# Infrequently accessed objects stored in S3 Standard tier Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/infrequently-accessed-objects-stored-in-s3-standard-tier S3 Standard is the default storage class and is often used by default even for data that is rarely accessed. By: Taylor Houck Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Infrequently Accessed Objects Stored in S3 Standard Tier The short version S3 Standard is the default storage class and is often used by default even for data that is rarely accessed. [Taylor Houck](https://www.linkedin.com/in/twhouck/) Cloud FinOps Specialist @ PointFive AWS service [AWS S3](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/aws-s3) Category [Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage) Reference CER-0070 Type Inefficient Configuration ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. Keeping large volumes of infrequently accessed data in S3 Standard leads to unnecessary costs. Data such as backups, logs, archives, or historical snapshots are often strong candidates for migration to colder tiers like S3 Glacier or Deep Archive. If access patterns are unknown or variable, S3 Intelligent-Tiering can reduce costs without requiring manual transitions. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. S3 is billed based on an hourly per-GB storage rate, plus additional charges for access, updates, security features, monitoring, etc. There are multiple "classes" of storage, each with a different cost structure. Generally, there is a tradeoff between monthly per-GB storage rates, and the cost/speed of access and retrieval of data. - S3 Standard has the highest storage cost per GB but low access costs, making it best for frequently accessed data. - S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive offer significantly lower storage costs, with higher retrieval times and fees. - S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves objects between storage classes based on access patterns, with a small monitoring fee. ## How to detect 6 checks to find it in your estate. - Identify buckets or prefixes where large volumes of data are stored in the S3 Standard tier - Assess whether the data is actively accessed or retained for archival, compliance, or backup purposes - Review historical trends to determine whether data access is infrequent, irregular, or absent - Evaluate the intended lifecycle of the data (e.g., short-term vs. long-term retention requirements) - Confirm that access latency and retrieval costs associated with lower-cost tiers (e.g., Glacier) align with business needs - Engage relevant teams (e.g., data owners, compliance leads) to validate retention requirements and assess tolerance for delayed retrieval ## How to fix How to remove the waste. Move eligible objects to colder storage tiers (e.g., Glacier Flexible Retrieval or Deep Archive) using lifecycle policies. For datasets with uncertain access patterns, enable S3 Intelligent-Tiering to automatically transition objects across storage classes based on real-world usage. Always validate business, compliance, and restore-time requirements before implementing transitions. ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [S3 Pricing aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/) - [Understanding and managing Amazon S3 storage classes docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - AWS S3 CER-0229 ### [Excessive KMS Charges from Missing S3 Bucket Key Configuration](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/excessive-kms-charges-from-missing-s3-bucket-key-configuration) S3 buckets configured with SSE-KMS but without Bucket Keys generate a separate KMS request for each object operation. This behavior results in disproportionately high KMS request costs for data-intensive workloads such as analytics,... Storage - AWS S3 CER-0054 ### [Excessive CloudTrail Charges from Bulk S3 Deletes](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/excessive-cloudtrail-charges-from-bulk-s3-deletes) When large numbers of objects are deleted from S3 - such as during scripted cleanups or batch jobs that call DeleteObject or DeleteObjects-CloudTrail can log every individual delete operation if data event logging is enabled. This is... Storage - AWS S3 CER-0076 ### [Missing S3 Lifecycle Policy for Incomplete Multipart Uploads](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/missing-s3-lifecycle-policy-for-incomplete-multipart-uploads) Multipart upload allows large files to be uploaded in segments. Each part is stored individually until the upload is finalized by a "CompleteMultipartUpload" request. If this final request is never issued-due to a timeout, crash, failed... Storage --- Source: the public page above. 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