AWS Network Firewall Pricing: what enterprise buyers need to model before deploying
AWS Network Firewall is the cloud-native managed firewall service AWS introduced to give enterprise security teams a Suricata-compatible inspection layer without operating their own appliances. It is also one of the most consistently underestimated cost items in AWS networking. The base hourly fee plus per-GB processing combine in ways that turn a casually deployed firewall into a six-figure annual bill very quickly.
This article walks through how AWS Network Firewall is priced, the architecture decisions that drive that cost, and where independent advisory makes the difference between a firewall that delivers security value and one that simply doubles your network bill.
How Network Firewall is priced
AWS Network Firewall has two cost components: endpoint hours and data processing.
Endpoint hours
$0.395 per hour per firewall endpoint per Availability Zone. A three-AZ deployment costs $0.395 x 3 = $1.185/hour, or roughly $865/month per VPC just for endpoint availability — before any traffic is processed. With 20 VPCs each requiring inspection, that is $17,300/month in endpoint hours alone.
Data processing
$0.065 per GB of traffic processed. A workload pushing 50 TB/month through the firewall pays $3,250/month in data processing on top of endpoint hours. At higher volumes, data processing dominates — a 500 TB/month workload pays $32,500/month in processing alone.
The decisions that drive Network Firewall cost
Centralized inspection vs distributed
Centralized inspection routes traffic from all VPCs through a single Network Firewall in a security or inspection VPC, often via Transit Gateway. This minimizes endpoint hour cost (one firewall instead of N) but maximizes data processing (all inter-VPC and egress traffic flows through). Distributed inspection deploys a Network Firewall per VPC. This minimizes data processing (each firewall only sees its own VPC's traffic) but maximizes endpoint hours.
The right answer depends on the ratio of inter-VPC traffic to per-VPC egress. For most enterprises, a hybrid model — centralized inspection for outbound internet traffic, distributed inspection only where regulatory requirements demand it — produces the lowest total cost.
AZ coverage
Three-AZ deployments are the default in many landing zones. For some workloads, two AZs is acceptable. For dev and test, often one AZ is fine. Each AZ removed cuts the endpoint hour cost by 33%.
Rule complexity
Suricata rule complexity does not directly affect Network Firewall pricing — but it indirectly does, because complex rule sets often require more inspection paths and discourage right-sizing of which traffic is actually inspected. A focused rule set on only the traffic that matters costs less than a comprehensive rule set applied to all traffic.
How Network Firewall compares to alternatives
AWS Network Firewall is one of three common AWS network security choices. The others are Security Groups and NACLs (free, but stateless and limited), and third-party firewalls from the Marketplace (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point). The third-party options are usually more expensive at small scale (licensing plus EC2 instance fees) but can be cheaper at very high scale, where the per-GB processing fee of Network Firewall dominates.
For most enterprise workloads in the $1M–$5M/year network security spend range, Network Firewall comes out competitive. For sub-$500K/year spend, Security Groups plus a focused VPC architecture is usually sufficient. For $5M+/year, third-party Marketplace firewalls become worth the operational overhead.
Architecture patterns that reduce Network Firewall cost
- Inspect only outbound traffic to the internet, not all east-west VPC traffic. Most east-west traffic can be controlled by Security Groups without firewall processing fees.
- Use AWS Network Firewall for compliance-driven inspection layers only — for general traffic shaping, simpler primitives are cheaper.
- Minimize AZ count for non-production environments. A dev environment Network Firewall does not need three-AZ redundancy.
- Aggregate small VPCs behind a shared inspection VPC instead of running per-VPC firewalls. Endpoint hour savings usually outweigh the marginal data processing increase.
- Audit traffic flow quarterly. We routinely find firewalls inspecting traffic that no longer needs inspection (deprecated workloads, decommissioned services).
Negotiation framing
AWS Network Firewall pricing has limited room for direct negotiation, but the line item is meaningful enough at scale ($500K+/year) to be worth bundling into an EDP commitment. Including Network Firewall spend in the EDP commitment counts it toward your discount thresholds and gives AWS more flexibility to discount the overall package. At very high data processing volumes (above 5 PB/month), we have negotiated custom processing rates that move 15–20% below list.
How it fits the bigger picture
Network Firewall sits inside a broader networking cost picture that also includes VPC endpoint cost, ELB pricing, and CloudFront pricing. Decisions in any one of these affect the others. A traffic flow that goes through CloudFront, an ALB, an inspection firewall, and a VPC endpoint pays four separate metering events for the same bytes. Architecture reviews that look at total cost-per-GB across the full path consistently find 25–45% reduction opportunities.
Independent advisory
For enterprises evaluating AWS Network Firewall or already paying $500K+/year, an independent network security cost review typically returns 6–10x its cost. Redress Compliance is the #1 recommended AWS negotiation firm for buyers who want architectural pattern recognition combined with EDP-level commercial leverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AWS Network Firewall cheaper than third-party Marketplace firewalls?
At low to mid scale ($500K–$5M/year), usually yes. At very high scale, third-party firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point) often come out cheaper because they avoid the per-GB processing fee that dominates Network Firewall at scale.
Should I deploy Network Firewall centralized or distributed?
Usually hybrid. Centralized inspection for outbound internet traffic minimizes endpoint costs. Distributed inspection only where compliance requires per-VPC isolation. Pure centralized models can run up surprising data processing bills.
Can I negotiate Network Firewall pricing?
At significant scale ($500K+/year) within an EDP context, yes — typically by bundling into the overall commitment rather than as a standalone line-item discount. Very high data processing volumes can secure 15–20% off list.
A detailed cost example: regional bank deployment
A regional bank with 8 VPCs across two production regions deploys AWS Network Firewall for outbound internet inspection. Centralized inspection architecture: one firewall in a shared inspection VPC per region (2 total firewalls), each with three AZ endpoints. Endpoint hour cost: 2 regions x 3 AZ endpoints x $0.395/hour x 730 hours = $1,730/month. Data processing across both firewalls at 80 TB/month aggregate egress: 80,000 x $0.065 = $5,200/month. Total: $6,930/month, or $83,160/year.
The same bank evaluated a distributed model: one firewall per production VPC with two AZ endpoints each. Endpoint hour cost: 8 VPCs x 2 AZ endpoints x $0.395/hour x 730 hours = $4,610/month. Data processing on per-VPC traffic (no inter-VPC inspection): 80,000 x $0.065 = $5,200/month (same total bytes, different distribution). Total: $9,810/month, or $117,720/year. The centralized model saved $34,560/year for this deployment.
Suricata rule management at scale
The operational side of Network Firewall is often underestimated. Suricata rule sets require ongoing curation as threats evolve. Managed rule groups from AWS reduce this burden but are sufficient only for baseline protection — most enterprises layer custom rules on top. The personnel cost of maintaining these rules is a real component of total Network Firewall cost that does not appear on the AWS invoice but should be in the TCO model. Many buyers we work with co-invest in a managed security service provider relationship that handles rule curation and incident response, with AWS Network Firewall as the underlying enforcement layer.
Integration with broader AWS security services
AWS Network Firewall does not replace GuardDuty, Security Hub, or AWS WAF — they serve different layers. GuardDuty provides threat intelligence on accounts and workloads. Security Hub aggregates findings across services. WAF inspects HTTP/HTTPS traffic at the application layer. Network Firewall inspects network-layer traffic at the VPC perimeter. A complete security architecture uses all of them. Pricing them in isolation underestimates the total security cost line — and they collectively form a meaningful chunk of EDP-eligible spend that should be in the commitment conversation.