Storage Price Comparison
Calculate true monthly & annual bills across 26 S3-compatible, NAS, and cloud storage providers. Includes exact egress fees, 90-day retention penalties, and API request rates.
Workload Studio & Capacity Profile
Select an architectural preset or dial your exact volume below:
Interactive Cost Breakdown Visualizer
Hover over stacked bars to inspect the exact cost distribution across storage, egress, and API requests:
Chart shows the 15 cheapest of 26 ranked providers — see the full ranking table below.
Low-Headache Gold Standards: Zero Hidden Traps
After auditing dozens of providers, these 5 champions stand out for transparent pricing, 0 retention penalties, zero-to-fair egress, and rock-solid reliability:
Hetzner Storage Box from $3.73/TB (native BorgBackup & SFTP) and Object Storage at $7.30/TB. Zero ops fees, 0 retention days, and 100% Green German/Finnish infrastructure.
Standard S3 at $8.11/TB with 100% free unmetered egress in Europe & US (High Perf NVMe $20.28/TB and 3-AZ Multi-Zone $15.70 first 50 TiB also available). Zero API call fees, zero deletion penalties.
High-resilience Multi-AZ distributed across 3 distinct data center facilities in Paris, Amsterdam, and Warsaw. 75 GB free storage & egress, zero API fees, and 0 retention penalties.
$5.00/TB pay-as-you-go with free egress up to 3× stored data and $0 egress via Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance. Unrivaled third-party backup ecosystem support.
$5.00/TB storage tightly coupled with Bunny's global CDN, automatic image optimization, and video transcoding pipeline. Zero API request charges.
Ranked Cost & Feature Comparison
Ranked strictly by price. Totals within ~$2 are near-ties — close enough that feature richness may be the better decider.
Showing 27 of 27 cloud storage providers matching filters:
| Rank ▲ | Provider & Tier | Protocol & SLA | Storage Rate | Egress & Ops | Retention & Lock | Legal Sovereignty | Perks & Traps | Calculated Bill | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | HS Hetzner Storage Box by Hetzner 🏆 Gold Standard ⭐ from $3.73/TB NAS | 📁 NAS / Borg 99.9% SLA | from $3.73/TB ($11.54/mo) | $0.117/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (Germany & Finland) | ⚠️ Monthly floor | $11.89 / mo | |
| #2 | MS MEGA S4 Object Storage by MEGA ⭐ $17.49 Base Floor | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $3.07/TB ($23.62/mo) | $3.07/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | EU / New Zealand Framework (NL, LU, CA) | Free egress tier ⚠️ Egress cap 5×/mo⚠️ Monthly floor | $23.62 / mo | |
| #3 | IE iDrive e2 by iDrive | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $6.00/TB ($30.00/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | ⚠️ 30d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US & EU (Frankfurt, London, Dublin) | Free egress tierNo minimum ⚠️ 30d min retention⚠️ Egress cap 3×/mo | $30.00 / mo | |
| #4 | TC Telnyx Cloud Storage by Telnyx | ✓ S3 API 99.95% SLA | $6.14/TB ($30.70/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.500/1M
· B $0.040/1M ops bill $3.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US (US Cloud Act) | Free egressNo minimum ⚠️ Ops $0.50/1M writes | $33.70 / mo | |
| #5 | BC B2 Cloud Storage by Backblaze 🏆 Gold Standard | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $6.95/TB ($34.75/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US & EU (Amsterdam) | Free egress tierNo minimum10 GB free storage ⚠️ Egress cap 3×/mo | $34.75 / mo | |
| #6 | HO Hetzner Object Storage by Hetzner 🏆 Gold Standard ⭐ $7.57 Base | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $7.30/TB ($36.76/mo) | $1.17/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (Germany & Finland) | 1 TB free egress/mo ⚠️ Monthly floor | $39.10 / mo | |
| #7 | SC Synology C2 OneStorage by Synology 🏆 Gold Standard | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $7.99/TB ($39.95/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | EU (Frankfurt), US (Seattle), Asia (Taiwan) | Free egress ⚠️ Monthly floor | $39.95 / mo | |
| #8 | WH Wasabi Hot Storage by Wasabi ⚠️ 90d Retention | ✓ S3 API 99.99% SLA | $7.99/TB ($39.95/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | ⚠️ 90d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US & EU (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, London) | ⚠️ 90d min retention⚠️ 1:1 egress cap⚠️ Monthly floor | $39.95 / mo | |
| #9 | OO OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) by OVHcloud 🏆 Gold Standard ⭐ 100% Free EU/US Egress | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $8.11/TB ($40.55/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (France & Germany) | Free egressNo minimum | $40.55 / mo | |
| #10 | RS Rabata S3 Hot Storage by Rabata.io | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $10.00/TB ($50.00/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | ⚠️ 30d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | EU & US | ⚠️ 30d min retention⚠️ Monthly floor | $50.00 / mo | |
| #11 | CO Contabo Object Storage by Contabo | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $10.96/TB ($54.80/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (Germany) | ⚠️ Fair-use egress⚠️ Monthly floor | $54.80 / mo | |
| #12 | ST Storj by Storj Labs | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $7.00/TB ($35.00/mo) | $7.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | ⚠️ 30d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Decentralized Zero-Knowledge / Global Nodes | ⚠️ 30d min retention⚠️ Monthly floor | $56.00 / mo | |
| #13 | R( rsync.net (ZFS Backup) by rsync.net ⚠️ Scale Cost | 📁 NAS / Borg 99.99% SLA | $15.00/TB ($75.00/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US, Switzerland, Germany (Non-Cloud Act available) | Free egress ⚠️ Monthly floor | $75.00 / mo | |
| #14 | BS Bunny Storage by Bunny.net 🏆 Gold Standard | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $10.00/TB ($50.00/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | EU & US (Slovenia / Global Edge) | ⚠️ Monthly floor | $80.00 / mo | |
| #15 | R2 R2 by Cloudflare ⚠️ $4.50/1M Action Fee | ✓ S3 API 99.99% SLA | $15.00/TB ($74.85/mo) | $0.00 (Free) A $4.50/1M
· B $0.360/1M ops bill $18.90/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Global Edge (US Cloud Act) | Free egressNo minimum10 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $4.50/1M writes | $93.75 / mo | |
| #16 | AO Akamai Object Storage (Linode) by Akamai Connected Cloud ⚠️ $5 Base Floor | ✓ S3 API 99.99% SLA | $20.00/TB ($100.00/mo) | $5.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Global Multi-Region (US Cloud Act) | 1 TB free egress/mo ⚠️ Monthly floor | $110.00 / mo | |
| #17 | VO Vultr Object Storage by Vultr ⚠️ $18 Base Floor | ✓ S3 API 99.99% SLA | $18.00/TB ($90.00/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Global Multi-Region (US, EU, Asia) | 1 TB free egress/mo ⚠️ Monthly floor | $110.00 / mo | |
| #18 | DS DigitalOcean Spaces by DigitalOcean ⚠️ $5 Base Floor | ✓ S3 API | $20.00/TB ($100.00/mo) | $10.00/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min Versioning: not captured | Global | 1 TB free egress/mo250 GB free storage ⚠️ Monthly floor | $120.00 / mo | |
| #19 | SO Scaleway Object Storage by Scaleway 🏆 Gold Standard | ✓ S3 API 99.95% SLA | $18.73/TB ($92.23/mo) | $11.66/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (France, Netherlands, Poland) | 75 GB free egress/moNo minimum75 GB free storage | $126.33 / mo | |
| #20 | OO Oracle Object Storage by Oracle Cloud | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $25.50/TB ($126.99/mo) | $8.50/TB A $0.340/1M
· B $0.340/1M ops bill $17.68/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Global Enterprise (US Cloud Act) | 10.24 TB free egress/moNo minimum20 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $0.34/1M writes | $144.67 / mo | |
| #21 | ES Exoscale SOS by Exoscale | ✓ S3 API 99.95% SLA | $23.44/TB ($117.18/mo) | $23.32/TB A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | Swiss Sovereign (Swiss FADP + EU GDPR) | No minimum ⚠️ $23.32/TB egress | $187.14 / mo | |
| #22 | BS Blob Storage (Hot) by Microsoft Azure | Proprietary 99.9% SLA | $20.80/TB ($103.90/mo) | $87.00/TB A $5.40/1M
· B $0.430/1M ops bill $32.30/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US Cloud Act (Global regions) | No minimum5 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $5.40/1M writes⚠️ $87.00/TB egress | $397.20 / mo | |
| #23 | IC IBM Cloud Object Storage by IBM Cloud | ✓ S3 API 99.99% SLA | $21.00/TB ($104.48/mo) | $90.00/TB A $5.20/1M
· B $0.420/1M ops bill $31.40/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US Cloud Act (Global regions) | No minimum25 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $5.20/1M writes⚠️ $90.00/TB egress | $405.88 / mo | |
| #24 | SS S3 Standard by AWS | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $23.00/TB ($114.89/mo) | $90.00/TB A $5.00/1M
· B $0.400/1M ops bill $30.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US Cloud Act (Global regions) | 100 GB free egress/moNo minimum5 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $5.00/1M writes⚠️ $90.00/TB egress | $405.88 / mo | |
| #25 | CS Cloud Storage Standard by Google Cloud | ✓ S3 API 99.95% SLA | $20.00/TB ($99.90/mo) | $120.00/TB A $5.00/1M
· B $0.400/1M ops bill $30.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US Cloud Act (Global regions) | No minimum5 GB free storage ⚠️ Ops $5.00/1M writes⚠️ $120.00/TB egress | $489.90 / mo | |
| #26 | SG S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval by AWS | ✓ S3 API 99.9% SLA | $4.00/TB ($20.00/mo) | $90.00/TB A $100.00/1M
· B $10.00/1M ops bill $700.00/mo | ⚠️ 90d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | US Cloud Act (Global regions) | ⚠️ 90d min retention⚠️ Monthly floor⚠️ Ops $100.00/1M writes⚠️ $90.00/TB egress | $990.00 / mo | |
| — | IO IONOS Object Storage by IONOS | ✓ S3 API 99.95% SLA | $8.03/TB | — A $0.00
· B $0.00 ops bill $0.00/mo | 0d min 🔒 Lock ↻ Versioning | 100% EU Sovereign (Germany & UK) | No minimum | Unranked |
⚠️ The Fine-Print & Trap Inspector (How Cloud Storage Tricks You)
Cloud storage marketing headlines hide critical architectural gotchas. Here is how companies structure billing rules to charge 10x–100x more than their advertised $/TB rate:
1. The "Free Egress" Ratio & Fair-Use Caps
Many providers claim "No Egress Fees" in their hero marketing, but enforce strict ratios or overage penalties in their fine print:
- Wasabi (1:1 Ratio): Egress is only free if monthly download volume does not exceed total stored volume. Exceeding 1:1 can lead to account suspension or forced enterprise contracts.
- Backblaze B2 (3x Ratio): Free egress is capped at 3× stored data per month. Downloads above 3× are billed at $0.01/GB ($10/TB).
- MEGA S4 (5x Ratio + $17.49/mo Pro Base): Free egress is limited to 5× stored data on Pro Flexi ($17.49/mo base for 3 TB), then billed at $3.07/TB. Fixed Pro I is hard-capped at 3 TB transfer.
- iDrive e2 (3x Ratio): Egress free up to 3× stored volume, then $0.01/GB. Watch for steep promotional year-1 renewal jumps.
2. The 90-Day Minimum Retention Penalty
If you delete, overwrite, or rotate files before the minimum retention window expires, you are billed for the full duration ("Timed Deleted Storage"):
- Wasabi (90 Days): If you upload 10 TB of daily database backups and delete them after 7 days, you pay for 90 days of storage for each backup. A 7-day backup rotation effectively bills as ~12× your active storage!
- AWS Glacier Instant Retrieval (90 Days): Deleting archive files early triggers pro-rated 90-day early deletion fees.
- Rabata (30 Days) / iDrive e2 (30 Days): 30-day minimum retention rules on deleted chunks.
3. The $1,500/mo API Write Trap on Small Files
If you store millions of small files (IoT telemetry, user avatars, chat logs, game assets), API operation fees dwarf storage costs:
- AWS S3 Standard ($5.00/1M writes): Uploading 10M files/day = 300M Class A PUT requests/month = $1,500/mo in API fees alone, even if the data is only 500 GB ($11.50 storage)!
- Azure Blob Storage ($5.40/1M writes): Hot LRS write operations cost $0.054/10k = $1,620/mo in API fees on 300M writes.
- Cloudflare R2 ($4.50/1M writes): Class A mutations cost $4.50/1M = $1,345.50/mo on 300M writes (299M billable after the 1M/mo free Class-A tier) despite zero egress fees.
- AWS Glacier Instant ($100.00/1M writes): PUT operations cost $0.10/1k ($100/1M) = $30,000/mo on 300M writes. Ingesting high-frequency small files directly into Glacier is an instant disaster.
4. The Minimum Monthly Invoice & Plan Floor
Small applications and micro-services often get billed 10x more than raw usage due to account minimums:
- Vultr Object Storage ($18.00/mo base): No micro-tiers; standard plan starts at $18/mo (includes 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress).
- MEGA S4 ($17.49/mo Pro Flexi base): Cannot be purchased as standalone $0.10 bucket; requires $17.49/mo Pro Flexi or $11.65/mo Pro I.
- Hetzner Object Storage ($7.57/mo base): Minimum $7.57/mo commitment (includes 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress).
- Wasabi ($7.99/TB, 90-day retention): Deleted objects still bill out their 90-day minimum duration — churn-heavy buckets pay phantom storage.
- Storj ($5.00/mo invoice minimum): Invoices below $5 are rounded to $5.00 minimum once a card is attached.
5. The Cloud Lock-In Egress Ransom
Moving data into the big 3 clouds is free, but pulling it out to migrate or multi-cloud is penalized with punitive egress fees:
- AWS S3 & IBM Cloud ($90.00 / TB): Migrating a 100 TB dataset to another provider costs $9,000 in egress fees.
- Google Cloud Storage ($120.00 / TB): Migrating 100 TB costs $12,000 in egress ransom.
- Azure Blob Storage ($87.00 / TB): Migrating 100 TB costs $8,700.
6. The Cloudflare R2 "Action & Space" Mark-Up Trap
Cloudflare R2 heavily markets "$0.00 Egress", but claws back margins through expensive base storage and high Class A operation fees:
- 2.5×–3× Higher Storage Cost ($15.00/TB): R2 costs $15/TB, whereas Bunny is $5/TB, Backblaze B2 is $5/TB, and Hetzner is $7.30/TB. Storing 50 TB on R2 costs $750/mo vs $250/mo on Bunny!
- Expensive Class A Action Fees ($4.50/1M writes): Uploading 10M files/day (300M PUTs/mo) costs $1,345.50/mo in write fees alone (after the 1M/mo free Class-A tier) on R2, compared to $0.00 on Hetzner, Bunny, or OVH.
- When R2 Actually Makes Sense: Only when outbound egress volume is massive (e.g. 50× stored data) and write volume is negligible. For general storage or backup, R2 is significantly more expensive.
🗄️ Beyond S3: The 4 Storage Paradigms (Which Do You Actually Need?)
Developers often default to S3 without realizing that Managed Storage Boxes, Decentralized Swarms, or Self-Hosted NVMe clusters may be 10x cheaper or vastly superior for their specific workload:
1. S3-Compatible Object Storage
HTTP API / Cloud-NativeFlat key-value storage accessed via HTTP REST APIs (AWS SDK, MinIO, S3cmd). Uses pre-signed URLs, multi-part uploads, and bucket versioning.
2. Managed Storage Boxes & NAS
Filesystem / SSH / BorgHierarchical Unix storage accessible via standard network protocols (BorgBackup, SFTP, rsync, WebDAV, CIFS/Samba). No API overhead.
3. Decentralized & Web3 Storage
Zero-Knowledge / Censorship-ProofClient-side encrypted chunks dispersed across tens of thousands of global node operators using Reed-Solomon erasure coding.
4. Self-Hosted On-Premises Engines
Bare Metal / Zero-EgressDeploying open-source S3-compatible daemon software on dedicated bare-metal servers or local NVMe clusters. Maximum IOPS and zero outbound egress fees.
Price-change register updated 2026-09-01
iDrive e2 undercuts AWS S3 Standard by ~3.8× on storage ($0.0060 vs $0.0230 per GB-month); 18 of 20 captured USD vendors sit below AWS — the spread is egress and ecosystem, not bytes at rest.
| Vendor | Storage /GB·mo | Egress /GB | Δ vs prev capture | Captured ▼ | Who should skip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEGA S4 Object Storage | €0.0026 | €0.0026 | = refined vs 2026-08-20 | 2026-09-01 | Captured at €0.0026/GB native currency — use the USD-normalized ranking above for cross-currency decisions. |
| Hetzner Storage Box not S3 API | €0.0032 | €0.00010 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Captured at €0.0032/GB native currency — use the USD-normalized ranking above for cross-currency decisions. |
| S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval | $0.0040 | $0.0900 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip if egress-heavy: at $0.0900/GB, pulling data out costs more than a year of storing it. |
| iDrive e2 | $0.0060 | $0.0100 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip mainly on compliance grounds — durability/SLA fine print, not price, is the reason to look elsewhere. |
| Telnyx Cloud Storage | $0.0061 | $0.00000 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip mainly on compliance grounds — durability/SLA fine print, not price, is the reason to look elsewhere. |
| Hetzner Object Storage | €0.0063 | €0.0010 | ▲▼ both moved vs 2026-08-19 | 2026-09-01 | Skip if you need S3 API completeness beyond the basics or non-EU regions; otherwise the value is hard to beat in Europe. |
| B2 Cloud Storage | $0.0069 | $0.0100 | ▲ 39.0% vs 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Storj | $0.0070 | $0.0070 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Synology C2 OneStorage | $0.0080 | $0.00000 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Wasabi Hot Storage | $0.0080 | $0.00000 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip if your workload deletes or re-reads aggressively — Wasabi bills early-delete and egress-within-90-days quirks. |
| OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) | $0.0081 | $0.00000 | ▲ 15.9% vs 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Bunny Storage | $0.0100 | $0.0100 | ▲ 100.0% vs 2026-08-16 | 2026-09-01 | Skip if you need API request billing granularity — Bunny charges none, which is a feature, not a gap. |
| Rabata S3 Hot Storage | $0.0100 | $0.0100 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Contabo Object Storage | $0.0110 | $0.00000 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| R2 | $0.0150 | $0.00000 | = refined vs 2026-08-13 | 2026-09-01 | Hard to skip on egress grounds (zero egress fees); skip only if you need object lock or EU-pinned sovereignty. |
| rsync.net (ZFS Backup) not S3 API | $0.0150 | $0.00000 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Solid mid-pack: skip only if a specific feature (region, lock, SLA) rules it out. |
| Scaleway Object Storage | €0.0161 | €0.0100 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Captured at €0.0161/GB native currency — use the USD-normalized ranking above for cross-currency decisions. |
| Vultr Object Storage | $0.0180 | $0.0100 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip for budget builds — premium-tier rate with cheaper S3-compatible alternatives below. |
| Akamai Object Storage (Linode) | $0.0200 | $0.0050 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip for budget builds — premium-tier rate with cheaper S3-compatible alternatives below. |
| Cloud Storage Standard | $0.0200 | $0.1200 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip unless you are all-in on Google Cloud; the $120/TB egress bill is the steepest here. |
| DigitalOcean Spaces | $0.0200 | $0.0100 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip for budget builds — premium-tier rate with cheaper S3-compatible alternatives below. |
| Exoscale SOS | €0.0201 | €0.0200 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Captured at €0.0201/GB native currency — use the USD-normalized ranking above for cross-currency decisions. |
| Blob Storage (Hot) not S3 API | $0.0208 | $0.0870 | ▲ 1.6% vs 2026-08-19 | 2026-09-01 | Skip unless you are all-in on Azure; egress near $87/TB punishes any data leaving. |
| IBM Cloud Object Storage | $0.0210 | $0.0900 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip for greenfield projects — Big-3 pricing without the Big-3 ecosystems. |
| S3 Standard | $0.0230 | $0.0900 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip unless you need AWS-native ecosystem lock-in — you pay roughly 3–9× budget vendors for the name. |
| Oracle Object Storage | $0.0255 | $0.0085 | first capture | 2026-09-01 | Skip if you fear audit surprises — Oracle pricing pages have history; verify your tier before committing. |
| IONOS Object Storage | £0.0063 | — | first capture | 2026-08-21 | Skip if you need exact billing math — part of the rate sheet is not yet independently captured. |
Every row carries its own capture date from vendor pricing pages; Δ compares the current capture to the previous distinct one (“capture refined” means our recording improved, not that prices changed). Currencies are shown natively and never silently converted; uncaptured rates render as an em-dash, never zero. Machine-readable copies: register.csv.
Curated Storage Guides & Decision Frameworks
Deep-dive buying guides comparing cloud object storage for specific architectural requirements:
Backup workloads are write-heavy and read-rare. The key is low storage $/TB, zero retention penalties on file rotations, and free or low-cost recovery bandwidth.
Guide Best Zero-Egress S3 Storage Providers (2026) →Hyperscalers charge up to $120/TB for egress bandwidth. These zero-egress providers let you stream video, serve public assets, and build high-traffic apps without bandwidth anxiety.
Guide Best European Sovereign S3 Storage (GDPR Compliant) →For healthcare, finance, and European public sector compliance, US-owned clouds are subject to the US CLOUD Act regardless of datacenter location. These native European providers guarantee total legal data sovereignty.
Guide Best Cloud Storage for AI Datasets & Model Weights (2026) →AI workloads require fast parallel read throughput for GPU clusters, massive capacity for training datasets, and zero egress fees for distributing model weights.
Guide Best S3 Storage for Video Streaming & Media Delivery (2026) →Streaming video and delivering large media files creates massive monthly data transfer. Egress fees at hyperscalers ($90–$120/TB) will bankrupt video platforms — zero-egress or multiplier clouds are mandatory.
Guide Best S3 Storage for High-Volume Small Files (10M Files/Day) →When uploading 10 million files per day (300M PUTs/mo for telemetry, IoT, AI logs, or scraping), AWS charges $1,500/month just in API request fees. These zero-op-fee and low-request providers protect your unit economics.
Head-to-Head S3 Comparisons
Direct 1-on-1 feature breakdowns and cost differences across major cloud storage rivals:
Cloudflare R2 is dramatically cheaper for egress-heavy and public web assets due to $0 egress fees. AWS S3 Standard remains the enterprise choice for complex IAM, S3 Object Lock, and multi-tier lifecycle rules.
vs Wasabi vs Backblaze B2 →Backblaze B2 ($5/TB) is best for backups and workloads with proportional reads thanks to its 3x free-egress policy and zero retention penalties. Wasabi ($7.99/TB) is ideal for active media serving with zero egress fees, provided data is kept for at least 90 days.
vs AWS S3 vs Backblaze B2 →Backblaze B2 delivers approximately 78% savings on raw storage ($5/TB vs $23/TB) and eliminates 100% of egress costs for typical backup workloads up to 3x stored volume. AWS S3 provides unmatched enterprise compliance certifications.
vs Cloudflare R2 vs Wasabi →Both offer zero egress fees. Cloudflare R2 ($15/TB) is better for web applications and CDN origins due to edge caching and zero retention minimums. Wasabi ($7.99/TB) is roughly half the storage price for bulk media archives.
vs Hetzner vs OVHcloud Object Storage →Both provide 100% GDPR-compliant European sovereignty under EU jurisdiction, outside the US CLOUD Act’s direct reach. Hetzner is unbeatable on entry price ($7.57 base with 1TB included), while OVHcloud offers high-performance multi-region infrastructure and free European egress.
vs DigitalOcean Spaces vs Vultr Object Storage →Both offer developer-friendly S3 storage for cloud compute workloads. DigitalOcean Spaces ($5/250GB) includes an integrated CDN edge with automatic SSL. Vultr ($6–$18/TB) provides high-speed NVMe clusters in over 32 global locations.
vs Hetzner vs AWS S3 →Hetzner offers unbeatable multi-terabyte to petabyte European scale economics with zero API operation fees and 100% GDPR compliance. AWS S3 provides global multi-region replication and complex enterprise lifecycle management.
vs OVHcloud vs AWS S3 →OVHcloud provides a fully sovereign European alternative with 100% free outbound egress and water-cooled green datacenters. AWS S3 Standard is the global hyperscaler default with broader third-party SaaS integrations.
vs Hetzner Storage Box vs Backblaze B2 →Hetzner Storage Box (from $3.73/TB) is the price leader for server backups via Borg, Restic, SFTP, and WebDAV. Backblaze B2 ($5.00/TB) is the champion for standard S3 API object storage applications, mobile apps, and multi-cloud sync.
vs OVHcloud Standard vs Cloudflare R2 →Both offer 100% free outbound egress. OVHcloud Standard ($8.11/TB) provides European data sovereignty and zero API operation fees. Cloudflare R2 ($15.00/TB) provides worldwide Anycast edge latency and native Cloudflare Workers integration.
Methodology
Prices captured 2026-09-01 from vendor pricing pages. Compute math: per-vendor storage cost × billable stored GB (after free tier) + egress cost × billable egress GB (after free tier / B2's 3x-stored policy) + Class A / B op costs × volume. EU-region prices used by default; switch Region to US where applicable.
Sources: Bunny Storage, R2, B2 Cloud Storage, Wasabi Hot Storage, Storj, Hetzner Object Storage, Hetzner Storage Box, Scaleway Object Storage, iDrive e2, Vultr Object Storage, OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard), Oracle Object Storage, IONOS Object Storage, Exoscale SOS, Akamai Object Storage (Linode), DigitalOcean Spaces, S3 Standard, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, Blob Storage (Hot), Cloud Storage Standard, Contabo Object Storage, IBM Cloud Object Storage, Telnyx Cloud Storage, MEGA S4 Object Storage, Rabata S3 Hot Storage, rsync.net (ZFS Backup), Synology C2 OneStorage.
Vendor scope: S3-compatible object-storage, managed Storage Boxes, and unified cloud storage; 27 vendors as of 2026-09-01. Rows where a rate is uncaptured sit unranked with an honest note rather than an estimate. Pricing pages are always the primary link; where an affiliate program is verified it is disclosed in that vendor's guide note — pricing tables and charts carry no referral labels (2026-08-26 owner steer), and links never change the price you pay.
Currency handling: the site standardizes on one display currency — US dollars. The ranked comparison and every vendor card show USD figures; EUR-billed vendors (Hetzner, MEGA S4, Scaleway, Exoscale) are converted at the fixed editorial FX rate (1 EUR = 1.166 USD, captured 2026-08-27) that also drives the ranking, and their invoices to you remain in euros. The price-register table below is the deliberate exception: it is a capture record of vendor list prices, so it shows each rate in its native billing currency, never converted.
Plan omissions: this comparison models one pay-as-you-go row per vendor. Cheaper plan shapes are not ranked: Backblaze B2 Overdrive (~$15/TB with unlimited free egress), iDrive e2 fixed-capacity annual plans (a 1 TB plan works out cheaper than their PAYG rate), and Hetzner's official dual EUR/USD pricing (this tool converts the captured EUR figure to USD for comparison). If your workload fits a fixed-capacity plan, check the vendor's page before deciding — our per-TB rates can overstate what you would actually pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the cheapest S3-compatible storage in 2026?
- The cheapest provider depends on your egress and operation pattern. For pure storage with zero retention penalties, Bunny Storage ($5.00/TB), Backblaze B2 ($6.95/TB as of 2026-09-01), and Hetzner Object Storage ($7.30/TB) offer the best value. For server backups without an S3 API, Hetzner Storage Box (from $3.73/TB) is unmatched.
- How do Hetzner and OVHcloud avoid common object-storage traps?
- Hetzner and OVHcloud have 0-day retention minimums, $0.00 API operation fees, zero 1:1 or 3× bandwidth ratio traps, and 100% GDPR EU data residency. You can delete or rotate objects hourly without paying phantom deleted storage fees.
- Is Cloudflare R2 really free egress, and why can it be a trap?
- Cloudflare R2 provides $0.00 unmetered egress, but base storage is expensive ($15.00/TB — 3x Bunny and 2.16x B2 as of 2026-09-01) and Class A write operations cost $4.50 per 1M. If you upload 10M files/day (299M billable writes after the 1M/mo free Class-A tier), you will pay $1,345.50/mo in API fees alone. R2 only makes economic sense when egress is massive and file mutations are rare.
- What is the 90-day minimum retention penalty?
- Providers like Wasabi and AWS Glacier Instant Retrieval enforce a 90-day storage minimum. If you create a 1 TB backup and delete or replace it after 3 days, you are still billed for the remaining 87 days as "Timed Deleted Storage". For daily backup rotation, this multiplies your bill by up to 30x.
- What is the difference between S3 Object Storage and a Storage Box?
- S3 Object Storage is accessed over HTTP REST APIs using buckets and keys. Storage Boxes (like Hetzner or rsync.net) are Unix-level network drives accessed via SSH, BorgBackup, rsync, SFTP, and Samba. Storage Boxes are significantly cheaper for server backups and disaster recovery.
- How does Backblaze B2's 3× free egress policy work?
- Backblaze B2 provides free monthly egress up to 3× your average stored data volume. Storing 10 TB gives you 30 TB of free download transfer every month. Overage beyond that is billed at just $0.01/GB ($10/TB), or $0.00 via the Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance.
Real-World Context: How Dracon Hosts Games & AI Models
At Dracon, we build browser-based desktop indie games and AI-powered developer utilities. Our production storage architecture is hybrid by design:
🎮 Game Assets & WASM Bundles
Hosted on Cloudflare R2. Zero egress fees allow thousands of players to load multi-megabyte 3D assets, audio tracks, and WebAssembly packages with zero bandwidth bill surprises.
🤖 AI Weights & Model Checkpoints
Local NVMe for low-latency GPU inference, backed up to Backblaze B2. The 3x stored free-egress ratio provides low-cost bulk storage without recovery penalties.
🇪🇺 Encrypted Snapshots & Databases
Daily snapshots replicated to Hetzner Storage Box in Nuremberg and Helsinki. Strict EU GDPR data residency without US CLOUD Act exposure.
Explore Dracon Platform
Live reset timeline and 24h/48h AI usage forecast tracker with a transparent, sourced methodology.
Dracon AI Hub ↗Explore cutting-edge neural interfaces, developer sidecars, and local AI workflows.
Dracon Desktop Games ↗Desktop-first indie browser games built with Bevy and high-performance WebAssembly.