# On-Demand Kinesis Data Streams for Steady High-Volume Traffic Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/on-demand-kinesis-data-streams-for-steady-high-volume-traffic Kinesis Data Streams on-demand mode removes capacity planning: shards are managed automatically and you pay per GB written and read, plus, in On-demand... By: PointFive Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) The short version Kinesis Data Streams on-demand mode removes capacity planning: shards are managed automatically and you pay per GB written and read, plus, in On-demand Standard, a fixed charge for every stream-hour. PointFive Research Cloud cost research at PointFive AWS service [AWS Kinesis](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/aws-kinesis) Category [Other](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/other) Reference CER-0391 Type Suboptimal Pricing Model ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. AWS positions on-demand for unpredictable, highly variable traffic and provisioned mode for predictable traffic that is easy to forecast. Many streams are created on-demand for convenience and stay there after their traffic becomes steady and well understood. For a uniform ingestion rate the per-GB model can cost much more than a right-sized set of provisioned shards; AWS cost optimization guidance states that for a given uniform data ingestion rate, on-demand mode can be many times more expensive than provisioned mode. Accounts with many on-demand streams or large aggregate throughput can also overpay by staying on On-demand Standard when the account-level On-demand Advantage mode, which drops the per-stream charge and lowers per-GB rates in exchange for a minimum usage commitment, would fit their usage. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. Rates below are the pricing page figures for US East (N. Virginia). On-demand Standard Billed per stream-hour (listed at $0.040), per GB of data in (listed at $0.08) and per GB of data out (listed at $0.040), with enhanced fan-out retrievals charged additionally On-demand Advantage An account-level, per-Region mode with no per-stream charge and lower per-GB rates (listed at $0.032 in and $0.016 out), committing the account to at least 25 MiB/s ingested and 25 MiB/s retrieved; shortfalls are billed at the discounted rate Provisioned mode Billed per shard-hour (listed at $0.015) plus per million 25 KB PUT payload units (listed at $0.014), regardless of how much of each shard's capacity is used ## How to detect 4 checks to find it in your estate. - List streams and their StreamModeDetails and, for each on-demand stream, review IncomingBytes, IncomingRecords and GetRecords.Bytes over at least 30 days to find streams with flat, predictable throughput - For those streams, estimate the provisioned shard count with the sizing formula (the higher of write KiB/s divided by 1,024 and read KiB/s divided by 2,048, rounded up, plus headroom for peaks) and compare shard-hour and PUT payload unit cost with the current per-GB and stream-hour charges - Sum data in and data out across all on-demand streams in each Region and compare with the 25 MiB/s ingest and retrieval commitment of On-demand Advantage; the Kinesis console also indicates whether an account's usage is a good fit - Count small on-demand streams in On-demand Standard, each paying the fixed stream-hour charge even with little traffic ## How to fix 5 ways to remove the waste. - Switch steady, predictable streams to provisioned mode with a shard count sized for observed peaks plus headroom; switching does not disrupt producers or consumers, and the stream keeps its current shard count at the moment of the switch, so right-size it afterward - Automate shard scaling for provisioned streams with Application Auto Scaling where traffic follows a daily pattern, since provisioned mode leaves shard management to you - For accounts whose aggregate on-demand usage is at or above the commitment, or that run many on-demand streams or many enhanced fan-out consumers, evaluate enabling On-demand Advantage; it must stay enabled for at least 24 hours, and warm throughput must be removed before switching back - Keep on-demand mode for genuinely unpredictable or spiky streams, noting that a stream can switch between on-demand and provisioned modes only twice within 24 hours - Consolidate very small streams where the architecture allows, to reduce fixed per-stream charges in On-demand Standard ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [Amazon Kinesis Data Streams pricing aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/data-streams/pricing/) - [Choose the right mode to stream in docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/streams/latest/dev/how-do-i-size-a-stream.html) - [Monitor the Amazon Kinesis Data Streams service with Amazon CloudWatch docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/streams/latest/dev/monitoring-with-cloudwatch.html) - [Cost optimization in analytics services docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/cost-modeling-data-lakes/cost-optimization-in-analytics-services.html) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - AWS Kinesis CER-0390 ### [Overprovisioned Shards in Kinesis Data Streams](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/overprovisioned-shards-in-kinesis-data-streams) In provisioned mode, a Kinesis data stream's capacity is the sum of its shards, each providing up to 1 MB per second or 1,000 records per second of writes and 2 MB per second of reads, and every shard is billed per shard-hour whether it... Other - AWS Marketplace CER-0316 ### [AWS Marketplace Annual Subscriptions Reverting to Pay-As-You-Go Rates](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/aws-marketplace-annual-subscriptions-reverting-to-pay-as-you-go-rates) When organizations purchase third-party software through AWS Marketplace using annual subscriptions, they typically receive meaningful discounts compared to hourly pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pricing. However, when these annual subscriptions... Other - AWS Marketplace CER-0297 ### [Non-Qualifying AWS Marketplace SaaS Spend Counting Toward Commitments](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/non-qualifying-aws-marketplace-saas-spend-counting-toward) Teams assume AWS Marketplace SaaS purchases will contribute toward EDP or PPA commitments, but the SaaS product is not eligible under AWS's "Deployed on AWS" standard. As of May 1, 2025, AWS Marketplace allows SaaS products regardless of... Other --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.