Amazon S3 Costs Management: A Guide to Choose the Ideal Storage Classes

Table of Contents

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a web-based cloud storage solution that is scalable, fast, and inexpensive. It is designed for archiving and backing up data online on Amazon Web Services (AWS). To make web-scale computing easier for developers, Amazon S3 was designed with a minimal feature set.
The Amazon S3 cloud storage service consists of object storage, unlike traditional file storage and block storage. Each object is stored as a file with its metadata included. Each object also has an ID number so applications can access the right object. With Amazon S3, subscribers have access to the same cloud storage systems used by Amazon. The vast majority of files and objects can be uploaded, stored, and downloaded via S3, but the largest single upload is capped at 5 gigabytes (GB).

Cost Optimization using AWS S3

AWS S3 Storage Lens cost-optimization metrics can help you reduce overall S3 storage costs. To understand whether Amazon S3 is configured cost-effectively and according to best practices, we need to review AWS cost optimization metrics. We can optimize costs in the following ways, for example:

Buckets with incomplete multipart uploads older than 7 days
Buckets that are accumulating numerous noncurrent versions
Buckets that don't have lifecycle rules to abort incomplete multipart uploads
Buckets that don't have lifecycle rules to expire noncurrent versioned objects
Buckets that don't have lifecycle rules to transition objects to a different storage class

Four Pillars of AWS Storage Cost Optimization with Amazon S3

amazon s3

Pillar 1: Defining application requirements

Understand the performance and data access requirements of your applications and workloads before moving workloads to Amazon Web Services. Backup and archive applications have needs that differ dramatically from streaming media applications or e-commerce sites. Identifying how and when your data is acquired, accessed, and archived or deleted is important for cloud cost optimization.

Pillar 2: Data organization

To optimize your S3 storage costs, organize your data as soon as you move it to Amazon S3. AWS provides tools and methods for managing your data at the granular object level, allowing you to control access and optimize costs.

Pillar 3: Choosing the right Amazon S3 Storage class

Amazon S3 offers several storage classes for different use cases, and each supports different access patterns at different rates. A key part of any AWS cost optimization strategy is choosing the right storage class. As a result, you can build highly scalable applications that are cost-effectively scalable for virtually any use case. S3 Lifecycle policies can transition data between storage classes, or AWS S3 Intelligent-Tiering can automate data movement and reduce costs.

amazon s3

Pillar 4: Monitor, analyze, and optimize

Monitor: By monitoring your usage, you can lower S3 storage costs and manage costs over time. By setting custom budgets, you can be alerted when your costs or usage exceed (or are forecast to exceed) your budget. You can also monitor AWS storage and request activity growth with AWS tools like AWS CloudWatch or third-party tools like CloudKeeper Lens, which provide resource-level insights and trigger alarms when a critical threshold is reached.
Analyze: Understand your data access patterns to determine the best S3 Storage Class. By analyzing your prior storage access patterns, you will be able to choose the best S3 Storage Class for your data based on those insights and lower your AWS storage costs.
Optimize: An S3 Lifecycle Policy ensures your objects are stored in the most cost-effective S3 Storage Class throughout their lifetime. A lifecycle configuration determines whether objects in Amazon S3 move to a colder storage class (e.g., Glacier) or are automatically deleted after they are no longer needed.

Quick Decision Table: Which AWS S3 Class Should I Use?

Use this table to determine the best storage class based on your specific requirements:

If your requirement is...	Recommended AWS S3 Storage Class
Unknown or unpredictable access patterns	S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Ultra-low, single-digit millisecond latency	S3 Express One Zone
Frequently accessed data (more than once a month)	S3 Standard
Infrequent access and data is reproducible (Single AZ)	S3 One Zone-IA
Occasional access with immediate (milliseconds) retrieval	S3 Standard-IA
Rare access (quarterly/yearly) with immediate (milliseconds) retrieval	S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
Archival data with retrieval time of 1 minute to 12 hours	S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Lowest-cost long-term archival storage (up to 12-hour retrieval)	S3 Glacier Deep Archive

AWS S3 Storage Classes

To optimize storage costs, Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers several storage classes. Below is a brief overview of the main storage classes of Amazon S3:

S3 Standard: For frequently accessed data, S3 Standard is an ideal solution. It charges for storage, data transfer, and requests, and its pricing is competitive with other cloud storage services. As a result, it offers high durability, availability, and performance; it is particularly suitable for data storage that requires low latency and high throughput.
S3 Intelligent-Tiering: S3 Intelligent-Tiering lets users store data with unknown or changing access patterns cost-effectively. Compared with other cloud storage services, pricing is competitive for storage, data transfer, and requests. In addition to maintaining performance and low latency, it is a cost-effective solution for storing data.
S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA): Compared with S3 Standard, S3 Standard-IA offers lower storage costs, making it a cost-effective option for less frequently accessed data. Among S3 Standard-IA storage classes, Standard-IA is ideal for storing data with low access frequency but high durability and availability requirements. This is one of the most effective methods for cloud cost optimization within AWS storage classes.
S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access (S3 One Zone-IA): Compared to S3 Standard-IA, S3 One Zone-IA offers a lower storage price because it stores data in a single availability zone instead of multiple zones within a region. If an availability zone fails, you may temporarily lose access to data, so S3 One Zone-IA can be a good fit. It's ideal for data that can be easily recreated or for non-critical data that can tolerate temporary access loss. Along with lower AWS storage costs, it also provides high durability and availability within a single availability zone.
S3 Glacier: It charges a very low storage price among all the Amazon S3 storage classes, but it is more expensive than Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive. For data that must be retained for long periods but is rarely accessed, S3 Glacier is the ideal storage class for long-term archiving. In addition to helping in AWS cost optimization, it also provides multiple retrieval options and maintains high reliability and durability.
S3 Glacier Deep Archive: The lowest S3 storage cost is offered by S3 Glacier Deep Archive in comparison to all other storage classes in Amazon S3. For data that rarely needs access and must be stored long term, such as regulatory compliance or digital preservation archives, S3 Glacier Deep Archive is an ideal storage solution. Despite its cost-effectiveness, it maintains high durability while offering infrequent access options and offers high durability.

Comparison Chart

Choosing the correct storage class is the most effective way to align cloud expenditure with actual data usage patterns. The table below compares the eight primary Amazon S3 storage classes across key performance and cost metrics:

Storage Class	Best For	Minimum Storage Duration	Retrieval Time	Retrieval Fee	Durability	Availability SLA	Estimated Storage Cost
S3 Standard	Frequently accessed, active data	None	Millisecond	None	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	Highest (~$0.023/GB-month)
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	Unknown or changing access patterns	None*	Milliseconds	None	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	Varies automatically by tier
S3 Standard-IA	Long-lived, infrequently accessed data	30 days	Milliseconds	~$0.01/GB	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	Lower than S3 Standard
S3 One Zone-IA	Reproducible, non-critical infrequently accessed data	30 days	Milliseconds	Per-GB retrieval fee	99.999999999% (11 9's, single AZ)	99.5%	~$0.01/GB-month
S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval	Rarely accessed data requiring instant retrieval	90 days	Milliseconds	~$0.03/GB	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	~1/6 the cost of S3 Standard
S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval	Long-term archives with occasional retrieval	90 days	1 minute to 12 hours	Per-GB retrieval fee	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	Very low
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	Compliance and archival data accessed less	180 days	Up to 12 hours	Per-GB retrieval fee	99.999999999% (11 9's)	99.9%	Lowest available
S3 Express One Zone	High-performance, low-latency workloads	None	Single-digit milliseconds	None	99.999999999% (11 9's, single AZ)	Single-AZ availability	Optimized for request performance

S3 Standard, the default storage class, is assumed as the baseline for each storage class in the above comparison chart. Data access patterns and storage classes influence the percentage of cost savings.

Conclusion

S3 storage costs are an important consideration for any AWS user. It is possible to save significant AWS storage costs by understanding the different storage classes S3 offers, and then selecting the appropriate storage class based on access patterns and requirements for your data. The bottom line is that, cloud cost optimization with Amazon S3 can help you save money while also maintaining the necessary level of durability and availability for your data. Carefully evaluating your data needs and the storage classes S3 offers can help you achieve significant savings without sacrificing data quality.

Did you know that CloudKeeper AZ can help you reduce AWS bills for your entire cloud infrastructure by up to 25%? And we contractually guarantee the savings! Talk to our experts to learn more.