This guide covers the basics of cloud object storage and helps you find the right vendor for your use case.
Cloud object storage solves scalability and ease-of-use problems found with traditional file storage or block storage.
Cloud object storage is also:
Companies that prioritize speed of development and flexibility of data access typically choose cloud object storage by default, with only a handful of big companies, like DropBox, opting in for on-premise storage.
Depending on how you store and access files, different vendors offer better pricing.
For example, if you're looking for serving static web assets, you're going to find a better deal with Backblaze B2. If you're looking for deep archive, Amazon Glacier might be a better fit.
Get a complete ROI report on any vendor with our free tool.
The right object storage provider for you is determined by your usage requirements or features.
There are thousands of ways to store, access or analyze data. The features, integrations or usage patterns you have will greatly narrow the vendor you can work with.
For example, it is against Wasabi’s terms of service for a company egress more than they store, disqualifying the service for many users.
Get recommendations on the vendor that will work best for you in our resource.
To check out a broader set of the popular cloud object storage products on the market, see the list below:
For companies already using Amazon S3 considering a switch, S3 compatibility allows for the new object storage provider to be a drop in replacement. This means there are essentially no major changes required to the application architecture.
Amazon S3 offers more features than just how their code is structured, so choosing the right alternative for you means looking for features like:
If you’re looking for any vendor that you can store files with, check out our list of cloud object storage vendors.
The right object storage features provide:
To choose the right vendor, the mix between features offered and price needs to be found. For example, having multi-part upload can greatly improve the user experience for large files, or event notifications help keep track of what’s going on in your application.
Performance will vary greatly depending on the type of S3-compatible object storage vendor you use. For example, for the following tasks used to estimate end-to-end latency of object storage providers:
Backblaze threw a few 503s, Cloudflare R2 doesn't seem to support concurrent LIST operations, and Google Cloud Storage struggled to work in S3-compatibility mode.
Read more on these tests in Tom Larkworthy's runbook.
Object storage and block storage are both useful ways of storing and accessing files.
Block storage has several advantages over object storage including:
This mean block storage is great for:
Choosing the right object storage vendor can save dev time and keep your cloud bill manageable.
New offerings like Wasabi Hot Storage, Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage and Storj DCS are challenging incumbents like Amazon S3, leaving many software architects wondering which vendor to choose and why.
Many of these vendors will do an excellent job, but at times there can be hidden “gotchas” that only show themselves at scale. In our comparisons listed below, we cover the pros, cons and gotchas that should influence your decision on the right cloud object storage vendor for you.
Our most popular comparison pages are:
Vendors like Storj DCS, Filecoin, and Sia are built on decentralized storage.
These vendors utilize blockchain technology to encrypt and store data across the world in "nodes." These nodes are then compensated for their space.
The primary quantifiable benefits of decentralized storage are:
To read about the non-quantified benefits of decentralized storage, download our white paper here. The paper itself is hosted on Storj, where it has been split up into 80 pieces across the node network and will be assembled when you click download 🤓.
Vendors like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure have various ways you can export your data related to cloud storage costs in order to run a cost analysis before migrating to cheaper providers like Wasabi, Backblaze and Storj.
We created an instruction manual for exporting this data. If you want to run a cost comparison, please don't hesitate to contact us and we can help you: [email protected]
The object storage market is fast changing. New entrants with exciting features, and new paradigms are changing the way companies think about cloud object storage.
10/18/2021 Backblaze IPO
Backblaze filed their IPO, as an emerging growth company.
9/28/2021: Cloudflare R2 is Announced
Cloudflare announced an Amazon S3 competitor called Cloudflare R2, what they call Rapid and Reliable Object Storage, minus the egress fees. Releasing an object storage provider without egress is a major disruption and can lead to significant savings.
For our take, you can check out our comparison Cloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3, or our editorial piece, Will Cloudflare R2 Win Customers from Amazon S3?
Get a detailed requirements table and filter solutions for your exact use case using our platform.