# Azure Blob Storage vs Backblaze B2

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/azure-blob-vs-backblaze-b2/

Every value below is read from Azure Blob Storage's and Backblaze B2's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Azure Blob Storage | Backblaze B2 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Egress over allowance | First 100 GB a month free, then $0.087 per GB over Microsoft's global network, falling to $0.083 above ~10 TB, $0.07 above ~50 TB and $0.05 above ~150 TB. Routing over the public internet instead is $0.08 at the first tier. This is Azure-wide bandwidth rather than a Blob-specific charge. | Free up to three times your stored capacity each month on the $6.95/TB tier; unlimited free egress on the $15/TB tier. Egress beyond the 3x allowance is chargeable. |
| Storage (entry plan) | None. Azure Blob has no plans and no free storage band: the Hot LRS storage meter's cheapest tier begins at tierMinimumUnits 0 and charges $0.0208 per GB-month from the first gigabyte, with volume tiers only above 50 TB. Azure's free account offer sits outside the rate card and is time-limited, so it is not an allowance this criterion can record. | 10 GB free, permanently — 'First 10GB storage is always free.' The statement is a row-level note on Backblaze's pricing-model table, so it applies to B2 storage rather than to one plan, and it is an ongoing allowance rather than the 'Start Free' trial the page advertises separately. |
| Storage price | $0.0208 per GB-month for Hot LRS in East US, falling to $0.019968 above 50 TB and $0.019136 above 500 TB. Azure prices vary by region and redundancy; this and every Azure figure on the site is East US, locally redundant. | $6.95 per TB per month on B2 Overdrive; $15 per TB per month on the unlimited-egress tier |
| Operations price | $0.05 per 10,000 write operations and $0.004 per 10,000 reads on Hot LRS — $5.00 and $0.40 per million. Listing and creating containers is $0.05 per 10,000; all other operations $0.004. | Transactions are not charged on the $6.95/TB tier. Backblaze notes that its published chart uses U.S. West rates and that competitor rates vary by region and volume. |
| Minimum storage duration | None on Hot. Cool carries a 30-day minimum, Cold 90 days and Archive 180 days — the longest early-deletion window of any provider here, and three times S3's 90-day Glacier figure. | None. Backblaze states no minimum file size or storage duration fee on B2 Cloud Storage, so an object deleted an hour after upload is billed only for that hour. |

## Where they differ

### Egress over allowance

- Azure Blob Storage: First 100 GB a month free, then $0.087 per GB over Microsoft's global network, falling to $0.083 above ~10 TB, $0.07 above ~50 TB and $0.05 above ~150 TB. Routing over the public internet instead is $0.08 at the first tier. This is Azure-wide bandwidth rather than a Blob-specific charge. ([source](https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices))
- Backblaze B2: Free up to three times your stored capacity each month on the $6.95/TB tier; unlimited free egress on the $15/TB tier. Egress beyond the 3x allowance is chargeable. ([source](https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing))

### Storage (entry plan)

- Azure Blob Storage: None. Azure Blob has no plans and no free storage band: the Hot LRS storage meter's cheapest tier begins at tierMinimumUnits 0 and charges $0.0208 per GB-month from the first gigabyte, with volume tiers only above 50 TB. Azure's free account offer sits outside the rate card and is time-limited, so it is not an allowance this criterion can record. ([source](https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices))
- Backblaze B2: 10 GB free, permanently — 'First 10GB storage is always free.' The statement is a row-level note on Backblaze's pricing-model table, so it applies to B2 storage rather than to one plan, and it is an ongoing allowance rather than the 'Start Free' trial the page advertises separately. ([source](https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing))

### Storage price

- Azure Blob Storage: $0.0208 per GB-month for Hot LRS in East US, falling to $0.019968 above 50 TB and $0.019136 above 500 TB. Azure prices vary by region and redundancy; this and every Azure figure on the site is East US, locally redundant. ([source](https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices))
- Backblaze B2: $6.95 per TB per month on B2 Overdrive; $15 per TB per month on the unlimited-egress tier ([source](https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing))

### Operations price

- Azure Blob Storage: $0.05 per 10,000 write operations and $0.004 per 10,000 reads on Hot LRS — $5.00 and $0.40 per million. Listing and creating containers is $0.05 per 10,000; all other operations $0.004. ([source](https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices))
- Backblaze B2: Transactions are not charged on the $6.95/TB tier. Backblaze notes that its published chart uses U.S. West rates and that competitor rates vary by region and volume. ([source](https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing))

### Minimum storage duration

- Azure Blob Storage: None on Hot. Cool carries a 30-day minimum, Cold 90 days and Archive 180 days — the longest early-deletion window of any provider here, and three times S3's 90-day Glacier figure. ([source](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview))
- Backblaze B2: None. Backblaze states no minimum file size or storage duration fee on B2 Cloud Storage, so an object deleted an hour after upload is billed only for that hour. ([source](https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Azure Blob Storage if Workloads already on Azure, where keeping storage in the same region as the compute avoids the bandwidth charge that dominates an object storage bill.

Pick Backblaze B2 if Bulk capacity where egress is predictable — free up to three times what you store each month, which covers most backup and archive patterns comfortably at $6.95 per terabyte.

Consider something else: Azure Blob Storage — Egress is charged beyond the first 100 GB a month, where R2, Wasabi and Tigris charge nothing — and Azure's rates vary by region and redundancy, so a quoted figure only holds for the combination it was read for.

Consider something else: Backblaze B2 — Egress is only free to that 3x ceiling. A bucket read far more often than its size, like a public media library, is the shape this pricing is not built for.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: Backblaze B2: Yes
- Pricing model: Azure Blob Storage: Per region, per redundancy and per access tier, with storage, operations and bandwidth metered separately. Rates are published in Azure's public Retail Prices API rather than only on a pricing page, so a figure can be re-verified exactly rather than re-read.
- S3-compatible API: Backblaze B2: Supported

## Questions this comparison answers

**Egress over allowance: Azure Blob Storage or Backblaze B2?**

Azure Blob Storage: First 100 GB a month free, then $0.087 per GB over Microsoft's global network, falling to $0.083 above ~10 TB, $0.07 above ~50 TB and $0.05 above ~150 TB. Routing over the public internet instead is $0.08 at the first tier. This is Azure-wide bandwidth rather than a Blob-specific charge.
Backblaze B2: Free up to three times your stored capacity each month on the $6.95/TB tier; unlimited free egress on the $15/TB tier. Egress beyond the 3x allowance is chargeable.

**Storage (entry plan): Azure Blob Storage or Backblaze B2?**

Azure Blob Storage: None. Azure Blob has no plans and no free storage band: the Hot LRS storage meter's cheapest tier begins at tierMinimumUnits 0 and charges $0.0208 per GB-month from the first gigabyte, with volume tiers only above 50 TB. Azure's free account offer sits outside the rate card and is time-limited, so it is not an allowance this criterion can record.
Backblaze B2: 10 GB free, permanently — 'First 10GB storage is always free.' The statement is a row-level note on Backblaze's pricing-model table, so it applies to B2 storage rather than to one plan, and it is an ongoing allowance rather than the 'Start Free' trial the page advertises separately.

**Should I choose Azure Blob Storage or Backblaze B2?**

Pick Azure Blob Storage if Workloads already on Azure, where keeping storage in the same region as the compute avoids the bandwidth charge that dominates an object storage bill.
Pick Backblaze B2 if Bulk capacity where egress is predictable — free up to three times what you store each month, which covers most backup and archive patterns comfortably at $6.95 per terabyte.