AWS FSx Pricing Explained with Real-Life Examples

How Is AWS FSx Priced?

Amazon FSx offers three types of file systems: 

• Amazon FSx for Windows File Server—designed for Windows-based applications.
• Amazon FSx for Lustre—designed for high-performance Linux-based workloads.
• Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP—multiprotocol file and block storage access, with NetApp’s advanced data management system features and benefits.

Each service has its own pricing. Amazon FSx offers a pay per usage pricing model and does not have any set-up charges or minimum fees. However, standard data transfer fees do apply for inter-region or inter-AZ access to file systems.

In this article:

• Amazon FSx for Windows File Server Pricing
  • Pricing Example: Provisioning General Purpose File Share on Multi-AZ HDD Storage
• Amazon FSx for Lustre Pricing
  • Pricing Example: Provisioning Scratch File System
  • Pricing Example 2: Provisioning Persistent File System
• Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server Pricing

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server bills you according to actual usage of resources. You pay for the used throughput capacity and storage as specified for your file system and all created backups.

The service charges for any data transferred into and out of Amazon FSx and across Availability Zones (AZs) or any VPC Peering connections set in the same AWS Region. Fees also apply for data you transfer from Amazon FSx into any other AWS region.

Here are the key components that comprise the pricing:

• Storage capacity—pricing depends on your choice of SSD or HDD storage, and whether you deploy your file system in a single availability zone (single AZ) or in multiple zones (multi AZ). Cost is calculated according to the average amount of storage, which is provisioned for the file systems on a monthly basis. It is measured in GB-month.
• Throughput capacity—pricing depends solely on the redundancy you select, whether you deploy the file system in one or multiple availability zones. Cost is calculated according to the average made available to your file systems each month. It is measured in MBps-month. If you are using multi-AZ file systems that transfer data between AZs for replication, the fees are included in the throughput capacity pricing.
• Backups—automatic and user-initiated backups are subject to fees. Since backup copies are incremental, only changes that occur after the most recent backup copy are saved. This reduces duplication and saves on backup storage costs. Backup charges reflect the total amount of storage used for backups, measured in GB-month.
• Data transfer—fees apply to data transferred into and out of FSx file systems. Within the same Amazon region, there is a data transfer fee for data transfer between availability zones, and across VPC Peering connections, calculated according to the rate of data transfer in the same AWS region. Data transferred out of Amazon FSx to another AWS region—including backups copied across regions—is charged according to the inter-region rate set for each specific inter-region transfer.

For the latest pricing, see the official pricing page for Amazon FSx for Windows File Server.

Related content: Read our guide to FSx for windows

Pricing Example: Provisioning General Purpose File Share on Multi-AZ HDD Storage

This example shows an estimate of the cost of storing 10 terabytes of file data, in the US East region, using HDD storage. The example assumes:

• FSx will perform deduplication of data on the order of 50-60%.
• Half the storage will be deployed across multiple availability zones with 16 MBps provisioned throughput.
• 5 TB will be saved to backup (with no growth in backup storage).

Amazon FSx for Lustre Pricing

The following are the main components that factor into the overall pricing of Amazon FSx for Lustre.

File system storage
This is priced per usage, calculated according to storage capacity. It is measured in GB-month. You can choose between the following systems:

• Persistent file systems—ideal for longer-term workloads and storage. These systems replicate data and replace file servers if a failure occurs.
• Scratch file systems—ideal for your temporary storage as well as shorter-term data processing. These systems do not replicate data and do not persist if file servers fail.

Here are the two storage options:

• SSD storage—ideal for workloads that require the highest level of IOPS/throughput or latency-sensitive workloads.
• HDD storage—ideal for throughput-focused workloads that are not latency-sensitive.

HDD-based file systems can be used with an optional SSD cache. This type of setup can improve performance because it automatically places the most frequently read data on an SSD. Note that the cache size is 20% of the file system size.

Backups
Backup storage is priced according to the amount of backup data you have stored. It is measured in GB-month.

Data compression
Data compression can help you reduce the storage consumption of your file system storage as well as your file system backups.

Data transfer
Data transferred into and out of Amazon FSx across AZs or VPC Peering connections in the same AWS Region is priced at the rate set for data transfer within the same AWS region.

For the latest pricing, see the official pricing page for Amazon FSx for Lustre.

Related content: Read our guide to FSx for Lustre

Pricing Example: Provisioning Scratch File System

This example estimates the cost of provisioning a scratch file system within the US East (N. Virginia) region. The estimation factors in 4,800 GB of storage capacity, assuming you run the file system for an 8-hour workload every day and then shut it down for a duration of 30 days.

Pricing Example 2: Provisioning Persistent File System

This example estimates the cost of storing 2,000 GB of data on a file system with at least 50 MB/s of throughput capacity in the US East (N. Virginia). The estimation factors in typical data compression savings of 50%, and provisions the persistent file system with 1,200 GB of storage capacity and per unit storage throughput of 50 MB/s/TiB. To extend data protection, add 1,200 GB of backup storage for the entire month.

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

In collaboration with NetApp, AWS has launched Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, a new cloud-based managed shared file and block storage service that brings the best of both worlds to their customers.

FSx for ONTAP delivers NFS, SMB and iSCSI storage powered by NetApp’s advanced data management system, with features and benefits that go beyond other AWS offerings:

• Multiprotocol file and block storage support
• High availability across multi-AZs
• Data protection and disaster recovery features
• Cost-cutting storage efficiencies, automatic data tiering to S3, and instant data cloning
• GUI or RESTful API access, control and automation through NetApp BlueXP Console
• Operation across hybrid and multicloud architectures

Click here for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to set up your own FSx for ONTAP environment with BlueXP Console.