Backblaze, the cloud backup vendor, is picking a fight with Amazon in its own back yard by offering much cheaper S3-compatible cloud storage and quicker downloads.
The company has released S3-compatible APIs in a beta test to enable customers to redirect data workflows using S3 targets to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. It claims it offers infinitely scalable, durable offsite storage at a quarter of the price of other options, meaning Amazon S3, Azure, and Google Cloud Storage.
Blocks & Files asked a Backblaze spokesperson about price: “B2 Cloud Storage prices are not changing for people who want to use S3 APIs.There is one price for storage – $0.005 per GB per month… that’s one quarter of the price of S3, GCS, and Azure,” he said.
“On top of that, the Big Three have complicated tiered pricing that requires pricing tables to sort out. In addition, downloading data from B2 Cloud Storage is $0.01 per GB – one ninth of the price of S3, GCS, Azure. Again, the Big Three have complex pricing tables just for downloads.
“The tax that the Big Three charge for using your data in downloading is astounding and reflects the walled garden approach that Backblaze has disrupted.”
Blocks & Files asked how does Backblaze B2 egress pricing and access times compare to AWS Glacier?
The spokesperson said: “Glacier is the closest in terms of pricing, but Glacier is not a good comparison. That is cold storage. But since Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is hot the performance is more appropriately compared to S3, Azure, and GSC. That’s the beauty of it, one quarter the cost, but near 1:1 performance. This is why media and entertainment companies love it for their workflows. They can use B2 as active archive, among countless other things.”
IBM Aspera, Veeam, Quantum, Igneous, LucidLink, Storage Made Easy and other suppliers said they will support B2 Cloud Storage as a destination for customers using their S3 workflows.
Backblaze passed a milestone of storing an exabyte of customer data in March, and has built its business from being founded in 2007 with just $3m in external funding.
Check out a Backblaze pricing calculator to find out more.
