Estimate your monthly costs for AWS Kinesis Data Streams based on your expected shard usage and data throughput.
AWS Kinesis Cost Calculator
Estimated Monthly Cost
Detailed Calculation Breakdown
This section will display the step-by-step breakdown of the cost components after calculation.
AWS Kinesis Cost Calculator Formula
The total estimated monthly cost for AWS Kinesis Data Streams is the sum of three primary components: Shard Provisioning, Data Ingestion (PUT), and Data Retrieval (GET).
Shard Cost = (Num Shards × $0.015/hr × 730 hrs)
PUT Cost = (PUT Units in Millions × $0.014/million)
GET Cost = (GET Units in Millions × $0.070/million)
Formula Source & Assumptions: Costs are based on US-East-1 region pricing tiers as of a recent update. Always confirm specific rates on the official AWS Kinesis Pricing documentation and AWS General Pricing Page.
Variables
The following variables are used in the calculation:
- Number of Shards (Provisioned Capacity): The number of shards you configure for your stream. Each shard provides a fixed unit of throughput (1MB/s data input, 2MB/s data output).
- Avg. Monthly PUT Payload Units (Millions): The total number of 25KB payload units ingested into the stream per month, expressed in millions. This accounts for data ingestion volume.
- Avg. Monthly GET Record Units (Millions): The total number of 4KB record units consumed from the stream per month (e.g., by Lambda or Kinesis Consumers), expressed in millions.
Related Calculators
Explore other cloud cost estimations:
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- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Comparison Tool
What is AWS Kinesis Cost Calculator?
The AWS Kinesis Cost Calculator is a tool designed to provide an instant, reliable estimate of the monthly expenditure associated with using Amazon Kinesis Data Streams. Kinesis is a scalable and durable real-time data streaming service, but its costs are based on two dimensions: provisioned capacity (shards) and actual data usage (PUT/GET units). Understanding this dual-cost model is crucial for cost management in a cloud environment.
This calculator simplifies the complex AWS pricing structure by allowing you to input your core usage metrics—the number of shards you need, and the millions of PUT and GET units you expect to process—and immediately receive a total monthly estimate. This helps architects and developers right-size their streams before deployment, avoiding unexpected bills.
How to Calculate AWS Kinesis Cost Calculator (Example)
Let’s use an example to demonstrate the calculation process for an organization running a stream with 4 shards, 150 million PUT units, and 800 million GET units.
- Determine Shard Cost: Multiply the number of shards (4) by the cost per shard-hour ($0.015) and the hours in a month (730).
Formula: $4 \times \$0.015/hr \times 730 \text{ hrs} = \$43.80$ - Determine PUT Cost: Multiply the PUT units in millions (150) by the price per million units ($0.014).
Formula: $150 \times \$0.014 = \$2.10$ - Determine GET Cost: Multiply the GET units in millions (800) by the price per million units ($0.070).
Formula: $800 \times \$0.070 = \$56.00$ - Calculate Total Cost: Sum the three components.
Formula: $\$43.80 + \$2.10 + \$56.00 = \$101.90$ (Total Monthly Cost)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A shard is the base unit of throughput. It provides 1 MB/second of data input and 2 MB/second of data output. The number of shards directly controls the maximum capacity of your stream, making it the largest component of the cost.
PUT Payload Units measure the data going *into* Kinesis (ingestion), typically billed in 25KB chunks. GET Record Units measure the data being read *out* of Kinesis (consumption), typically billed in 4KB chunks. They represent the two sides of the data flow pipeline.
This simplified model assumes standard consumption rates. Enhanced Fan-Out (EFO) charges are separate and are based on the number of consumers and data volume. For precise EFO costs, refer to the official AWS documentation.
The Shard Cost covers the cost of provisioned infrastructure—the dedicated, always-on capacity AWS reserves for your stream, guaranteeing throughput and durability. Data unit costs are variable consumption charges added on top of that base infrastructure cost.