At Cruz Street, we believe that data should be a strategic asset, not a technical burden. As an Amazon Select Tier Partner, we help organizations of all sizes unlock the power of Amazon QuickSight, AWS’s cloud-native business intelligence (BI) platform. Whether you’re just starting your analytics journey or scaling across departments, our goal is to make QuickSight accessible, cost-effective, and transformative.
To support that mission, we’ve created this guide to help you understand QuickSight’s pricing and capabilities. Explore this complete guide to Amazon QuickSight pricing and capabilities. Learn how Amazon Q, QuickSight Standard, and Enterprise editions compare in cost, features, and AI-powered analytics.
What Is Amazon QuickSight?
Amazon QuickSight is a scalable, serverless BI service built on AWS. It allows users to analyze data, build dashboards, and share insights across teams. QuickSight supports a wide range of use cases, from simple reporting to advanced analytics powered by machine learning and generative AI.
Key features include:
- Connecting to data sources like spreadsheets, databases, and cloud apps
- Building and sharing interactive dashboards
- Asking questions about data using natural language with Amazon Q
- Scheduling pixel-perfect reports
- Detecting anomalies and setting alerts for key metrics
QuickSight is available in two editions: Standard and Enterprise. The Enterprise Edition includes advanced features such as Amazon Q, administrative controls, and machine learning-powered insights.
Pricing Models: Per-User vs. Capacity
Per-User Pricing
This model is ideal for organizations with a predictable number of users. Pricing is based on user roles, which determine access and functionality.
- Reader
$3 per user per month
View dashboards and reports, receive email reports and alerts, download data, use Amazon Q for natural language queries, consume shared generative data stories - Reader Pro
$20 per user per month
Includes all Reader capabilities plus executive dashboard summaries, generative data stories, scenario analysis, and Amazon Q Business Pro entitlement - Author
$24 per user per month ($18 with annual commitment)
Build and share dashboards, connect to data sources, use Amazon Q for natural language queries - Author Pro
$50 per user per month
Includes all Author capabilities plus natural language dashboard creation, Amazon Q Topics, executive summaries, generative data stories, scenario analysis, and Amazon Q Business Pro entitlement
Administrative users are priced the same as Authors and Author Pros. When provisioned through AWS IAM Identity Center, Pro licenses offer consolidated billing across multiple AWS accounts under the same payer account.
A $250 per month Amazon Q enablement fee applies per account when at least one Pro user or Amazon Q Topic is active.
Capacity Pricing
Capacity pricing is designed for organizations with large or unpredictable user bases. It allows customers to purchase Reader sessions and Amazon Q question capacity in bulk without provisioning individual users.
- Reader Session Capacity
Starts at $250 per month for 500 sessions
Each session lasts 30 minutes
Volume discounts available for annual plans (up to millions of sessions) - Amazon Q Question Capacity
Starts at $250 per month for 500 questions
Volume discounts available for annual plans (up to millions of questions)
Capacity pricing is ideal for embedded analytics, public dashboards, and programmatic access for large screens or shared environments.
Additional Capabilities That Enhance QuickSight
Pixel-Perfect Reports
These reports allow users to create, schedule, and share highly formatted, multipage reports. They are ideal for regulatory reporting, executive summaries, and operational documentation.
| Plan Type | Included Units | Price | Additional Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 500 | $500 | $1.00 per unit |
| Annual | 4,000 | $24,000 | $0.50 per unit |
One report unit equals up to 100 pages or 100 MB. For example, a 200-page report counts as two units.
SPICE (Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine)
SPICE is QuickSight’s in-memory data store that enables fast, consistent performance for thousands of users and datasets up to billions of rows.
- $0.38 per GB per month
- 10 GB included with each Author and Author Pro license
- Supports up to 1 billion rows per 1 TB dataset in Enterprise Edition
- SPICE capacity can be added or removed at any time
Alerts and Anomaly Detection
QuickSight supports threshold-based and machine learning-powered alerts to notify users of important changes in data.
| Metrics Evaluated | Price per 1,000 |
|---|---|
| 1–1,000,000 | $0.50 |
| 1,000,001–10,000,000 | $0.25 |
| 10,000,001–100,000,000 | $0.10 |
| Over 100,000,000 | $0.05 |
Amazon Q in QuickSight
Amazon Q is QuickSight’s generative AI assistant that enables users to interact with data using natural language. It supports:
- Asking questions about data
- Viewing executive summaries
- Creating generative data stories
- Performing scenario-based analysis
Amazon Q is available to Pro users and requires a $250 per month enablement fee per account. It is included in the 30-day Enterprise Edition free trial for up to four users.
Other Considerations
- QuickSight does not charge for background tabs unless the user actively interacts with the application
- Month-to-month billed Authors automatically convert to annual commitment plans when the billing period begins
- The Amazon Q enablement fee applies once per account, even if the account spans multiple AWS regions
Cruz Street: Making QuickSight a Reality for All
At Cruz Street, we are committed to helping organizations of all sizes harness the power of Amazon QuickSight. Our goal is to make enterprise-grade analytics accessible, cost-effective, and easy to adopt. Whether you are building your first dashboard or scaling analytics across departments, we are here to guide you every step of the way.
