Amazon SNS

Free plan APIWeb

What Amazon SNS is

Amazon SNS is a managed publish-and-subscribe service for sending messages between applications and to people. It delivers notifications to application endpoints and through SMS, mobile push and email. Standard topics support nearly unlimited messages per second, with best-effort ordering and deduplication; FIFO topics preserve order and prevent duplicate delivery within five minutes, up to 3,000 messages per second or 10 MB per second per topic. Publishers can batch 1 to 10 messages per API request, while subscribers can filter notifications. SNS connects with AWS event sources and destinations, including SQS, Data Firehose, Lambda and HTTPS. Messages can contain up to 256 KB; its Extended Client Library can store payloads up to 2 GB in S3 and publish a reference. SNS retries delivery and supports dead-letter queues. A free tier includes monthly allowances of 1 million requests, 100,000 HTTP notifications and 1,000 email notifications. Paid usage is billed monthly, with listed rates of 0.50 USD for API requests, 0.06 USD for HTTP deliveries and 2.00 USD for email deliveries.

Who it suits

SNS suits application developers and organizations sending messages to application endpoints or people. Its listed customer audiences include startups, enterprises, non-profits and governments.

What it does well

Supports application notifications, SMS, mobile push and email.
FIFO topics preserve order and prevent duplicate delivery within five minutes.
Filter policies let subscribers select notifications.
Dead-letter queues support undelivered messages.
Free tier includes monthly request and delivery allowances.

What to know first

Standard-topic ordering and deduplication are best-effort.
FIFO topics are limited to 3,000 messages per second or 10 MB per second.
Each message is limited to 256 KB without the Extended Client Library.

Limits

The free plan applies each month and includes 1 million requests, 100,000 HTTP notifications, and 1,000 email notifications. FIFO topics support up to 3,000 messages per second or 10 MB per second per topic; messages are limited to 256 KB unless the Extended Client Library stores larger payloads in S3.

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
Free Tier	Free usage is applied each month · 1 million requests · 100,000 HTTP notifications · 1,000 email notifications	Free
API requests	Charged at the end of the month for usage · Pay-as-you-go API request pricing	$0.50 a month
HTTP deliveries	Delivery pricing varies by endpoint type · HTTP notification delivery pricing	$0.06 a month
Email deliveries	Delivery pricing varies by endpoint type · Email notification delivery pricing	$2 a month
Pay-as-you-go	At the end of the month for usage · No upfront fees · No required minimum commitments · No long-term contracts · Charges depend on topic type, requests, deliveries, and payload data	On request

As aws.amazon.com lists them, read 20 Sept 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Open the Amazon SNS website.
Use the web interface or API.
Choose the free plan or pay-as-you-go usage.

Verdict

Amazon SNS covers application-to-application and application-to-person messaging, with standard and FIFO topic behavior and multiple delivery endpoints. Usage charges depend on topic type, requests, deliveries and payload data.

Questions

Is Amazon SNS free?

Yes. The Free Tier costs nothing and applies monthly usage: 1 million requests, 100,000 HTTP notifications, and 1,000 email notifications.

How much does paid usage cost?

The pricing note says paid from $0.50. Listed plans include API requests at $0.50 a month, HTTP deliveries at $0.06 a month, and email deliveries at $2 a month. Pay-as-you-go charges depend on topic type, requests, deliveries, and payload data.

Which platforms can I use?

Amazon SNS lists API and web platforms. It can deliver through protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, email, SMS, SQS, Lambda, and Firehose.

Does SNS preserve message order?

FIFO topics preserve message order and prevent duplicate delivery within a five-minute interval. Standard topics offer best-effort ordering and deduplication.

What services does SNS integrate with?

Native integrations include AWS event sources and destinations. Supported endpoints include Amazon SQS, Amazon Data Firehose, AWS Lambda, and HTTPS.

Does SNS support dead-letter queues?

Yes. SNS supports dead-letter queues for undelivered messages.

Facts from Amazon SNS's own pages

Compliance: Amazon SNS is listed as in scope for AWS SOC 1, 2, and 3 reports; AWS says customers remain responsible for their applicable compliance obligations. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Delivery: SNS delivers notifications to application endpoints and to people through SMS, mobile push, and email. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Durability: SNS stores published messages across geographically separated servers and data centers, retries delivery, and supports dead-letter queues for undelivered messages. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Encryption: Encrypted topics use server-side 256-bit AES-GCM encryption with a key issued by AWS Key Management Service. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
FIFO topics: FIFO topics preserve message order, prevent duplicate delivery within a five-minute interval, and support up to 3,000 messages per second or 10 MB per second per topic. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Filtering and batching: Publishers can batch 1 to 10 messages per API request, and subscribers can use filter policies to receive selected notifications. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Free plan: Yes · aws.amazon.com, 20 Sept 2026
Integrations: SNS has native integrations with AWS event sources and destinations, and supports endpoints including Amazon SQS, Amazon Data Firehose, AWS Lambda, and HTTPS. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Message size: Each message can contain up to 256 KB; the SNS Extended Client Library can store payloads up to 2 GB in Amazon S3 and publish an object reference. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Mobile push: SNS mobile push supports iOS, Android, Fire, Windows, and Baidu devices through providers including APNs, Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Amazon Device Messaging. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Private networking: SNS supports AWS PrivateLink VPC endpoints to publish to topics without traversing the public internet. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Purpose: Amazon SNS is a fully managed Pub/Sub service for application-to-application and application-to-person messaging. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
SMS reach: SNS supports SMS messaging to over 200 countries and offers redundancy across multiple SMS providers. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Standard topics: Standard topics support nearly unlimited messages per second, best-effort ordering and deduplication, and up to 12.5 million subscriptions per topic. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026
Who it serves: AWS says its customers include startups, enterprises, non-profits, and governments. · aws.amazon.com, 29 Sept 2026