Azure Blob Storage vs IDrive e2
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Azure Blob Storage and IDrive e2 built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
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 IDrive e2 if…
Bulk storage where the per-GB rate dominates — $6 per TB is roughly a quarter of S3's and well under Wasabi's, with no API fees and no minimum retention period.
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.
- IDrive e2: The minimum charge is billed per whole terabyte, so a 100 GB workload pays for 1 TB, and egress is only free up to three times what you store.
5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
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
IDrive e2 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Azure Blob Storage | IDrive e2 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 active storage volume each month — the same shape as Backblaze B2's allowance rather than the unconditional free egress R2 and Wasabi advertise. |
| 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. | None on a paid account. IDrive e2 bills a minimum of $6 per TB charged per whole terabyte, so storing under 1 TB still costs a full terabyte — a floor on the bill rather than storage you are given. A 10 GB free trial is offered 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. | $0.006 per GB per month, or $6 per TB, tierless — the cheapest published rate here. SSD storage is $0.01 per GB per month. |
| 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. | None. IDrive e2 states no additional charges for API transactions across class A, B and C. |
| 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. IDrive e2 states no minimum data retention restriction, unlike Wasabi's 90 days and the S3 infrequent-access classes' 30 to 180. |
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.
- IDrive e2
- Free up to three times your active storage volume each month — the same shape as Backblaze B2's allowance rather than the unconditional free egress R2 and Wasabi advertise.
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
- Pricing — IDrive e2 ↗
“Free egress policy Download less than or equal to 3X your active storage volume for free!”
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.
None on a paid account. IDrive e2 bills a minimum of $6 per TB charged per whole terabyte, so storing under 1 TB still costs a full terabyte — a floor on the bill rather than storage you are given. A 10 GB free trial is offered 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
- Pricing — IDrive e2 ↗
“IDrive e2 charges a minimum storage fee of $6/TB. The minimum charge is per TB; even if your total storage is less than 1 TB, you will be charged for a full TB”
Read 2026-09-06 · 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.
- IDrive e2
- $0.006 per GB per month, or $6 per TB, tierless — the cheapest published rate here. SSD storage is $0.01 per GB per month.
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
- Pricing — IDrive e2 ↗
“Straight-forward and tierless pricing $0.006/GB per month ($6/TB per month) [...] $0.01/GB per month (SSD Storage)”
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.
- IDrive e2
- None. IDrive e2 states no additional charges for API transactions across class A, B and C.
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
- Pricing — IDrive e2 ↗
“Free API Calls IDrive e2 does not impose any additional charges [...] No Fees for API transactions class A, B, C”
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.
- IDrive e2
- None. IDrive e2 states no minimum data retention restriction, unlike Wasabi's 90 days and the S3 infrequent-access classes' 30 to 180.
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 — IDrive e2 ↗
“No restrictions of minimum data retention Free ingress and egress No additional charges”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
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 IDrive e2?
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.
IDrive e2: Free up to three times your active storage volume each month — the same shape as Backblaze B2's allowance rather than the unconditional free egress R2 and Wasabi advertise.
Storage (entry plan): Azure Blob Storage or IDrive e2?
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.
IDrive e2: None on a paid account. IDrive e2 bills a minimum of $6 per TB charged per whole terabyte, so storing under 1 TB still costs a full terabyte — a floor on the bill rather than storage you are given. A 10 GB free trial is offered separately.
Should I choose Azure Blob Storage or IDrive e2?
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 IDrive e2 if Bulk storage where the per-GB rate dominates — $6 per TB is roughly a quarter of S3's and well under Wasabi's, with no API fees and no minimum retention period.