S3 Intelligent Tiering Pricing and Potential Cost Savings

Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering is an automated service designed to optimize storage costs by shifting S3 objects between different storage classes based on access patterns. While it can potentially save over 50% on storage costs, depending on how frequently data is accessed, there are associated fees and scenarios where costs may actually increase. The service monitors access patterns and transitions objects to less expensive storage tiers like Infrequent Access, Archive Instant Access, Archive Access, and Deep Archive Access, each offering different savings compared to the standard storage class. However, the initial setup may result in higher costs due to monitoring fees, and significant savings are typically realized over several months. The effectiveness of S3 Intelligent-Tiering largely depends on the number of objects being monitored and their access frequency, with the potential for substantial savings if objects are seldom accessed.