AWS lowers storage prices, adds new options

Posted on Wednesday December 07, 2016

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced changes in its cloud and cold storage options. These modifications make it more affordable for consumers to transfer large amounts of data to the cloud, particularly if they're putting them into Amazon's Glacier storage. New retrieval options also make storage of infrequently accessed data more appealing. Read on to find out whether these changes affect your current plan, or whether you're ready to make the move to AWS cloud storage.

Amazon has been offering cloud storage to the public since 2006. Ten years later, the company has made nearly 30 price drops for the technology service. AWS is now offering yet another decrease in its S3 cloud access, Glacier and CloudWatch Custom Metrics.

S3 Cloud Services

Price changes for S3 have already been implemented, resulting in a restructured price scale that lowers your cost by up to 30 percent. Previously, AWS separated S3 storage into six different tiers. Now, the structure will be simplified to three options (0-50TB, 50-500TB, and 500+TB), with the biggest cost reduction going to businesses in the upper tier.

Glacier archival storage/Data Retrieval

Amazon's Glacier "cold" storage is for files you don't anticipate using often. The price drop for this service is a whopping 43 percent, and now it costs only $0.004/GB/month. If you need to remove data from Glacier, you will be charged based on how soon you need it, with time-lines ranging anywhere from five minutes to twelve hours.

CloudWatch Custom Metrics

Finally, AWS is adding customized metrics for database administrators and those "behind the scenes” to allow for monitoring of computer usage and optimization of resources. The fees associated with this service have gone down as well, from $0.50 per month to $0.30 per month for the first 10,000 custom metrics.

What these Changes Mean for Your Business

The total cost difference between the old AWS cloud services price structure and the new cloud services are small in relation to the money that typically travels through the small business. The benefit is in the increased amount of storage you can afford to use, and the addition of quicker retrieval methods for removing data from the Glacier service.

Any time you're discussing terabytes of data, you know the conversation is going to be intimidating. What may sound like a bunch of techno mumbo jumbo to you is just another day at the office for us. Contact us today for more information on what an AWS database can give you and how much you can expect to pay.