AWS's total financial liability to a customer for any claim arising under the agreement is capped at the total fees the customer paid for the specific service at issue during the twelve months preceding the claim, with a $25 cap for free services. This cap applies regardless of the number or nature of claims.
This analysis describes what AWS's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes a financial ceiling on AWS's recoverable liability that may be significantly lower than actual losses experienced by customers in the event of a service failure, data loss, or other breach. For customers paying relatively modest monthly fees but operating high-value production workloads, the cap could result in a material disproportion between recoverable damages and actual financial impact.
This new provision imposes a strict monetary cap on AWS's liability, significantly limiting customer recovery to 12 months of fees paid or $25 for free services, fundamentally altering liability exposure.
View full change record →Under this clause, the maximum amount a customer could recover from AWS for any claim, including service outages, data loss, or breach of contract, is limited to fees paid in the prior 12 months for the specific service involved. The agreement separately excludes indirect and consequential damages, further narrowing the scope of recoverable losses.
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"Our aggregate liability under this Agreement will not exceed the amount you actually paid us under this Agreement for the Service Offering that gave rise to the claim during the 12 months before the liability arose. If the claim relates to a Service Offering for which there are no fees, our aggregate liability will not exceed $25.— Excerpt from AWS's AWS Customer Agreement
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Liability limitation clauses of this type are common in cloud infrastructure agreements and are generally enforceable under US commercial law, though specific jurisdictions including some EU member states may limit the enforceability of liability caps in consumer contracts or where gross negligence or willful misconduct is involved. GDPR Article 82 provides data subjects with a right to compensation from controllers and processors for GDPR violations, and contractual liability caps between AWS and its customers do not necessarily limit AWS's exposure to data subjects under this provision. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High for enterprise customers. Organizations with significant revenue-generating workloads on AWS may face substantial unrecovered losses if a service failure causes business interruption exceeding the 12-month fee cap. Risk management teams should model worst-case scenarios against the applicable cap amount for each critical service. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU/EEA customers should evaluate whether local law limits the enforceability of liability caps, particularly in consumer or small business contexts. UK post-Brexit commercial law may similarly constrain enforceability in certain circumstances. For financial services customers subject to operational resilience regulations, the gap between the liability cap and regulatory exposure warrants specific attention. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Enterprise procurement teams should assess whether AWS Enterprise Agreements or other negotiated addenda provide modified liability terms. The $25 cap for free-tier services is particularly notable for customers using free-tier services for prototyping or development that may process real data. Standard commercial practice in enterprise software agreements often includes tiered or negotiated liability caps; teams should document whether the standard customer agreement cap is acceptable relative to workload criticality. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Risk and compliance teams should ensure that cyber insurance and business interruption insurance policies account for the limited contractual recovery available from AWS. Organizations with fiduciary or regulatory obligations related to data availability should assess whether the liability cap is consistent with those obligations and consider whether contract negotiation or alternative risk transfer mechanisms are warranted.
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This provision establishes a financial ceiling on AWS's recoverable liability that may be significantly lower than actual losses experienced by customers in the event of a service failure, data loss, or other breach. For customers paying relatively modest monthly fees but operating high-value production workloads, the cap could result in a material disproportion between recoverable damages and actual financial impact.
Under this clause, the maximum amount a customer could recover from AWS for any claim, including service outages, data loss, or breach of contract, is limited to fees paid in the prior 12 months for the specific service involved. The agreement separately excludes indirect and consequential damages, further narrowing the scope of recoverable losses.
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