Smart Strategies to Slash Your AWS API Gateway Bill

Looking to slash your AWS cloud bill? Let's talk about AWS API Gateway pricing and cost optimization strategies, those sneaky expenses that can explode faster than a backend during Black Friday.

AWS API Gateway is the typical pick for serverless and microservices architectures, but its pay-as-you-go model can cut through profit margins when left unchecked. Smart pricing management means finding that sweet spot where functionality meets affordability.

In the following sections, we'll explore proven strategies to optimize your API Gateway costs while maintaining performance, from choosing the right API type to implementing effective caching and minimizing data transfer expenses.

• The Buffet You Pay For By The Shrimp: Understanding AWS API Gateway Pricing
• Pay As You Go... And Go... And Go: AWS API Gateway’s On-Demand Pricing
• Pick Your Tool Wisely: API Type Cost Comparison
• Money-Saving Moves: API Gateway Cost Optimization Strategies
• Private Highways: Cost Benefits of VPC-Only APIs
• Stop the Data Bleeding: Minimizing Transfer Costs
• Do You Even Need This? Alternative AWS Services
• Zuplo: The Modern AWS Services Alternative to API Management
• Call Efficiency: Getting More For Less
• Monitoring Magic: Tools For Cost Control
• Balance Cost and Performance

The Buffet You Pay For By The Shrimp: Understanding AWS API Gateway Pricing#

AWS API Gateway uses a pay-for-what-you-use model with no minimum fees or upfront commitments. The cost structure varies based on several factors, including API type, request volume, data transfer, and additional features.

Core Pricing Elements#

• API calls are the main cost driver, priced per million requests
• Prices differ by AWS region, with some regions costing significantly more
• HTTP APIs are the budget-friendly option with straightforward pricing
• REST APIs include more features but come with a premium price tag
• WebSocket APIs enable real-time communication with different pricing based on messages and connection time

Free Tier Offerings#

AWS provides new users with a generous runway:

• 1 million HTTP API calls per month
• 1 million REST API calls per month
• 1 million messages and 750,000 connection minutes for WebSocket APIs

This free tier runs for 12 months after your first signup, giving you ample time to test traffic patterns and estimate future costs before committing to paid usage.

Pay As You Go... And Go... And Go: AWS API Gateway’s On-Demand Pricing#

AWS API Gateway's on-demand pricing is crucial for preventing heart-palpitating AWS bills. The consumption model means you only pay for actual usage, with no upfront commitments.

Understanding Your Bill Components#

• API Calls: The biggest expense, calculated per million requests
  • HTTP APIs: ~$1.00 per million requests
  • REST APIs: ~$3.50 per million requests
  • WebSocket APIs: $1.00 per million messages plus connection charges
• Data Transfer: Costs for outbound data and backend integration
  • Matches EC2 data transfer rates
  • Adds up quickly with bloated API responses
• Caching: Additional charges based on chosen cache memory size
  • Larger cache sizes mean higher hourly rates

Those per-request costs might seem minuscule, but they multiply rapidly at scale. An app with 5,000 page loads per minute generates 216 million requests monthly. That's $216 for HTTP APIs, and over $750 for REST APIs. This doesn't include the cost of your auth provider (ex. Cognito) or the Lambda Authorizer you have to invoke to get API authorization up and running!

Preventative Measures#

To keep costs from devouring your budget:

• Choose the right API type based on necessary features
• Implement strategic caching to reduce backend calls
• Optimize data transfer with compression
• Control API consumption with throttling and usage plans

Pick Your Tool Wisely: API Type Cost Comparison#

Understanding cost differences between API types can help you select the right tool for your specific needs and avoid overpaying for features you don't need.

HTTP APIs: The Budget Champion#

• Cost: ~$1.00 per million API calls
• Ideal for: Simple proxy setups and straightforward RESTful APIs
• Advantage: Clean, simple pricing that makes budgeting easier

REST APIs: Premium Features, Premium Price#

• Cost: ~$3.50 per million API calls (3.5x more expensive)
• Extra costs: Caching (hourly charges) and data transfer fees
• Ideal for: Complex APIs requiring validation, transformation, and detailed access control

WebSocket APIs: Real-Time Connection Pricing#

• Cost: $1.00 per million WebSocket messages
• Extra cost: $0.25 per million connection minutes
• Ideal for: Real-time applications like chat services or live dashboards

Putting It In Perspective#

For 10 million API calls monthly:

• HTTP API: $10.00
• REST API: $35.00
• WebSocket API: $10.00 (messages only, not including connection minutes)

Additionally, evaluating whether to use GraphQL vs REST can influence both cost and development efficiency.

Over 10,000 developers trust Zuplo to secure, document, and monetize their APIs

Learn More

Money-Saving Moves: API Gateway Cost Optimization Strategies#

Smart API Gateway cost optimization enables strategic resource management. Here are battle-tested approaches to trim your bill while maintaining solid performance.

Choose Wisely: API Type Selection#

Selecting the appropriate API type might be your biggest cost-saving opportunity:

• HTTP APIs cost roughly $1.00 per million requests
• REST APIs cost about $3.50 per million requests
• Switching a medium-traffic REST API to HTTP API could reduce costs by up to 71%

Evaluate your requirements carefully. Only pay for features you actually need. These cost optimization strategies can achieve significant savings.

Shrink It Down: Data Transfer Optimization#

• Compress responses to reduce data transfer charges
• Eliminate unnecessary fields from payloads
• Implement efficient data serialization methods

These methods not only save costs but also increase API performance.

Cache Smartly: Strategic Response Caching#

Well-implemented caching:

• Reduces requests to backend services
• Improves response times and increases API performance
• Lowers overall costs through cached responses

Balance caching costs against potential savings, ensuring cache expenses are less than what you'd spend on backend calls.

Set Limits: Request Throttling and Usage Plans#

• Set throttling limits to prevent accidental overuse
• Create usage plans and API keys to manage access patterns
• Protect your backend from overwhelming traffic

These measures safeguard your infrastructure from unexpected traffic spikes.

Private Highways: Cost Benefits of VPC-Only APIs#

Private APIs within Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) provide a stealth cost-cutting strategy by keeping traffic off the public internet while enhancing security.

Cost Benefits of Internal Traffic#

By keeping APIs within your VPC:

• Dramatically reduce data transfer costs compared to public internet traffic
• Enhance security by limiting API exposure
• Improve network performance for internal communications

Implementation Approach#

Creating a private API Gateway is straightforward:

1. Create a VPC endpoint for API Gateway in your VPC
2. Configure your API as private during creation
3. Create resource policies to control access

Cost Considerations#

• VPC endpoint charges apply (typically less than public data transfer)
• Potential savings on NAT gateway costs for outbound traffic
• For most internal APIs, endpoint charges are offset by data transfer savings

Best-Fit Scenarios#

Private APIs deliver the biggest cost benefits for:

• Microservices communication within a single VPC
• B2B integrations with trusted partners
• Internal tools and admin interfaces

A financial services company that moved internal APIs from public to private gateways experienced 40% lower data transfer costs along with improved security and faster communication.

Stop the Data Bleeding: Minimizing Transfer Costs#

Cutting data transfer costs reveals hidden savings in your API Gateway bill. Here's how to prevent these expenses from draining your budget:

Compression Is Non-Negotiable#

Utilize gzip compression to significantly reduce data transfer sizes. This action not only lowers costs but also concurrently enhances API performance. Implementing even a modest 20% compression on substantial documents can lead to considerable savings as usage scales.

Ruthless Response Optimization#

Ensure API responses include only the absolutely necessary data. Eliminate any redundant information from the payloads. Your frontend applications do not require entire database records; provide only the specific fields needed for rendering.

Edge Caching with CloudFront#

CloudFront caches API responses at edge locations. This reduces the number of requests that reach the API Gateway. Furthermore, it minimizes the amount of data transferred from origin servers.

Smart Request Batching#

Batch requests when logical to do so. This action significantly reduces the total number of API calls. Consequently, processing one batched request is more cost-effective than handling numerous individual requests.

An API uploading 4.5MB documents at 30 calls per minute creates over 11 million billable calls monthly. With smart compression and response optimization, you could reduce this by 20-30% without functional changes.

Do You Even Need This? Alternative AWS Services#

Sometimes the best way to cut API Gateway costs is questioning whether you need AWS API Gateway at all. Here are some more affordable alternatives.

Zuplo: The Modern AWS Services Alternative to API Management#

Zuplo offers a fresh approach to API management that can significantly reduce costs compared to AWS API Gateway while enhancing developer experience.

With Zuplo API management, key cost-saving features include:

• Edge-based Execution: Deploy APIs to global edge locations, reducing latency and regional data transfer costs
• Simplified Pricing Model: Predictable pricing that often works out cheaper for high-volume APIs
• Built-in Rate Limiting: Advanced rate limiting without additional charges
• Efficient Caching: Edge caching capabilities that reduce backend calls
• Code-first API Management: Define APIs with TypeScript, making management accessible to developers seeking a better AWS API Gateway
• GitHub Integration: Store API configurations in Git for version control and CI/CD workflows
• Rapid Iteration: Make changes and deploy in seconds (using git) instead of minutes
• Built-in Mocking: Create mock APIs without incurring backend costs during development
• Integrated Developer Portal: Automatically generate beautiful API documentation from your API gateway that auto-updates as your API changes, and integrates gateway-level details like authentication and rate limiting into your OpenAPI specification.

Call Efficiency: Getting More For Less#

Reducing unnecessary API calls is like finding free money in your AWS bill. Here are battle-tested strategies to slash call counts without sacrificing functionality:

Local Storage Solutions#

Storing frequently accessed data on the client side is a strategy to enhance application speed while simultaneously decreasing the number of API calls. By caching data locally and refreshing it only when necessary, applications can deliver a faster user experience and reduce reliance on frequent server requests.

Strategic Backend Caching#

API Gateway's integrated caching mechanism stores responses originating from backend services. This process alleviates backend load and contributes to quicker response delivery. It proves especially beneficial for APIs characterized by frequent read operations and recurring data requests.

Smart Endpoint Design#

Want to make our API calls super efficient and save money? Try batching up multiple items into one request. Knowing the API inside and out is key to getting things running smoothly. Another trick is to build endpoints that pull together data from different spots, so we don't have to make a ton of separate calls. And hey, we might even look into using GraphQL instead of REST, that way folks can ask for just the info they actually need.

Moreover, you can leverage tools like PostgREST to create efficient APIs. Even if you're using a MySQL database, it's possible to set up a PostgREST API for MySQL, improving call efficiency.

Caching Configuration#

Enabling caching in API Gateway is simple:

1. Select your API in the AWS Management Console
2. Choose the stage you want to cache
3. Enable caching and configure size and TTL

Always compare caching costs against potential API call savings to ensure it makes financial sense.

Monitoring Magic: Tools For Cost Control#

Remember that cost optimization requires ongoing attention—regularly review reports, update alarms as traffic patterns change, and adjust budgets to reflect evolving API usage.

AWS provides powerful tools for tracking and managing API Gateway spending.

AWS Cost Explorer#

AWS Cost Explorer breaks down spending by service, usage type, and custom tags. It allows you to analyze usage by account, region, and type, and implement cost allocation tags for precision tracking. Utilizing forecasting helps predict future expenses, and grouping costs by different dimensions aids in identifying patterns.

AWS CloudWatch#

AWS CloudWatch offers operational metrics that connect directly to cost data. You can configure alarms to trigger based on predefined usage or cost thresholds. The platform also allows you to build custom dashboards that combine both operational and cost-related metrics for a comprehensive view.

AWS Budgets#

AWS Budgets helps you stay ahead of spending. You can set custom budget thresholds specifically for API Gateway and receive notifications when your costs are approaching those limits.

Third-Party Enhancement Options#

While AWS's native tools handle basic monitoring, third-party solutions offer additional benefits:

• Multi-cloud visibility across AWS, Azure, and GCP
• Advanced AI-powered analytics suggesting optimization opportunities
• More sophisticated reporting by business unit or customer
• Custom alerts for cost anomalies
• Broader integration with business systems

Implementing these monitoring tools effectively can significantly help in cost management.

Balance Cost and Performance#

Zuplo helps you build sustainable, scalable APIs that don't break the bank. The most effective cost-control strategies include:

• Selecting the appropriate API type for your specific requirements
• Implementing strategic caching to reduce backend calls
• Controlling traffic with request throttling and usage plans
• Minimizing data transfer through compression and streamlined payloads
• Continuous monitoring and fine-tuning as usage evolves

Ready to take your API management to the next level? Try Zuplo for free and discover how our modern, developer-friendly platform can help you build better APIs for less.