Calculator

SFTP → S3 monthly cost calculator

Plug in real numbers and get the real bill. AWS Transfer Family looks cheap on the homepage and expensive on the invoice. This calculator breaks every line item out so you can see where the money goes.

Each protocol-enabled endpoint runs 24/7 at $0.30/hour, regardless of traffic.

Average GB sitting in S3 Standard during the month.

GB pulled from S3 to the public internet. Skip if everything stays in AWS.

Estimated monthly bill

Transfer Family endpoints
$0.00
Data transfer (in + out, $0.04/GB)
$0.00
S3 Standard storage ($0.023/GB)
$0.00
Internet egress ($0.09/GB after 100 GB free)
$0.00
Estimated AWS total
$0.00

xEvolve handles the same workload at a flat tier price with unlimited transfer and no separate egress bill. See plans or request a quote.

How this is calculated

AWS Transfer Family is billed on three independent dimensions. Most teams discover the third one only after the first invoice arrives.

  • Endpoint hours. $0.30 per protocol-enabled endpoint per hour, prorated. One always-on SFTP endpoint runs $216/month. Adding FTPS or FTP doubles or triples it.
  • Data transfer. $0.04 per GB inbound and $0.04 per GB outbound for SFTP/FTPS. FTP is cheaper inbound but rarely used for compliance reasons.
  • S3 storage and egress. Files written to S3 incur Standard tier storage at $0.023/GB-month. Pulling them back out to the public internet costs $0.09/GB after the first 100 GB free per month.

This calculator uses publicly listed list prices for us-east-1, accurate as of 2026. Negotiated EDP discounts and Reserved Capacity for Transfer Family can reduce the endpoint cost. Cross-region replication, KMS, CloudWatch logging, and VPC endpoint charges are not included.

When SFTP-on-AWS makes sense

Self-managed SFTP on AWS works well when you have predictable, internal traffic that never leaves the AWS region. Less than 100 GB egress per month, a single endpoint, no compliance constraints around audit trails, and a team comfortable patching EC2 or running containers.

When a managed MFT pays for itself

Once you cross any of these lines, AWS Transfer Family stops being the cheap option:

  • Multiple endpoints (each one adds $216/month).
  • Heavy outbound to partners outside AWS (egress dominates the bill above 5 TB).
  • SOC 2, ISO 27001, or DORA audit requirements that need full per-file audit trails.
  • Integration with Azure Blob, OneDrive, Google Drive, or on-prem SMB shares.
  • Workflow automation: cron schedules, folder watchers, retry policies, partner onboarding.

Pricing references

Want this number checked against your real bill?

Send a sanitised AWS Cost Explorer export to [email protected]. We'll send back a one-pager comparing your current AWS spend against an equivalent xEvolve plan, with no sales call attached.