Amazon Glacier Pricing Calculator
Estimate your monthly and annual cost for Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes. Enter your usage values below and click calculate.
If you are planning a backup, archive, or compliance workload, this Amazon Glacier pricing calculator gives you a practical first estimate. Glacier is one of the lowest-cost storage families on AWS, but your real bill still depends on how you retrieve data, how often you request objects, and whether you delete objects early.
How Amazon Glacier pricing works
Amazon S3 Glacier pricing is made up of several components. Many people only think about “cost per GB stored,” but retrieval and request charges can become meaningful depending on access patterns.
1) Storage cost (GB-month)
You pay for the amount of data stored over a month. Deep Archive is usually cheapest, while Instant Retrieval costs more because data is available with millisecond access. Flexible Retrieval sits in the middle.
2) Retrieval cost
When you pull data back out, you pay per GB retrieved. Some classes also have retrieval tiers (Bulk, Standard, Expedited). Faster access generally costs more.
3) Request cost
Operations such as PUT, lifecycle transitions, and retrieval requests are billed per 1,000 requests. If you manage millions of small files, this line item can surprise you.
4) Early deletion cost
Glacier classes have minimum storage durations. If you delete data before that minimum, AWS charges the remaining time as an early deletion fee:
- Glacier Instant Retrieval: 90 days minimum
- Glacier Flexible Retrieval: 90 days minimum
- Glacier Deep Archive: 180 days minimum
5) Data transfer out
Moving data to the internet has separate bandwidth pricing. This calculator assumes the first 100 GB/month is free and applies a flat estimate afterward.
Assumed rates used by this calculator
| Storage Class | Storage $/GB-month | Minimum Duration | Retrieval Tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glacier Instant Retrieval | $0.0040 | 90 days | Standard |
| Glacier Flexible Retrieval | $0.0036 | 90 days | Bulk / Standard / Expedited |
| Glacier Deep Archive | $0.00099 | 180 days | Bulk / Standard |
When should you use each Glacier class?
Glacier Instant Retrieval
Best for infrequently accessed data that still needs immediate read speed. Useful for media archives and low-access analytics snapshots.
Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Great for long-term backups where restore times from minutes to hours are acceptable. This is often the default choice for backup repositories.
Glacier Deep Archive
Built for very long retention and rare access. Good for compliance archives, records preservation, and datasets that might not be opened for years.
Cost optimization tips
- Pick the right class: Don’t pay for fast retrieval if you almost never restore.
- Use lifecycle policies: Transition older objects automatically from standard storage to Glacier tiers.
- Bundle retrievals: Prefer fewer large retrievals over many tiny restore jobs.
- Avoid early deletes: Keep data for at least the minimum duration to avoid penalties.
- Monitor with Cost Explorer: Watch retrieval spikes and request growth month by month.
Example estimate
Suppose you store 10 TB in Glacier Flexible Retrieval, retrieve 500 GB monthly using Standard tier, and generate modest request volume. Your total may remain very low compared with hot storage—often making Glacier an excellent fit for secondary backups and archival compliance copies.
FAQ
Is this an official AWS calculator?
No. This is an independent estimator to help with planning and budgeting.
Does it include taxes and enterprise discounts?
No. It does not include local tax, private pricing agreements, or organization-specific discounts.
Can I use this for production budgeting?
Yes, for rough planning. For final procurement numbers, confirm rates directly from AWS pricing documentation and your billing console.