Cut S3 spend without deleting data — model the lifecycle first
Compare an all-Standard bill to a hot / warm / cold class mix sized to your access pattern and retrieval tolerance. us-east-1 list pricing.
- No signup
- Instant results
- ~2 min
Rates reviewed
Your S3 footprint
us-east-1list rates, pricing as of 2026-07-22. Source: AWS public pricing.
Extra GB from noncurrent versions.
Who This Tool Is For
FinOps leads and data platform owners sitting on multi-TB S3 Standard buckets who know cold data exists but have not modeled the lifecycle.
Why We Built This Tool
S3 Standard is the default and the expensive habit. Moving warm and cold prefixes to IA and Glacier is one of the highest-ROI storage moves — if retrieval patterns match. Rates as of 2026-07-22.
What Problem It Solves
- All-Standard default. Quantify the tax of never transitioning.
- Retrieval trade-off. Instant vs hours vs Deep Archive changes the cold rate.
- Versioning bloat. Noncurrent versions inflate the bill — modeled as overhead %.
- Rule sketch. Leave with day-30 / day-90 transitions, not just a number.
Use the S3 pricing calculator for a single-class rate card, or FinOps consulting for a full storage review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the mixed preset assume?
40% of GB accessed in the last 30 days (Standard), 30% warm (Standard-IA), 30% cold (Glacier tier based on retrieval tolerance). Hot and archive presets shift those shares.
Are retrieval charges included?
Yes — a planning assumption of ~5% of warm GB and ~2% of cold GB retrieved per month. Heavy restore months will cost more.
Should I use Intelligent-Tiering instead?
Intelligent-Tiering is often better when access is unpredictable. This tool models explicit lifecycle transitions for teams that already know hot/warm/cold prefixes.
Does this include data transfer out?
No — only storage, request, and retrieval meters. Egress is unchanged by storage class for most internet downloads.
What about minimum storage duration?
Standard-IA and Glacier classes have minimum duration charges (30–180 days). Factor that in before aggressive early deletes or re-transitions.
How accurate is this?
Uses us-east-1 list storage and request rates as of 2026-07-22. Confirm with Cost Explorer and S3 Storage Lens before committing finance targets.