Jon Toor, CMO, Cloudian
How is Amazon S3 Priced?
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an elastically scalable object storage service. The service provides a free tier to get you started, with limited capacity for 12 months.
Beyond the limits of the free tier, AWS S3 storage pricing has five components:
- Storage tiers – AWS S3 prices per GB-month of storage, and pricing varies according to the storage tier you select. The AWS S3 Standard tier provides instant access with low data retrieval costs, but a relatively high cost per GB. There are lower cost tiers that offer lower cost per GB, but higher cost of data retrieval or delayed data retrieval.
- Cost per requests – AWS S3 has a cost per 1,000 requests, depending on the request type.
- Data transfer – there are extra charges for data transfer from AWS S3 to the Internet, or to certain AWS regions.
- Management and analytics – AWS S3 charges extra for automating the data lifecycle and moving data automatically to the most optimal storage tiers.
- Replication – if you set up replication in AWS S3, data transfer and operations performed during replication are charged like regular AWS S3 operations.
This is part of an extensive series of articles about S3 Storage.
In this article, you will learn:
- Amazon S3 Free Tier
- The 5 Components of Amazon S3 Pricing: In Detail
- Cost Optimization for Amazon S3 Storage
- Cut S3 Storage Costs with Cloudian
Amazon S3 Free Tier
AWS changed its Free Tier program on July 15, 2025. New AWS customers can receive up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits, which can be applied toward eligible AWS services, including Amazon S3. At sign-up, customers can choose a free plan or a paid plan. The free plan is available for 6 months after account creation, and unused Free Tier credits must be used within 12 months of account creation.
This replaces the older article’s framing that focused only on 5 GB of S3 Standard storage, 2,000 PUT/COPY/POST/LIST requests, 20,000 GET requests, and 15 GB of outbound data transfer per month for the first year. Some usage-based free offers may still appear in AWS pricing catalogs, but AWS documentation notes that time-limited Free Tier offers are not fully represented in the Price List API.
1. Amazon S3 Storage Classes and Storage Pricing
S3 storage is priced per GB-month. The rate depends on the storage class, how long the object is stored, object size, and, in some cases, retrieval patterns and minimum storage duration.
AWS currently lists these major S3 storage classes: S3 Standard, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, S3 Standard-Infrequent Access, S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access, S3 Express One Zone, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive.
S3 Standard
S3 Standard is the default storage class for frequently accessed data. It is designed for low-latency, high-throughput access and is commonly used for websites, mobile applications, cloud-native apps, analytics workloads, and active content repositories.
| Monthly storage volume | Price per GB-month |
| First 50 TB / month | $0.023 |
| Next 450 TB / month | $0.022 |
| Over 500 TB / month | $0.021 |
These rates remain the commonly listed US East S3 Standard rates for 2026 pricing references.
S3 Standard-Infrequent Access
S3 Standard-IA is designed for data that is accessed less often but still needs millisecond access when required. It is commonly used for backups, disaster recovery, long-term file storage, and older application data.
| Storage class | Price per GB-month |
| S3 Standard-IA | $0.0125 |
Important pricing notes: Standard-IA has a 128 KB minimum billable object size and a 30-day minimum storage duration. Objects deleted, overwritten, or transitioned before 30 days can incur prorated minimum-duration charges.
S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
S3 One Zone-IA stores data in a single Availability Zone rather than across multiple AZs. It is cheaper than Standard-IA but is less resilient because it cannot withstand the loss of an Availability Zone.
| Storage class | Price per GB-month |
| S3 One Zone-IA | $0.01 |
Like Standard-IA, One Zone-IA has a 128 KB minimum billable object size and a 30-day minimum storage duration.
S3 Glacier Storage Classes
AWS now uses more specific names for Glacier storage classes. The old “S3 Glacier” name is now generally referred to as S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval. Glacier classes are intended for archive data, compliance records, backups, and rarely accessed datasets.
| Storage class | Typical access pattern | Price per GB-month |
| S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval | Archive data that still needs millisecond retrieval | $0.004 |
| S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval | Archive data retrieved in minutes to hours | ~$0.0036 |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | Long-term archive data retrieved in hours | $0.00099 |
Glacier Instant Retrieval and Glacier Flexible Retrieval have a 90-day minimum storage duration, while Glacier Deep Archive has a 180-day minimum storage duration. AWS also applies additional metadata storage overhead for archived objects.
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves objects between access tiers as access patterns change. It is useful when you do not know whether data will be accessed frequently or rarely.
Typical US East storage rates are:
| Intelligent-Tiering access tier | Price per GB-month |
| Frequent Access tier | $0.023 |
| Infrequent Access tier | $0.0125 |
| Archive Instant Access tier | $0.004 |
| Archive Access tier | ~$0.0036 |
| Deep Archive Access tier | $0.00099 |
There is also a monthly monitoring and automation fee of $0.0025 per 1,000 objects. AWS states that S3 Intelligent-Tiering has no retrieval charges and no additional tiering charges when objects move between access tiers. Objects smaller than 128 KB can be stored in Intelligent-Tiering, but they are not eligible for auto-tiering and are charged at Frequent Access tier rates without the monitoring fee.
S3 Express One Zone
S3 Express One Zone is a newer, high-performance storage class for latency-sensitive workloads. It is designed for data that benefits from very low latency within a single Availability Zone. It is not a drop-in replacement for general-purpose, multi-AZ S3 Standard storage; it should be evaluated for specific performance-sensitive workloads. AWS lists S3 Express One Zone among current S3 storage classes and notes that it is used with S3 directory buckets.
2. Requests and Data Retrievals
S3 charges for requests made against buckets and objects. Request pricing depends on request type and storage class. AWS states that browsing objects in the S3 console also generates billable GET, LIST, and other requests at the same rates as API or SDK requests. DELETE and CANCEL requests are free.
For S3 Standard in US East, common request prices are:
| Request type | Price |
| PUT, COPY, POST, LIST | $0.005 per 1,000 requests |
| GET and SELECT | $0.0004 per 1,000 requests |
For S3 Standard-IA and S3 One Zone-IA, PUT/COPY/POST/LIST requests are commonly priced at $0.01 per 1,000 requests. GET requests and data retrieval fees may also apply depending on the storage class.
AWS also charges retrieval fees when retrieving objects from S3 Standard-IA, S3 One Zone-IA, and S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval. For S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval and S3 Glacier Deep Archive, restore costs depend on retrieval speed and restore request type.
3. Data Transfer Pricing
Data transfer into Amazon S3 from the internet is generally free. Data transfer out of Amazon S3 to the internet is usually billable after the free allowance.
A key update: AWS says it provides 100 GB per month of data transfer out from AWS Regions to the internet, aggregated across services such as Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, and Application Load Balancer.
Typical US East data transfer out pricing is:
| Monthly data transfer out to the internet | Price per GB |
| First 100 GB / month | Free |
| Next 9.999 TB / month | $0.09 |
| Next 40 TB / month | $0.085 |
| Next 100 TB / month | $0.07 |
| Over 150 TB / month | $0.05 |
| Over 500 TB / month | Contact AWS |
This means the old “up to 1 GB/month free” line is outdated for most current AWS Region-to-internet data transfer pricing discussions.
Transfers between S3 buckets or from S3 to certain AWS services in the same Region may be free, but cross-Region transfer and internet egress can generate additional charges.
S3 Transfer Acceleration
S3 Transfer Acceleration is optional. It speeds up transfers between clients and an S3 bucket by routing traffic through AWS edge locations. AWS states that Transfer Acceleration pricing is charged in addition to standard data transfer pricing.
Typical acceleration charges vary by edge location and direction. Many examples use $0.04 per GB for transfers involving US, Europe, and Japan edge locations, and higher rates such as $0.08 per GB for other edge locations. Always check the S3 pricing page for the source/destination combination before publishing an exact number.
4. Management and Analytics Pricing
S3 management and analytics features are optional. You only pay for the features enabled on your buckets or account. AWS lists Amazon S3 Metadata, S3 Inventory, S3 Storage Class Analysis, S3 Storage Lens, and S3 Object Tagging as storage management and analytics features that can generate charges.
Common US East pricing examples include:
| Feature | Pricing |
| S3 Inventory | $0.0025 per million objects listed |
| S3 Storage Class Analysis | $0.10 per million objects monitored per month |
| S3 Storage Lens advanced metrics | $0.20 per million objects monitored per month |
| S3 Object Tagging | $0.01 per 10,000 tags per month |
| S3 Batch Operations | $0.25 per job + $1.00 per million objects processed |
The old article’s Batch Operations figure of $1 per job should be updated. AWS’s current example states that Batch Operations jobs cost $0.25 per job and $1 per million objects processed.
S3 Storage Lens also has a free metrics tier and an advanced metrics tier; AWS documentation describes Storage Lens as a tool for organization-wide visibility into storage usage and activity.
5. Replication Pricing
Amazon S3 replication can copy objects within the same Region or across Regions. Replication pricing can include several charges:
- Storage charges for the destination storage class.
- Storage charges for the primary copy.
- PUT request charges for replicated objects.
- Retrieval charges if the source object is in an infrequent-access or archive class.
- Inter-Region Data Transfer OUT for Cross-Region Replication.
- Optional S3 Replication Time Control charges.
- S3 replication metrics charges.
AWS states that for Same-Region Replication and Cross-Region Replication, you pay the S3 charges for destination storage, primary storage, replication PUT requests, applicable infrequent access retrieval charges, and inter-Region Data Transfer OUT when replicating across Regions.
For S3 Replication Time Control, a commonly listed charge is:
| Replication feature | Price |
| S3 Replication Time Control data transfer | $0.015 per GB |
Replication metrics are billed similarly to Amazon CloudWatch custom metrics, so the cost depends on the number of metrics and CloudWatch pricing in the account’s Region.
Cost Optimization for Amazon S3 Storage
Here are a few ways you can optimize your use of Amazon S3 and reduce costs.
Defining Application Requirements
When moving your workloads to AWS, you need to understand their performance and data access requirements. For example, the requirements for a backup and archive application will be completely different from the requirements of a streaming service or an E-commerce application.
In order to manage your storage costs, you need to know when and how your data is retrieved, accessed, archived or deleted by a user.
Here are some examples of the different requirements for various applications:
- Static websites—requirements include random data access, high availability and durability
- Data analytics applications—requirements include frequent data access, large capacity and lower availability
- Financial reporting—requirements include infrequent data access, data retention for several years (depending on regulations), and high durability
Organizing Your Data
Amazon S3 offers tools that let you organize data organization at the object or bucket level. This is important for optimizing costs. You can use object tags, name prefixes, and S3 buckets to organize your data:
- Up to 10 tags can be associated with an object
- Tags can be added to existing objects or to new objects when they are uploaded—for example, Identity and Access Manager (IAM) permissions can grant read-only access to objects with specific tags
- Object tags allow you to manage the object lifecycle—for example, you can specify name prefixes and tag-based filters in lifecycle rules
Amazon S3 Storage Class Analysis allows you to configure filters that categorize objects for analysis using object tags and key name prefixes. Amazon CloudWatch metrics can be customized to display information using specific tag filters.
Selecting Optimal Amazon S3 Storage Class
Amazon S3 provides several storage classes suitable for various use cases, with each class supporting a different level of data access with corresponding pricing. Choosing the right storage class for each use case is essential to planning your S3 cost optimization strategy.
There are three key elements to selecting the best storage class for your data in S3: monitoring, analysis, and optimization.
Monitoring
It is important to monitor your S3 usage so you can reduce storage costs and adjust for growth. You can use AWS Budgets to set a budget and get alerts when your usage or costs exceed, or are expected to exceed, the specified budget. Amazon CloudWatch metrics allow you to monitor storage and requests in real time and alert you when you reach a usage threshold.
Analysis
Amazon S3 Storage Class Analysis provides insights about data usage patterns, which can help you choose the most appropriate storage tier for different parts of your data.
Storage Tier Optimization
Configuring S3 Lifecycle Policies allows you to ensure that objects are stored in the most cost-efficient class according to where they are in their lifecycle. You set rules that define how Amazon S3 handles specific groups of objects—for example, you can specify that objects should be automatically deleted when no longer needed, or automatically transitioned into a cold storage class like Amazon S3 Glacier.
Another option is to allow S3 Intelligent-Tiering to optimize costs by automatically moving objects to the most appropriate storage tier, according to prior access patterns.
Cut S3 Storage Costs with Cloudian: S3-Compatible, Massively Scalable On-Premise Object Storage
Cloudian® HyperStore® is a massive-capacity object storage device that is fully compatible with Amazon S3. It can store up to 1.5 Petabytes in a 4U Chassis device, allowing you to store up to 18 Petabytes in a single data center rack. HyperStore comes with fully redundant power and cooling, and performance features including 1.92TB SSD drives for metadata, and 10Gb Ethernet ports for fast data transfer.
HyperStore is an object storage solution you can plug in and start using with no complex deployment. It also offers advanced data protection features, supporting use cases like compliance, healthcare data storage, disaster recovery, ransomware protection and data lifecycle management.
Learn more about Cloudian® HyperStore®.
