# AWS S3

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/aws-s3/

11 people recommended AWS S3 in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 11 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Durable, reliable object storage that people trust for files, backups and static sites; per-GB download charges can add up.

Summary written by Claude from 23 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 21 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Durable and reliable storage (3 comments in the sample): "It just doesn’t lose files. Ops mistakes and hackers can make it lose files but the tech is rock solid." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46781823)) "There is no way you are going to beat the durability of S3 at home." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696300)) "AWS has 20 years of reputation on which I can judge the value of their promises." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47922543))
- Cheap for static sites and small use (3 comments in the sample): "I am still within free tier limits of AWS S3 and cloudfront (CDN) since I am not getting much traffic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45933069)) "if it’s a static site, you can host it for dirt cheap on AWS S3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464409)) "AWS Cloudfront + S3 is basically free for tiny sites." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667090))
- Easy setup and CDN integration (2 comments in the sample): "setting up an S3 backend is easy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47284327)) "Your object storage handles the hard parts (resumability, CDN integration, the actual bytes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46767829))
- Works well for backups (2 comments in the sample): "we store them into another versioned bucket, with lifecycle rules" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48987918)) "If it's only for backups then it's fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50314022))

## What people warn about

- Download and per-GB costs add up (3 comments in the sample): "You pay per GB of data downloaded, which is not cheap." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45978146)) "have fun with all the nickle-and-diming on AWS S3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47438644)) "it's expensive but not unreasonable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48102375))
- Confusing console and permissions UI (1 comment in the sample): "AWS accounts are a complete mess and the AWS dashboard does not gracefully handle reduced permissions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716301))

## Other object storage people recommend

- [Amazon S3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-s3/): 122 recommend, 38 mixed, 80 criticize
- [Cloudflare R2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-r2/): 64 recommend, 8 mixed, 14 criticize
- [Backblaze B2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/backblaze-b2/): 39 recommend, 10 mixed, 11 criticize
- [Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-s3-glacier-deep-archive/): 9 recommend, 7 mixed, 10 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "AWS S3", https://hackerapproved.com/p/aws-s3/ (11 recommend, 5 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.