Best Site for Object Storage
Summary
The best object storage in 2026 is Cloudflare R2 — zero egress fees fundamentally change the economics for anything that serves content publicly. Backblaze B2 is the strong alternative for backup-heavy workloads. AWS S3 remains the standard for enterprise but its egress fees punish anything serving public content. Wasabi marketed 'no egress fees' for years but added various limits and conditions; read current terms. Hetzner Object Storage is the EU-focused budget option. Most listicles default to S3 because it's the standard; we acknowledge that S3 is rarely the cheapest option once egress is calculated.
Top 5 at a glance
| # | Site | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudflare R2 | Zero egress fees for public-facing content | Per-GB storage with no egress charges |
| 2 | Backblaze B2 | Backup-heavy workloads with predictable pricing | Per-GB storage with modest egress charges |
| 3 | AWS S3 | Industry-standard enterprise object storage | Per-GB storage plus per-operation plus egress fees |
| 4 | Wasabi | Long-running 'no egress fee' alternative with current conditions | Per-GB storage with conditions on egress |
| 5 | Hetzner Object Storage | EU-focused budget object storage | Per-GB storage at EU pricing |
Detailed rankings
Cloudflare R2
Zero egress fees for public-facing content
The default for any object storage where egress matters. The zero-egress model fundamentally changes the math.
Pros
- Zero egress fees — fundamental cost advantage for serving content
- S3-compatible API for tool portability
- Free tier of 10GB and 1 million Class A operations per month
- Integrates with Cloudflare CDN and Workers
Cons
- Cloudflare ecosystem lock-in for some advanced features
- Operations costs (Class A vs Class B) can surprise users
- Multi-region replication still maturing
Price: Per-GB storage with no egress charges
Sources: www.cloudflare.com
Backblaze B2
Backup-heavy workloads with predictable pricing
The right pick for backup workloads. Pair with Cloudflare for free egress on public-facing content.
Pros
- Cheaper per-GB storage than AWS S3
- Free egress to Cloudflare via Bandwidth Alliance
- Strong backup-focused features
- Long operating history
Cons
- Egress charges apply outside Bandwidth Alliance partners
- Fewer multi-region options than AWS
- Less feature-rich than AWS S3
Price: Per-GB storage with modest egress charges
Sources: www.backblaze.com
AWS S3
Industry-standard enterprise object storage
The right pick for AWS-internal workloads. For public-facing content, the egress fees make R2 or B2 better choices.
Pros
- Industry standard with the largest ecosystem of integrations
- Multiple storage classes including Glacier for archive
- Extensive multi-region options
- Strong SLA
Cons
- Egress fees punish anything serving public content — $0.09/GB egress adds up fast
- Pricing complexity makes cost estimation difficult
- Pricing tier system favors AWS-internal traffic patterns
Price: Per-GB storage plus per-operation plus egress fees
Sources: aws.amazon.com
Wasabi
Long-running 'no egress fee' alternative with current conditions
Worth evaluating but read the current Acceptable Use Policy carefully. The free-egress story has had conditions that listicles often gloss over.
Pros
- Lower per-GB storage than AWS S3
- S3-compatible API
- Historical 'no egress fees' marketing
- Long operating history
Cons
- Egress historically advertised as free but with caveats — read the current Acceptable Use Policy carefully
- Storage class restrictions and minimum durations
- Less ecosystem support than AWS or Backblaze
Price: Per-GB storage with conditions on egress
Sources: wasabi.com
Hetzner Object Storage
EU-focused budget object storage
The right pick when EU data residency matters and you're comfortable with Hetzner's broader ecosystem.
Pros
- Lower per-GB pricing than AWS
- EU data residency for GDPR compliance
- From Hetzner — strong infrastructure reputation
- S3-compatible API
Cons
- Newer product than Hetzner's compute and dedicated services
- EU-only data centers
- Smaller ecosystem than AWS
Price: Per-GB storage at EU pricing
Sources: www.hetzner.com
How we chose
- Egress cost — bandwidth charges out are where object-storage bills accumulate.
- Per-GB storage cost.
- S3 API compatibility for portability and tooling.
- Multi-region replication options.
- Operational reliability and SLA.
- Pricing predictability — surprise bills happen on metered services.
Frequently asked questions
Why does egress cost matter so much?
Egress is the bandwidth charged when files leave the storage service. For backup-only use, this is small. For serving content publicly — images on a website, video streaming, file downloads — egress quickly becomes the dominant cost. A site serving 1TB per month at AWS S3 egress rates costs about $90 in egress alone, plus storage. Zero-egress services like R2 eliminate this category.
What's the Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance?
An agreement where partner cloud providers (including Backblaze, DigitalOcean, and others) and Cloudflare don't charge each other for traffic between them. Practical effect: storing on Backblaze B2 and serving through Cloudflare CDN costs nothing in egress.
Can I migrate between services?
Yes — all options here are S3-compatible APIs. Rclone, AWS CLI, and similar tools work against any of them. Migrating large datasets takes time and may incur egress fees from the source. Plan carefully for multi-TB migrations.
What about Google Cloud Storage and Azure Blob?
Both are functional and competitive within their respective ecosystems. Pricing structures similar to AWS S3. For users not already in those ecosystems, the picks above offer better economics.
Is object storage the same as a CDN?
No. Object storage stores files; a CDN caches them at edge locations close to users. For public-facing content, you typically put files in object storage (R2, B2) and serve through a CDN (Cloudflare, BunnyCDN). Cloudflare R2 + Cloudflare CDN is the integrated path.