Amazon S3 vs Google Cloud Storage: which costs less for backups

Prices checked 17 October to 6 November 2026

On a 10 TB backup, Amazon S3 costs less in every month we priced, from a quiet month to restoring all 10 TB, by $45.65 to $290.68 a month. Each vendor is priced on its cheapest class for each month, however long that class takes to read; the bills below keep the class each one names.

Data you back up Downloaded in a normal month Downloaded the month you restore

Both sides use the same numbers, and the bills follow as you type. Files, requests, download speed and restore deadlines use the calculator defaults.

Amazon S3

S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval · US East (N. Virginia)

$170.01Normal month Cheaper

$1,297.60Restore month

Ready at once

Storage $37.25Requests $30.00Downloads (egress) $74.82Retrieval and restored copy $27.94Fixed fees $0.00

Google Cloud Storage

Coldline · South Carolina

$185.04Normal month

$1,498.89Restore month

Ready at once

Storage $37.25Requests $29.40Downloads (egress) $99.76Retrieval and restored copy $18.63Fixed fees $0.00

Three standard backups, both bills

Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage on 1, 10 and 50 TB
Backup kept	Amazon S3, normal month	Google Cloud Storage, normal month	Amazon S3, month you restore	Google Cloud Storage, month you restore
1 TB	$6.46S3 Glacier Deep Archive	$7.99Coldline	$103.56S3 One Zone-IA	$129.89Standard
10 TB	$139.39S3 Glacier Deep Archive	$185.04Coldline	$1,116.59S3 One Zone-IA	$1,407.27Standard
50 TB	$450.03S3 Glacier Deep Archive	$649.63Coldline	$5,193.33S3 One Zone-IA	$6,419.57Standard

Each bill is the vendor's cheapest class with a complete total for that month. 1 TB, 10 TB and 50 TB kept; a tenth, a tenth and a twentieth downloaded in a normal month; everything downloaded in the month you restore. The lower bill in each pair of columns is underlined.

What decides it besides the price

Amazon S3

Downloads: the first 100 GB of downloads free each month.
Minimums: S3 Standard, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, S3 Express One Zone, no minimum; S3 Standard-IA, S3 One Zone-IA, 30-day minimum per object; S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, 90-day minimum per object; S3 Glacier Deep Archive, 180-day minimum per object.
Where the data sits: United States (Northern Virginia), Germany (Frankfurt).
Object Lock: supported.

Google Cloud Storage

Downloads: the first 100 GiB of downloads free each month.
Minimums: Standard, Rapid, no minimum; Nearline, 30-day minimum per object; Coldline, 90-day minimum per object; Archive, 365-day minimum per object.
Where the data sits: United States (South Carolina), Belgium, United States (South Carolina zonal bucket).

From the vendors' published rules

Allowance eligibility: AWS aggregates its 100 GB allowance across eligible services and Regions. GCS limits its 100 GiB allowance by origin and destination eligibility.

AWS: Amazon S3 pricing · Google Cloud Storage pricing, checked 25 July 2026

Price both on your own workload, with your region, an Object Lock requirement or a restore deadline.

Fixed example: 10 TB, line by line

These bills are for the standard 10 TB workload and do not follow the controls above. Prices checked 17 October to 6 November 2026.

Amazon S3: S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, US East (N. Virginia)

Normal month $170.01

Normal-month bill, line by lineAmazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval US East (N. Virginia), priced per GB, normal month

Storage $37.25Requests $30.00Downloads (egress) $74.82Retrieval and restored copy $27.94Fixed fees $0.00

Storage$37.25
How the storage charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Storage 9,313.226 GB-month 0.004 $37.25
9,313.226 GB-months billed, after any minimum object size, rounding or minimum capacity the vendor sets.
- AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026
Downloads (egress)$74.82
How the download charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Downloads to the internet 831.323 GB 0.09 $74.82
831.323 GB billable after the published allowance.
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026
- AWS price list, US East (data transfer)checked 6 November 2026

How the storage charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Storage	9,313.226 GB-month	0.004	$37.25

How the download charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Downloads to the internet	831.323 GB	0.09	$74.82

Requests (Class A and B)$30.00

How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Class A operations	500 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.02	$10.00
Class B operations	2,000 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.01	$20.00

Class A and Class B operations after published allowances.

AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026

Retrieval$27.94
How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Retrieval 931.323 GB 0.03 $27.94
A restore only reads your data; nothing is deleted, so there is no early-deletion charge.
- AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026
Fixed fees$0.00
Published fixed monthly fees.
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026

How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Retrieval	931.323 GB	0.03	$27.94

Normal month total$170.01

Calculated from the provider's listed rates.

Month you restore $1,297.60

Restore-month bill, line by lineAmazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval US East (N. Virginia), priced per GB, month you restore

Storage $37.25Requests $40.00Downloads (egress) $913.01Retrieval and restored copy $307.34Fixed fees $0.00

Storage$37.25
How the storage charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Storage 9,313.226 GB-month 0.004 $37.25
9,313.226 GB-months billed, after any minimum object size, rounding or minimum capacity the vendor sets.
- AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026
Downloads (egress)$913.01
How the download charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Downloads to the internet 10,144.548 GB 0.09 $913.01
10,144.548 GB billable after the published allowance.
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026
- AWS price list, US East (data transfer)checked 6 November 2026

How the storage charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Storage	9,313.226 GB-month	0.004	$37.25

How the download charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Downloads to the internet	10,144.548 GB	0.09	$913.01

Requests (Class A and B)$40.00

How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Class A operations	500 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.02	$10.00
Class B operations	3,000 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.01	$30.00

Class A and Class B operations after published allowances.

AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026

Retrieval$307.34
How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Retrieval 10,244.548 GB 0.03 $307.34
A restore only reads your data; nothing is deleted, so there is no early-deletion charge.
- AWS price list, US East (S3)checked 6 November 2026
Fixed fees$0.00
Published fixed monthly fees.
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricingchecked 6 November 2026

How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Retrieval	10,244.548 GB	0.03	$307.34

Month you restore total$1,297.60

Calculated from the provider's listed rates.

Google Cloud Storage: Coldline, South Carolina

Normal month $185.04

Normal-month bill, line by lineGoogle Cloud Storage Coldline South Carolina, priced per GiB, normal month

Storage $37.25Requests $29.40Downloads (egress) $99.76Retrieval and restored copy $18.63Fixed fees $0.00

Storage$37.25
How the storage charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Storage 9,313.226 GiB-month 0.004 $37.25
9,313.226 GiB-months billed, after any minimum object size, rounding or minimum capacity the vendor sets.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Downloads (egress)$99.76
How the download charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Downloads to the internet 831.323 GiB 0.12 $99.76
831.323 GiB billable after the published allowance.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Requests (Class A and B)$29.40
How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Class A operations 495 blocks of 1,000 operations 0.02 $9.90
Class B operations 1,950 blocks of 1,000 operations 0.01 $19.50
Class A and Class B operations after published allowances.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Retrieval$18.63
How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Retrieval 931.323 GiB 0.02 $18.63
A restore only reads your data; nothing is deleted, so there is no early-deletion charge.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Fixed fees$0.00
Published fixed monthly fees.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026

How the storage charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Storage	9,313.226 GiB-month	0.004	$37.25

How the download charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Downloads to the internet	831.323 GiB	0.12	$99.76

How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Class A operations	495 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.02	$9.90
Class B operations	1,950 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.01	$19.50

How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Retrieval	931.323 GiB	0.02	$18.63

Normal month total$185.04

Calculated from the provider's listed rates.

Month you restore $1,498.89

Restore-month bill, line by lineGoogle Cloud Storage Coldline South Carolina, priced per GiB, month you restore

Storage $37.25Requests $39.40Downloads (egress) $1,217.35Retrieval and restored copy $204.89Fixed fees $0.00

Storage$37.25
How the storage charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Storage 9,313.226 GiB-month 0.004 $37.25
9,313.226 GiB-months billed, after any minimum object size, rounding or minimum capacity the vendor sets.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Downloads (egress)$1,217.35
How the download charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Downloads to the internet 10,144.548 GiB 0.12 $1,217.35
10,144.548 GiB billable after the published allowance.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Requests (Class A and B)$39.40
How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Class A operations 495 blocks of 1,000 operations 0.02 $9.90
Class B operations 2,950 blocks of 1,000 operations 0.01 $29.50
Class A and Class B operations after published allowances.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Retrieval$204.89
How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component Quantity Rate Amount
Retrieval 10,244.548 GiB 0.02 $204.89
A restore only reads your data; nothing is deleted, so there is no early-deletion charge.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026
Fixed fees$0.00
Published fixed monthly fees.
- Google Cloud Storage pricingchecked 17 October 2026

How the storage charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Storage	9,313.226 GiB-month	0.004	$37.25

How the download charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Downloads to the internet	10,144.548 GiB	0.12	$1,217.35

How the Class A and Class B request charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Class A operations	495 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.02	$9.90
Class B operations	2,950 blocks of 1,000 operations	0.01	$29.50

How the retrieval charge is worked out
Component	Quantity	Rate	Amount
Retrieval	10,244.548 GiB	0.02	$204.89

Month you restore total$1,498.89

Calculated from the provider's listed rates.

Price both on your own workload, including the day you restore.