EFS pricing is a price per GB-month of stored data by storage class, Standard, Infrequent Access and Archive, per GB read and written in the Elastic throughput mode, per MiB/s-month in Provisioned mode and per GB for moving between the classes; FSx instead charges provisioned capacity per GB-month, provisioned throughput per MB/s-month, provisioned IOPS and backups per GB-month, at rates of its own per file system type. On the bill, EFS is dominated by storage in the Standard class, which costs more than three times an EBS volume per GB, and FSx by provisioned throughput, which runs regardless of use.

Pricing dimensions

The two services are two models: EFS is elastic and charges what is stored and moved, FSx is provisioned and charges what was created, full or empty. Every item carries its own usage type, and FSx separates the four file system types through lineItem/Operation.

DimensionUnitWhat drives itOptional
EFS storage StandardGB-month of stored data, regional across three zonesEverything a lifecycle policy has not moved into a colder classNo
EFS storage Infrequent Access and ArchiveGB-month, 128 KiB minimum per fileFiles a lifecycle policy moves after 1 to 365 days without access; back to Standard on first access, when enabledYes
EFS One ZoneGB-month in one zone, Standard and Infrequent Access, cheaper than regionalFile systems without a zone-failure requirementYes
EFS throughput ElasticGB read and GB written, writing dearer; reads from Infrequent Access and Archive per GB on topEvery access; the mode is the default and scales without configurationYes, against Provisioned
EFS throughput ProvisionedMiB/s-month above the throughput included with the storageFile systems with steadily high throughputYes
EFS tieringGB per move between Standard, Infrequent Access and ArchiveEvery lifecycle move in either directionYes
EFS replication and data transferEC2 data transfer rates for access and replication across zones and regions; storage and access at the destinationMount targets in other zones, replicas in other regionsYes (data transfer pricing)
FSx storage capacityGB-month provisioned, by type (Windows File Server, Lustre, NetApp ONTAP, OpenZFS), SSD or HDD, Single-AZ or Multi-AZThe size created; Multi-AZ about doubleNo
FSx throughput capacityMB/s-month provisioned, by type and deployment; on Lustre included in the storage price per TiB tierThe configured capacity, used or notNo except Lustre
FSx IOPSIOPS-month above the 3 per GB SSD storage bringsFile systems with heavy random accessYes
FSx backups and cold tiersGB-month for backups; ONTAP capacity pool and Lustre or OpenZFS Intelligent-Tiering per GB-month and per 1,000 requestsDaily backups, cold dataYes
Purchase optionNone for EFS and FSx

On EFS the storage class is the dimension that counts: Standard costs more per GB-month than any other form of storage on this page, Infrequent Access about an eighteenth of it and Archive a thirty-sixth, and a lifecycle policy moves files into the colder classes after days without access, with a minimum of 128 KiB per file and a price per GB moved. Throughput is the second: in Elastic mode, the default, you pay per GB read or written, writing at almost twice the read rate, and reads from Infrequent Access and Archive cost per GB on top; in Provisioned mode you pay a fixed throughput per MiB/s-month, which pays off only under steady sustained load. The older Bursting mode ties throughput to the amount of storage without a price of its own.

FSx is a different model: you create a file system with capacity and throughput and pay both as provisioned, like a volume plus a machine. Windows File Server charges SSD or HDD capacity, throughput capacity and backups, each about double on Multi-AZ; Lustre ties throughput to the storage tier, 125 to 1,000 MB/s per TiB on SSD, and offers an elastic class modelled on S3 with Intelligent-Tiering; NetApp ONTAP separates SSD primary storage, throughput, IOPS and a capacity pool for cold data; OpenZFS is the cheapest of the four on capacity and throughput. On all four the provisioned throughput runs around the clock, even when nobody reads at night.

How it appears in your billing data

In the Cost and Usage Report the EFS lines carry the product code AmazonEFS and lineItem/ResourceId the file system's ARN; the usage type's prefix is the region code, EUC1 for Frankfurt. Storage appears as EUC1-TimedStorage-ByteHrs for Standard, EUC1-IATimedStorage-ByteHrs and EUC1-IATimedStorage-ET-ByteHrs for Infrequent Access without and with Elastic throughput, EUC1-ArchiveTimedStorage-ByteHrs for Archive and EUC1-TimedStorage-Z-ByteHrs for One Zone; the rounding of small files as EUC1-IATimedStorage-SmallFiles with the operation Overhead. Throughput appears as EUC1-ETDataAccess-Bytes with the operation Read or Write for Elastic, EUC1-ProvisionedTP-MiBpsHrs for Provisioned and EUC1-IADataAccess-Bytes and EUC1-ArchiveDataAccess-Bytes for access to and tiering of the cold classes.

FSx lines carry the product code AmazonFSx, and lineItem/Operation names the type, CreateFileSystem:Windows, CreateFileSystem:Lustre, CreateFileSystem:ONTAP or CreateFileSystem:OpenZFS; the usage type names the dimension and the deployment, EUC1-Storage and EUC1-Storage.MultiAZ:SSD for capacity, EUC1-Storage:HDD for HDD, EUC1-ThroughputCapacity and EUC1-ThroughputCapacity.MultiAZ for throughput, EUC1-ProvisionedSSDIOPS for IOPS, EUC1-BackupUsage for backups, on Lustre EUC1-Storage.SSD.250 with the throughput tier in the name and on ONTAP EUC1-Storage.MAZ:CPoolStd for the capacity pool. What neither report shows is which user or directory occupies the storage: the file system is the resource, and access points or directories have no line. The report's structure is described in the AWS Cost and Usage Report. In the FOCUS export, ServiceName carries Amazon Elastic File System or Amazon FSx, x_ServiceCode AmazonEFS or AmazonFSx; every item is ChargeCategory Usage (FOCUS columns).

Levers

Configuration: on EFS the lifecycle policy is the first lever, because it moves files without access to Infrequent Access and Archive and lowers the storage price by more than nine tenths; the move back on first access belongs enabled only where files are read steadily again after a long pause. The throughput mode is the second: Elastic for most workloads, Provisioned only when the throughput is steadily so high that the MiB/s-months sit below the GB prices. On FSx, capacity and throughput are the levers, because both are paid as provisioned: a file system that is half empty or rests at night pays in full regardless, and the throughput capacity can be changed on Windows File Server and ONTAP, which a schedule can use. The method is in storage optimisation.

no access for thepolicy's periodsteadilyonceA file on EFS StandardInfrequent Access, thenArchive: the storage pricedown by more than nine tenthsRead again aftera long pause?Move back on firstaccess switched onLeft in the cold class:the access charged, thestorage still cheapThroughput mode: Elastic for most;Provisioned only where steadythroughput makes it cheaper
The lifecycle policy moves files without access to cheaper classes, and the move back on first access belongs on only where they are read steadily again

Purchase option: there is none for EFS and FSx; the rates are the list prices.

Architecture: EFS for data shared by many instances or containers, not as a replacement for an EBS volume, which costs a third per GB (EBS pricing); data that is only stored belongs in S3 (S3 pricing). One Zone for file systems without a zone-failure requirement. FSx only where a protocol or an application demands it, SMB with Active Directory, Lustre for HPC, NetApp features or ZFS snapshots; the dimensions across all three providers are set side by side in block, object and file storage.

many instancesat onceone instanceonly storedSMB, Lustre,NetApp or ZFSWho uses the data,and how?EFS; One Zonewithout a zone-failure requirementAn EBS volume,at a third of theprice per GBS3FSx, where theprotocol or applicationdemands it
EFS for data many instances share, EBS for one instance, S3 for data only stored, and FSx only where a protocol or application demands it

Where it goes wrong

  • Everything sits in Standard. A file system without a lifecycle policy pays the Standard price per GB-month for files nobody has read for months. TimedStorage-ByteHrs without IATimedStorage lines beside it is the clue; a policy of 30 days ends it.
  • The small files cost more than their size. Infrequent Access and Archive charge at least 128 KiB per file. A file system of millions of small files shows it as IATimedStorage-SmallFiles; such data stays in Standard or is bundled.
  • The throughput is provisioned and unused. EFS in Provisioned mode and every FSx file system pay the configured throughput around the clock. ProvisionedTP-MiBpsHrs and ThroughputCapacity against the metrics MeteredIOBytes and DataReadBytes show the gap.
  • The backup tool reads from Infrequent Access every night. Every GB read from the cold classes costs per GB on top. IADataAccess-Bytes with the operation Read beside a backup schedule is the clue; backups run through AWS Backup or read only changed files.
  • Multi-AZ without a requirement. FSx Multi-AZ doubles capacity and throughput, and regional EFS pays almost double One Zone. Development and test file systems rarely need either.
  • The mount targets sit in the wrong zone. Instances that mount an EFS file system through a mount target in another zone pay the zone transfer per GB. One mount target per zone that has instances ends it.
  • The backups grow along. FSx backups per GB-month and EFS backups through AWS Backup run on without a retention period. BackupUsage grows every month; a period holds it.

Example

List prices in USD for Frankfurt (eu-central-1), read on 2026-10-21 from the AWS price list: EFS Standard costs USD 0.36 per GB-month regional and USD 0.192 One Zone, Infrequent Access USD 0.02 with Elastic throughput and USD 0.0142 One Zone, Archive USD 0.01; Elastic throughput USD 0.04 per GB read and USD 0.07 per GB written, access and tiering in Infrequent Access USD 0.012 per GB and in Archive USD 0.036, Provisioned throughput USD 7.20 per MiB/s-month. FSx for Windows File Server costs USD 0.155 per GB-month SSD Single-AZ and USD 0.274 Multi-AZ, HDD USD 0.016 and USD 0.030, throughput USD 2.42 and USD 4.95 per MB/s-month, backups USD 0.054 per GB-month; Lustre persistent SSD at 125 MB/s per TiB USD 0.181 per GB-month; NetApp ONTAP SSD USD 0.149 Single-AZ and USD 0.298 Multi-AZ plus USD 0.822 and USD 1.369 per MB/s-month of throughput; OpenZFS SSD USD 0.107 Single-AZ plus USD 0.35 per MB/s-month.

An EFS file system of 1 TB, of which a lifecycle policy keeps a fifth in Standard and four fifths in Infrequent Access, that receives 200 GB of reads and 50 GB of writes a month, 100 GB of them from Infrequent Access, costs 204.8 × 0.36 = USD 73.73 plus 819.2 × 0.02 = USD 16.38 of storage, USD 8.00 of reads, USD 3.50 of writes and USD 1.20 of access to Infrequent Access, USD 102.81 in all; the same file system entirely in Standard costs USD 368.64 of storage plus USD 11.50 of throughput, USD 380.14. An FSx for Windows File Server with 1 TB of SSD and 32 MB/s costs 158.72 plus 77.44 = USD 236.16 a month Single-AZ, 280.58 plus 158.40 = USD 438.98 Multi-AZ. The figures show that the lifecycle policy makes up three quarters of the EFS bill, that throughput in Elastic mode is a tenth at this usage, and that on FSx the provisioned throughput carries a third of the bill whether it is used or not.

Sources

Read on 2026-10-21. Prices: Amazon EFS pricing, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server pricing, Amazon FSx for Lustre pricing, Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP pricing, Amazon FSx for OpenZFS pricing, AWS Price List, offer AmazonEFS for eu-central-1, offer AmazonFSx. Billing data: Cost and Usage Report columns: lineItem, FOCUS 1.0 with AWS columns. Service: EFS lifecycle management, EFS performance and throughput modes.