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AWS Fault Injection Service
What AWS Fault Injection Service is
AWS Fault Injection Service (FIS) is a managed service for running fault-injection experiments on AWS workloads. Teams can use it to examine application performance, observability, and resilience by applying real actions to real AWS resources. The FIS Scenario Library offers AWS-created templates for disruptions from partial failures to more severe impacts. Many experiment actions work without agents, but instance-level CPU and memory utilization faults require the SSM agent. Tags can select experiment targets, while CloudWatch alarms or other tools can trigger a stop or automatic rollback when specified conditions occur. CloudWatch metrics support monitoring, and the console and APIs show experiment progress and action details. FIS is accessible through the AWS Management Console, CLI, SDKs, CloudFormation, and HTTPS API, including from CI/CD pipelines and custom tools. It integrates with IAM for access control and generates CloudTrail logs for actions taken during experiments. Pricing starts at $0.10 per action-minute; reports based on a customer-provided CloudWatch Dashboard cost $5 per report. AWS recommends planning experiments and running them in pre-production before production use.
Who it suits
FIS suits teams that need to assess resilience by introducing controlled disruptions to AWS workloads. It may fit organizations that want experiment controls and monitoring through AWS tools and APIs.
What it does well
- Managed service; many actions need no agent.
- Scenario Library provides AWS-created experiment templates.
- Tags and alarms can control experiment targets and stopping.
- Console and APIs show progress and action details.
- Integrates with IAM and generates CloudTrail logs.
What to know first
- No free plan.
- CPU and memory faults require the SSM agent.
- Experiments affect real AWS resources.
- Reports cost $5 per report.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Fault Injection Service | Per action-minute; plus $0.10 per action-minute for each additional account. AWS GovCloud (US-East and US-West): $0.12 per action-minute, plus $0.12 per action-minute for each additional account. Experiment reports: $5 per report. · No upfront costs or minimum fees · charges depend on active action duration and target accounts · action duration rounded to nearest minute | $0.10, paid once |
As aws.amazon.com lists them, read 3 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Getting started
- Open the AWS Fault Injection Service website
- Access FIS through the AWS Management Console, CLI, SDK, CloudFormation, or HTTPS API
- Choose an experiment scenario or create one with target resources selected by tags
- Configure CloudWatch alarms or other stop conditions
- Use IAM to control experiment permissions
- Run and monitor the experiment through the console or APIs
Verdict
FIS provides managed fault-injection experiments with target selection, monitoring, and stop or rollback controls. Experiments still act on real resources, so AWS recommends pre-production runs before production use.
Questions
How much does AWS Fault Injection Service cost?
The listed plan starts at $0.10 per action-minute, with additional per-action-minute charges for each extra account. AWS GovCloud (US-East and US-West) uses $0.12 per action-minute, and experiment reports cost $5 per report.
Is there a free plan?
No. AWS Fault Injection Service is a paid service.
Which platforms can access FIS?
FIS is listed for API, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows access.
Does it support Kubernetes and network fault injection?
Yes. The listed capabilities include Kubernetes support, cloud fault injection, and network fault injection.
Can experiments run without agents?
Many action types can run without installing agents. Instance-level CPU and memory utilization faults require the SSM agent.
How are experiment permissions controlled?
FIS integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management to control who can run experiments and which resources or services may be affected.
Facts from AWS Fault Injection Service's own pages
- Access security
- FIS integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management to control who can run experiments and which resources and services can be affected. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Agent exception
- Instance-level CPU and memory utilization faults require the SSM agent. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Audit trail
- AWS states that FIS generates CloudTrail logs for actions it takes on AWS resources during an experiment. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- FIS can be accessed through the AWS Management Console, CLI, SDKs, CloudFormation, and HTTPS API, and its APIs can be used in CI/CD pipelines and custom tooling. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Managed service
- FIS is fully managed and its experiments can run without installing agents for many action types. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Monitoring
- FIS supports Amazon CloudWatch metrics for monitoring experiments and shows experiment progress and action details through its console and APIs. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Operational scope
- For a single-account experiment, target resources must be in the experiment's AWS account; multi-account experiments can target resources in other accounts. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- AWS FIS runs fault injection experiments on AWS workloads to help teams improve application performance, observability, and resilience. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Real resource effects
- FIS carries out real actions on real AWS resources, and AWS recommends planning experiments and running them in pre-production before production use. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Report charge
- Experiment reports summarizing actions and application response from a customer-provided CloudWatch Dashboard cost $5 per report. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Rollback
- FIS supports automatically rolling back or stopping an experiment when specified conditions are met. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Safety controls
- Experiments can use tags to select targets and CloudWatch alarms or other tools to stop an experiment when conditions are met. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Scenario library
- The FIS Scenario Library provides AWS-created experiment templates for testing disruptions ranging from partial failures to more severe impacts. · aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
- Transport security
- FIS API clients must support TLS 1.2, and AWS recommends TLS 1.3. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 3 Oct 2026
Where AWS Fault Injection Service stands on Freedom251
- Chaos Engineering Platforms#19 of 25
