SQS Pricing Calculator - Standard & FIFO Queue Costs

Every SQS API action counts as one request. SQS charges per 64 KB chunk of payload. A message with 256 KB payload counts as 4 requests. The maximum message size is 256 KB (or up to 2 GB with the SQS Extended Client Library using S3).

Use SendMessageBatch and DeleteMessageBatch to process up to 10 messages per request (max 256 KB total payload). This counts as a single request, potentially reducing costs by up to 90%. For example, sending 10 million 1 KB messages individually costs $4, but batched costs only $0.40.

Fair Queues are Standard queues that use message group IDs. These requests incur an additional $0.10 per million charge on top of standard rates. The charge ensures fair processing across message groups. If you don't need message grouping, avoid using message group IDs.

Data transfer within the same AWS region is free. Cross-region data transfer and data transferred to the internet are charged at standard AWS rates ($0.09/GB for the first 10 TB). Most SQS workloads stay within a single region and incur no data transfer charges.

The SQS Free Tier includes 1 million requests per month across all queue types (Standard and FIFO). Unlike many AWS services, this is a permanent free tier that applies to all customers, not just new accounts. Usage is calculated across all regions except GovCloud.

SQS offers volume discounts: Standard queues cost $0.40/M for the first 100 billion requests, $0.30/M for the next 100 billion, and $0.24/M for over 200 billion. FIFO queues follow a similar pattern with higher base rates. This calculator automatically applies the appropriate tier based on your request volume.