AWS S3 vs Glacier: Backup Cost Comparison

AWS S3 and Glacier are both cloud storage solutions from Amazon Web Services (AWS), but they serve very different purposes. If you need fast, frequent access to your data, S3 is the better option, though it comes with higher costs. For long-term storage with minimal access needs, Glacier offers a much cheaper alternative, but retrieval is slower and incurs additional fees.

Key Takeaways:

• S3 is designed for active backups and frequently accessed data. Monthly storage costs start at £0.018 per GB with immediate retrieval.
• Glacier is ideal for archival storage, with costs as low as £0.0008 per GB for Glacier Deep Archive, but retrieval times can take up to 48 hours.
• A hybrid storage strategy - using S3 for recent backups and Glacier for older, rarely accessed data - can save UK businesses thousands annually.

Quick Comparison:

S3 Storage Classes Explained: Standard, IA & Glacier | AWS Tutorial for Beginners

AWS S3 and Glacier Storage Classes Explained

AWS provides a variety of storage classes within both S3 and Glacier, tailored to meet different data access needs and budget considerations. These options help businesses choose the most economical solutions for backup and archival storage.

AWS S3 Storage Classes

S3 Standard is the go-to choice for active backup systems, offering millisecond access at £0.018 per GB per month. It’s ideal for daily backups or disaster recovery, ensuring high availability across multiple Availability Zones to support critical operations.

S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) strikes a balance, costing £0.008 per GB monthly for data that’s accessed less often but still needs quick retrieval. However, the request cost is £0.008 per 1,000 requests - double that of S3 Standard - making it less suitable for frequently accessed data.

S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access lowers costs further by storing data in a single Availability Zone instead of multiple zones. This is a cost-effective option for non-critical backups that can be recreated if lost, though it comes with increased risk due to reduced redundancy.

S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically adjusts data storage tiers based on usage patterns, starting at £0.008 per GB monthly. This is particularly useful for businesses with unpredictable access needs, as it eliminates the need for manual management.

AWS Glacier Storage Classes

S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval offers archive-level pricing with millisecond access at just £0.003 per GB monthly. It’s a great fit for data like medical images or compliance records that require occasional immediate access. However, retrieval costs £0.023 per GB, making frequent access expensive.

S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (previously known as S3 Glacier) provides archival storage at £0.003 per GB monthly, with retrieval times ranging from minutes to 12 hours. Free bulk retrievals make it a smart choice for planned data recovery or periodic backups.

S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the most economical option at £0.0008 per GB monthly. Retrieval takes 12–48 hours unless expedited, and bulk retrieval costs £0.002 per GB. It’s ideal for long-term regulatory archives or data that’s accessed very rarely, such as once or twice a year.

• All Glacier classes require a minimum billable object size of 128 KB, meaning smaller files are charged as if they were 128 KB. For backups with many small files, aggregating them or opting for S3 Standard-IA might be more cost-effective.

Main Differences Between S3 and Glacier

The key difference between S3 and Glacier lies in access speed versus cost structure. S3 prioritises rapid availability, making it perfect for active backups and disaster recovery. Glacier, on the other hand, focuses on long-term storage at a lower cost, trading immediate access for affordability.

While durability is consistent at 99.999999999%, availability varies. S3 Standard offers 99.99% availability across multiple zones, while Glacier Deep Archive has a lower availability of 99.9% due to its longer recovery times.

Cost structures differ significantly between the two. S3 classes have higher storage costs but lower retrieval fees, making them better suited for frequently accessed data. Glacier classes, with their ultra-low storage costs but higher retrieval fees, are designed for data that’s rarely accessed.

For example, a UK-based financial services firm might use S3 Standard for daily transaction backups requiring instant access, S3 Standard-IA for weekly backups, and Glacier Deep Archive for regulatory compliance records accessed annually. This layered approach balances cost efficiency with operational and compliance needs.

If managing these options feels overwhelming, Hokstad Consulting specialises in cloud cost optimisation. They can help craft storage strategies that balance accessibility, compliance, and budget, ensuring businesses meet their requirements without overspending.

Cost Comparison: AWS S3 vs Glacier (UK Pricing)

When comparing AWS storage options, it's essential to look beyond the basic storage costs. Factors like request charges, retrieval fees, and other additional expenses can all play a major role in shaping your monthly bill.

Storage Costs by Class

The monthly storage costs for AWS S3 and Glacier classes vary significantly. For example, S3 Standard is priced at £0.018 per GB per month, while Glacier Deep Archive offers a much lower cost of £0.0008 per GB. That’s a massive 96% reduction, making Glacier Deep Archive an attractive option for long-term storage.

This table highlights the potential savings when opting for Glacier classes, especially for data that doesn’t require frequent access. However, storage fees alone don’t tell the whole story - request and retrieval costs can have a significant impact too.

Request and Retrieval Costs

One of the major differences between S3 and Glacier lies in how retrievals are charged. While S3 allows immediate access without additional retrieval costs, Glacier applies fees based on the speed and volume of the retrieval:

• Expedited retrieval: £0.023 per GB (1–5 minutes)
• Standard retrieval: £0.0078 per GB (3–5 hours)
• Bulk retrieval: £0.002 per GB (5–12 hours)

For businesses that frequently access large amounts of archived data, these costs can quickly add up. Additionally, lifecycle transitions between storage classes are charged at £0.01 per 1,000 transitions, which can become a significant expense for organisations managing millions of small files.

Other Costs to Consider

Beyond storage and retrieval, there are several other charges to account for:

• Data transfer fees: Transferring data out of AWS costs between £0.07 and £0.09 per GB after the first 1GB each month.
• Minimum storage durations: Glacier classes have minimum storage periods - 90 days for Glacier Flexible Retrieval and 180 days for Glacier Deep Archive. Deleting data early incurs charges for the unused portion of the required period. For example, deleting a 1TB Deep Archive backup after 30 days would result in fees for the remaining 150 days.
• Monitoring and lifecycle transition fees: Lifecycle transitions cost £0.01 per 1,000 moves, and monitoring activities may add incremental charges, potentially increasing overall costs by 20–30%.

For organisations with complex backup needs, these additional costs can significantly influence the total spend. Specialists like Hokstad Consulting can help businesses minimise these expenses by implementing strategies such as optimised lifecycle management, data compression, and automated monitoring.

Ultimately, the choice between S3 and Glacier isn’t just about storage prices. UK businesses need to weigh factors like access frequency, retention requirements, and operational needs. Whether S3’s higher cost with free retrieval or Glacier’s low storage fees with added retrieval costs makes more sense will depend on your specific use case. A well-thought-out backup strategy that balances these factors can help manage costs effectively while meeting your operational goals.

Performance and Access Speed Differences

AWS S3 and Glacier differ significantly in performance, which can influence your backup and disaster recovery plans. Knowing how these services handle data access is crucial to meeting your recovery goals.

Retrieval Times and Access Speeds

AWS S3 offers millisecond-level access to stored data, making it perfect for scenarios where you need immediate access. Whether you're restoring a corrupted database or retrieving files for an urgent task, S3's instant access minimises downtime and ensures operations continue smoothly.

Glacier, on the other hand, provides three retrieval options, each with different speeds and costs:

Flexible Retrieval includes three sub-options: expedited (1–5 minutes), standard (3–5 hours), and bulk (5–12 hours). Costs increase with speed - expedited retrieval is priced at £0.023 per GB, while bulk retrieval is just £0.0019 per GB.

These varying speeds directly influence backup strategies. For instance, if your organisation has a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of under an hour, Glacier Deep Archive won't meet your needs. Instead, you'll require S3 Standard or Glacier Instant Retrieval for critical, time-sensitive data.

Durability, Reliability, and Scalability

Both AWS S3 and Glacier offer automatic scaling and lifecycle policy automation, which can optimise costs as your data ages. With lifecycle policies, you can set rules to automatically transition data from S3 to Glacier as it becomes less frequently accessed. This ensures that recent backups remain readily available in S3 while older data moves to Glacier's lower-cost tiers, all without manual intervention.

Impact on Backup and Disaster Recovery

When deciding between S3 and Glacier, the recovery impact is a key factor. S3 is better suited for critical data that requires fast access, while Glacier is ideal for long-term storage where retrieval speed isn’t a priority.

For UK organisations, data residency requirements and GDPR compliance are also important considerations. Both S3 and Glacier support storage in the AWS London (eu-west-2) region, ensuring data remains within the UK to meet regulatory needs.

Many UK businesses find a hybrid approach works best - using S3 for recent, critical backups and Glacier for long-term retention. This strategy balances accessibility with cost savings, so you're not paying S3 prices for data you rarely need.

Hokstad Consulting can help fine-tune your cloud storage strategy, ensuring you strike the right balance between performance, compliance, and cost. Their expertise in cloud cost management and infrastructure optimisation can help you meet your backup and disaster recovery objectives effectively.

Best Practices for Backup and Archival Storage

To get the most out of your backup and archival strategies, it's crucial to follow proven practices. For UK organisations, these strategies can help significantly lower cloud storage costs while maintaining performance and compliance. Below, we outline key approaches to streamline your backup efforts and optimise expenses.

Common Backup and Archival Scenarios

For short-term backups, where quick access is essential, consider using S3 Standard for data accessed frequently and S3 Standard-IA for data that’s only needed monthly. This ensures seamless operations while keeping costs manageable.

When it comes to regulatory and compliance archiving, many industries like finance, healthcare, and legal must store records for years with minimal access. S3 Glacier Deep Archive is a cost-effective option at just £0.00099 per GB per month. While retrieval can take between 12 to 48 hours, it’s ideal for data that’s rarely needed but legally required to be retained long-term.

For disaster recovery planning, you’ll need to strike a balance between cost and recovery speed. S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval offers a middle ground, priced at £0.0036 per GB per month. It provides retrieval options ranging from a few minutes to 12 hours, making it adaptable for varying recovery time objectives.

An effective strategy involves categorising data by its importance. For example:

• Keep recent database backups in S3 Standard for the first 30 days.
• Move them to S3 Standard-IA for the next 60 days.
• Transition to Glacier Flexible Retrieval for annual retention.
• Finally, store them in Deep Archive for long-term compliance needs.

Cost Optimisation Methods

One of the easiest ways to cut costs is by using lifecycle policies. These rules automatically move data between storage classes based on factors like age or access frequency. This eliminates the need for manual intervention and ensures older data is stored more economically.

Tools like AWS Cost Explorer and S3 Storage Lens are invaluable for keeping track of storage growth and identifying cost drivers. They allow you to simulate the effects of lifecycle policies, ensuring data is appropriately stored without exceeding budgets.

When designing retrieval policies, consider how often and urgently you’ll need the data. Scheduling non-urgent retrievals during bulk pricing windows can lead to substantial savings.

Another option is S3 Intelligent-Tiering, which automatically adjusts storage tiers based on access patterns. At £0.004 per GB, it offers fast access while reducing costs compared to S3 Standard.

These methods provide a strong foundation for optimising costs, but expert advice can take your strategy to the next level.

Getting Expert Help with Storage Optimisation

Balancing cost and performance can be tricky, especially for UK organisations dealing with regulatory compliance alongside budget constraints. This is where expert help becomes invaluable.

Hokstad Consulting specialises in cloud cost engineering and DevOps transformation, offering tailored solutions to meet specific organisational needs. Their clients have achieved savings of 30–50% through strategies like right-sizing resources, automation, and smarter allocation.

For example, many businesses have reported significant annual savings and improved performance after implementing Hokstad’s recommendations. They even offer a free assessment to identify potential savings, with fees often tied to the actual savings achieved. This results-driven approach ensures you only pay when you see results.

Their expertise is particularly useful for organisations with complex backup and archival requirements, such as mixed storage needs, stringent compliance demands, or those transitioning from on-premises systems. Hokstad can help design lifecycle policies, set up monitoring tools, and continuously refine your storage strategy to adapt to changing business needs.

For UK businesses navigating GDPR compliance, data residency rules, or industry-specific retention policies, expert guidance can simplify these challenges while maximising cost efficiency. A professional assessment can uncover hidden opportunities for savings and deliver measurable improvements.

Conclusion

When deciding between AWS S3 and Glacier, align your choice with your data access needs, budget limitations, and recovery expectations. S3 provides immediate access to data, whereas Glacier offers a cost-effective solution for long-term archival storage.

Key Points to Remember

Here’s a quick breakdown of the main differences:

• Costs vary greatly: S3 Standard is significantly more expensive than Glacier Deep Archive (£0.023 vs £0.00099 per GB per month).
• Access speeds differ: S3 offers instant retrieval, while Glacier has delayed access times.
• Additional fees add up: Frequent data retrieval and monitoring in Glacier can increase costs.
• Hybrid strategies work best: Store recent backups in S3 for quick access, and move older data to Glacier for cost savings.

Next Steps and Recommendations

To optimise your backup strategy, consider the following steps:

1. Evaluate your data usage patterns: Use tools like AWS Cost Explorer to analyse how often you access your data. This helps identify opportunities to cut costs by selecting the most suitable storage class.

2. Set up automated lifecycle policies: Automating data transitions between S3 and Glacier reduces manual effort and can save 30–50% on storage costs. These rules ensure older backups are moved to cheaper storage tiers without extra hassle.

3. Seek expert advice for complex needs: If your requirements involve regulatory compliance or intricate backups, consulting professionals can streamline your optimisation efforts. Hokstad Consulting, for instance, has helped businesses save over £50,000 annually through strategies like storage optimisation, right-sizing, and automation.

4. Start with a free cost assessment: Many UK businesses uncover unnecessary expenses through expert evaluations. Hokstad’s approach ties fees to actual savings, making it a low-risk way to improve your cloud strategy.

The ultimate goal is to design a storage plan that meets your business requirements without compromising on cost or performance. By leveraging both S3 and Glacier effectively, you can achieve the perfect balance for your data storage needs.

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