Azure Blob Storage vs Backblaze B2
A comparison of Azure Blob Storage and Backblaze B2 built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
5 sourced criteria separate them:
- 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.
- 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: 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.
- 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.
- Backblaze B2: $6.95 per TB per month on B2 Overdrive; $15 per TB per month on the unlimited-egress tier
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Azure Blob Storage 0
Backblaze B2 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Azure Blob Storage | Backblaze B2 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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. |
| Limits | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Azure Retail Prices API — Bandwidth, eastus ↗
“"meterName": "Standard Data Transfer Out", "unitOfMeasure": "1 GB", "retailPrice": 0.0, "tierMinimumUnits": 0.0 [...] 0.087, "tierMinimumUnits": 100.0 [...] 0.083, 10335.0 [...] 0.07, 51295.0 [...] 0.05, 153695.0 [...] "Bandwidth - Routing Preference" [...] 0.08, "tierMinimumUnits": 100.0”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Cloud Storage Pricing — Backblaze ↗
“Free egress up to 3x storage [...] Free transactions [...] Unlimited free egress [...] B2 includes 750 TB of monthly egress in this scenario.”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Azure Retail Prices API ↗
“Hot LRS Data Stored price=0.0208 tierMinimumUnits=0.0 unit=1 GB/Month type=Consumption [...] price=0.019968 tierMinimumUnits=51200.0 [...] price=0.019136 tierMinimumUnits=512000.0”
Read 2026-09-07 · official pricing
- B2 Cloud Storage Pricing | Backblaze ↗
“First 10GB storage is always free.”
Read 2026-09-07 · official 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.
- Backblaze B2
- $6.95 per TB per month on B2 Overdrive; $15 per TB per month on the unlimited-egress tier
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Azure Retail Prices API — Storage, eastus ↗
“"meterName": "Hot LRS Data Stored", "unitOfMeasure": "1 GB/Month", "retailPrice": 0.0208, "tierMinimumUnits": 0.0 [...] 0.019968, "tierMinimumUnits": 51200.0 [...] 0.019136, "tierMinimumUnits": 512000.0”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Cloud Storage Pricing — Backblaze ↗
“$6.95 / TB / mo [...] Free egress up to 3x storage [...] $15 / TB / mo [...] Unlimited free egress”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Azure Retail Prices API — Storage, eastus ↗
“"meterName": "Hot LRS Write Operations", "unitOfMeasure": "10K", "retailPrice": 0.05 [...] "Hot Read Operations", "10K", 0.004 [...] "LRS List and Create Container", "10K", 0.05 [...] "All Other Operations", "10K", 0.004”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Cloud Storage Pricing — Backblaze ↗
“Free transactions [...] This chart features published rates for the U.S. West region. Backblaze competitors' rates can vary by region, amount stored, and other factors.”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Access tiers for blob data — Microsoft Learn ↗
“Data in the cool tier should be stored for a minimum of 30 days. [...] Data in the cold tier should be stored for a minimum of 90 days. [...] Data in the archive tier should be stored for a minimum of 180 days.”
Read 2026-09-07 · official docs
- Pricing — Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage ↗
“$6.95 / TB / mo [...] No minimum file size or storage duration fees Free egress up to 3x storage Free transactions”
Read 2026-09-07 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Which should you choose?
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.