Quick answer
Neither Amazon S3 nor Google Cloud Storage is cheaper for everything. Monthly costs at official US East list prices checked October 14, 2026: 100 GB stored, $10.86 on Cloud Storage and $11.30 on S3; 1 TB stored, $196.71 on S3 and $221.10 on Cloud Storage; 20 TB stored, $1,833.64 on S3 and $1,983.98 on Cloud Storage. The biggest difference is data sent to users: $83.16 a month on S3 against $110.76 on Cloud Storage.
- Official list prices
- 3 usage levels
- 12 regions
- Feature comparison
- Free calculator
How to compare Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage costs
- 1Pick a usage level (100 GB stored, 1 TB stored, 20 TB stored), then change the numbers or add more items with the + buttons.
- 2Choose the Region where your users are. Prices differ by region.
- 3Adjust the numbers in each card. Every field has an i tip explaining it.
- 4Compare the two monthly totals, then open Cost breakdown to see exactly how Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage bill each line.
Which is cheaper, Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage?
Monthly list prices in US East with the always-free allowances applied:
| Usage per month | Amazon S3 | Google Cloud Storage | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 GB stored: 1M writes, 10M reads, 100 GB downloaded | $11.30 | $10.86 | Google Cloud Storage by $0.45 |
| 1 TB stored: 10M writes, 100M reads, 1 TB downloaded | $196.71 | $221.10 | Amazon S3 by $24.38 |
| 20 TB stored: 50M writes, 500M reads, 10 TB downloaded | $1,833.64 | $1,983.98 | Amazon S3 by $150.33 |
Amazon S3 is cheaper for 1 TB stored and downloaded in all 12 regions the calculator covers. Downloads use each cloud's internet egress price: AWS data transfer and Google's Premium Tier.
What are the S3 and Cloud Storage unit prices?
List prices in AWS us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and Google Cloud us-east1 (South Carolina), read on October 14, 2026:
| Price (US East, on-demand) | AWS | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Object storage, per GB-month | $0.023 | $0.02 |
| Object writes, per million | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Object reads, per million | $0.40 | $0.40 |
| Internet egress, per GB | $0.09 | $0.12 |
Is Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage cheaper in your region?
1 TB stored, 10 million writes, 100 million reads and 1 TB downloaded, priced in each of the 12 regions the calculator covers:
| Region | Amazon S3 | Google Cloud Storage | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East | $196.71 | $221.10 | S3 |
| US West | $196.71 | $221.10 | S3 |
| Canada | $207.76 | $236.43 | S3 |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | $306.07 | $320.40 | S3 |
| Ireland | $196.71 | $233.36 | S3 |
| UK (London) | $202.74 | $236.43 | S3 |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | $205.25 | $236.43 | S3 |
| India | $216.59 | $233.36 | S3 |
| Singapore | $226.48 | $233.36 | S3 |
| Japan (Tokyo) | $214.94 | $236.43 | S3 |
| South Korea (Seoul) | $222.02 | $308.11 | S3 |
| Australia (Sydney) | $229.94 | $308.11 | S3 |
How do Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage compare on features?
| Amazon S3 | Google Cloud Storage | |
|---|---|---|
| Durability | 99.999999999% (11 nines) | 99.999999999% (11 nines) |
| Availability SLA | 99.9% | 99.9% (regional) |
| Largest object | 50 TB | 5 TiB |
| Consistency | Strong read-after-write | Strong, global |
| S3 API | Native | XML API works with some S3 tools |
| Egress to the internet | Charged; 100 GB a month free account-wide | Charged; 100 GB a month free from US regions |
| Always-free storage | None | 5 GB in US regions |
Facts from each provider's own documentation, checked October 14, 2026.
What are the key differences between Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage?
- Storage. Cloud Storage Standard costs less per GB-month in US regions than S3 Standard, and includes 5 GB free in US regions.
- Egress. Both include 100 GB of free downloads a month (Google only from its US regions). After that, AWS charges less per GB than Google's Premium Tier.
- Requests. Both charge the same for writes (per 1,000) and reads (per 1,000) in US East.
- Limits. S3 objects can reach 50 TB; Cloud Storage objects 5 TiB. Both are strongly consistent with 11 nines of durability.
Should you choose Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage?
Choose Amazon S3 if
- your data is downloaded often by users
- you need objects larger than 5 TiB
- your compute runs on AWS
Choose Google Cloud Storage if
- you store a lot and download little
- your compute runs on Google Cloud (BigQuery, Cloud Run)
- you want the always-free 5 GB in US regions
More comparisons: AWS vs Google Cloud · Amazon EC2 vs Compute Engine · AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Run · Amazon S3 vs Cloudflare R2 · Amazon S3 vs Azure Blob Storage · Google Cloud Storage vs Cloudflare R2 · Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL · Amazon DynamoDB vs Firestore.
Where do these prices come from?
Both sides use the provider's own published price list, read on October 14, 2026, for the same region, with the always-free allowances applied.
- AWS: Amazon S3 pricing · EC2 data transfer pricing
- Google Cloud: Cloud Storage pricing · Network (egress) pricing
Prices are in US dollars, on-demand, for Linux, with no commitments. Every figure on this page is generated from the same price snapshot as the calculator, and automated tests check each claim whenever the prices change. A month is 730 hours and 1 TB is 1,024 GB. Providers change prices from time to time, so for a purchase decision confirm the final figure in the provider's console.
Moving between Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage?
Playxoft builds and runs production backends on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Cloudflare, and plans migrations between them with no surprise downtime, including white-label work for agencies. Send us your architecture or last month's invoice and we will tell you, free, which side is cheaper for your real usage. Get a free cloud cost review.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated by the Playxoft engineering team.