Object storage pricing
Object storage holds files of any size, accessed over HTTP, in classes that trade access frequency against cost. Amazon S3 has seven storage classes; Google Cloud Storage has four (Standard, Nearline, Coldline and Archive). Compare storage, request, and retrieval pricing in every region each provider sells them.
AWS: S3 storage classes
S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
$0.0036 / GB-month
Low-cost archival storage (formerly "Amazon Glacier") with retrieval times from minutes to hours depending on speed tier: Expedited, Standard, or Bulk.
- Durability: 99.999999999%
- Min. duration: 90 days
- Best for: Backups and archives accessed a few times a year
S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
$0.0040 / GB-month
Archive-tier pricing with millisecond retrieval — costs more per GB than Glacier Flexible Retrieval or Deep Archive, but with no restore wait.
- Durability: 99.999999999%
- Min. duration: 90 days
- Best for: Quarterly-accessed archives needing instant reads
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
$0.0230 / GB-month
Monitors access patterns and automatically moves objects between Frequent, Infrequent, and Archive access tiers, with no retrieval fees and a small per-object monitoring charge.
- Durability: 99.999999999%
- Min. duration: None
- Best for: Unpredictable or changing access patterns
S3 One Zone-IA
$0.0100 / GB-month
Same access profile as Standard-IA at a lower price, stored in a single Availability Zone rather than replicated across three — not resilient to AZ loss.
- Durability: 99.999999999% (within one AZ)
- Min. duration: 30 days
- Best for: Easily recreatable data, secondary backup copies
Reduced Redundancy (legacy)
$0.0240 / GB-month
A discontinued, lower-durability class AWS no longer recommends for new data — kept here for reference against existing workloads still on it.
- Durability: 99.99%
- Min. duration: None
- Best for: Legacy workloads only — do not use for new data
S3 Standard
$0.0230 / GB-month
Default storage class for frequently accessed data — websites, content distribution, mobile and gaming applications, big data analytics.
- Durability: 99.999999999%
- Min. duration: None
- Best for: Active data, frequent access
S3 Standard-IA
$0.0125 / GB-month
Lower per-GB storage cost than Standard for data accessed less often but needing millisecond access when it is. Carries a per-GB retrieval fee.
- Durability: 99.999999999%
- Min. duration: 30 days
- Best for: Backups, disaster recovery, long-tail media
Google Cloud: Cloud Storage classes
Cloud Storage Standard
$0.020 / GiB-month in Iowa
The default Cloud Storage class for data that is read or changed often: websites, streaming, analytics and mobile apps. No retrieval fee and no minimum storage duration.
- Min. duration: None
- Locations: 46 regions, 6 dual-regions, 3 multi-regions
- Best for: Frequently accessed data
Cloud Storage Nearline
$0.010 / GiB-month in Iowa
Lower storage rate than Standard for data you read or change about once a month or less, such as backups. Adds a per-GiB retrieval fee and a 30-day minimum storage duration.
- Min. duration: 30 days
- Locations: 46 regions, 6 dual-regions, 3 multi-regions
- Best for: Backups, long-tail content
Cloud Storage Coldline
$0.004 / GiB-month in Iowa
Lower again, for data you read or change about once a quarter or less. Higher retrieval fee than Nearline and a 90-day minimum storage duration.
- Min. duration: 90 days
- Locations: 46 regions, 6 dual-regions, 3 multi-regions
- Best for: Disaster recovery data
Cloud Storage Archive
$0.0012 / GiB-month in Iowa
The lowest storage rate, for data you read less than once a year. Still served in milliseconds, with the highest retrieval fee and a 365-day minimum storage duration.
- Min. duration: 365 days
- Locations: 46 regions, 6 dual-regions, 3 multi-regions
- Best for: Regulatory and long-term archives