This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lukas Mauser
Object Storage is an essential component of modern web development. For a long time, AWS S3 was the go-to option for most of us, but nowadays their competition is huge, offering reliable alternatives at a fraction of the price.
We researched some providers to use in our cloud platform Sliplane some time ago and I want to share our top picks with you.
Here are 5 cheap object storage providers you can consider as an AWS S3 alternative.
Disclaimer: You might have very specific requirements for your object storage solution. For this article, I only include providers in the list of known brands with overall good reputation and we are mainly comparing prices here.
Comparison Table
| Provider | Storage Cost | Egress Cost | Durability | Availability SLA | Free Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 | $0.006 / GB / month | Free up to 3× storage, then $0.01 / GB | 99.999999999% (11 nines) | 99.9% | No | Widely adopted, solid reliability, easy S3 API |
| Wasabi | $0.00699 / GB / month | Free | 99.999999999% (11 nines) | 99.9% | No | Requires 90-day minimum retention, fully S3-compatible |
| Cloudflare R2 | $0.015 / GB / month | Free | Not explicitly stated | Not stated | 10 GB storage + 1M writes + 10M reads/month | Pays for read/write ops, strong edge caching network |
| Hetzner Object Storage | $0.00713 / GB / month | $0.00143 / GB | Not stated | Not stated | No | Great price/performance, limited data centers, restrictive account policy |
| MinIO | Depends on infra | Depends on infra | Depends on setup | Depends on setup | No | Self-hosted, open-source, requires setup and maintenance, durability is debatable |
1. Backblaze B2
Backblaze B2 offers reliable, low-cost object storage with an easy-to-use S3-compatible API. The storage price is very affordable at $0.006/GB/month, and egress is free up to 3× your storage volume per month, then $0.01/GB for additional egress.
Backblaze is widely adopted and a solid choice when it comes to durability (99.999999999% annual durability) and general reliability (99.9% uptime SLA). We use it at sliplane.io for example for storing backups but also to store configuration and init scripts.
2. Wasabi
With $0.00699/GB/month, storage is only slightly more expensive than on Backblaze, but egress is completely free on Wasabi. Durability is given at 11 nines as well and in their SLA they start discounting you if availability of their service drops below 99.9%.
Wasabi is fully S3-compatible, but it requires a 90-day minimum retention period on stored data when using their pay-as-you-go pricing.
3. Cloudflare R2
Similar to Wasabi, Cloudflare R2 provides object storage with zero egress fees as well, which is ideal for applications with heavy outbound data transfers. Storage costs are higher than Wasabi’s at $0.015/GB/month, but still much cheaper compared to AWS S3 which comes at $0.023/GB/month. They also have a free tier for the first 10GB of storage, making it ideal for small projects. While egress is free, you pay for read ($0.36 / M) and write ($4.50 / M) operations, although Cloudflare has a free tier of 1M writes and 10M reads per month as well.
A main benefit of R2 is access to Cloudflare’s edge caching network, giving you fast global access to your data.
4. Hetzner Object Storage
Hetzner provides a great European alternative for Object storage. Although their service is comparably new and when we tested it in beta we stumbled into issues, which they probably got all sorted by now, Hetzner is known to provide great service at an exceptional price/performance ratio.
At $0.00713/GB/month storage costs are very competitive and especially their $0.00143/GB egress pricing can be an attractive alternative to AWS where egress costs are about 60x higher. Its downsides include limited global data center locations and it can be tricky to open an account at Hetzner since they are very restrictive as part of their effort to keep scammers in check.
5. MinIO
MinIO is a self-hosted, open-source object storage software fully compatible with the S3 API. Since it runs on your own servers or cloud, storage fees—costs depend on your infrastructure but you must also include the time it takes to set up and maintain your object storage solution.
Is it a good idea to self-host object storage? That’s debatable. An important point of good object storage is high durability and achieving the same 11 nines (99.999999999%) as other providers offer at a similar price is going to be tough.
Conclusion
Hope any of that helped! Each of these providers offers different advantages depending on your specific needs:
- Backblaze B2 is great for reliable, cost-effective storage with reasonable egress allowances
- Wasabi excels when you need unlimited free egress but can commit to 90-day retention
- Cloudflare R2 is perfect for applications that benefit from global edge caching
- Hetzner offers excellent European-focused pricing with competitive egress costs
- MinIO gives you complete control but requires significant setup and maintenance effort
When choosing an object storage provider, consider not just the storage costs but also egress fees, your geographic requirements, integration complexity, and the total cost of ownership including your time investment.
Cheers,
Lukas
Co-Founder sliplane.io
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lukas Mauser