Liteseed vs. S3 Glacier
Overview
Section titled “Overview”Both Liteseed Network and Amazon S3 Glacier solve the same problem: cold, long-term data archival. Here’s how they compare and why Liteseed can be a compelling alternative.
Pay-Once vs. Recurring Fees
Section titled “Pay-Once vs. Recurring Fees”- Liteseed
- One-time, up-front fee locks in permanent storage on Arweave
- No future renewals, no surprise billing
- S3 Glacier
- Recurring monthly storage and retrieval fees
- Costs can rise over time as your archive grows
Retrieval Speed & Predictability
Section titled “Retrieval Speed & Predictability”- Liteseed
- Data served instantly via global Arweave gateways
- No cold retrieval tiers or extra “expedited retrieval” charges
- S3 Glacier
- Multiple retrieval tiers (standard, bulk, expedited) with variable latency
- Higher fees for faster access
Durability & Decentralization
Section titled “Durability & Decentralization”- Liteseed
- Decentralized network of bundlers and miners secures your archive
- Censorship-resistant and immutable once committed
- S3 Glacier
- Stored within AWS’s regional infrastructure
- High durability guarantees (11 9s), but still under centralized control
Vendor Neutrality & Lock-In
Section titled “Vendor Neutrality & Lock-In”- Liteseed
- Open standards (ANS-104 bundles on Arweave)
- You retain your own keys and metadata; data can be fetched from any Arweave gateway
- S3 Glacier
- Proprietary AWS API and pricing model
- Migration out of Glacier often incurs data transfer and early-termination fees
Use Cases
Section titled “Use Cases”- Liteseed is ideal for:
- Regulatory archives (legal, financial, healthcare)
- Scientific or cultural datasets that must remain unaltered forever
- Digital art, NFTs, academic publications
- S3 Glacier is ideal for:
- Large-scale logs and backups with predictable monthly budgets
- Workloads that require occasional batch retrievals