Cost
You are responsible for the cost of the AWS services used while running this solution. As of this revision, the cost for running this solution in the US East (N. Virginia) with:
Approximately 1,000 viewers for a one-hour live event using a standard definition (SD)-540p encoding profile is approximately $2.50 for live encoding and packaging + $67.24 for 791GB distribution = $69.74 for the one-hour event.
Approximately 10,000 viewers for a one-hour live event using a high definition (HD)-1080p encoding profile is approximately $13.04 for live encoding and packaging + $1,492.56 for 18,017GB distribution = $1,505.60 for the one-hour event.
-
Approximately 100 viewers for 200 hours live events each month using a high definition (HD)-1080p encoding profile is approximately $904.69 for live encoding and packaging + $2,934.00 for 36,035 GB distribution = $3,838.69 for the total of 200 hours each month.
These cost estimates depend on many factors, which are detailed in the following cost examples.
Note
The examples provided are likely higher than the actual costs of running this solution. The intent was to provide a guide to the pricing that is easily understood. Where assumptions were needed, we used factors that were straightforward to calculate and also likely be more expensive than the actual cost.
For an additional cost example for streaming a live event, refer to the FAQs
about live streaming on AWS
We recommend creating
a budget
through AWS Cost Explorer
Cost example 1
Cost example 1 covers a use case of approximately 1,000 viewers viewing a live event for about one hour with a SD-540p encoding profile selected in the AWS CloudFormation template. This cost example is based on the following factors:
Pricing Region: US-East-1, assuming standard pricing (no free-tier or discounts).
Viewers consume the highest bitrate: Note that bitrate consumption is a mix of all the streams, but the highest bitrate is used in the calculation to show the upper cost range. Additionally, the Quality-Defined Variable Bitrate
(QVBR) and variable video complexity can result in an output bandwidth that is 10-50% lower in price than the estimate provided in Table 1. 99% cache/hit ratio between the content delivery network (CDN) and AWS Elemental MediaPackage
.
Note
Storage of the test player is not included in this cost estimate.
Table 1 summarizes the total pricing for the live streaming event. Tables 2 through 4 break down the cost for each AWS service.
Table 1: Cost breakdown for 1,000 viewers for a one-hour live event
| AWS service | Function | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Elemental MediaLive | Input and outputs for channel | $1.99 |
| AWS Elemental MediaPackage | Ingest of channel | $0.11 |
| Packaging and origination | $0.40 | |
| Amazon CloudFront | Distribution | $67.24 |
| Total: | $69.74/hour | |
AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing
Table 2 breaks down the AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing which assumes HD AVC input and SD AVC outputs with less than 10 Mbps bitrate and less than 30 frames per second (fps) frame rate.
Table 2: MediaLive pricing
| Input / Output | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
HD Input (AVC 10-20Mbps) |
$0.234 |
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
$0.44 |
| Total: | $1.99/hour |
AWS Elemental MediaPackage pricing
MediaPackage charges $0.03 per Gigabyte (GB) per hour for standard Live ingest, based on the aggregate bitrate of all live input streams. This example has four input streams, so the rate of GB streaming per hour is determined by:
Adding the bitrate of all streams in either kbps or Mbps:
400k + 800k + 1200k + 1800k = 4200 kbps
.4 + .8 + 1.2 + 1.8 = 4.2 Mbps
Convert kbps or Mbps to Gigabits (Gbit) per second (ps). 1024 Mb = 1 Gbit:
4.2 Mbps / 1024 = 0.0041015625 Gbits ps
Convert Gbits to GB. 1 Gbit = 0.125 (or 1/8) GB.
0.0041015625 Gbits ps * 0.125 = 0.0005126953125 GBps
Convert GB per second to GB per hour:
0.0005126953125 GBps * 60s * 60mins = 1.845703125 or 1.85 GB/hour
((sum of stream bitrates in Kbps) / 1024 (Mbps conversion)) / 1024 (Gbit conversion) * .125 (bits to Bytes conversion) * 60 seconds * 60 minutes = GB / hour
Table 3: MediaPackage ingest pricing
| Input / Output | kbps |
|---|---|
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
400 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
800 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
1,200 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
1,800 |
|
Total kbps: |
4,200 |
Convert kbps to GB/hour 4,200 kbps / 8 (bits to bytes) / 1024 (kbps to Mbps) / 1024 (Mbps to Gbps) x 60 (seconds) x 60 (minutes) |
1.85 GB/hour |
GB/hour with redundancy |
3.70 GB/hour |
|
Cost (GB/hour * $0.03) |
$0.11/hour |
Table 4: MediaPackage packaging and origin pricing
| AWS service | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
Total MediaPackage with 1% of egress (7.91 GB x $0.05) |
$0.40 |
Note
We assume that MediaPackage serves 1% of the traffic to CloudFront and viewers, and the rest is served by CloudFront. Table 5 provides the 1% of egress for the MediaPackage estimate in Table 4.
Viewer traffic pricing
The cost estimate for viewer traffic assumes that all viewers get the highest bitrate for the one-hour live streaming event.
Table 5: Viewer traffic pricing
| AWS service | Function | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon CloudFront | Average Mbps per viewer | 1.8 |
| Total MB per sec (1000 x 1.8 / 8) | 225 | |
| Total Egress per hour ( 225 / 1024 x 60 x 60 ) | 791 GB/hour | |
| Total cost (791 GB * $0.085): | $67.24/hour | |
Cost example 2
Cost example 2 covers a use case of approximately 10,000 viewers viewing a live event for about one hour with an HD-1080p encoding profile selected in the CloudFormation template. This cost example is based on the following factors:
Pricing Region: US-East-1, assuming standard pricing (no free-tier or discounts).
Viewers consume the highest bitrate: Note that bitrate consumption is a mix of all the streams, but the highest bitrate is used in the calculation to show the upper cost range. Additionally, the QVBR and variable video complexity can result in an output bandwidth that is 10-50% lower in price than the estimate provided in Table 6.
99% cache/hit ratio between the CDN and AWS Elemental MediaPackage.
Note
Storage of the test player is not included in this cost estimate.
Table 6 summarizes the total pricing for the live streaming event. Tables 7 through 10 breaks down the cost for each AWS service.
Table 6: Cost breakdown for 10,000 viewers for a one-hour live event
| AWS service | Function | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Elemental MediaLive | Input and outputs for channel | $3.75 |
| AWS Elemental MediaPackage | Ingest of channel | $0.28 |
| Packaging and origination | $9.01 | |
| Amazon CloudFront | Distribution | $1,492.56 |
| Total: | $1,505.60/hour | |
AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing
Table 7 breaks down the AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing which assumes HD AVC input and both SD and HD AVC outputs with less than 10 Mbps bit rate and less than 30 fps frame rate.
Table 7: MediaLive pricing
| Input / Output | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
HD Input (AVC 10-20Mbps) |
$0.234 |
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
$0.44 |
|
Output 5 HD (1280x720p, 2700k) |
$0.88 |
|
Output 6 HD (1920x1080p, 4100k) |
$0.88 |
|
Total: |
$3.75/hour |
AWS Elemental MediaPackage ingest pricing
As detailed in Cost Example 1, MediaPackage pricing is based on GB ingested per second across all streams of live output. Table 8 shows the conversion from kbps to Mbps to Gbits/second to GB/hour.
Table 8: MediaPackage ingest pricing
| Input / output | kbps |
|---|---|
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
400 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
800 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
1,200 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
1,800 |
|
Output 5 (1280x720p_2700k) |
2,700 |
|
Output 6 (1920x1080p_4100k) |
4,100 |
|
Total kbps: |
11,000 |
Convert kbps to GB/hour 11000 kbps / 8 (bits to bytes) / 1024 (kbps to Mbps) / 1024 (Mbps to Gbps) x 60 (seconds) x 60 (minutes) |
4.83 |
GB/hour with redundancy |
9.66 |
|
Total (GB/hour * $0.03) |
$0.28/hour |
Table 9: MediaPackage packaging and origin pricing
| AWS service | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
Total MediaPackage with 1% of egress (180 GB x $0.05) |
$9.01 |
Note
We assume that MediaPackage serves 1% of the traffic to CloudFront and viewers, and the rest is served by CloudFront. Table 10 provides the 1% of egress for the MediaPackage estimate in Table 9.
Estimating the viewer traffic
The cost estimate for viewer traffic assumes that all viewers get the highest bitrate for the one-hour live streaming event.
Table 10: Viewer traffic pricing
| AWS service | Function | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon CloudFront | Average Mbps per viewer | 4.1 |
| Total MB per sec (10,000 x 4.1 / 8) | 5125 | |
| Total Egress per hour ( 5125 / 1024 x 60 x 60 ) | 18,017 GB/hour | |
| Total cost 10,240 GB * $0.085 + 7,777 GB * 0.08): | $1,531.49/hour | |
Note
Pricing is per minute, with a minimum of 10 minutes. Prices are subject to change. For full details, refer to the pricing webpage for each AWS service you will be using in this solution.
Cost example 3
Cost example 3 covers a use case of approximately 100 viewers viewing live events for about two hundred hours every month with an HD-1080p encoding profile selected in the CloudFormation template. This cost example is based on the following factors::
Pricing Region: US-East-1, assuming standard pricing (no free-tier or discounts).
-
Viewers consume the highest bitrate: Note that bitrate consumption is a mix of all the streams, but the highest bitrate is used in the calculation to show the upper cost range. Additionally, the QVBR and variable video complexity can result in an output bandwidth that is 10-50% lower in price than the estimate provided in Table 11.
99% cache/hit ratio between the CDN and AWS Elemental MediaPackage.
Note
Storage of the test player is not included in this cost estimate.
Table 11summarizes the total pricing for the live streaming event. Tables 7 through 10 breaks down the cost for each AWS service.
Table 11: Cost breakdown for 10,000 viewers for a one-hour live event
| AWS service | Function | Cost per 200 hours [USD] |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Elemental MediaLive | Input and outputs for channel | $750.00 |
| AWS Elemental MediaPackage | Ingest of channel | $58.01 |
| Packaging and origination | $96.68 | |
| Amazon CloudFront | Distribution | $2,934.00 |
| Total: | $3838.69/hour | |
AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing
Table 12 breaks down the AWS Elemental MediaLive pricing which assumes HD AVC input and both SD and HD AVC outputs with less than 10 Mbps bit rate and less than 30 fps frame rate.
Table 12: MediaLive pricing
| Input / Output | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
HD Input (AVC 10-20Mbps) |
$0.234 * 200 = $46.80 |
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
$0.438 * 200 = $87.60 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
$0.438 * 200 = $87.60 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
$0.438 * 200 = $87.60 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
$0.438 * 200 = $87.60 |
|
Output 5 HD (1280x720p, 2700k) |
$0.882 * 200 = $176.40 |
|
Output 6 HD (1920x1080p, 4100k) |
$0.882 * 200 = $176.40 |
|
Total: |
$750 for 200 hours |
AWS Elemental MediaPackage ingest pricing
As detailed in Cost Example 1, MediaPackage pricing is based on GB ingested per second across all streams of live output. Table13 shows the conversion from kbps to Mbps to Gbits/second to GB/hour.
Table 13: MediaPackage ingest pricing
| Input / output | kbps |
|---|---|
|
Output 1 SD (512x288, 400k) |
400 |
|
Output 2 SD (640x360, 800k) |
800 |
|
Output 3 SD (768x432, 1200k) |
1,200 |
|
Output 4 SD (960x540, 1800k) |
1,800 |
|
Output 5 (1280x720p_2700k) |
2,700 |
|
Output 6 (1920x1080p_4100k) |
4,100 |
|
Total kbps: |
11,000 |
Convert kbps to GB/hour Convert kbps to GB/200 hours (11,000 kbps / 10 (kbps to Mbps) / 1024 (Mbps to Gbps) / 8 (Gbps to GB/s) x 60 (seconds) x 60 (minutes) x 200 (hours) |
966.79 |
GB/200 hours with redundancy |
1,933.59 |
|
Total (GB/hour * $0.03) |
$58.01 |
Table 14: MediaPackage packaging and origin pricing
| AWS service | Cost per hour [USD] |
|---|---|
|
Total MediaPackage with 1% of egress (180 GB x $0.05) |
$96.68 |
Note
We assume that MediaPackage serves 1% of the traffic to CloudFront and viewers, and the rest is served by CloudFront. Table 15 provides the 1% of egress for the MediaPackage estimate in Table 14.
Estimating the viewer traffic
The cost estimate for viewer traffic assumes that all viewers get the highest bitrate for the one-hour live streaming event.
Table 10: Viewer traffic pricing
| AWS service | Function | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon CloudFront | Average Mbps per viewer | 4.1 |
| Total MB per sec (10,000 x 4.1 / 8) | 51.25 | |
| Total Egress per hour ( 5125 / 1024 x 60 x 60 ) | 36,035 GB/ 200 hours | |
| Total cost 10,240 GB * $0.085 + 25,795 GB * 0.08): | $2,934.00/ 200 hours | |
Note
Pricing is per minute, with a minimum of 10 minutes. Prices are subject to change. For full details, refer to the pricing webpage for each AWS service you will be using in this solution.
