Standard price
$22,200/mo ÷ 1,500,000
Per user $0.0148 /mo
GS2-Steady
Running costs no in-house build can match.
For titles above a certain scale, backend cost of around $0.015 per user per month.
A new pricing plan aiming for around $0.007 with a one-year commitment.
-
~$0.015
Monthly cost per user
for titles above a certain scale -
~$0.007
Monthly cost per user
with a 1-year commitment -
16.6ms or less
Average response time
within the same data center -
1.02M RPS
Requests per second
the largest fleet absorbs
Why we built it
Building got cheaper.
Running it did not.
As coding agents advance, the cost of building a game backend has dropped sharply.
But the servers and databases you pay for every month after launch cost about the same as they always have — and the longer you operate, the more that adds up.
So we redesigned the GS2 backend architecture and built GS2-BufferedSession to bring down the cost of running itself.
Price level
Per user, per month:
around $0.007.
Example: a 1,500,000 MAU title that fits in std1.large
1-year commitment
$11,100/mo ÷ 1,500,000
Per user $0.0074 /mo
The fleet you need depends on your game design and API usage. To estimate with your own numbers, use the calculator.
Architecture
We rebuilt the backend,
starting from the architecture.
GS2-BufferedSession sits between the GS2 API and the database, keeps player data in memory, and writes updates in batches.
It delivers its best cost performance in games that update the same player data many times a minute.
STEP 01
The database is where game server costs go
Every player action calls the API, and every API call reaches the database. Database access costs more than the servers themselves.
STEP 02
Every API call is a round trip to the database
Each request becomes a database access, and the number of accesses is what you pay for.
STEP 03
Absorb in memory, write in batches
GS2-BufferedSession keeps player data in memory and writes updates to the database in batches. However many times the same data changes, it takes a single write.
STEP 04
Critical updates are written on the spot
When a critical update arrives — spending paid currency, for instance — the pending updates for that player are flushed first, and then it goes straight to the database. Even mid-window, important data never waits.
STEP 05
No waiting on the database, so faster than a frame
Fewer accesses mean less waiting. With the database round trip gone, the API responds in under one frame (16.6ms) on average.
Monthly game server cost
The biggest share goes to the database
* Illustrative. Actual shares vary by setup and game.
Requests 0
DB accesses (without buffering) 0
DB accesses (BufferedSession) 0
Reduction (in this animation) -
When a critical update arrives, pending updates are flushed first, and then it is written to the database immediately.
- Regular update
- Critical update, e.g. paid currency (written immediately)
- * Batches are written every 15 minutes; shortened to seconds here.
One game frame(60fps)
16.6ms
Without buffering
API
DB
DB
DB
BufferedSession
API
Memory
- < 16.6ms Average response
- < 100ms p99
* Measured within the same data center, excluding internet latency. The bar without buffering is illustrative.
The buffering window
Fixed at 15 minutes. Repeated writes to the same data inside the window never touch the database — they are handled in memory. An unexpected failure can lose whatever the window still held.
Critical writes go straight through
Because GS2 exposes fine-grained game context as APIs, it knows how important each write is. A write that matters — spending paid currency, for instance — flushes the buffer and reaches the database immediately, even mid-window.
Scale without stopping
Whether you scale up or scale in, a retiring instance flushes its buffer before it leaves. Nothing in the buffer is lost, and there is no downtime.
Faster than a frame
With the database round trip gone from ordinary API calls, responses average under one frame (16.6ms) and stay under 100ms even at p99 (round-trip time within the same data center).
Compared with building it yourself
Run it for far less
than building it yourself.
We priced a build equivalent to std1.large in the AWS US East (N. Virginia) region.
Build it straight on AWS
The faded part of each AWS bar is the on-demand price.
Comparing one-year commitments, GS2-Steady costs about 40% less. With no mechanism to cut database access, the more often a game writes, the more the database costs.
Typical build breakdown std1.large equivalent, on-demand pricing
| Item | Configuration | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Load balancer | ALB + LCU | $113 |
| API servers | c8g.2xlarge × 6 | $5,590 |
| Database | Aurora db.r8g.2xlarge × 3 (3AZ) | $12,600 |
| Storage | I/O-Optimized 500GB | $452 |
| Backup | 1TB, 30 days | $84 |
| Cache | cache.r8g (scales with concurrent users) | $854 |
| Data transfer | ~6.2TB/mo | $2,240 |
| NAT Gateway | 3 AZ + ~0.3TB processed | $155 |
| Logs & metrics | CloudWatch Logs ~1.6TB/mo + dashboards | $1,770 |
| Other | S3 and so on | $300 |
| Total | $24,100 |
- AWS US East (N. Virginia, us-east-1) list prices as of September 2026. Graviton4 instances are sized for peak load; data transfer and logs are priced at average load (30% of peak).
- The AWS side also includes the 30-day cold backup, log retention and dashboards that come with GS2-Steady (no multi-region setup on either side).
- 1-year commit applies Savings Plans / Reserved Instances (30%) and volume discounts (5–15%). I/O-Optimized database, Infrequent Access logs and other options are chosen in favor of AWS.
What building it also costs you
Implementing a stateful buffering layer, and then operating it. On top of that, building the features GS2 already exposes as APIs — loot boxes, shops, inventory and the rest. Three backend engineers and SREs put roughly $19,000 a month on the payroll alone.
Small titles want pay-as-you-go
GS2-Steady starts at $1,700/mo. For titles below a certain scale, GS2's pay-as-you-go plan may be cheaper. Once you grow into it, you can switch across without moving any data.
Pricing
Three fleet families
Balanced games want the std family.
Games with many concurrent users want ccu, which carries more memory for buffering.
Games that call the API very frequently want rps, with extra throughput.
| Fleet | Max CCU | Max RPS | Standard | 1-year commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| std1.nano | 1,500 | 500 | $1,700/mo | $800/mo |
| std1.micro | 3,000 | 1,000 | $2,700/mo | $1,300/mo |
| std1.small | 9,000 | 4,000 | $6,000/mo | $3,000/mo |
| std1.medium | 20,000 | 8,000 | $11,300/mo | $5,700/mo |
| std1.large | 50,000 | 16,000 | $22,200/mo | $11,100/mo |
| std1.xlarge | 90,000 | 32,000 | $43,300/mo | $21,700/mo |
| std1.2xlarge | 190,000 | 64,000 | $85,000/mo | $42,500/mo |
| std1.4xlarge | 370,000 | 128,000 | $165,000/mo | $82,500/mo |
| std1.8xlarge | 740,000 | 256,000 | $323,300/mo | $161,700/mo |
| std1.16xlarge | 1,500,000 | 512,000 | $630,000/mo | $315,000/mo |
| std1.32xlarge | 3,000,000 | 1,024,000 | $1,233,300/mo | $616,700/mo |
| Fleet | Max CCU | Max RPS | Standard | 1-year commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ccu1.micro | 9,000 | 1,000 | $3,000/mo | $1,500/mo |
| ccu1.small | 20,000 | 4,000 | $6,800/mo | $3,400/mo |
| ccu1.medium | 50,000 | 8,000 | $13,000/mo | $6,500/mo |
| ccu1.large | 90,000 | 16,000 | $26,700/mo | $13,300/mo |
| ccu1.xlarge | 190,000 | 32,000 | $50,000/mo | $25,000/mo |
| ccu1.2xlarge | 370,000 | 64,000 | $96,700/mo | $48,300/mo |
| ccu1.4xlarge | 740,000 | 128,000 | $188,300/mo | $94,200/mo |
| ccu1.8xlarge | 1,500,000 | 256,000 | $365,000/mo | $182,500/mo |
| ccu1.16xlarge | 3,000,000 | 512,000 | $713,300/mo | $356,700/mo |
| ccu1.32xlarge | 6,000,000 | 1,024,000 | $1,393,300/mo | $696,700/mo |
| Fleet | Max CCU | Max RPS | Standard | 1-year commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rps1.micro | 3,000 | 2,000 | $4,500/mo | $2,300/mo |
| rps1.small | 9,000 | 8,000 | $10,800/mo | $5,400/mo |
| rps1.medium | 20,000 | 16,000 | $21,200/mo | $10,600/mo |
| rps1.large | 50,000 | 32,000 | $41,700/mo | $20,800/mo |
| rps1.xlarge | 90,000 | 64,000 | $81,700/mo | $40,800/mo |
| rps1.2xlarge | 190,000 | 128,000 | $158,300/mo | $79,200/mo |
| rps1.4xlarge | 370,000 | 256,000 | $308,300/mo | $154,200/mo |
| rps1.8xlarge | 740,000 | 512,000 | $605,000/mo | $302,500/mo |
| rps1.16xlarge | 1,500,000 | 1,024,000 | $1,185,000/mo | $592,500/mo |
All prices are monthly and exclude tax. "1-year commit" is the monthly equivalent when you prepay a full year of usage. Prices are preview estimates and may be revised when the service becomes generally available.
About max CCU and max RPS
- Max CCU The hard limit on concurrent connections. Once a fleet reaches it, no further logins are accepted.
- Max RPS A level that keeps the fleet below 60% of its capacity, leaving headroom for failover. Going above it does not stop the service right away, but a failover or node replacement may then cause an outage. With GS2-Script the fleet may fall short of this level, so run your actual workload to judge.
What's included
- Storage and data transfer
- Cold backup restorable to any second within the last 30 days
- Log retention for the past 30 days
- Log and metrics dashboards powered by GS2-Insight
Moving between plans
You can move between GS2-Steady and the pay-as-you-go plan in either direction. Both plans share the same database, so no data migration is required. A move does involve downtime, so we expect it around launch or at a turning point in live operations. Moving between plans requires a project that uses database schema v2.
Calculator
Find the fleet you need
Four numbers is all it takes. We size the fleet for the launch month and for everything from day 30 onward.
Launch month
—
—
How this was calculated
Downloads through day 7
—
Your input
Day 1 downloads
—
× 0.5
Peak-hour actives
—
× 0.5
Login RPS
—
÷ 3600 × fetches
In-session RPS
—
Peak CCU × requests per minute ÷ 60 × 4
Peak CCU
—
× session minutes ÷ 60
- RPS needed
- —
- CCU needed
- —
Day 30 onward
—
—
How this was calculated
Downloads through day 30
—
Day 7 total × 1.5
Day 30 active users
—
× 0.1
Peak-hour actives
—
× 0.5
Login RPS
—
÷ 3600 × fetches
In-session RPS
—
Peak CCU × requests per minute ÷ 60 × 4
Peak CCU
—
× (session minutes × 0.8) ÷ 60
- RPS needed
- —
- CCU needed
- —
Estimated from average GS2 statistics. Per-user prices use downloads through day 30 as the launch-month MAU, and day 30 active users converted at a 50% DAU/MAU ratio from day 30 onward.
Building a backend is easier than ever.
So GS2 gives you a foundation that keeps your game running for years, for less.
That is the value the new GS2 aims to bring as a BaaS.
Preview
GS2-Steady.
Be among the first to use it.
We are accepting preview registrations ahead of general availability. Register and we will let you know when it opens, and talk through a configuration sized for your title.