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SPECIFICTION
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Amazon SNS

aws.amazon.com

From $0.06/mo Free plan WebAPI
Visit aws.amazon.com
Spec score 8.5 #7 of 39 in Message Broker Software

What it is

Amazon SNS is a managed publish/subscribe service for sending messages between applications and reaching people. It can deliver notifications to application endpoints and send 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, with limits of 3,000 messages per second or 10 MB per second per topic. Publishers can batch 1 to 10 messages per request, while subscribers can filter notifications. Integrations include AWS event sources and destinations such as SQS, Data Firehose, Lambda, and HTTPS. Each message can contain up to 256 KB; the Extended Client Library can store payloads up to 2 GB in S3 and publish an object reference. SNS retries delivery and supports dead-letter queues. The free tier includes 1 million requests, 100,000 HTTP notifications, and 1,000 email notifications each month. Listed paid rates include $0.50 per month for API requests, $0.06 for HTTP deliveries, and $2.00 for email deliveries; charges depend on usage.

Spec sheet

Purpose
Amazon SNS is a fully managed Pub/Sub service for application-to-application and application-to-person messaging.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Free plan
YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Integrations
SNS has native integrations with AWS event sources and destinations, and supports endpoints including Amazon SQS, Amazon Data Firehose, AWS Lambda, and HTTPS.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
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.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Delivery
SNS delivers notifications to application endpoints and to people through SMS, mobile push, and email.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Durability
SNS stores published messages across geographically separated servers and data centers, retries delivery, and supports dead-letter queues for undelivered messages.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Encryption
Encrypted topics use server-side 256-bit AES-GCM encryption with a key issued by AWS Key Management Service.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
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.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Filtering and batching
Publishers can batch 1 to 10 messages per API request, and subscribers can use filter policies to receive selected notifications.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
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.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Mobile push
SNS mobile push supports iOS, Android, Fire, Windows, and Baidu devices through providers including APNs, Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Amazon Device Messaging.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Private networking
SNS supports AWS PrivateLink VPC endpoints to publish to topics without traversing the public internet.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
SMS reach
SNS supports SMS messaging to over 200 countries and offers redundancy across multiple SMS providers.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Standard topics
Standard topics support nearly unlimited messages per second, best-effort ordering and deduplication, and up to 12.5 million subscriptions per topic.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Who it serves
AWS says its customers include startups, enterprises, non-profits, and governments.Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Plans and prices

Free Tier Free Free usage is applied each month 1 million requests · 100,000 HTTP notifications · 1,000 email notifications Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
API requests $0.50 a month Charged at the end of the month for usage Pay-as-you-go API request pricing Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
HTTP deliveries $0.06 a month Delivery pricing varies by endpoint type HTTP notification delivery pricing Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Email deliveries $2 a month Delivery pricing varies by endpoint type Email notification delivery pricing Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Pay-as-you-go Price not published 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 Read 29 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Every Amazon SNS plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free tier includes monthly request and delivery allowances
  • FIFO topics preserve message order
  • Supports filtering and batching
  • Offers dead-letter queues and delivery retries
  • Mobile push covers several device platforms

Limits

  • Paid charges depend on usage and delivery type
  • Standard topics provide best-effort ordering
  • Customers remain responsible for applicable compliance obligations

Who it suits

It suits teams needing cloud messaging between applications or notification delivery to people across SMS, mobile push, and email. AWS lists startups, enterprises, non-profits, and governments among its customers.

Verdict

SNS offers both standard and FIFO topic behavior, several delivery channels, and AWS integrations. Its free tier has stated monthly allowances, while paid charges vary with usage and delivery details.

Where Specifiction places it

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