The Cheapest Per-GB Cloud Storage Gets Even Better With One Trick
Backblaze B2 has the lowest per-GB storage cost among major S3-compatible providers: $0.006/GB/month, or $6 per TB. That alone makes it attractive for large-scale storage. But the real story is what happens when you pair it with Cloudflare.
Through the Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance, all egress from B2 through Cloudflare becomes completely free. No caps, no ratio restrictions, no fair-use caveats. This makes Backblaze B2 + Cloudflare one of the most cost-effective cloud storage combinations available in 2026, especially for egress-heavy workloads.
The tradeoff is ecosystem depth. B2 does not have the region coverage, native integrations, or compute proximity that AWS S3 offers. For the full multi-provider comparison, see our complete 2026 cloud storage pricing comparison.
Backblaze B2 Pricing Breakdown: Every Fee in One Place
All prices in USD as of April 2026.
Storage
| Tier | Cost per GB/month | Cost per TB/month |
|---|---|---|
| B2 Cloud Storage (single tier) | $0.006 | $6.00 |
| Free tier | $0.00 (first 10GB) | -- |
B2 has a single storage class. No Standard-IA, no Glacier, no tiering policies. Data is always immediately accessible. There is no minimum storage duration -- you can delete data at any time without penalty.
Egress (Data Transfer Out)
| Method | Cost per GB |
|---|---|
| Direct (without Cloudflare) | $0.01 |
| Through Cloudflare (Bandwidth Alliance) | $0.00 |
| Free tier | First 1GB/day (~30GB/month) |
The Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance is the key to making B2 pricing work for egress-heavy workloads. By routing traffic through Cloudflare (as a CDN, reverse proxy, or via Workers), you eliminate all egress costs. Without Cloudflare, B2 egress is $0.01/GB -- still 89% cheaper than S3's $0.09/GB, but meaningful at scale.
API Operations
| Operation Type | Cost | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Class B (downloads) | $0.004 per 10,000 | 2,500/day |
| Class C (other transactions) | $0.004 per 1,000 | 2,500/day |
| Class A (uploads, LIST) | Free | -- |
Upload operations are free on B2, which is a genuine advantage for write-heavy ingestion workloads. Download (Class B) and metadata (Class C) operations have modest costs that rarely become significant except at extremely high request volumes.
What Is Not Charged
- Minimum storage duration: none (unlike Wasabi's 90 days)
- Upload operations: $0
- Deletion: $0
- Bucket creation: $0
The Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance: How It Works
The Bandwidth Alliance is a partnership between Cloudflare and Backblaze that eliminates egress fees for data served through Cloudflare's network. Here is how to set it up:
- Create a B2 bucket with public or application-key access
- Add a Cloudflare DNS record pointing a subdomain to your B2 bucket URL
- Configure Cloudflare caching rules to cache static assets and pass dynamic requests through
- All egress through Cloudflare is free -- no configuration flag or opt-in required
The setup takes about 15 minutes and works with Cloudflare's free plan. You do not need a paid Cloudflare subscription to get free B2 egress.
Real-World B2 Cost Modeling
1TB Stored, 500GB Monthly Egress
| Provider | Storage | Egress | API (est.) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 + CF | $6.00 | $0.00 | ~$0.50 | $6.50 |
| Wasabi | $6.99 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $6.99 |
| Cloudflare R2 | $15.00 | $0.00 | ~$1.50 | $16.50 |
| AWS S3 Standard | $23.00 | $45.00 | ~$1.50 | $69.50 |
B2 + Cloudflare is the cheapest option at small scale with moderate egress. Wasabi is close but has the 1TB minimum charge and 90-day retention. R2 costs more than double for storage.
10TB Stored, 10TB Monthly Egress
| Provider | Storage | Egress | API (est.) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 + CF | $60.00 | $0.00 | ~$5.00 | $65.00 |
| Wasabi | $69.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $69.90 |
| Cloudflare R2 | $150.00 | $0.00 | ~$10.00 | $160.00 |
| AWS S3 Standard | $230.00 | $900.00 | ~$8.00 | $1,138.00 |
At 10TB with 1:1 egress, B2 + Cloudflare is 17x cheaper than S3 and the cheapest option overall. Wasabi is close but approaching its egress ratio limit.
100TB Stored, 200TB Monthly Egress
| Provider | Storage | Egress | API (est.) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 + CF | $600.00 | $0.00 | ~$50.00 | $650.00 |
| Cloudflare R2 | $1,500.00 | $0.00 | ~$100.00 | $1,600.00 |
| Wasabi | $699.00 | Throttled | $0.00 | Unpredictable |
| AWS S3 Standard | $2,300.00 | $16,000.00+ | ~$80.00 | $18,380.00 |
At massive scale with 2:1 egress ratio, B2 + Cloudflare saves over $17,000/month versus S3. Wasabi cannot handle this egress ratio. R2 is 2.5x more expensive for storage alone.
When Backblaze B2 Is the Right Choice
Media and content delivery at scale. Video platforms, image hosting, podcast distribution -- any workload serving large files to end users. The Cloudflare partnership gives you essentially free CDN delivery from the cheapest storage tier available.
Backup and disaster recovery. No minimum storage duration means you can delete expired backups without penalty. At $6/TB, maintaining 30-90 day backup retention is extremely affordable.
Data lakes and analytics storage. Research datasets, log aggregation, ML training data. If data is written once and read periodically, B2's free uploads and cheap storage make it ideal.
Budget-conscious startups. The 10GB free tier, free uploads, and Cloudflare free plan compatibility mean you can run real workloads at near-zero cost during early stages.
When Backblaze B2 Is Not the Right Choice
Native cloud integration requirements. B2 does not integrate with AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Functions, or Azure Functions. If your architecture needs event-driven processing triggered by storage events, S3 or GCS is required.
Multi-region compliance. B2 has limited region availability compared to hyperscalers. If you need data in specific geographic regions for compliance, verify B2 covers your requirements.
Without Cloudflare. Direct B2 egress at $0.01/GB is cheap but not free. At 100TB egress, that is $1,000/month. The B2 value proposition depends heavily on the Cloudflare partnership.
The Bottom Line
Backblaze B2 + Cloudflare is the lowest-cost cloud storage combination for most workloads in 2026. At $6/TB storage with genuinely free egress through the Bandwidth Alliance, it undercuts every alternative on raw cost. The tradeoff is ecosystem simplicity -- you get storage, not a platform.
For the complete comparison across all major providers, read our full 2026 cloud storage pricing comparison.
If your organization is spending too much on cloud storage and you are not sure which provider is right for your workload, our cloud cost optimization team can audit your storage infrastructure and recommend the most cost-effective architecture. We typically cut storage costs by 30-60% within 90 days.
Further reading:
