# Unused S3 Storage Lens advanced | Cloud Efficiency Hub Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/unused-s3-storage-lens-advanced S3 Storage Lens Advanced provides valuable insights into storage usage and trends, but it incurs a recurring cost. By: Igor Bareev Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Unused S3 Storage Lens Advanced The short version S3 Storage Lens Advanced provides valuable insights into storage usage and trends, but it incurs a recurring cost. [Igor Bareev](https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-bareev/) Sr TAM @ Amazon Web Services (AWS) 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-0200 Type Idle or Unused Resource ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. Organisations often enable it during an optimization initiative but fail to turn it off afterwards. When no active storage efficiency efforts are underway, these advanced metrics can become an unnecessary expense, especially at large scale across many buckets. Advanced metrics include things like: Cost optimization recommendations Data retrieval patterns Encryption and access control analytics Historical trends beyond the 14-day query window of free metrics (up to 15 months) Because the configuration is global or account-level, it's easy to forget that these additional metrics are enabled and quietly incurring cost. This inefficiency often surfaces in organizations that over-invest in observability tooling without aligning it to an ongoing operational workflow. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. S3 Storage Lens Advanced is billed based on: The number of objects monitored - advanced metrics and recommendations are priced per million objects monitored per month Dashboard scope - charges apply to each dashboard with advanced metrics enabled, and scale with the objects in the accounts, Regions and buckets it covers The 15-month query history of advanced metrics is included in the tier and is not billed separately Pricing is tiered, with the per-object rate falling as object count grows, and is additive to standard S3 storage costs Costs scale with the number of objects monitored by each dashboard with advanced metrics enabled, rather than with bucket count or storage volume Charges apply per AWS account or organization, depending on the configuration scope Billing continues as long as Storage Lens Advanced is enabled, even if the data is not actively reviewed or used. ## How to detect 7 checks to find it in your estate. - Check if S3 Storage Lens Advanced is enabled in the AWS account or organization - Review whether the advanced metrics are actively used or being surfaced in optimization reviews - Evaluate if there is an ongoing effort that requires advanced visibility into S3 usage and activity - Assess whether the retention duration and granularity provided by the advanced tier are necessary for current goals - Determine the number of buckets being monitored and whether all of them need advanced analytics - Check CloudTrail logs for recent S3 Storage Lens dashboard access to gauge actual usage - Review whether alternative tools (AWS Cost Explorer, third-party solutions) provide sufficient S3 insights ## How to fix 6 ways to remove the waste. - Disable S3 Storage Lens Advanced when not actively needed - Use the free tier for basic visibility and re-enable Advanced only during optimization cycles - Set a periodic review of observability tools to ensure paid features still deliver value - Scope S3 Storage Lens Advanced to only necessary accounts or buckets if partial usage is possible - Export historical data before disabling if needed for compliance or analysis - Consider using AWS Config rules or Cost Anomaly Detection as lighter-weight alternatives for basic monitoring ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [S3 Pricing aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/) - [Monitoring your storage activity and usage with Amazon S3 Storage Lens docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage_lens.html) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - AWS S3 CER-0303 ### [Orphaned Cloud Storage from Dropped External Delta Tables in Databricks](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/orphaned-cloud-storage-from-dropped-external-delta-tables-in-databricks) When external Delta tables are dropped from Databricks Unity Catalog or the legacy Hive metastore, only the table metadata is removed - the underlying data files in cloud object storage (such as S3, ADLS, or GCS) remain untouched and... Storage - AWS S3 CER-0037 ### [Inactive S3 Bucket](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/inactive-s3-bucket) S3 buckets often persist after projects complete or when the associated workloads have been retired. If a bucket is no longer being read from or written to - and its contents are not required for compliance, backup, or retention... Storage - AWS S3 CER-0334 ### [Excessive S3 Request Costs from Filesystem-Oriented I/O Patterns](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/excessive-s3-request-costs-from-filesystem-oriented-i-o-patterns) Amazon S3 bills for nearly every API request - LIST, HEAD, GET, PUT, COPY, and POST - independently of storage charges (DELETE and CANCEL requests are free). Workloads originally designed for locally-provisioned storage, where listing a... Storage --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.