Cloudflare R2
S3-compatible storage with zero egress fees
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 is the original and most widely integrated object storage, with deep AWS integration, many storage classes and the broadest ecosystem — but standard egress is billed per GB, which is what the S3 alternatives compete against.
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Amazon S3 is AWS's object storage service — the de facto industry standard, with the widest tooling and integration support, many storage classes (Standard, Infrequent Access, Glacier), and deep ties to the rest of AWS. Its egress pricing is the benchmark the cheaper alternatives undercut.
Key features
- Many storage classes including Glacier archival tiers
- The deepest ecosystem and tooling integration
- Fine-grained IAM, versioning and lifecycle policies
- Global regions and strong compliance options
Specs
| Category | Object storage |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | usage-based |
| Free tier | Yes — 12-month new-account free tier (5 GB S3 Standard) plus some always-free allowances; standard egress is billed per GB after the first 100 GB/month. |
| Managed database | No |
| Regions | 30+ (AWS regions) |
| Self-hostable | No |
| Docker-native | No |
| Git deploy | No |
| Open source | No |
Last reviewed 2026-07-16 — see our methodology. Specs, pricing and free tiers change often, so confirm current details on the provider before deciding.
Pros & cons
Our editorial assessment — not vendor-stated facts.
Pros
- Unmatched ecosystem and integration breadth
- Rich features: lifecycle, versioning, storage classes
- Battle-tested reliability and compliance
Cons
- Standard egress billed per GB — expensive for bandwidth-heavy use
- Pricing is complex (storage + requests + egress + features)
- Easy to run up surprise bills
Pricing
Usage-based and multi-dimensional: about $0.023/GB-month for S3 Standard storage, per-request charges, and egress around $0.09/GB after the first 100 GB/month (cheaper archival classes exist). A 12-month free tier and some always-free allowances apply. Egress is the line item the S3 alternatives target.
Who should use Amazon S3?
Teams already deep in AWS, or those needing S3's storage classes, compliance and ecosystem, who will accept higher egress cost for the integration.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Amazon S3 have a free tier?
- Yes. 12-month new-account free tier (5 GB S3 Standard) plus some always-free allowances; standard egress is billed per GB after the first 100 GB/month.
- How much does Amazon S3 cost?
- Usage-based and multi-dimensional: about $0.023/GB-month for S3 Standard storage, per-request charges, and egress around $0.09/GB after the first 100 GB/month (cheaper archival classes exist). A 12-month free tier and some always-free allowances apply. Egress is the line item the S3 alternatives target.
- Who should use Amazon S3?
- Teams already deep in AWS, or those needing S3's storage classes, compliance and ecosystem, who will accept higher egress cost for the integration.
Amazon S3 alternatives
Backblaze B2
Cheap storage with generous free egress
Wasabi
Flat-rate hot storage, no egress or API fees
Bunny Storage
Edge storage paired with a cheap CDN
DigitalOcean Spaces
S3-compatible storage bundled with a CDN
See all Amazon S3 alternatives →
Amazon S3 pricing → · Free tier → · Compare all → · Estimate cost →