Backblaze B2 vs Wasabi: Budget Cloud Storage Compared
TL;DR
Backblaze B2 and Wasabi are the two cheapest S3-compatible object storage providers available. Both cost roughly 75-80% less than AWS S3 Standard. Both support S3 API operations with standard SDKs. Both eliminate the hyperscaler tax on storing data.
The difference is in the fine print. B2 charges $6/TB/month with free egress up to 3x stored data, no minimum retention, and no minimum storage volume. Wasabi charges $6.99/TB/month with free egress within a 1:1 ratio, but enforces a 90-day minimum storage duration and a 1TB minimum volume. B2 rewards flexibility. Wasabi rewards predictability.
For workloads with variable retention and frequent data turnover -- VPS backups, staging environments, development testing -- B2 avoids the 90-day penalty that inflates Wasabi costs. For stable, write-once archival workloads where data sits for months or years -- compliance archives, cold backups, media libraries -- Wasabi's zero API fees and flat-rate model simplify budgeting. The right choice depends on how long data stays and how often it moves.
Key Takeaways
- B2 is cheaper per GB at every scale. $0.006/GB vs Wasabi's $0.0068/GB. For 10TB, B2 costs $60/month vs Wasabi's $69.90/month -- a $119/year difference on storage alone.
- B2 offers 3x free egress. Wasabi offers 1:1. Store 10TB on B2, download up to 30TB free. Store 10TB on Wasabi, download up to 10TB free. B2's free egress allowance is three times more generous.
- B2 has no minimum retention period. Delete data any time without penalty. Wasabi charges for a minimum of 90 days regardless of actual storage duration.
- B2 has no minimum storage volume. Pay from the first byte. Wasabi enforces a 1TB monthly minimum ($6.99/month floor).
- Wasabi charges zero for API requests. B2 charges $0.004 per 10K transactions. For workloads making millions of small-object operations per month, Wasabi eliminates this cost entirely.
- B2 has the Bandwidth Alliance. Unlimited free egress to Cloudflare, Fastly, bunny.net, and Vultr. Wasabi has no equivalent CDN partnership network.
- Wasabi has more regions. 16+ global storage regions with uniform pricing. B2 operates in US West, US East, and EU Central. For multi-region or Asia-Pacific deployments, Wasabi has broader coverage.
Two Budget Storage Philosophies
Backblaze B2 and Wasabi both exist because AWS S3 charges too much for what most teams need. Both are S3-compatible. Both cost a fraction of S3 pricing. Both serve organizations that decided paying $0.023/GB to store data and $0.09/GB to retrieve it is unreasonable.
They solve the cost problem with different philosophies.
Backblaze B2 optimizes for flexibility. Storage costs $0.006/GB/month -- the cheapest per-GB rate among major providers. No minimum storage volume, no minimum storage duration. Data is billed hourly and can be deleted at any time without penalty. Egress is free up to 3x average monthly stored data, with overages at $0.01/GB. Through the Bandwidth Alliance, egress to Cloudflare, Fastly, and other CDN partners is unlimited and free. B2 also provides a 10GB free tier and Object Lock for immutable compliance storage.
Wasabi optimizes for simplicity. Storage costs $6.99/TB/month ($0.0068/GB) with zero API request charges, zero ingress fees, and free egress within a 1:1 ratio. The model is "one rate, zero extras." The tradeoffs: a 1TB monthly minimum, a 90-day minimum storage duration per object, and a 100TB/month absolute egress cap. Pricing is uniform across 16+ global regions.
B2 charges less per byte and imposes no constraints, but adds transaction fees and egress limits. Wasabi charges slightly more per byte and bundles everything in, but penalizes short-retention and small-volume use cases.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Backblaze B2 | Wasabi |
|---|---|---|
| Storage cost/GB | $0.006 | $0.0068 |
| Storage cost/TB | $6.00 | $6.99 |
| Free egress ratio | 3x stored data | 1:1 stored data |
| Egress overage | $0.01/GB | N/A (hard cap at 100TB/month) |
| API request charges | $0.004/10K | $0 |
| Ingress cost | $0 | $0 |
| Bandwidth Alliance | Cloudflare, Fastly, bunny.net, Vultr | None |
| Free tier | 10GB storage | None |
| Minimum storage volume | None | 1TB/month |
| Minimum storage duration | None (hourly billing) | 90 days |
| S3 API compatible | Yes | Yes |
| IAM API compatible | No | Yes |
| Object Lock (WORM) | Yes | Yes (bucket + object level) |
| Versioning | Yes | Yes |
| Lifecycle rules | Full (archive transitions) | Basic (deletion-based) |
| Encryption at rest | Yes (SSE-B2, SSE-C) | Yes (SSE) |
| Regions | US West, US East, EU Central | 16+ global regions |
| Uniform global pricing | No (regional variation) | Yes |
| SOC 2 compliance | Yes | Yes |
| ISO 27001 | No | Yes |
| Backup tool ecosystem | Veeam, MSP360, Arq, Synology, rclone | Veeam, MSP360, Arq, Commvault, Synology, rclone |
B2 leads on cost flexibility: cheaper per GB, no minimums, more generous egress, and the Bandwidth Alliance. Wasabi leads on operational simplicity: zero API fees, uniform global pricing, broader regional coverage, and full IAM API compatibility.
Pricing at Scale
Backblaze B2
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Storage | $0.006/GB/month ($6/TB) |
| Class B transactions (downloads) | $0.004/10K |
| Class C transactions (other reads) | $0.004/10K |
| Egress (up to 3x stored data) | $0 |
| Egress (beyond 3x) | $0.01/GB |
| Egress to Bandwidth Alliance partners | $0 (unlimited) |
| Minimum storage | None |
| Minimum duration | None |
| Free tier | 10GB storage |
Wasabi
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Storage | $0.0068/GB/month ($6.99/TB) |
| API requests | $0 |
| Egress (within 1:1 ratio) | $0 |
| Egress absolute cap | 100TB/month |
| Ingress | $0 |
| Minimum storage | 1TB/month ($6.99 floor) |
| Minimum duration | 90 days |
| Regions | 16+ (uniform pricing) |
Cost Comparison at Scale
| Scenario | B2 Monthly | Wasabi Monthly | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100GB stored, 50GB egress | $0.60 | $6.99 | B2 (12x cheaper -- Wasabi 1TB minimum) |
| 500GB stored, 200GB egress | $3.00 | $6.99 | B2 (Wasabi 1TB minimum applies) |
| 1TB stored, 500GB egress | $6.00 | $6.99 | B2 ($0.99/month cheaper) |
| 5TB stored, 5TB egress | $30.00 | $34.95 | B2 (14% cheaper) |
| 10TB stored, 10TB egress | $60.00 | $69.90 | B2 (14% cheaper) |
| 10TB stored, 30TB egress | $60.00 | $69.90 | B2 (within 3x; Wasabi at 1:1 limit) |
| 50TB stored, 25TB egress | $300.00 | $349.50 | B2 (14% cheaper) |
| 100TB stored, 50TB egress | $600.00 | $699.00 | B2 (14% cheaper) |
B2 is consistently 14% cheaper on storage alone and provides 3x more free egress than Wasabi's 1:1 ratio. The gap narrows when API request volume is high -- at 100 million API calls per month, B2 adds approximately $40 in transaction fees while Wasabi adds $0.
For workloads under 1TB, the gap is dramatic. At 200GB stored, B2 costs $1.20/month. Wasabi costs $6.99/month due to the 1TB minimum -- a 5.8x premium for storing a fifth of the minimum volume.
Retention and Minimums
This is where the two providers diverge most sharply.
B2: No Minimums, Hourly Billing
B2 calculates storage charges by the hour. Upload a 1GB file, keep it for 12 hours, delete it -- pay for 12 hours of 1GB storage. There is no minimum retention period, no early deletion fee, and no minimum storage volume. This makes B2 ideal for:
- Short-lived backups. Daily full backups with a 7-day retention window. Each backup is deleted after a week. On Wasabi, each deleted backup incurs charges for the remaining 83 days of the 90-day minimum.
- Staging and temporary files. CI/CD artifacts, build outputs, temporary processing results. Upload, use, delete. Zero waste.
- Development and testing. Small buckets with a few GB for testing S3 integrations. B2 costs pennies. Wasabi charges the $6.99 minimum.
Wasabi: 90-Day Minimum, 1TB Floor
Wasabi enforces a 90-day minimum storage duration per object. Deleting a file before 90 days triggers a "Timed Deleted Storage" charge for the remaining days. This aligns naturally with long-retention workloads but creates hidden costs for short-retention patterns.
Consider weekly full backups with a 30-day retention policy. Each backup deleted at 30 days triggers 60 days of additional charges. The effective storage cost is 3x the listed rate for that data, because every object is charged for 90 days but only useful for 30.
Wasabi also enforces a 1TB monthly minimum. Storing 200GB costs the same as storing 1TB: $6.99/month. This makes Wasabi uneconomical for small workloads, hobby projects, and development environments where B2's pay-per-byte model charges a fraction of the cost.
The 90-day minimum works naturally for compliance archives with multi-year retention, cold backups retained for 90+ days by policy, media libraries where files are stored indefinitely, and data lakes where historical data accumulates over time.
Egress Models
B2: 3x Free, Then $0.01/GB
B2 provides free egress up to 3x average monthly stored data. Store 10TB, download up to 30TB per month at no cost. Beyond 3x, each additional GB costs $0.01. For a 10TB bucket with 50TB monthly egress, the bill is $60 (storage) + $200 (20TB overage at $0.01/GB) = $260.
The Bandwidth Alliance changes this calculation entirely. Egress from B2 to Cloudflare, Fastly, bunny.net, and Vultr is unlimited and free. For content delivery architectures that serve files through a CDN, B2 + Cloudflare is the cheapest storage-to-delivery pipeline available: $6/TB storage with zero egress through Cloudflare's 300+ global points of presence.
Wasabi: 1:1 Free, 100TB Hard Cap
Wasabi does not charge for egress within a 1:1 ratio -- monthly downloads cannot exceed monthly stored volume. Store 10TB, download up to 10TB free. Unlike B2's overage model, Wasabi imposes a hard 100TB/month absolute cap on egress rather than charging overages. Exceeding the ratio or the cap may result in account review under Wasabi's acceptable use policy.
For stable archival workloads with occasional retrieval, the 1:1 ratio is rarely a constraint. For workloads that serve data to end users, the 1:1 limit is restrictive compared to B2's 3x allowance.
S3 Compatibility
Both platforms implement the S3 API. Application code is identical -- only the endpoint URL and credentials change.
Backblaze B2
import { S3Client, PutObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
const b2 = new S3Client({
region: 'us-west-004',
endpoint: 'https://s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com',
credentials: {
accessKeyId: process.env.B2_KEY_ID,
secretAccessKey: process.env.B2_APP_KEY,
},
});
await b2.send(new PutObjectCommand({
Bucket: 'my-backups',
Key: `daily/${new Date().toISOString()}.tar.gz`,
Body: backupStream,
}));
Wasabi
const wasabi = new S3Client({
region: 'us-east-1',
endpoint: 'https://s3.wasabisys.com',
credentials: {
accessKeyId: process.env.WASABI_ACCESS_KEY,
secretAccessKey: process.env.WASABI_SECRET_KEY,
},
});
await wasabi.send(new PutObjectCommand({
Bucket: 'my-backups',
Key: `daily/${new Date().toISOString()}.tar.gz`,
Body: backupStream,
}));
Wasabi additionally supports full IAM API compatibility, allowing management of users, groups, and policies through the same API calls used with AWS IAM. B2 uses its own application key system for access management.
Both platforms integrate with the same backup tool ecosystem -- Veeam, MSP360, Arq, Synology, and rclone. Migration between them is straightforward:
# B2 to Wasabi
rclone sync b2:my-bucket wasabi:my-bucket --progress
# Wasabi to B2
rclone sync wasabi:my-bucket b2:my-bucket --progress
Switching providers is a configuration change, not an application rewrite.
Recommendations
Choose Backblaze B2 when:
- Data retention is variable or short-lived. No minimum storage duration means short-lived objects cost nothing after deletion. Weekly backups with 30-day retention, temporary staging files, and CI/CD artifacts avoid the 90-day penalty that triples effective Wasabi costs for these patterns.
- Storage volume is under 1TB. B2 charges from the first byte. At 200GB stored, B2 costs $1.20/month vs Wasabi's $6.99/month minimum -- a 5.8x difference.
- Egress volume is high relative to storage. B2's 3x free egress ratio is 3x more generous than Wasabi's 1:1 ratio. For a 10TB bucket accessed 20TB/month, B2 egress is completely free. Wasabi would exceed the 1:1 cap.
- CDN delivery is part of the architecture. The Bandwidth Alliance enables zero-cost egress through Cloudflare, Fastly, and other CDN partners. B2 storage + Cloudflare CDN is the cheapest content delivery pipeline available.
- Immutable compliance storage is required. B2's Object Lock (WORM) implementation is mature and well-documented for regulatory archive use cases.
Choose Wasabi when:
- Long-term archival is the primary use case. Data retained for months or years with infrequent access. The 90-day minimum aligns naturally with archive retention policies, and the 1:1 egress ratio covers occasional retrievals without surprises.
- API request volume is very high. Millions of small PUT/GET operations per month. B2 charges $0.004/10K transactions; at 100 million calls/month, B2 adds $40 in fees. Wasabi adds $0.
- Multi-region storage is needed. 16+ global regions with uniform pricing. B2 has three primary regions. For workloads requiring storage in Asia-Pacific, South America, or multiple European locations, Wasabi's regional coverage is broader.
- Pricing simplicity is a priority. Zero API fees, zero egress fees (within ratio), zero ingress fees -- one line item:
TB * $6.99. No transaction fees, no overage tiers, no egress calculations. Finance teams appreciate the predictability. - Full IAM compatibility matters. Wasabi's IAM API support allows managing access with the same tools and policies used for AWS, simplifying hybrid cloud and multi-cloud access management.
The 2026 Pattern
Both B2 and Wasabi have established strong positions as S3 alternatives for cost-conscious teams. B2's flexibility advantages -- no minimums, 3x egress, the Bandwidth Alliance -- make it the default for dynamic workloads, development environments, and CDN-backed content delivery. Wasabi's simplicity -- zero extras, uniform global pricing, broader regional coverage -- makes it the default for stable, long-term archival.
Many organizations start with B2 (no minimums, lower risk, free tier) and evaluate Wasabi once workload patterns stabilize and data volumes cross the 1TB threshold. At scale, the 14% storage cost difference matters less than whether the workload's retention and egress patterns align with each provider's constraints.
Methodology
- Sources: Backblaze B2 and Wasabi official pricing pages, Backblaze vs Wasabi comparison page, G2 and TrustRadius pricing reviews, N2W Wasabi pricing guide
- Pricing data: Official pricing pages as of March 2026. B2 pay-as-you-go rates used (B2 Reserve excluded). Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage rates used (Cloud NAS excluded)
- Feature data: Official documentation from both platforms
- Limitations: B2 Overdrive tier pricing not included. Wasabi egress ratio enforcement subject to acceptable use policy. Transaction fee comparisons assume standard workloads. Volume discounts not reflected
Comparing budget cloud storage providers? Explore Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, and more on APIScout -- pricing, features, and developer experience across every major storage API.