Affordable S3-compatible cloud storage. 1/4 cost of AWS.
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Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage has disrupted the cloud storage market by offering S3-compatible object storage at roughly one-quarter the cost of AWS S3. For businesses, developers, and IT teams looking to store large volumes of data — backups, media assets, archives, or application data — Backblaze B2 provides a compelling alternative to the hyperscaler ecosystem without sacrificing reliability or compatibility.
The pricing model is remarkably simple and transparent: 0.006 USD per GB per month for storage, with no minimum fees, no per-request charges for most operations, and generous free egress through partnerships with Cloudflare, Fastly, and other CDN providers through the Backblaze Alliance. Compare this to AWS S3's 0.023 USD per GB plus significant egress fees, and the savings become substantial for storage-heavy workloads. A business storing 10TB pays roughly 60 USD per month with B2 versus over 230 USD on S3.
S3 compatibility means existing tools, scripts, and applications built for AWS S3 can work with Backblaze B2 with minimal changes — just swap the endpoint and credentials. This compatibility extends to popular tools like rclone, Cyberduck, MSP360, Veeam, and Synology NAS devices. For organizations looking to reduce cloud storage costs without rewriting their infrastructure, this drop-in compatibility is essential.
Backblaze maintains its own data centers and custom-built storage hardware, the well-documented Backblaze Storage Pods, giving them unique cost advantages over cloud providers who rent third-party infrastructure. Their annual hard drive reliability reports are widely cited and respected in the industry, demonstrating a level of operational transparency that larger cloud providers rarely offer.
The platform includes Object Lock for immutable backups, which is critical for ransomware protection and regulatory compliance. Lifecycle rules handle automatic data management and cleanup. While B2 does not match S3 breadth of features — no built-in serverless functions, no native analytics, no multiple storage classes — it covers the core storage use cases that represent the vast majority of cloud storage spending.
For businesses in data-intensive industries — media production, healthcare imaging, surveillance systems, or scientific research — Backblaze B2 can reduce storage costs by 70 to 80 percent compared to AWS without meaningful trade-offs in reliability or data accessibility.
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Affordable S3-compatible cloud storage
Not the right fit for individuals backing up under 100GB of personal data — iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox covers that for a few dollars per month. Skip Backblaze B2 if you don't need versioned backups, off-site replication, or compliance reporting.
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Backblaze B2 offers a 10 GB free storage tier with no time limit, allowing users to test the service without upfront costs. Pricing starts at $0.006/GB per month, which is roughly one-quarter the cost of AWS S3, with no minimum monthly fee. Storage costs scale linearly at $6/TB per month, and egress fees apply unless data is delivered through a Bandwidth Alliance partner like Cloudflare.
Backblaze B2 is primarily designed for cloud backup, archival storage, and serving content via CDNs. Its S3-compatible API makes it suitable for developers and businesses integrating storage into applications, websites, or backup workflows. The platform also supports bucket versioning and lifecycle rules for automated data management.
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Pricing source: Official pricing page — Last verified: 6/14/2026
Backblaze B2 is ideal for small teams, startups, and variable workloads due to its no-minimum-fee structure and transparent pricing. It also benefits organizations that use Cloudflare or other Bandwidth Alliance partners, as free egress eliminates a major hidden cost for CDN-served content. Developers seeking an affordable S3-compatible alternative to hyperscalers will find it particularly useful.
Backblaze B2 provides an S3-compatible API, enabling seamless integration with most tools and libraries that support Amazon S3, such as rclone, Duplicati, and Cyberduck. The platform also offers application key management for granular access control and a web-based management UI for manual operations. No complex setup is required beyond generating API keys and configuring bucket policies.
A key limitation is that Backblaze B2 charges egress fees for data downloads outside the Bandwidth Alliance, which can add up for high-traffic use cases. Additionally, its API-first design may feel less intuitive for non-developers compared to consumer-focused services. Users needing a simpler, all-in-one backup solution for personal computers might consider Backblaze's own unlimited backup service (Backblaze Computer Backup) instead.
