AWS S3 Pricing

Welcome to the AWS (Amazon Web Services) world, where cloud computing is at the forefront of technical advancement. Amazon Simple Storage Service commonly known as Amazon S3, is a widely used object storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). You can store and retrieve any volume of data at any time from any location on the internet. S3 can be used for several things including data archiving, backup storage, media file serving, static website hosting, and more.

What Is Amazon S3 Pricing And How To Optimize Its Usage?

In this blog article, we will address these concerns and explain the fundamentals of Amazon S3 pricing. The following subjects will be discussed:

The primary cost drivers for S3 storage include Amazon S3 storage classes, API queries, and data transfers.
The different storage classes available in S3, and how to choose the best one for your use case.
The pricing model for each storage class, and how to calculate your monthly S3 bill.
The finest techniques and advice for reducing your S3 expenses include encryption, compression, and lifecycle policies.
The frequently asked questions (FAQs) about AWS S3 pricing, and the answers to them.

By the end of this blog post, you will have a clear understanding of how AWS S3 pricing works, and how to use S3 effectively and efficiently. Let’s get started!

Key Terminologies

1. Amazon S3 Bucket

Definition: A bucket is a container for storing items in S3. It functions as a digital folder that you may use to store any kind and size of file. As many buckets as you like can be created, but on your AWS account, each bucket needs to have a different name. You can set up other parameters for your buckets like bucket versioning, encryption, access restrictions, and lifecycle policies.
Example: Suppose you want to store photos of your pets in S3. You can create a bucket named mypets and upload your photos to that bucket. You can also set permissions for who can access your bucket, apply encryption, and versioning your photos.

2. Object

Definition: In S3, an object is the fundamental unit of storage. It is made up of metadata and data. The actual substance of a file like a document or photo is called data. The details about a file: including its name, size, type, and date are called metadata. A key is a special identification that only an item possesses that is used to find and access the object within a bucket. A single item hold up to 5 TB of data while a bucket can hold up to 100 billion objects.
Example: Suppose you have a photo of your dog named dog.jpg in your pet’s bucket. This photo is an object in S3, and it has a key of mypets/dog.jpg. You can use this key to access and modify the object. The object also has metadata, such as the file size, type, and date.

3. Storage Classes

Definition: A storage class is a category that describes an object’s cost, availability, and durability when it is stored in S3. Depending on your use case different storage classes offer varying trade-off between these variables. For instance standard storage class offers great availability and durability, but at a higher price. Although the glacier storage class is less expensive it is less available and requires a longer retrieval time. Depending on how often you need to access your things how long you need to keep them and how much you are ready to spend, you may select the optimal storage class for your items.
Example: Let’s say you have certain images that you see often and some that you view infrequently. Depending on your needs, you may select different storage types for these images. For images you use regularly for instance you may choose the Standard storage class , for photos you access infrequently, you can use the Glacier storage class. In this way , you may reduce the cost of storage without sacrificing the quality and accessibility of your images.

4. Request

Definition: An action made on an item in S3, such as listing, copying, deleting, uploading, downloading is called a request. Every request has a fee associated with it that varies based on the kind of request, the object storage class and the bucket location. For instance items may be retrieved from S3 via GET queries which are fee-based on the volume of data delivered. Objects are uploaded to S3 via PUT requests, which are billed according to the quantity of requests made.
Example: You want to see/download a photo from your mypets bucket. To achieve it you can send a GET request. The item will be retrieved from S3 and the data will be sent to your device via the GET request. Payment for the quantity of data sent will be made to you. In the similar way you may make a PUT request to add a new photo to your mypets bucket. The item will be uploaded to S3 via the PUT request and you will be billed for the total number of requests performed.

What Are The Main Factors That Influence The Cost Of S3 Storage?

Three primary factors determine the cost of data storage in S3:

The gigabytes (GB) or volume of data you store in S3.
The quantity and kind of S3 API calls you submit, are expressed in requests.
The gigabytes (GB) of data that you transport into and out of S3.

Depending on the area and storage class you select, each of these variables has a different cost. In the section that follows, we will go into further detail on these concepts.

What Are Amazon S3’s Various Storage Class Options?

S3 has six distinct storage-classes, each with unique features related to cost, availability, performance, and durability. Based on the frequency of access the length of the retention period, and the affordability of your data, you may select the storage class that best meets your requirements.

The following six storage classes are:

S3 Standard: This is the most widely used and default storage class for S3. For frequently accessed data, it provides high performance, high durability, and high availability. It works well for general-purpose storage tasks including media file serving, internet-hosting, and backup storage.
S3 Intelligent-Tiering : Based on access patterns this intelligent storage class automatically switches your data between two access levels. The two categories are called S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-Infrequent Access) and Frequent Access (S3 Standard) respectively. This storage class minimizes your expenses without sacrificing performance or availability, making it perfect for data with erratic ,fluctuating access patterns.
S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard – 1A): For data that needs excellent performance and availability but is accessed less frequently S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) is an affordable storage class. It is appropriate for long-term data archiving, disaster recovery, and backup storage.
S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access (S3 One Zone – 1A): This is a less expensive, less durable, and less available variant of S3 Standard- 1A. It is more susceptible to data loss in the event of a zone failure since it only stores your data in one Availability Zone rather than several. It works well with data that can be readily replicated and is used infrequently, such as test data, trans-coded media files, and thumbnails.
S3 Glacier: This is an extremely affordable storage class that can withstand extended retrieval times for data that is not frequently accessed. Long-term archival storage of data including historical records, compliance files, and research data, is appropriate for it. It provides three retrieval options : Bulk, Standard, and Expedited, each with a distinct cost and speed.
S3 Glacier Deep Archive: The cheapest cloud storage option is the S3 Glacier Deep Archive, which is also the least expensive storage class in S3. It can withstand retrieval times of up to 12 hours and is meant for data that is accessed once or twice a year. It is appropriate for the long-term preservation of archive materials, including financial, legal, and cultural data.
Storage Classes Pricing Of Amazon S3 In Asia Pacific Region

The table below summarizes the main features and pricing of each storage class, as of February 2024, for the Asia Pacific (Mumbai) region. For other regions, please refer to the AWS S3 pricing page.

Region: Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
Name	Storage Pricing
S3 Standard – For General purpose storage for any type of data and that are typically used for frequently accessing data
First 50 TB / Month	$0.025 per GB
Next 450 TB / Month	$0.024 per GB
Over 500 TB / Month	$0.023 per GB
S3 Intelligent – Tiering – Automatic cost savings for data with unknown or changing access patterns
Monitoring and Automation Of All Storages / Month (Objects > 128 KB)	$0.0025 per 1,000 objects
Frequent Access Tier, First 50 TB / Month	$0.025 per GB
Frequent Access Tier, Next 450 TB / Month	$0.024 per GB
Frequent Access Tier, Over 500 TB / Month	$0.023 per GB
Infrequent Access Tier, All Storage / Month	$0.0138 per GB
Archive Instant Access Tier, All Storage / Month	$0.005 per GB
S3 Intelligent – Tiering – Optional asynchronous Archive Access tiers
Archive Access Tier, All Storage / Month	$0.0045 per GB
Deep Archive Access Tier, All Storage / Month	$0.002 per GB
S3 Standard – Infrequent Access – For long-lived but infrequently accessed data that needs millisecond access
All Storage / Month	$0.0138 per GB
S3 Express One Zone – High-performance storage for your most frequently accessed data
All Storage / Month	N/A per GB
S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval – For long-lived archive data accessed once a quarter with instant retrieval in milliseconds
All Storage / Month	$0.005 per GB
S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval – For long-term backups and archives with retrieval option from 1 minute to 12 hours
All Storage / Month	$0.0045 per GB
S3 Glacier Deep Archive – For long-term data archiving that is accessed once or twice a year and can be restored within 12 hours
All Storage / Month	$0.002 per GB
S3 One Zone – Infrequent Access – For re-creatable infrequently accessed data that needs millisecond access
All Storage / Month	$0.011 per GB

Amazon S3 API Request Pricing For US East ( N.Virginia ) Region

In addition to the storage, retrieval, and data transfer prices you also pay for the number and type of API requests you make to S3 such as PUT, GET, LIST and DELETE. The pricing for API requests varies by storage-class and request type, as shown in the below table, for the US East (N. Virginia) region. For other regions, please refer to the AWS S3 pricing page.

Storage Class	Request Type	Price (per 1,000 requests)
S3 Standard	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.005
S3 Standard	GET, SELECT, or Lifecycle Transition	$0.0004
S3 Standard	DELETE	Free
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.005
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	GET, SELECT, or Lifecycle Transition	$0.0004
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	DELETE	Free
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	Monitoring and Automation	$0.0025
S3 Standard-IA	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.01
S3 Standard-IA	GET, SELECT, or Lifecycle Transition	$0.001
S3 Standard-IA	DELETE or Lifecycle Expiration
S3 One Zone-IA	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.01
S3 One Zone-IA	GET, SELECT, or Lifecycle Transition	$0.001
S3 One Zone-IA	DELETE or Lifecycle Expiration
S3 Glacier	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.0004
S3 Glacier	POST, SELECT, or Lifecycle Restore
S3 Glacier	GET
S3 Glacier	DELETE or Lifecycle Expiration	Free
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST	$0.05
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	POST, SELECT, or Lifecycle Restore
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	GET	$0.0004
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	DELETE or Lifecycle Expiration	Free

How To Calculate Your Monthly Amazon S3 Bill?

The following needs to be estimated to determine your monthly S3 bill:

The number of gigabytes (GB) that you store in each storage class.
The quantity and kind of API calls you send to every storage class, are expressed in thousands.
The number of gigabytes (GB) that you move in and out of each storage class.

After that, you can compute your monthly S3 bill using the formula below:

Monthly S3 bill = ( Storage price × Storage amount ) + ( Request price × Request amount ) + 
                               ( Data transfer price × Data transfer amount )

For example, suppose you store 100 GB of data in S3 Standard, make 10,000 PUT requests, 100,000 GET requests, and transfer 50 GB of data out to the internet. Your monthly S3 bill would be:

Monthly S3 bill = ( $0.023 × 100 ) + ( $0.005 × 10 ) + ( $0.0004 × 100 ) + ($0.09 × 50)= $2.3+$0.05+$0.04+$4.5=$6.89

You can use the AWS S3 pricing calculator to estimate your S3 costs based on your usage and storage class preferences. You can also use the AWS Cost Explorer to monitor and analyze your S3 spending over time.

How To Optimize Your Amazon S3 costs?

There are various methods to optimize your S3 costs and save money, such as :

Selecting the best storage class for your data based on cost-effectiveness, retention-duration and access frequency. To determine the best storage class for your data you can examine your access patterns using the S3 Storage-Class Analysis.
Based on the age and frequency of access use lifecycle policies to automatically migrate your data between storage types. To establish and oversee lifetime policies for your S3 objects and buckets utilize the S3 lifetime Manager.
To save storage space and boost data security compress and encrypt your data before uploading it to S3. Your data can be encrypted on the client side using the S3-Encryption Client on the server side using the S3Encryption Service.
Archiving or deleting any outdated ,unneeded data to reduce storage requirements and associated expenses. You can archive your data with a fixed retention duration and compliance controls using the S3 Glacier Vault Lock feature ,you can utilize the S3 Object Expiration feature to have your data automatically deleted after a certain amount of time.
Reducing the latency and data transfer expenses of your S3 queries by using CloudFront to cache and distribute your data from edge locations. For your S3 buckets and objects you can establish and configure CloudFront distributions using the CloudFront Console.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have explained the basics of AWS S3 pricing, and how to optimize your S3 costs. We have covered the following topics:

The main factors that influence the cost of S3 storage, such as storage classes, API requests, and data transfers.
The different storage classes available in S3, and how to choose the best one for your use case.
The pricing model for each storage class, and how to calculate your monthly S3 bill.
The best practices and tips for optimizing your S3 costs, such as using lifecycle policies, compression, encryption, and more.
The frequently asked questions (FAQs) about AWS S3 pricing, and the answers to them.

By grasping key terminologies, following a step-by-step process, and exploring examples, beginners can navigate the complexities of AWS S3 pricing with confidence.

Amazon S3 Pricing – FAQ’s

Here are some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about AWS S3 pricing, and the answers to them.

How Is The Amazon S3 Storage Amount Calculated?

S3 storage amount is calculated based on the average size of your objects and the number of objects you store in each storage class, during a month. For example, if you store 10 objects of 10 GB each in S3 Standard, and 20 objects of 5 GB each in S3 Standard-IA, your storage amount for that month would be:

Storage amount = (10 x 10) + (20 x 5) Storage amount = 200 GB