Open Data FAQs

The AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program covers the cost of Amazon S3 storage and data transfer for high-value cloud-optimized public datasets. Accepted datasets are listed on the Registry of Open Data on AWS (RODA) and are made available to the public for research, education, and innovation.

We work with data providers who seek to democratize access to data by making it available for analysis on AWS, and develop new cloud-native techniques, formats, and tools that lower the cost of working with data. We encourage the development of communities that benefit from access to shared datasets.

Data providers retain full ownership of their AWS account and datasets. AWS does not own or modify the data. The AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program covers costs related to hosting and distributing the dataset via Amazon S3, but the provider manages their AWS account, bucket, objects in the bucket, and permissions.

The program covers Amazon S3 storage costs for the specific dataset approved under the program, as well as distribution costs such as egress and cross-region data fees. Other AWS services, such as compute or analytics, are not covered and should be run in separate AWS accounts.

No. Datasets in the Open Data Sponsorship Program must be open, accessible to everyone, and usable for any purpose. Licenses that restrict commercial use (e.g., CC BY-NC) or access (e.g., via gated websites) are not permitted. For certain Healthcare and Life Sciences datasets that need controlled access because of bulk genomic data or other sensitive data, please use existing methods of access control such as dbGaP or GA4GH Passports.

No. You do not need to be in the Open Data Sponsorship Program to be listed within the Registry of Open Data. If you have a dataset that you would like to list, but want to continue to cover the costs yourself, please reach out to us to discuss that onboarding.

You can apply through our online form: https://application.opendata.aws. Before applying, review the Terms and Conditions.

We recommend modeling your documentation after successful datasets such as NOAA-NEXRAD or NCBI-SRA. Your documentation should help users understand how to use your data effectively. For bucket structure guidance, see Appendix A in our Onboarding Handbook.

The signatory should be an authorized representative of your organization who has the authority to agree to legal terms on its behalf.

We recommend creating a new, standalone AWS account outside your existing organization, but if you need to create the account from within an existing AWS Organization, know that this account will need to leave your Organization before it can join ours. This account can only be used for hosting the sponsored dataset. It will join the AWS billing organization managed by the Open Data program to enable cost coverage.

You can follow the steps outlined here to leave your current organization: AWS Organizations documentation.

The account must not be part of another AWS Organization. If the account is created under a different organization, it must leave that organization before joining ours. Refer to our Onboarding Handbook for configuration details.

Yes, you do need to remain linked to our billing organization to stay in the program. If you leave, you will incur AWS billing charges from leaving our billing organization.

Yes. If using native Amazon S3 copy operations within the same AWS region, no egress fees apply. For step-by-step guidance, see this re:Post article and FAQ B4 in the Onboarding Handbook.

If the data transfer occurs within the same region using Amazon S3 copy commands, no egress fees will be incurred. Using other transfer mechanisms or cross-region transfers may result in charges.

Yes. S3 Inventory is permitted, but you must apply lifecycle rules to automatically delete old inventories. You may also enable server access logging to track usage. Logs should be stored in a separate bucket in the same account and expired after 30 days.

We recommend uploading individual files rather than archives. This improves accessibility and allows users to download only what they need without downloading large tarballs or ZIP files.

No. The sponsored account must be used exclusively for storing and distributing the approved Open Data dataset. Other services (e.g., Amazon SageMaker, Amazon EC2) must be run in a separate, non-sponsored account.

Yes, you can work with us to add your data to the bucket before it is public and simply delay the launch of the dataset YAML.

The program supports open data principles. Datasets must be accessible to all users, usable for any purpose, and available at no cost. We recommend CC BY 4.0 licenses. Licenses that limit commercial use (e.g., CC BY-NC) or restrict modification (e.g., CC BY-ND) are not permitted. If you feel you have extenuating circumstances, reach out to us.

No. Restrictive licenses conflict with the principles of open data and are not allowed in the program. If your dataset has controlled access due to Protected Health Information, reach out to opendata@amazon.com about whether your dataset can be included.

Yes. IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) can be configured in your sponsored account and does not incur charges. Implementation guide: IAM Identity Center setup.

Only use the resources provisioned by the onboarding CloudFormation template. Any additional resources must be deployed in a separate, non-sponsored account to avoid incurring unapproved charges.

CloudWatch Metrics should be enabled on your bucket if the bucket was created with our CloudFormation template. This is the easiest option. From the AWS S3 console, you can browse to your bucket and the Metrics tab. On that tab only a couple of top-line metrics are displayed; however, there is a “View additional charts” link below the default two. From there you can explore charts related to storage as well as by requests.

You can:

• Use Amazon CloudWatch Metrics (enabled by default if you used our CloudFormation template).
• Enable Amazon S3 server access logs (with required lifecycle policies).
• Use Amazon S3 Inventory to maintain a list of objects.

Next, for the purposes of self-service data usage analysis, we permit you to enable S3 bucket logs on your data bucket and to create a second S3 bucket for temporary storage of S3 logs within your Open Data-sponsored AWS account. To set up S3 bucket logs in your AWS Open Data sponsored account, follow the official S3 user documentation.

We require setting up an object lifecycle that expires log objects after 1 month. To set up an object lifecycle, follow the Amazon S3 Object Lifecycle documentation. If you need to retain logs for longer than this period, you will need to copy the objects to an S3 bucket in a paid AWS account. Note that our program terms only cover S3 storage / egress costs. If you elect to analyze S3 logs, our program’s expectation is that you carry out that analysis outside of your program-sponsored AWS account, by copying the logs out to another account that you pay for and analyzing the logs in that account.

Include the dataset’s Registry of Open Data URL in the “Data Availability” section. Example: “Data are available at registry.opendata.aws/[dataset-name].” You may also thank the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program in your acknowledgments.

During renewal, the Open Data team reviews your dataset’s usage metrics and identifies opportunities to add value, such as tutorials or example notebooks that could help drive adoption. Once our review is complete, we’ll send you a renewal confirmation email.

We understand delays happen. As long as you’re in active communication with our team and making progress, we’re happy to work with you to complete onboarding.

Yes, the dataset can continue to be sponsored, as long as the account remains linked to our payer. If the account leaves the payer, we are unable to cover the storage costs.

Yes. For formal communications such as press releases, please consult the Press Kit in our Onboarding Handbook. Informal promotion like blog posts and talks are encouraged. Feel free to reach out to the Open Data team if you’d like us to co-present with you at a conference or co-write a blog post with you!

Yes. We announce new datasets in quarterly blogs and through our Open Data Community of Practice. We’re also happy to collaborate on case studies, blog posts, and conference presentations.

Yes, but users must still be able to access the S3 bucket directly without visiting your site. Anonymous, public access to the bucket is required. Restricting access by asking for email or contact information is not in line with the program requirements.

Yes. Increase the multipart_chunksize and max_concurrent_requests settings in the AWS CLI configuration for better performance. Refer to FAQ B4 in the Onboarding Handbook.

Place your bucket in a region closest to your compute environment or primary users. Latency varies depending on the physical distance of compute from where the data is stored.

Yes. The program covers distribution costs, such as outbound data transfer, including access by external users or services, as well as cross-region data fees.

Bucket names must be globally unique and follow Amazon S3 naming rules. We recommend simple and memorable names that reflect your dataset.

We do not provide formal letters of support. However, the Welcome Letter sent after initial onboarding steps may be used for this purpose.

Visit AWS Support for more information.

Yes. AWS re:Post is a Q&A platform where you and your users can ask, and answer questions related to AWS Open Data. Visit: AWS Open Data re:Post.

AWS provides a variety of resources to help you explore, contribute to, and manage open datasets effectively. Here are key resources to bookmark:

• Adding your dataset to the Registry of Open Data:. A YouTube tutorial on adding a dataset to the Registry of Open Data
• Registry of Open Data on AWS: Browse and search public datasets shared by the community and AWS customers. This is the primary catalog where all datasets accepted into the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program are listed.
• Open Data Sponsorship Program Page: Learn about the program’s benefits, eligibility requirements, and funding model.
• AWS re:Post – Open Data Tag: Ask technical questions and connect with the AWS Open Data community. You do not need an AWS account to browse, but you will need one to post.
• Application Form: Ready to share your dataset? Submit your application to be considered for sponsorship.
• Terms and Conditions: Review the agreement that governs participation in the Open Data Sponsorship Program.
• Open Data Onboarding Handbook (PDF): A step-by-step guide to the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program onboarding process.
• aws-opendata-samples GitHub Repository: A curated collection of sample projects, Jupyter notebooks, and guidance for working with public datasets on AWS.