Overview
Amazon S3 is AWS's object storage service and the de facto standard API for the whole category: most tools that say 'S3-compatible' mean they speak this API. You create buckets in a region, store objects up to 5 TB each, and choose a storage class per object, from S3 Standard for hot data to Glacier Deep Archive for data you may never read.
The bill has several parts. Storage is charged per GB-month and drops slightly with volume. Every PUT, COPY, POST and LIST costs $0.005 per 1,000 and every GET $0.0004 per 1,000 on S3 Standard. Data transferred out to the internet costs $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB each month after a 100 GB allowance that is shared across all AWS services in the account. Transfers to CloudFront and to other AWS services in the same region are free.
Infrequent-access and Glacier classes are cheaper to store but carry minimum storage durations (30, 90 or 180 days), a 128 KB minimum billable object size, and retrieval fees, so moving small or short-lived objects there can cost more than leaving them in Standard. S3 Intelligent-Tiering moves objects between tiers for a per-object monitoring fee.
S3 makes most sense when your compute already runs in AWS, or when you need features like event notifications, replication, Object Lock, S3 Tables (Iceberg) or S3 Vectors. For serving large public files straight to users, the egress price is usually the biggest line on the bill.
Pricing and plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | $0.023/GB-month | First 50 TB in us-east-1; $0.022 next 450 TB, $0.021 above 500 TB |
| S3 Standard-IA | $0.0125/GB-month | 30-day minimum storage, 128 KB minimum object size, $0.01/GB retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | $0.00099/GB-month | 180-day minimum, retrieval takes hours |
| Requests (Standard) | $0.005 per 1,000 PUT/COPY/POST/LIST; $0.0004 per 1,000 GET | DELETE is free |
| Internet egress | $0.09/GB | First 10 TB/month after 100 GB free; $0.085 next 40 TB, $0.07 next 100 TB |
What it does
- Storage classes
- Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Standard-IA, One Zone-IA, Express One Zone and three Glacier classes trade price against access speed and minimum durations.
- Durability
- AWS states S3 is designed for 99.999999999% (11 nines) durability and 99.99% availability by default.
- Event notifications
- Object changes can trigger Lambda functions, queues or EventBridge rules, which makes S3 a common start for upload pipelines.
- S3 Tables and Vectors
- Table buckets store Apache Iceberg tables with automatic compaction, and S3 Vectors stores and queries embeddings.
- S3 Files
- A file system view over a bucket that caches small, active files on faster storage and bills only for that working set.
- Lifecycle rules
- Rules move or expire objects automatically by age or prefix, though each transition is billed as a request.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- The reference S3 API: every SDK, backup tool and framework supports it first
- Widest choice of storage classes, from $0.023 down to $0.00099 per GB-month
- Tight integration with Lambda, CloudFront, IAM and the rest of AWS
- Free transfer to CloudFront and to AWS services in the same region
- Available in every AWS region, including many in the EU
Limitations
- Internet egress costs $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB after only 100 GB free per account
- Requests are billed separately, so many small reads and LIST calls add up
- IA and Glacier classes have 30 to 180-day minimum storage charges and 128 KB minimum object sizes
- No permanent free storage allowance for accounts created after 15 July 2025
- Pricing is spread across many dimensions and pages, which makes bills hard to predict
Who it suits
Good for
- Applications already running on AWS
- Data lakes and analytics pipelines
- Backups and archives using Glacier classes
- Companies that need AWS compliance and IAM controls
Look elsewhere if
- Serving large public downloads directly to users, where egress-free providers cost far less
- Hobby projects wanting a permanent free allowance
Pricing history
-
AWS replaces 12-month free tier with credits for new accounts
Effective 15 July 2025, new AWS accounts get $100 credit plus up to $100 more for 6 months instead of the legacy 12-month free tier, which included 5 GB of S3 Standard storage. Accounts created before that date keep the legacy offers. Source ↗
Alternatives to Amazon S3
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud Storage Object storage (hyperscaler) | Usage-based | Free tier | |
| Supabase Managed Postgres backend platform | $25/mo | Free tier | |
| Cloudinary Image and video media platform | $89/mo | Free tier | |
| OVHcloud Object Storage EU object storage | Usage-based | ||
| SeaweedFS Self-hosted distributed storage | — | ||
| Uploadcare File upload, processing and CDN | $66/mo | Free tier |
Questions
How much does Amazon S3 cost per GB?
S3 Standard costs $0.023 per GB-month for the first 50 TB in us-east-1, plus request fees and $0.09/GB for internet egress beyond 100 GB a month.
Is there an Amazon S3 free tier?
Accounts created before 15 July 2025 keep the legacy 12-month 5 GB offer. Newer accounts get up to $200 of credits over six months instead, usable on S3.
Does Amazon S3 charge for egress?
Yes. Transfer to the internet costs $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB a month after 100 GB free, but transfer to CloudFront or to AWS services in the same region is free.
What is the minimum storage duration in S3?
S3 Standard has none. Standard-IA and One Zone-IA bill at least 30 days, Glacier Instant and Flexible Retrieval 90 days, and Deep Archive 180 days.
Sources read for this page