Backblaze B2
S3-compatible cloud object storage with straightforward pricing and a genuinely free tier.
Best for cost-effective S3-compatible object storage with a generous free tier and no vendor lock-in.
Use Cases
Free Tier
10GB free storage, free egress up to 3x your average monthly storage, no credit card required
How to Maximize the Free Tier
The 10GB free tier is permanent with no expiry. Egress is free up to 3x your average stored data — so 10GB stored gives you 30GB free egress monthly. Pair B2 with Cloudflare's Bandwidth Alliance for completely free CDN delivery of your stored objects. Use rclone for simple command-line uploads and syncs, or Cyberduck for a GUI. The free tier includes Class B (uploads) and Class C (downloads) transaction fees for the first 2,500 transactions daily, which is plenty for small-to-medium workloads.
Getting Started
Sign up at backblaze.com (no credit card needed) → navigate to B2 Cloud Storage → create a bucket → generate an application key with bucket access → use AWS CLI, rclone, or Cyberduck with your S3-compatible endpoint to upload and manage files.
Pros
- S3-compatible API: Works with the entire S3 ecosystem — AWS CLI, rclone, Terraform, and any S3-compatible tool
- Genuinely free tier: 10GB storage with no expiry, and egress free up to 3x your stored data each month
- Encryption and redundancy: All data encrypted at rest with 11x redundancy across multiple data centers
Cons
- 10GB cap: Free tier limits storage to 10GB — fine for small projects but fills up fast with media
- Transaction fees: Class B and C transaction fees kick in after the daily free allowance (2,500/day)
- No built-in CDN: You need to pair it with Cloudflare or another CDN for global delivery