failed to get Page size: " & pageSizeRes.error)
-
-  # to get the size of the database, pageCount and PageSize is required
-  # get page count in "messages" database
-  let pageCount = (await driver.getPagesCount()).valueOr:
-    return err("failed to get Pages count: " & $error)
-
-  # database size in megabytes (Mb)
-  let totalSizeOfDB: float = float(pageSize * pageCount)/1024.0
+  # database size in bytes
+  let totalSizeOfDB: int64 = int64(dbSize)
 
   if totalSizeOfDB < p.sizeLimit:
     return ok()