Overview

Learn the Amazon CloudFront pricing model and key strategies to optimize CDN data transfer, requests, and security costs.

What is CloudFront?

Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) with 750+ edge locations. Accelerates delivery of websites, APIs, and web assets by caching content closer to users.

Pricing Options

Pay-As-You-Go

  • Charged per GB data transfer and per request
  • Costs vary by region and traffic volume
  • No commitment required

Flat-Rate Plans (NEW)

  • Fixed monthly price with no overage charges
  • Includes CloudFront, WAF, Route 53, CloudWatch Logs
  • Protection against unexpected traffic spikes
  • Learn more →

Commitment Options

  • Security Savings Bundle – Save up to 30% with 1-year commitment
  • Custom Pricing – For 10+ TB/month, negotiate with AWS sales

Cost Optimization Tips

  • Cache at edge – More caching = fewer origin requests = lower data transfer costs
  • Optimize TTLs – Use long TTLs for static content to reduce retrieval costs
  • Enable Compression – Reduce data transfer
  • AWS Free Tier – 1 TB data transfer/month free for first year
  • Monitor & alert – Track data transfer in Cost Explorer, set budget alarms
  • Geographic Restrictions – Block traffic from regions you don’t serve (CloudFront doesn’t charge for WAF-blocked requests)1

Resources

Footnotes

  1. Amazon CloudFront no longer charges for requests blocked by AWS WAF