# Azure Blob Storage vs Storj

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

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Azure Blob Storage | Storj |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. | $7 per TB, the same rate as storage — reduced from $20 per TB on the Standard tier. Storj charges for egress where R2, Wasabi and Tigris do not, but at a tenth of what S3 charges. |
| 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. | $7 per TB per month, which is $0.007 per GB. A $5 monthly minimum applies to Standard and Advanced accounts. |
| 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. | Segment fees have been eliminated across all new tiers. They still apply to accounts on legacy plans. |

## 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))
- Storj: $7 per TB, the same rate as storage — reduced from $20 per TB on the Standard tier. Storj charges for egress where R2, Wasabi and Tigris do not, but at a tenth of what S3 charges. ([source](https://www.storj.io/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))
- Storj: $7 per TB per month, which is $0.007 per GB. A $5 monthly minimum applies to Standard and Advanced accounts. ([source](https://www.storj.io/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))
- Storj: Segment fees have been eliminated across all new tiers. They still apply to accounts on legacy plans. ([source](https://www.storj.io/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 Storj if Workloads that want data spread across many independent locations rather than one provider's region, at a storage rate close to the cheapest here.

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: Storj — Egress is charged at the same $7 per TB as storage, so a read-heavy workload costs roughly double what the storage line suggests — the three free-egress providers here charge nothing for it.

## Documented by only one

- 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.
- 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.
- Regions: Storj: Distributed across tens of thousands of storage locations globally rather than named regions; a US-only option runs on SOC 2 type 2 compliant data centres.
- 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.
- S3-compatible API: Storj: Supported
- SOC 2: Azure Blob Storage: Listed among Azure's compliance offerings (SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3) on Microsoft's own compliance documentation — a platform-wide list, not scoped to this specific service.
- ISO 27001: Azure Blob Storage: Listed among Azure's compliance offerings (ISO 27001) on Microsoft's own compliance documentation — a platform-wide list, not scoped to this specific service.
- HIPAA: Azure Blob Storage: Listed among Azure's compliance offerings (HIPAA) on Microsoft's own compliance documentation — a platform-wide list, not scoped to this specific service.
- PCI DSS: Azure Blob Storage: Listed among Azure's compliance offerings (PCI DSS) on Microsoft's own compliance documentation — a platform-wide list, not scoped to this specific service.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Egress over allowance: Azure Blob Storage or Storj?**

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.
Storj: $7 per TB, the same rate as storage — reduced from $20 per TB on the Standard tier. Storj charges for egress where R2, Wasabi and Tigris do not, but at a tenth of what S3 charges.

**Should I choose Azure Blob Storage or Storj?**

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 Storj if Workloads that want data spread across many independent locations rather than one provider's region, at a storage rate close to the cheapest here.