AWS vs GCP - Storage Pricing
AWS vs GCP — Storage Pricing
Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage are the two leading object storage services, and the per-GB difference between them adds up quickly at petabyte scale. This comparison puts the two side by side, covering storage, request, and retrieval pricing for the baseline US regions.
Storage Cost per GB-Month
| Tier | AWS S3 (us-east-1) | GCS (us-central1) | GCS (multi-region) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard / Hot | $0.023 (first 50 TB) | $0.020 | $0.026 |
| Standard (50–500 TB) | $0.022 | $0.020 | $0.026 |
| Infrequent Access | $0.0125 | $0.010 | $0.0125 |
| Archive | $0.00099 (Glacier Deep Archive) | $0.00049 (Archive) | n/a |
GCP is cheaper per GB at every tier, with the gap widening as you move to archive storage where GCP Archive is half the price of S3 Glacier Deep Archive. The GCP multi-region option also bundles automatic geographic redundancy at a price point ($0.026) that AWS only matches with Cross-Region Replication, which adds request and transfer fees on top.
Request Pricing
| Request type | AWS S3 | GCS |
|---|---|---|
| PUT / POST / LIST (per 1,000) | $0.005 | $0.005 |
| GET / SELECT (per 1,000) | $0.0004 | $0.0004 |
| Lifecycle / Class A (per 10,000) | $0.0010 | $0.0010 |
Request pricing is identical between the two providers for the common operations. The divergence appears on data retrieval from the infrequent-access and archive tiers.
Retrieval Pricing
| Retrieval | AWS S3 IA | GCP Nearline | AWS Glacier DA | GCP Archive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per GB retrieved | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.0025 | $0.0005 |
| Per 1,000 requests | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.025 (standard) | $0.05 |
For archive retrieval, GCP charges a higher per-request fee but a much lower per-GB fee, making GCP Archive significantly cheaper for large-file retrieval and AWS Glacier Deep Archive cheaper for many small-file retrieval.
Egress (Data Transfer Out)
| Provider | Free tier | Above free tier |
|---|---|---|
| AWS S3 → Internet | 100 GB/month (via CloudFront) | $0.09/GB |
| GCS → Internet | 200 GB/month | $0.12/GB (200 GB–10 TB) |
GCP offers twice the free monthly egress of AWS, but AWS charges less per GB above the free tier. If your workload serves large files to end users directly from object storage, AWS CloudFront’s 100 GB free tier plus lower per-GB rate can win.
Key Differences Beyond Price
- Multi-region default — GCS multi-region gives geographic redundancy at a small premium; S3 requires explicit Cross-Region Replication.
- Object versioning cost — both charge for non-current versions, but GCP Nearline/Archive lifecycle transitions are free of lifecycle request charges.
- Free tier — AWS gives 5 GB of S3 standard for 12 months; GCP gives 5 GB of regional standard storage, always free.
Verdict
For warm storage accessed frequently, GCP is marginally cheaper per GB. For cold archive storage of large files, GCP Archive is the clear winner on price. For workloads dominated by internet egress, AWS CloudFront’s larger free tier and lower per-GB rate often tip the balance back to AWS.