S3 Cost Optimization: Reducing Your AWS Storage Expenses

Every cloud budget seems to have a few “black holes” where costs come up unexpectedly. Amazon S3 could be one of them. You set up your buckets and store data, and everything seems straightforward until the monthly bill arrives, and you’re left asking, “Where did all these extra charges come from?” 

By recognizing how S3 costs add up, you can proactively control your AWS bill and keep your storage usage lean and mean. In this article, we’ll highlight the most common S3 cost factors and how to manage them head-on without sacrificing performance or breaking the bank.

Keeping Costs Under Control

Getting a grip on your S3 costs isn’t just about checking your bill. It’s about understanding why it’s getting out of control. Before tweaking your setup, be aware of these cost culprits:

• Data retrieval fees: Unexpected fees can add up when you pull data from certain storage tiers. Make sure you’re using the storage tier that best matches your data access needs.
• Early deletion penalties: Deleting objects too soon might cost you more than you bargained for. Set retention policies correctly to avoid unexpected penalties.
• Request costs (GET/PUT/COPY/LIST): Every API call counts, especially when dealing with millions of objects. Where possible, bundle these actions to reduce the total number of API calls.‍
• Data transfer and replication charges: Moving data across regions or sending it to external networks (often called egress) can result in significant fees, fast. Optimize replication and leverage VPC endpoints for more efficient data transfers.‍
• Backup snapshot costs: Storing multiple snapshots or backups can be a huge expense—even millions of dollars a year for large enterprises. Manage retention periods diligently and deduplicate backups when possible.‍
• Versioning and object lock costs: Deleted files may still incur fees when older versions are retained. Regularly clean up outdated versions to avoid redundant storage costs.‍
• Multipart upload leftovers: Incomplete multipart uploads can also continue to incur storage fees if they aren’t promptly cleaned up, which is a common issue with interrupted large file transfers. Implement lifecycle rules to automatically delete these leftover objects.

For a deeper dive into handling backups, check out our blog post on cloud backup posture management.

How to Optimize Your S3 Storage

Optimizing your S3 storage isn’t rocket science. You just need to focus on smart policies and make informed choices. This section covers practical ways to trim your storage bill without sacrificing performance.

1. Don’t Forget to Use Lifecycle Policies

Lifecycle policies are like a housekeeping checklist for your S3 buckets. They help automate the deletion of outdated files and transfer data from tier to tier based on usage. Setting up these rules ensures that data you no longer need gets cleaned up automatically.

AWS documentation offers additional details on object lifecycle management.

2. Use the Right Storage Tier for Your Needs

Not all data is created equal, and the same goes for storage tiers. Choosing the right option based on your access patterns can make a huge difference.

Take a look at the following comparison table to decide which tier is the best bet for your needs:

3. Be Strategic When Archiving

Archiving to Glacier tiers can save money, but only if done thoughtfully. To avoid unnecessary costs: 

• Archive infrequently accessed data.
• Group data logically to reduce unnecessary retrievals.
• Monitor retrieval patterns to avoid surprises.

4. Stay Proactive with Monitoring and Alerts

Tools like AWS Cost Explorer or Eon’s centralized analytics help you catch spikes early. They provide alerts and recommendations to fine-tune your setup.

5. Manage Data Transfer Costs

Data transfer charges can sneak up on you, especially with cross-region replication or unnecessary data movement. Here are a few tips for keeping these fees under control:

• Use VPC endpoints: Use S3 VPC gateway endpoints to keep traffic within AWS and avoid public internet charges. VPC endpoints for S3 add per-GB transfer fees.
• Batch your data transfers: Avoid a large number of small transfers.
• Avoid unnecessary ls or list operations: This helps minimize excess request costs.

Common Pitfalls and Risks

Even if you follow best practices, several pitfalls can increase your S3 costs. Let’s cover some common mistakes and how to make sure they don’t derail your optimization efforts.

Performing Frequent Glacier Retrievals

Misusing Glacier can lead to sky-high retrieval fees. If you’re accessing archived data too often, the savings on storage might be negated by the cost of bringing that data back. In other words, only archive data that your devs won’t be looking to access regularly.

Misconfiguring Intelligent Tiering

Intelligent tiering is an innovative solution—if configured correctly. Missteps can result in latency issues or unexpected charges. So make sure to: 

• Regularly review your access logs.
• Adjust tiering thresholds based on actual usage.
• Test configurations before full-scale deployment.

Ignoring Small File and Request Costs

You might think, “How expensive can a single GET or PUT request be?” When multiplied by millions of objects, these small costs add up quickly. This is especially true for applications dealing with lots of small files.

Not Using Smaller Object Sizes Wisely

Storing too many small objects isn’t just inefficient—it’s expensive. Consider bundling small files into larger ones to reduce the number of API calls. For data lakes, columnar formats like Parquet or ORC instead of JSON or CSV can deliver better performance and lower costs.

Additional best practices include:

• Using VPC endpoints to reduce data transfer costs
• Scheduling batch operations for large-scale object management

How to Simplify S3 Cost Optimization with Eon

Eon offers a centralized platform that makes backup management and S3 optimization a breeze. By consolidating your backup processes into one tool, you avoid numerous manual pitfalls that lead to overspending. 

Imagine having a single dashboard that tells you exactly where your money is going and offers actionable insights on how to cut costs. That sounds pretty good, right? 

The Eon platform isn’t just about storing data in S3; it’s about smart backup storage management:

• Automated lifecycle management: Say goodbye to manual cleanup—Eon handles it for you.
• Centralized visibility: Get a clear, consolidated view of your AWS environments.
• Intelligent recommendations and alerts: Proactive insights keep you ahead of cost spikes.‍
• Simplified reporting: Easy-to-understand reports make budgeting far less painful.

How to Lower Backup Costs with Eon

Reducing backup costs goes beyond mere management of your S3 buckets. You also need the right tools. Here’s how Eon can help you save money on backups while maintaining high performance:

• Exabyte-scale support: Whether dealing with millions or billions of objects, Eon scales with your needs.
• Cost efficiencies: Eon stores only the incremental changes of S3 objects, meaning you never pay for redundant data.
• Cross-region flexibility: Avoid unnecessary data versioning by managing replication intelligently.
• Efficient object storage: No need to worry about rounding up to 128 KB per object.
• Point-in-time recovery options: Quickly restore your data to a previous state without the overhead.

Before you go

Optimizing your S3 bill isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about paying only for what you truly use. With the strategies outlined here, you can reduce unnecessary charges and build a more efficient, scalable cloud setup.

Ready to rein in your AWS costs? Eon automates your backup operations and optimizes backup storage costs, while unlocking additional value from your data backups..

Sign up for a demo today.