S3 prices changes
Historical S3 prices cannot be extracted from the API. I tried to use the filter ‘EffectiveDate’ and got nothing returned. I wanted this page to have all the historical prices of S3 directly from an API call but no. So I will rely on the AWS price reduction blog and this website.
Just the last 5 years
FinOps Playbook: Challenging S3 Pricing Assumptions
Helped by GPT for the more provocative variant
Problem
S3 Standard price is $0.023/GB/month and has not changed since 2016.
In that same time, disk prices have gone done quite a bit: today, you can buy professional storage for the equivalent of $0.003/GB/month. (price per GB divided by 36 months of warrantied usage)
That’s 7.5× cheaper.
So why hasn’t AWS dropped S3 prices in nearly a decade? Because they don’t need to. Customers accept S3 as the default, and AWS captures the margin.
Reality Check
S3 is more than just a disk. You’re paying for replication, durability, resilience, APIs, and more.
But most S3 data is never read again. Paying for unused “instant-access” is a waste of money.
Insight
- The fact that Glacier is $0.004/GB/month proves AWS can offer near-hardware economics when access speed is relaxed.
- That makes S3 Standard less about cost, more about convenience and inertia.
- Leaving data in Standard by default is effectively paying an “AWS storage tax.”
Action Steps
- Interrogate usage: How much of your S3 data was accessed in the last 30–90 days?
- Challenge the default: Stop assuming S3 Standard is the right answer.
- Automate tiering: Lifecycle policies should be the norm, not the exception.
- Report the waste: Show stakeholders how much could be saved by moving to IA or Glacier.
Key Takeaway
If you don’t actively manage S3, AWS will happily charge you 7× the cost of storage.
FinOps leaders must push back, or the “S3 Tax” will silently drain budgets year after year.