Amazon S3 Glacier
Archive storage solutions
Object storage solutions
Storage management software
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What is Amazon S3 Glacier
Amazon S3 Glacier is a set of low-cost, long-term data archiving storage classes within Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). It is used by IT, security, and data teams to retain infrequently accessed data for compliance, backup retention, and digital preservation while keeping data in an object storage model. It supports different retrieval options (from minutes to hours) depending on the selected Glacier storage class and retrieval tier. It integrates with AWS identity, encryption, lifecycle policies, and S3 APIs for managing archived objects.
Multiple archive retrieval options
S3 Glacier provides several archive-oriented storage classes and retrieval tiers that trade off cost and access time. This allows organizations to align retention datasets with expected access patterns, such as rare legal discovery versus periodic restores. Retrieval can be initiated through standard S3 mechanisms, including APIs, SDKs, and the AWS console. This flexibility is useful when a single archive platform must serve multiple business units with different RTO expectations.
Native S3 lifecycle management
S3 Glacier works with S3 Lifecycle policies to transition objects from warmer S3 classes to archive classes and to expire data based on retention rules. This reduces operational effort compared with managing separate archive systems and helps standardize retention handling across buckets. Policies can be applied at scale using prefixes and object tags. The approach fits organizations that already manage data through S3 buckets and want policy-driven archiving.
AWS security and compliance controls
The service uses AWS IAM for access control and supports encryption in transit and at rest, including integration with AWS Key Management Service (KMS). It also supports features such as S3 Object Lock for write-once-read-many (WORM) style retention when configured appropriately. Audit and access logging can be implemented using AWS logging services and S3 features. These controls help meet common governance requirements for archived data stored in the cloud.
Retrieval latency and fees
Archive retrieval is not immediate for many Glacier options and can take minutes to hours depending on the class and retrieval tier. Costs can increase with frequent restores due to retrieval and data transfer charges, making it less suitable for workloads that unexpectedly become active. Planning is required to avoid operational surprises during incident response or eDiscovery. Organizations often need clear policies for what belongs in archive versus standard object storage.
AWS ecosystem dependency
S3 Glacier is tightly coupled to AWS services, billing, and operational tooling. While it uses S3 APIs, broader workflows often rely on AWS-native components (IAM, KMS, CloudTrail, lifecycle rules), which can increase switching costs. Multi-cloud or hybrid archive strategies may require additional abstraction layers or third-party tools. This can add complexity for organizations standardizing across multiple cloud providers.
Not a full archive application
S3 Glacier provides storage and storage-class features, but it does not replace dedicated archiving applications that handle content ingestion, classification, legal holds, and end-user search. Implementing enterprise archiving workflows typically requires additional services or third-party software for metadata management and discovery. Operational responsibilities such as schema design, indexing, and retention policy mapping remain with the customer. This can be a limitation for teams seeking an out-of-the-box compliance archive solution.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (usage-based)
Free tier/trial: AWS Free Tier includes a recurring free retrieval allowance for Glacier: up to 10 GB of Glacier data retrieval per month (standard retrievals). No product-specific time-limited trial was found.
Example costs (official AWS sources; region pricing varies):
- S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (formerly S3 Glacier) — Storage: example rate cited for US East (N. Virginia): $0.0036 per GB-month. Key notes: minimum storage duration 90 days; additional per-object metadata charge of 40 KB (8 KB billed at S3 Standard rates, 32 KB at Glacier rates).
- S3 Glacier Deep Archive — Storage: example rate cited (announced): $0.00099 per GB-month (about $1 per TB-month). Key notes: minimum storage duration 180 days.
Retrieval and request pricing (examples):
- Expedited retrievals: ~$0.03 per GB + ~$10.00 per 1,000 requests (fastest: 1–5 minutes). Provisioned capacity units optionally available (example price cited: $100 per provisioned capacity unit/month).
- Standard retrievals: ~$0.01 per GB + ~$0.05 per 1,000 requests (typically hours).
- Bulk retrievals: ~$0.0025 per GB + ~$0.025 per 1,000 requests (lowest-cost; typically 5–48 hours). For S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval bulk retrievals are free in some cases per S3 storage-class policy—see notes.
Other cost notes:
- Data transfer out, request, and lifecycle transition charges apply; data-transfer tiering and >500 TB/month contact sales. Some bulk retrievals for S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval are free per S3 pricing; consult S3 pricing page for full tables.
Discount options:
- AWS lists rate tiers and data-transfer tiers; for very large volumes/contact sales for custom pricing or enterprise agreements.
(Information extracted only from AWS official pages: Amazon S3 pricing and Amazon S3 Glacier (Glacier API) pricing pages, AWS storage blog posts, and AWS pricing/free-tier documentation.)
Seller details
Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Seattle, Washington, USA
2006
Subsidiary
https://aws.amazon.com/
https://x.com/awscloud
https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon-web-services/
