Posted On: Dec 2, 2021

Amazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is a new archive storage class that delivers the low cost storage for long-lived data that is rarely accessed and requires milliseconds retrieval. With S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, you can save on storage costs compared to using the S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) storage class, when your data is accessed once per quarter. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval delivers immediate access to archive storage, with the same throughput and milliseconds access as the S3 Standard-IA storage class. The S3 Glacier storage class will be renamed S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and is now optimized for backup and disaster recovery use cases, with free bulk retrievals, and a 10% storage price reduction.

The Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes are purpose-built for data archiving, providing you with high performance, most retrieval flexibility, and the lowest cost archive storage in Amazon S3. You can now choose from three archive storage classes optimized for different access patterns and storage duration. For archive data that needs immediate access, such as medical images, news media assets, or genomics data, choose the S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval storage class, an archive storage class that delivers low cost storage with milliseconds retrieval. For archive data that does not require immediate access but needs the flexibility to retrieve large sets of data at no cost, such as backup or disaster recovery use cases, choose S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (formerly S3 Glacier), with retrieval in minutes or free bulk retrievals in 5-12 hours. To save even more on long-lived archive storage such as compliance archives and digital media preservation, choose S3 Glacier Deep Archive, low cost storage in Amazon S3 with data retrieval within twelve hours.

If you have unknown, or unpredictable access patterns, such as data lakes, analytics, or user generated content, the S3 Intelligent-Tiering storage class now automatically includes a new Archive Instant Access tier at the same price and milliseconds retrieval as the new S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval storage class. S3 Intelligent-Tiering is designed to optimize storage costs by automatically moving data to cost-effective access tiers based on access frequency, without performance impact, retrieval fees, or operational overhead.

The easiest way to store data in S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is to use the S3 PUT API to upload data directly, or use S3 Lifecycle to transition data from the S3 Standard and S3 Standard-IA storage classes. Like other Amazon S3 storage classes, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval supports all S3 features—including S3 Storage Lens to view storage usage and activity metrics, and S3 Replication to replicate data to any Amazon Web Services China Region. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is designed for 99.999999999% (11 9s) of data durability and 99.9% availability by redundantly storing data across multiple physically separated Amazon Web Services Availability Zones.

The S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval storage class, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (formerly S3 Glacier) storage class price reduction, and free bulk retrievals are available today in all Amazon Web Services Regions, including the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet, and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD.

To learn more about S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval and S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval pricing details, visit the S3 pricing page, and the FAQs.