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There's a free plan; paid tiers are quoted.
AWS Free Tier costs $0 per month and includes monthly allowances for SNS API requests, HTTP/S notifications, email, and mobile push; SQS and Lambda deliveries are free. Once usage exceeds those allowances, Standard Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) bill by API requests and notification type. FIFO Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) bill for publish requests and payload size, with additional subscription charges. There is no monthly base fee for either paid topic type.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Free Tier | — | $0 | Trying standard SNS messaging |
| Standard Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) | — | Quote | General-purpose notifications |
| FIFO Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) | — | Quote | Ordered message delivery to SQS |
Add-ons and overages
- Standard mobile push: $0.50 per 1 million notifications beyond Free Tier
- FIFO subscriptions: $0.01 per 1 million messages plus $0.001 per GB payload
- Payload-based filtering: $0.09 per GB scanned
- Message data protection scanning: $0.08 per GB
- Audit reporting: $0.19 per GB generated
- FIFO archive processing: $0.10 per GB; storage: $0.023 per GB-month
- SMS rates vary by destination and carrier; internet data transfer out starts at $0.09/GB
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Notification overages
Standard mobile push beyond the Free Tier costs $0.50 per 1 million notifications; HTTP/S and email delivery also have per-use rates.
Filtering and scanning
Payload-based filtering costs $0.09 per GB scanned; message data protection scanning costs $0.08 per GB.
SMS and data transfer
SMS rates vary by destination and carrier. Internet data transfer out starts at $0.09/GB.
FIFO extras
FIFO subscriptions cost $0.01 per 1 million messages plus $0.001 per GB payload; archive processing and storage are additional.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Side project within allowances | AWS Free Tier | It costs $0 per month and includes monthly API request and delivery allowances, with SQS and Lambda deliveries free. |
| General-purpose notifications | Standard Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) | It bills by API requests and notification type, with no monthly base fee. |
| Ordered delivery to SQS | FIFO Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) | It supports FIFO topics with delivery limited to SQS queues and usage-based publish and payload charges. |
04Is Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) worth the money?
SNS's Free Tier is enough to evaluate the listed messaging options within its monthly allowances, and SQS and Lambda deliveries are free. For production, estimate requests, deliveries, payload size, filtering or scanning, and any SMS or data transfer before relying on a headline rate. Standard and FIFO topics have no monthly base fee, but their usage charges differ. SNS is worth pricing against your actual delivery mix; confirm free-tier eligibility and current rates before committing a budget.
Cheaper Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) alternatives →
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) pricing FAQ
What does the Amazon SNS Free Tier include?
AWS Free Tier costs $0 per month and includes 1 million API requests, 100,000 HTTP/S notifications, 1,000 email notifications, and 1 million mobile push notifications per month. SQS and Lambda deliveries are free. Confirm how free-tier eligibility applies to your account.
How much do Standard Topics cost?
Standard Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) cost $0.50 per 1 million API requests, $0.60 per 1 million HTTP/S notifications, and $2 per 100,000 email notifications. Standard mobile push beyond the Free Tier costs $0.50 per 1 million notifications.
How are FIFO Topics billed?
FIFO Topics (Pay-As-You-Go) cost $0.30 per 1 million publish requests and $0.017 per GB of publish payload. FIFO subscriptions add $0.01 per 1 million messages plus $0.001 per GB payload. FIFO delivery is limited to SQS queues.
Are there SNS charges beyond topic usage?
Yes. Listed additional charges include $0.09 per GB scanned for payload-based filtering, $0.08 per GB for message data protection scanning, and variable SMS rates by destination and carrier. Internet data transfer out starts at $0.09/GB; FIFO archive processing and storage also cost extra.