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Amazon S3 vs Amazon S3 Glacier comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.0
Amazon S3 provides financial benefits through cost-effective, scalable data storage, reducing staffing and overhead costs with its pricing model.
Sentiment score
6.3
Amazon S3 Glacier offers cost savings, simplified data management, and security, with room for improvement in support and cost management.
Moving infrequently accessed data to cheaper classes like Glacier is beneficial for long-term storage at a lower cost.
If AWS improves support and cost management, there would be fewer reasons for users to consider other cloud platforms.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Amazon S3's customer service is generally positively reviewed for being responsive and knowledgeable, despite occasional response delays.
Sentiment score
5.5
Feedback on Amazon S3 Glacier is mixed, noting helpful service but concerns over responsiveness, costs, and regional support.
I rate the technical support from Amazon for S3 a ten out of ten.
An engineer is assigned based on the severity of the issue.
The technical support for Amazon S3 is rated ten out of ten.
There is room for improvement in providing more skilled and comprehensive solutions.
They provide documentation and resolve issues.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Amazon S3 offers scalable, cost-effective storage with virtually unlimited capacity per bucket, though bucket limits might restrict some users.
Sentiment score
9.2
Amazon S3 Glacier offers highly scalable infrastructure trusted by many for managing large data volumes and expanding user adoption.
Data placed in an S3 bucket is replicated across availability zones in a region, ensuring scalability and availability.
The level of scalability allows storage to automatically scale on demand, without the need for manual intervention.
Amazon S3's automatic scaling has benefited me, as I don't need to plan storage requirements.
Amazon S3 Glacier auto-scales according to the data.
Amazon S3 Glacier is infinitely scalable, with no issues on our end.
Glacier has excellent scalability, with elasticity and security that meet industry standards.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Amazon S3 offers reliable performance, minimal downtime, and high stability, though security vigilance is advised for data exposure.
Sentiment score
8.3
Amazon S3 Glacier is highly stable, reliable for cold storage, with robust monitoring and minimal issues, within AWS environment.
There is zero latency or downtime.
Transitioning between S3 storage classes, like moving data from the standard class to Glacier or Glacier Deep Archive, has been challenging.
Amazon S3 is highly stable.
It is specifically designed for cold storage.
Amazon S3 Glacier is quite stable, nine out of ten.
I would rate the stability of Glacier for archival purposes at around eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon S3 users seek improved interface, security, file management, integration, faster access, and simplified pricing for better usability.
Amazon S3 Glacier requires faster retrieval, simplified pricing, better security, user-friendly interface, and enhanced integration, compliance, and support.
An improvement could be associating the naming with personal accounts, allowing more familiar or desired names without conflicting with global conventions.
The practice of protecting data could be more streamlined or mandatory.
I would like to see an increase in the data upload limit, similar to DynamoDB, where there is no data limit.
I would like to see improvements in the transfer rate as it takes quite a long time to retrieve data from Glacier compared to standard S3 storage.
Support could be more robust, with a focus on providing comprehensive solutions even for novel issues.
Another improvement is making Glacier available in all regions.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon S3 offers competitive and flexible pricing but can become costly with high data retrieval and additional services.
Amazon S3 Glacier offers cost-effective archival, but complex pricing and hidden costs concern enterprises with large data volumes.
I've used the free tier and haven't been charged yet.
S3 offers multiple classes, allowing you to move data to cheaper classes for cost savings.
It is somewhat justified due to the benefits, but there is room for reconsideration.
Compared to competitors like GCP, AWS can work on reducing hidden costs and overall pricing to retain startups and medium-sized businesses.
The storage cost is minimal, which is beneficial for archival purposes.
While it's generally cost-effective, the pricing model could be clearer.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon S3 provides scalable, secure, and cost-effective storage with high performance, data management features, and AWS integration.
Amazon S3 Glacier is cost-effective for data archiving, offering ease of use, security, scalability, and intelligent data management.
Its stability and scalability are also impressive, as it allows for increased storage space according to demand.
I appreciate its capability to create static websites and integrate with services like CloudFront, EC2, and DynamoDB.
Security measures like encryption, access controls, and the block public access feature are also important.
Glacier greatly helps in managing storage costs by moving historical data to a lower-cost storage option.
The most valuable features of Amazon S3 Glacier are its cost-effectiveness for data archiving and its durability.
Amazon S3 Glacier offers robust security features and practically infinite storage, where we can store all kinds of media swiftly.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon S3
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon S3 Glacier
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Amazon S3 is 11.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon S3 Glacier is 17.7%, up from 15.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

Vagner Martins - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced data security with seamless integration and static website capabilities
S3 is a great service offering numerous possibilities. It allows for storing objects and files of various types. I appreciate its capability to create static websites and integrate with services like CloudFront, EC2, and DynamoDB. Despite being focused on security, I leverage features such as cryptography and integration with CloudTrail.
ArunDhwaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile data storage improves security and supports increasing data volumes
Amazon S3 Glacier offers robust security features and practically infinite storage, where we can store all kinds of media swiftly. It supports various data types, including semi-structured and raw formats. These features facilitate log management and data dumping since the service is versatile enough to handle large volumes of data and provide necessary security.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
77%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
Manufacturing Company
2%
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon S3?
We can easily connect to the AWS resources.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon S3?
S3 is a pay-as-you-go service. I pay based on the data volume I am using.
What needs improvement with Amazon S3?
There is a limitation with the data upload size, such as the five terabytes restriction. I would like to see an increase in the data upload limit, similar to DynamoDB, where there is no data limit.
Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...
What do you like most about Amazon S3 Glacier?
I like creating buckets where data can be segregated at a high level and then routing the appropriate data to each designated bucket. In terms of value, I would say that the tool gets the job done ...
What needs improvement with Amazon S3 Glacier?
The cost of retrieval in Glacier is quite high. It would be excellent if Amazon could work on reducing retrieval costs. Another improvement is making Glacier available in all regions.
 

Also Known As

S3, Simple Storage Service
Amazon Glacier
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix, Airbnb, Thomson Reuters, Zillow, Alert Logic
King Cpunty, Illumina, Backupify, Nearmap.com, Scribd, Baylor College of Medicine, SoundCloud
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon S3 vs. Amazon S3 Glacier and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.