S3 Storage Classes: Fast Access

A cost deep-dive breaks down three AWS S3 storage classes - Standard, Standard-IA, and Glacier Instant Retrieval - with sharp, interactive visualizations. It maps out the tradeoffs: storage cost, access frequency, and early deletion pain.

Key tipping points surface:
- Use Standard-IA if you read the object once a month or less.
- Glacier Instant Retrieval makes sense closer to once a quarter - assuming access patterns and object sizes don’t vary much.

Bigger picture: Picking a storage class isn’t guesswork anymore. You’ve got to model it. AWS S3’s now grown a real optimization layer.