Cloud Storage Pricing: AWS S3, GCP, Azure, B2

Cloud storage costs depend on both storage and data transfer fees, and the differences between providers can be substantial. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• AWS S3 : Starts at $0.023/GB per month for Standard storage. Data egress fees are $0.09/GB, with limited free transfer.
• Google Cloud Storage (GCS) : Standard storage costs $0.02/GB per month. Egress fees are $0.12/GB, with 1TB of free transfer monthly.
• Azure Blob Storage : Hot tier is $0.0184/GB per month. Egress fees are $0.087/GB, with 100GB free transfer monthly.
• Backblaze B2 : Flat $0.006/GB per month. Includes free egress up to 3x your storage amount, with $0.01/GB for additional transfers.

For frequent data access, Backblaze B2 is the most cost-effective option, offering low storage rates and generous free egress. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are pricier but provide advanced features and integrations for specific use cases. To avoid unexpected costs, assess your data access patterns and retrieval needs carefully.

Quick Comparison

Provider	Storage Cost (per GB/month)	Egress Fee (per GB)	Free Egress Allowance	Notes
Backblaze B2	$0.006	$0.01	3x storage amount	Best for low-cost, frequent access
AWS S3	$0.023	$0.09	100GB	Advanced features, higher cost
Google Cloud	$0.02	$0.12	1TB	High egress fees
Azure Blob	$0.0184	$0.087	100GB	Discounts for long-term use

For businesses with large datasets or infrequent access needs, consider archival options like AWS Glacier or Azure Archive for lower storage costs but higher retrieval fees. Always calculate total costs, including storage, egress, and retrieval, to choose the best provider for your needs.

Cloud Storage Pricing Comparison: AWS S3 vs Azure vs Google Cloud vs Backblaze B2

AWS S3 Pricing

Amazon S3 provides multiple storage classes tailored to different data access patterns and cost considerations. For instance, S3 Standard costs $0.023 per GB per month, while S3 Glacier Deep Archive is priced at just $0.00099 per GB per month in the US East region. These pricing differences are critical when planning for long-term data storage.

Storage Classes and Costs

S3 Standard is ideal for frequently accessed data, with a cost of $0.023 per GB per month. It comes without minimum storage duration requirements or retrieval fees. For more dynamic storage needs, S3 Intelligent-Tiering offers automatic movement of objects between access tiers. Frequently accessed data is charged at $0.023 per GB, while infrequently accessed data costs $0.0125 per GB. Additionally, there’s a monitoring fee of $0.0025 per 1,000 objects for files larger than 128 KB.

For long-term archiving, S3 Glacier classes provide cost-efficient options:

• S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval : $0.004 per GB
• S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval : $0.0036 per GB
• S3 Glacier Deep Archive : $0.00099 per GB

However, these archive classes enforce minimum storage durations: 90 days for Glacier Instant and Flexible Retrieval, and 180 days for Deep Archive. Charges apply for the full duration, even if data is deleted early. Moreover, Glacier Flexible Retrieval and Deep Archive add a 40 KB metadata overhead per object, which can inflate costs significantly when storing millions of small files.

Here’s an example: A team storing a 10 TB machine learning dataset transitioned from S3 Standard to Glacier Flexible Retrieval in March 2026. Their monthly storage expenses dropped from $235.52 to $36.86 - an 84% savings - by scheduling data restores 5–12 hours in advance using the free Bulk retrieval option.

Egress and Retrieval Fees

The differences between storage classes become even more evident when factoring in retrieval and egress fees. For Glacier tiers, data retrieval incurs two charges: one for restoring the data and another for transferring it out of AWS. Here’s a breakdown:

• Glacier Instant Retrieval : $0.01 per GB for retrieval
• Glacier Flexible Retrieval :
  • Expedited: $0.03 per GB
  • Standard: $0.01 per GB
  • Bulk: $0.00 per GB
• Glacier Deep Archive :
  • Standard retrieval (12-hour turnaround): $0.02 per GB
  • Bulk retrieval (48-hour turnaround): $0.0025 per GB

After data is retrieved, internet egress fees apply. AWS allows the first 100 GB of data transfer per month for free. Beyond that, costs are $0.09 per GB for the next 10 TB. Transfers to Amazon CloudFront are free, while cross-region transfers cost $0.01 per GB between US regions and $0.02 per GB to international locations.

"The gap between the right and wrong storage class choice is enormous, and most teams don't realize it until the bill arrives." – CloudBurn

Next, we’ll explore how these costs stack up against Google Cloud Storage pricing.

Google Cloud Storage Pricing

Google Cloud Storage (GCS) offers four storage classes: Standard , Nearline , Coldline , and Archive. If you're storing data long-term in the US-Central1 region, Coldline costs around $0.004 per GB per month , while Archive storage is even cheaper at $0.0012 per GB per month. Archive storage is ideal for data you rarely need to access. Below is a closer look at how the pricing and retrieval costs vary across these storage classes.

Storage Classes and Costs

Standard Storage, designed for frequently accessed data, has the highest storage costs. For less frequently accessed data, Nearline storage costs $0.010 per GB per month (with a 30-day minimum), and Coldline storage is priced at $0.004 per GB per month (with a 90-day minimum). Archive Storage, the most affordable option, costs $0.0012 per GB per month but comes with a 365-day minimum storage period. Deleting or moving data before the minimum period ends will result in pro-rated charges for the remaining time.

Archive storage offers impressive durability, with 99.999999999% (11 nines) annual durability, and provides millisecond-latency access to your data. This is a stark contrast to services like AWS Glacier, where retrieving files can take hours.

"Unlike the 'coldest' storage services offered by other Cloud providers, your data is available within milliseconds, not hours or days." – Google Cloud Documentation

Data Retrieval and Access Charges

Retrieval fees can add up, especially with colder storage tiers. Here’s how they compare:

• Coldline: $0.02 per GB
• Archive: $0.05 per GB (2.5x Coldline and 5x Nearline)
• Nearline: $0.01 per GB

Operational costs also vary. For example, Archive Class A operations cost $0.05 per 1,000 operations , which is ten times the Standard tier's $0.005 per 1,000 operations.

When it comes to internet egress, GCS offers 1 TB of free data transfer per month. Transfers within the same region (e.g., US-East1 to US-East1) are free. Beyond that, general internet egress costs $0.12 per GB for the first 10 TB.

A cost-saving feature called Autoclass can help eliminate retrieval fees altogether. However, this feature comes with a management fee of $0.0025 per 1,000 objects.

"Retrieval can spike costs for cold/archive access patterns." – CloudCostKit Editorial Team

If you're planning long-term storage, it's smart to anticipate scenarios like audits or large-scale data restores - these "retrieval months" can lead to unexpected cost spikes. Understanding these potential costs will help you compare GCS pricing with other cloud providers in the next sections.

Azure Blob Storage Pricing

Azure Blob Storage offers a range of pricing tiers - Hot , Cool , Cold , and Archive - designed for different data access patterns. The Hot tier has the highest storage fees but the lowest access costs. Cool and Cold tiers are tailored for less frequently accessed data, with minimum storage durations of 30 days and 90 days , respectively. Meanwhile, the Archive tier is ideal for rarely accessed data, featuring the lowest storage fees but higher retrieval costs and a latency of up to 15 hours.

Pricing Across Tiers

For Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) in the East US region, Azure's tiered pricing varies significantly. The Hot tier costs $0.0184 per GB per month , while the Cool tier drops to $0.01 per GB per month. Cold tier pricing is even lower at $0.0036 per GB per month , with the Archive tier offering the cheapest option at $0.002 per GB per month. For example, moving data from the Hot to Cool tier can cut storage costs by 44%.

However, cheaper storage comes with trade-offs. For instance, read operations in the Archive tier are $5.00 per 10,000 operations , which is 1,250 times more expensive than the Hot tier's $0.004 per 10,000 operations. Additionally, deleting or moving data before meeting the minimum retention period - 30 days for Cool , 90 days for Cold , and 180 days for Archive - results in prorated early deletion penalties.

"Cool and Cold can cost more than Hot if you read data more often than you expect. Don't choose a tier on $/GB alone." – Stephen Lucas, Chief Product Officer, Hyperglance

Azure also charges for operations like retrievals, writes, and outbound data transfers.

Additional Costs

The Hot tier allows free data retrieval , but the Cool tier charges $0.01 per GB , Cold charges $0.03 per GB , and Archive charges $0.02 per GB. Write operations cost $0.05 per 10,000 in the Hot tier, compared to $0.18 per 10,000 in the Cold tier.

For outbound data transfers (egress), Azure charges approximately $0.087 per GB for the first 10 TB when moving data across regions or out to the internet. Transfers within the same region are usually free. To optimize costs, consider using Azure Lifecycle Management to automatically transition aging data to colder tiers. Additionally, Reserved Capacity commitments (available in 100 TB or 1 PB increments) can provide up to 34% discounts on Hot and Cool tiers.

Backblaze B2 Pricing

Backblaze B2 keeps things simple with a pay-as-you-go model : $6 per TB per month ($0.006 per GB). There's no minimum file size or storage duration requirement, and you even get 10GB of storage for free.

Storage and Egress Costs

One standout feature of Backblaze B2 is its "Free 3x Egress" policy. For every 1TB of data you store, you can download up to 3TB per month at no extra cost. If you exceed this limit, egress costs remain low at $0.01 per GB - a fraction of what major competitors charge. For comparison:

• AWS S3: $0.09 per GB
• Azure Blob: $0.087 per GB
• Google Cloud: $0.12 per GB

Additionally, egress is completely free when using integrated partner networks like Cloudflare, Fastly, and Vultr.

"From a cost of goods sold perspective, AWS pricing wasn't a great fit. Backblaze was a drop-in API replacement with a much better cost structure - it was just a no-brainer." – Rory Petty, Co-Founder & CTO of Tribute

On top of storage and egress savings, B2's API pricing adds another layer of affordability.

API and Access Fees

Backblaze B2 organizes API transactions into three categories. Class A operations - such as uploads, deletions, and multipart uploads - are entirely free. Beyond that, B2 includes 2,500 free daily calls for Classes B and C. If you need more, additional calls are priced at $0.004 per 10,000 for Class B and $0.004 per 1,000 for Class C.

Unlike many competitors, B2 does not charge for data uploads or file deletions. Plus, storage is calculated hourly and billed monthly, so you only pay for the exact time your data is stored.

Side-by-Side Pricing Comparison

When picking a cloud storage provider, it's not just the advertised price that matters. Storage fees are just one piece of the puzzle - egress charges (fees for retrieving data) can significantly impact your monthly costs, especially if you access your data frequently. To make things clearer, here's a side-by-side breakdown of costs for some popular providers.

Comparison Table

Here’s how the costs stack up for 1 TB of standard/hot storage with 1 TB of data retrieval per month:

Provider	Monthly Storage (1 TB)	Egress Fee (per GB)	Free Egress Allowance	Total Monthly Cost*
Backblaze B2	$6.00	$0.01	3 TB (3x storage)	$6.00
Azure Blob (Hot LRS)	$18.40	$0.087	100 GB	$96.70
AWS S3 (Standard)	$23.00	$0.09	100 GB	$104.00
Google Cloud (Standard)	$20.00	$0.12	Varies by region	$128.00

*Total includes both storage and egress fees after applying free allowances. Backblaze B2’s 3× free egress policy fully covers the 1 TB retrieval.

This comparison highlights how much you can save with Backblaze B2. At just $6.00 per month, it’s a fraction of the cost compared to AWS S3 at $104.00, Azure Blob at $96.70, and Google Cloud at $128.00.

For archival storage, options like AWS Glacier Deep Archive and Azure Archive charge around $0.99 per TB per month. However, keep in mind that these services are designed for true cold storage - they come with high retrieval fees and delays. If you need occasional access to your data, Backblaze B2 offers a far more cost-effective solution for workloads requiring periodic retrieval.

Cost Optimization for Long-Term Storage

Strategies for Cost Savings

After comparing pricing models, it's clear that cutting down on cloud storage costs is crucial for maintaining long-term efficiency. With 45–55% of cloud storage spending being avoidable , many businesses end up overspending simply because they lack an active storage management plan. Making a few strategic adjustments can lead to significant savings.

One effective approach is automated tiering. Services like AWS S3 Intelligent-Tiering and GCP Autoclass use machine learning to automatically move data between storage classes based on how often it's accessed. AWS reports that customers have saved a staggering $6 billion using S3 Intelligent-Tiering alone. This method stands out because it avoids retrieval fees, unlike manual transfers to cold storage tiers, which can rack up costs when files are accessed.

Another cost-saving measure is improving data hygiene. For example, setting lifecycle rules to delete incomplete multipart uploads after 7 days can prevent unnecessary storage usage. Similarly, expiring outdated object versions avoids the expense of storing redundant file versions.

File compression is another simple yet powerful tool. Compressing logs or JSON files before uploading can shrink data volume by 20–40%. This not only reduces storage costs but also lowers egress fees. Additionally, using a CDN with origin shielding can cut origin egress costs by 60–80%. For instance, transferring 50 TB of rarely accessed data from hot to cold storage could save over $11,000 annually in capacity charges.

Provider-Specific Considerations

Cloud providers offer distinct features that can help further reduce costs. For example, Azure's Cold tier provides up to 64% savings compared to its Cool tier for data that requires immediate access but is infrequently used. Long-term reservations with Azure can also yield 34% discounts on Hot and Cool tiers over a three-year period.

AWS users benefit from S3 Intelligent-Tiering, which eliminates retrieval charges, making it a great choice for data with unpredictable access patterns. For those using S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, selecting "Bulk" retrievals can help avoid extra fees. However, keep in mind that early deletions from Glacier Deep Archive, which has a 180-day minimum storage requirement, will incur pro-rated fees.

Backblaze B2 offers a straightforward pricing model with a flat rate of $0.006/GB/month and no minimum storage duration or retrieval fees. Additionally, its partnership with Cloudflare through the Bandwidth Alliance allows for zero-cost data transfers between B2 and Cloudflare.

For Google Cloud users, Autoclass simplifies cost management by charging $0.0025 per 1,000 objects, removing the need for manual tiering decisions.

Conclusion

Picking the right cloud storage provider comes down to understanding your specific data usage and access needs. If your focus is on the lowest storage costs and you rarely need to retrieve data, AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive and Azure Archive Access Tier stand out at about $0.99 per TB per month. However, these options come with trade-offs, including retrieval times ranging from 12 to 48 hours and hefty fees for frequent access or early deletions.

On the other hand, if you need quick access to your data , archival tiers may not cut it. Backblaze B2 offers a flat rate of $6 per TB with no minimum storage duration, plus free egress up to three times your stored data. Earlier sections highlighted how businesses have successfully reduced costs by switching to B2 for workloads requiring frequent access.

Beyond just cost, integrations with other services can add significant value. For example, Azure Blob Storage works seamlessly with Microsoft’s ecosystem, while Google Cloud Storage is ideal for analytics and machine learning tasks, though it carries the highest egress fees at $0.12 per GB.

To make the best choice, calculate your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This means considering not just storage rates but also egress fees, API request charges, and any minimum storage duration requirements. A provider with low storage costs might end up being expensive if your usage involves frequent data access or early deletions. By carefully evaluating your retrieval needs, usage patterns, and integration preferences, you can align your provider choice with both your budget and long-term data management goals.

FAQs

How do I estimate total monthly cloud storage cost?

To figure out your monthly cloud storage costs, you'll need to think about a few key factors:

• Data volume : Determine the total amount of data you plan to store, measured in GB or TB.
• Storage tier : Costs depend on the type of access you need, like standard or archive storage.
• Provider rates : Multiply your data volume by the provider's per-GB or per-TB pricing.
• Extra charges : Don't forget to include fees for things like outbound data transfers (egress) and API usage.

For the most accurate estimate, use the cost calculators provided by your cloud storage provider to tailor the numbers to your specific needs.

When do cold or archive tiers cost more than hot storage?

Cold and archive storage tiers might seem like a bargain for long-term storage, but they can end up costing more than hot storage if you’re frequently accessing your data. While they offer lower storage costs, the retrieval fees or access charges can quickly add up with regular use. These tiers work best for data that’s rarely accessed, as frequent retrievals can make them pricier than hot storage, which is designed for consistent and frequent access.

How can I reduce egress fees for large downloads?

Cutting down on egress fees for large data transfers can save you a significant amount of money. Here are some practical tips:

• Choose providers with free or discounted egress : Services like Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare R2 offer reduced or even free egress costs, making them a smart choice for cost-conscious users.
• Streamline data transfers : Avoid unnecessary downloads, use caching to store frequently accessed data locally, and consolidate multiple transfers into fewer, larger ones to reduce overall egress.
• Leverage lifecycle policies and tiered storage : Move rarely accessed data into cheaper options like cold or archive storage. These tiers often come with lower egress fees, helping you save on data retrieval costs.

By combining these strategies, you can effectively manage and lower your egress expenses.

Related Blog Posts

• Power BI vs Tableau: Key Differences
• Top 10 Document Collaboration Tools 2026
• AI Pricing Models: Adapting to Industry Needs
• AI Code Refactoring Tools: Comparison 2026