A global glitch in Amazon Web Services' billing system caused customers to receive astronomical invoices, with some bills reaching as high as $1.5 trillion. The error, which occurred on Friday, sent shockwaves through AWS's millions of users, from individuals to large corporations.
Panic and Confusion Across the Globe
Dan Harvey, head of marketing at the Hampshire-based charity Learning Through Landscapes, described his shock when he saw a bill of $7.8 billion (£5.8 billion) for a service that usually costs less than £1 per month. 'I almost had a heart attack when I received an email alert from Amazon Web Services with the billing for our charity’s school grounds audit app,' he said. His typical monthly bill is 43 cents.
Another user, Bharath, posted on X with a screenshot showing his usage had increased by 745,728,201,771% compared to the previous month, resulting in a $1.5 trillion bill. 'I just saw $1.5tn on my AWS bill and my soul left my body,' he wrote.
Students and Historians Affected
Sachin, a student in Delhi, who usually pays $1.28 a month, was billed $10.9 billion. 'Could you please investigate,' he pleaded with AWS support. In Bolsover, Derbyshire, historian Andrea Zuvich, who runs The Seventeenth Century Lady website, recounted a 'horrible half hour of extreme stress' after receiving a bill for $245 billion—close to Jeff Bezos's net worth. 'Our usual bills are around $15 a month,' she said. 'You can imagine we were pretty surprised.'
AWS Investigation and Apology
The glitch began at 3:38 AM UK time on Friday, affecting the AWS billing and cost management console. AWS apologized 'for any confusion and concern around these costs' and identified 'an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem.' The company shut off the bill estimation system and stated that full resolution would take multiple hours as they recomputed the estimated billing data.
One customer expressed terror after seeing a $256 billion bill, asking, 'How did this happen?' AWS has been approached for comment but has not yet responded. The incident highlights the reliance on cloud services and the potential for widespread disruption from technical errors.
