AWS Shield Pricing Calculator
Compare Shield Standard vs Advanced — model the $3,000/month base, data transfer out, and when Advanced beats WAF-only for production APIs.
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- Instant results
- ~2 min
Rates reviewed
Shield tier
us-east-1list rates, pricing as of 2026-07-04. 1-year subscription commitment for Advanced. WAF bundled for protected resources. Source: AWS public pricing.
Protected resource types (Advanced)
Who This Tool Is For
Fintech security teams, platform engineers, and compliance leads evaluating DDoS protection before a PCI audit or production API launch.
Why We Built This Tool
Shield Advanced is a $3,000/month organization-level commitment — but bundles AWS WAF and DDoS cost protection that standalone WAF would bill separately.
What Problem It Solves
- Finance approval. Model the fixed $3K base before the 1-year commitment.
- WAF bundling. Advanced includes WAF for protected resources — compare net cost vs standalone WAF.
- DTO metering. DTO fees apply only to protected resources, not all account traffic.
Pair with our WAF Pricing Calculator or cloud security service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Shield Standard include for free?
Shield Standard provides always-on network and transport layer (L3/L4) DDoS protection for CloudFront, Route 53, Global Accelerator, and Elastic Load Balancing at no additional charge.
Why is Shield Advanced $3,000/month?
Advanced adds application-layer (L7) protection, 24/7 DDoS Response Team access (with Business/Enterprise Support), cost protection during verified attacks, and bundled AWS WAF for protected resources — priced as an organization-level subscription with a 1-year commitment.
Does Shield Advanced eliminate data transfer charges?
No. You still pay Shield Advanced DTO usage fees on outbound traffic from protected resources. Advanced provides cost protection credits for scaling charges during verified DDoS attacks on properly configured resources.
How does WAF bundling work with Advanced?
Shield Advanced includes AWS WAF for protected resources with up to 50 billion WAF requests per month per organization before overage. DDoS-detected requests do not count toward the limit.
When is Shield Advanced worth it?
Consider Advanced for production APIs with PCI DSS or SOC 2 DDoS requirements, high-value endpoints where downtime cost exceeds $3K/month, or when standalone WAF + incident response would exceed the bundled price.
Can I protect only some resources?
Yes. You enable Advanced protection per resource. DTO fees apply only to protected CloudFront, ELB, EC2, Global Accelerator, and Route 53 resources.