Amazon Athena: Pricing, Features & Alternatives
Athena runs SQL directly on files in Amazon S3 without servers or clusters. You pay $5 per TB of data scanned, so compressed columnar formats and partitions cut the bill. Federated queries over non-S3 sources are rounded up to the nearest MB with a 10 MB minimum. Capacity Reservations cost $0.30 per DPU-hour for steady workloads, and Athena for Apache Spark is $0.35 per DPU-hour.
Who it’s for: Teams on AWS that want to run SQL on files in S3 occasionally or on a schedule, with nothing to manage.
Category
Distributed SQL Query Engines
Pricing
From $0.3/mo
Free tier
No
Best for
Distributed SQL Query Engines: serverless, S3, pay per scan
Amazon Athena at a Glance
- What it is
- Serverless SQL on S3 (AWS)
- Licence
- Managed AWS service
- How you pay
- $5 per TB scanned
- Where it runs
- AWS
- Managed option
- Fully managed
Checked November 2026 against Amazon Athena pricing.
Amazon Athena Pricing Plans (2026)
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| SQL queriesPopular | $5 / TB scanned |
| Capacity Reservations | $0.30 / DPU-hour |
Pricing summary: From $0.3/mo. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.
Key Amazon Athena Features
- SQL queries: $5 per TB scanned
- Federated queries on non-S3 sources: rounded up per MB, 10 MB minimum
- Capacity Reservations: $0.30 per DPU-hour
- Athena for Apache Spark: $0.35 per DPU-hour
Pros
- +Nothing to provision
- +Pay only for data scanned
- +Works on existing S3 data
- +Spark option on the same service
Cons
- −Scanning uncompressed data gets expensive
- −AWS only
- −Less control over performance than your own cluster
Best Amazon Athena Alternatives
Compare allAmazon Athena Compared
Amazon Athena FAQ
What is Amazon Athena used for?⌄
Amazon Athena is a distributed sql query engines tool. Serverless SQL over data in S3: $5 per TB scanned, nothing to run. Spark and reserved capacity also available.
Is Amazon Athena free?⌄
Amazon Athena does not offer a permanent free tier; paid plans start at $0.3/month.
How much does Amazon Athena cost?⌄
Amazon Athena plans start at $0.3/month.
What are the best Amazon Athena alternatives?⌄
Popular Amazon Athena alternatives include Trino, Starburst, Presto. Compare pricing and features on our Amazon Athena alternatives page.
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