I use Amazon S3 as storage and a platform for installing various types of software.
Senior Data Archirect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Reliable and expandable
Pros and Cons
- "Amazon S3's best features are its reliability and capacity to expand."
- "Amazon S3's unit of measure for expansion should be smaller."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Amazon S3's best features are its reliability and capacity to expand.
What needs improvement?
Amazon S3's unit of measure for expansion should be smaller.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Amazon S3 for three years.
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February 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously I used Microsoft and Oracle.
What other advice do I have?
I'd advise those thinking of implementing Amazon S3 to carefully plan their requirements and not use too many servers. I would recommend Amazon S3 to others and rate it eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Executive Head of Technology at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
It's more stable and high-performing than its Azure counterpart
Pros and Cons
- "I've also used Azure's tool, and S3 is far more stable I haven't seen the same issues on AWS that I'm having on Azure. Amazon CloudFront is way faster. The websites are loading way faster than when you do it on Azure CDN."
- "I would also like S3 to have the ability to do dynamic websites without the need to do reconfigurations outside of S3. You should be able to switch on dynamic websites in S3, and then it works. I shouldn't need to go elsewhere within Amazon Web Services to get a dynamic website to work."
What is our primary use case?
I'm a consultant who provides services for companies of various sizes here in South Africa. Our company is still small, with only about 20 clients. I use S3 for hosting my websites and other storage services. S3 can be used for static and dynamic websites as well as file storage. In terms of dynamic websites, I use S3 in addition to other technologies in a computerless environment. In other words, I don't need a virtual machine to have a dynamic website hosted on Amazon Web Services.
What is most valuable?
E3's most valuable feature is CloudFront.
What needs improvement?
You need to do some things to make the files and updates immediately accessible. If you don't know those steps, you will wait forever for your updates to take effect or be seen by the public.
That is the only area where a newcomer might get frustrated with hosting on S3. The files are available immediately when they are first deployed, but it takes some time when they make changes if you don't understand the simple procedure you need to follow for it to happen immediately.
The process needed to show updates immediately is a problem. You have to go somewhere to delete whatever is propagated and restart the propagation somehow. That is the only issue that I think they could fix with hosting on S3 as far as websites are concerned.
I would also like S3 to have the ability to do dynamic websites without the need to do reconfigurations outside of S3. You should be able to switch on dynamic websites in S3, and then it works. I shouldn't need to go elsewhere within Amazon Web Services to get a dynamic website to work.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using S3 for about three years
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a cloud service, so our scalability is good. I haven't had any issues. At the same time, I haven't had a situation where a client needed to expand the footprint of their site tremendously. I don't have massive clients like Netflix.
How are customer service and support?
I was never in a position where I needed to request AWS tech support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've also used Azure's tool, and S3 is far more stable I haven't seen the same issues on AWS that I'm having on Azure. Amazon CloudFront is way faster. The websites are loading way faster than when you do it on Azure CDN.
Another advantage of S3 over CDN is the fact that I can deploy my websites on Amazon S3 with the root domain and the sub-domain loading the website. When using CDN, you cannot load the website with the root domain.
How was the initial setup?
In the beginning, it wasn't easy. S3 was a little cumbersome when I started using it. With updates, it became easier to set up static websites. However, deploying dynamic websites in S3 is still difficult. You need to take notes on what you're doing so you can do the next dynamic website.
The deployment is quite fast. You upload files, and that's it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There a no license fees. E3 is a cloud service, and you pay as you go. Your encryption licenses are free, so you only pay for the storage you're using. It's extremely inexpensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Amazon S3 10 out of 10. S3 is highly cost-effective, so I would definitely recommend it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Buyer's Guide
Amazon S3
February 2026
Learn what your peers think about Amazon S3. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Lead Practice Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Responsive support, reliable, and easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of Amazon S3 is good."
- "Amazon S3 needs to simplify the backup features."
What is our primary use case?
Amazon S3 can be used for central storage, backup, log, and storage.
How has it helped my organization?
The reliability that Amazon S3 has provided has improved organizations.
What needs improvement?
Amazon S3 needs to simplify the backup features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon S3 for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon S3 is good.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Amazon S3 has been knowledgable and responsive.
I rate the support from Amazon S3 a five out of five.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Amazon S3 is easy, it can be done in less than one day.
What about the implementation team?
We handle the implementation of Amazon S3. We have approximately 40 people that are able to do it.
What was our ROI?
It has been difficult for us to determine ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license of Amazon S3 is based on volume, capacity, and time. The overall price of the solution could improve. The support has to be added if you want it at an additional cost.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is to pay attention to the backups and copies in Snapshots.
I rate Amazon S3 a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head Of Information Technology at a real estate/law firm with 501-1,000 employees
Reliable with high usage
Pros and Cons
- "Amazon S3 is reliable."
- "Amazon S3 can improve by decreasing the overall costs."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Amazon S3 for storage. This is a Cloud solution. We have developed a new application which has partly been released to the end customer, but not the complete solution. In the housing market, we have a lot of buying and they use the application to manage their lectures and receipts. This is what we are using Amazon S3 for the storage.
What needs improvement?
Amazon S3 can improve by decreasing the overall costs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon S3 for approximately one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not used Amazon S3 extensively, but the usage has been very high.
We have approximately 40 to 50 people using this solution. There might be an increased usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted the technical support form Amazon S3.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used other similar solutions to Amazon S3.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation of Amazon S3 is done by a third party.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Amazon S3 could be less expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Amazon S3 a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Database Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Helpful documentation, highly scalable, and good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The most useful features of Amazon S3 are the intelligent multipart upload."
- "Amazon S3 could improve by being more secure."
What is our primary use case?
Amazon S3 is our file storage solution. We use it for all of the backups of our storage and databases.
What is most valuable?
The most useful features of Amazon S3 are the intelligent multipart upload.
What needs improvement?
Amazon S3 could improve by being more secure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon S3 for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found Amazon S3 very scalable, you can scale it on the fly and it is very easy to do.
Most all the cloud applications that are being used by our developer are using Amazon S3. More than 200 people are using this solution. At this moment we do not plan to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have used the support from Amazon S3 multiple times and they are good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used any other similar solution to Amazon S3.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Amazon S3 is straightforward and the documentation is very good. You can do the setup of Amazon S3 in a few minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the Amazon S3 is low. The license model is based on what you use.
What other advice do I have?
If users are looking for highly scalable, competent solutions, then Amazon S3 would be a good choice.
I rate Amazon S3 a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Associate Member Of Technical Staff at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Useful life cycle policies, highly stable, and simple setup
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Amazon S3 are the accuracy and the life cycle policies, which help when moving from Amazon S3 to Amazon Glacier."
- "Amazon S3 could improve some of the features, such as indexing, or we should have more information about all the data stored in a single place. This way we can see what data resides where instead of going in different buckets, file locations manually, or searching. An index would be nice, allowing us to directly go to a location to use the date."
What is our primary use case?
I am using Amazon S3 for storing all the organization data, which comes from a data pipeline.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Amazon S3 are the accuracy and the life cycle policies, which helps when moving from Amazon S3 to Amazon Glacier.
What needs improvement?
Amazon S3 could improve some of the features, such as indexing, or we should have more information about all the data stored in a single place. This way we can see what data resides where instead of going in different buckets, file locations manually, or searching. An index would be nice, allowing us to directly go to a location to use the date.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Amazon S3 within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon S3 is 99.99 percent stable. The solution is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon S3 is good. If we want more storage we only need to pay extra.
All the workloads of the whole company go to Amazon S3. As our workloads increase, the data increases, and we will use more storage in Amazon S3.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the support from Amazon S3.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used another solution similar to Amazon S3.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Amazon S3 is not complex. We are only using it for a storage layer and there were not any complexities.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of Amazon S3 is good. The pricing model is based on the usage of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others, it is one of the most used storage solutions.
I rate Amazon S3 a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Aug 29, 2025
Flag as inappropriateIT operation manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The solution's most valuable feature is its Uptime availability, especially for the cloud version
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's peak-up time is good."
- "The major challenge is the inability to create more than ten policies."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the solution to secure the content.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable feature is its Uptime availability, especially for the cloud version. Its peak uptime is good. It offers 99.9% availability.
What needs improvement?
The Folder Access policy needs improvement. They should make it much more user-friendly, then it will be fine. The major challenge is the inability to create more than ten policies. When we want to create folder access, they provide some policy and then give the folder access. There should be an option to have a sub-folder for each folder. They should provide a distribution of access. Presently, we can't access all subfolders at a time.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution's stability as a ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the solution is ten out of ten. We have more than fifty users of the solution at our company.
How are customer service and support?
When we raise the ticket, we get a response within five to seven days. There needs some improvement.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The setup process is simple as we are using the cloud solution. We configured the setting as per our requirements.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the solution as one for pricing. It is expensive but much more secure.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution to others and rate it as a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Team member
Good cloud infrastructure, good technical support, and is scalable
Pros and Cons
- "Cloud infrastructure is the most valuable feature."
- "The stability of the solution has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Amazon services to create the SSX and other services.
What is most valuable?
Cloud infrastructure is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
We are already utilizing cloud services, and Amazon is providing us with an abundance of options. As we move forward, we must ensure that we are obtaining the best value for our money when it comes to pricing. The price of Amazon S3 has room for improvement.
The current solution is not ideal, as it requires us to log into multiple dashboards and technical services. To improve our centralized monitoring or central idea, we need to create a single centralized system that can provide access to all services.
The stability of the solution has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I give the stability a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I give the scalability an eight out of ten.
We have 50 people using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team is good.
How was the initial setup?
Most businesses have different needs, so the solutions we use vary depending on the context and requirements. We can utilize different approaches based on specific circumstances. The initial setup depends on the environment.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a nine out of ten.
I believe that cloud-based services such as cloud computing and cloud security from Amazon's pipeline services are becoming increasingly popular. These services provide a great technological infrastructure for us and I have no doubts or reservations about them.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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