Cloud storage pricing can look deceptively simple. A provider may advertise a low monthly price for storing 1 TB, yet the real bill can become much higher when users regularly download data, move workloads between platforms, or migrate away from the service. For that reason, Seagate Exos comparing cloud storage by storage capacity alone is no longer enough. A more useful comparison considers the monthly storage rate together with egress, retrieval, transfer allowances, and exit-related costs.

This July 2026 comparison looks across 14 major cloud and object-storage providers: Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, Akamai Object Storage, Linode Object Storage, Vultr Object Storage, Scaleway Object Storage, OVHcloud Object Storage, Storj, UpCloud Managed Object Storage, and Hetzner Object Storage. Pricing can vary by region, storage class, contract, currency, and usage volume, so these figures should be treated as representative public rates rather than universal quotes.

Amazon S3 remains one of the best-known benchmarks for object storage. S3 Standard storage is commonly priced around $0.023 per GB-month, which works out to roughly $23.55 per TB-month when 1 TB is treated as 1,024 GB. The bigger consideration is outbound data transfer. Standard internet egress is commonly around $0.09 per GB for the initial volume tier, although AWS pricing varies according to destination and volume. That means downloading 1 TB can potentially add roughly $92 in transfer charges before other applicable discounts or allowances. AWS also has multiple storage classes, retrieval charges, and transfer rules, so the headline storage rate is only one component of the final bill.

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage offers several storage tiers, including Hot, Cool, Cold, and Archive. Hot Blob Storage is generally the closest comparison to frequently accessed standard object storage. Public Azure pricing varies by region and redundancy configuration, so a simple per-TB figure should not be interpreted as a universal Azure price. In commonly compared US pricing, storage is around the low-$20s per TB each month, while outbound internet transfer can be charged separately. Azure also applies different retrieval and early-deletion rules to some cooler tiers. This makes Azure particularly important to evaluate according to workload rather than choosing a storage class solely because its monthly storage number is lower.

Google Cloud Storage follows a similarly flexible model. Standard storage in a typical US region is around $20 to $23 per TB-month depending on the exact unit and location used for comparison. Google Cloud also charges network transfer for applicable outbound traffic, with rates depending on destination. Nearline, Coldline, and Archive storage can look considerably cheaper on storage alone, but those tiers introduce retrieval charges. Google explicitly notes that retrieval fees apply when data is read, copied, moved, or rewritten from several colder storage classes. Consequently, a business that frequently accesses its entire dataset may find Standard storage more economical than a cheaper archival tier.

Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage takes a different approach to the cost equation. Its current public pricing lists B2 at approximately $6.95 per TB per month, with free egress up to three times the customer's average monthly storage. Egress beyond that allowance is generally $0.01 per GB, while certain CDN and compute partners can provide unlimited free egress. This makes B2 particularly interesting for backup, media, archival, and application workloads where substantial data may need to be downloaded. The storage price is dramatically lower than the headline rates of the hyperscale clouds, but users still need to understand the three-times-storage egress allowance rather than assuming every download is unlimited.

Wasabi has historically positioned its hot cloud storage around predictable storage-only pricing. Wasabi's May 2026 pricing FAQ states that the Pay-Go price changed to $7.99 per TB per month for customers affected by the July 2026 update, while egress and API requests remain free subject to its fair-use policies. This is an important July 2026 distinction because older articles may still quote $6.99 per TB. For users who expect substantial downloads, Wasabi's free egress policy can make the effective cost much more predictable than providers charging separately for every gigabyte transferred out.

Cloudflare R2 charges $0.015 per GB-month for Standard storage, equivalent to approximately $15.36 per TB-month using 1,024 GB per TB. The service also has a $0.01 per GB-month Infrequent Access tier. Most importantly for this comparison, Cloudflare states that R2 does not charge for internet egress. Infrequent Access does have a $0.01 per GB data-retrieval charge, but outbound bandwidth itself remains free. This makes R2 especially attractive for applications that store data once but serve it repeatedly to users across the internet.

Akamai Object Storage uses a $5 monthly base charge that includes 250 GB of storage. Storage above that allowance is generally priced around $0.02 per GB, while outbound transfer beyond the included allowance is generally $0.005 per GB in most data centers. Akamai also includes a 1 TB monthly transfer allowance through its network transfer pool. At a full 1 TB of stored data, the effective storage component therefore lands around the low-$20s per month, depending on how the included 250 GB and applicable billing rules are calculated. The unusually low outbound transfer rate can make the service more competitive for workloads that serve large files.

Linode Object Storage uses a straightforward subscription-style structure. The commonly published plan starts at $5 per month for 250 GB, includes 1 TB of outbound transfer, and charges approximately $0.02 per additional GB of storage. Additional outbound transfer is charged separately after the included allowance. Linode documentation and product information describe the included transfer pool and additional transfer charges. Scaling the basic storage allowance to roughly 1 TB puts the storage component near $20 per month, although the precise bill depends on the plan and account-level transfer pool.

Vultr Object Storage follows a bundled model. Its standard Object Storage subscription is listed at $18 per month for 1,000 GB of storage and 1 TB of included bandwidth. Vultr's 2026 archival documentation confirms that the standard subscription remains $18 per month with 1,000 GB of included storage and 1 TB of included bandwidth. This makes Vultr's headline standard price approximately $18 per TB-month before considering any usage beyond the included bandwidth. Its archival tier is much cheaper for storage, at $0.006 per GB-month, but restored or unarchived data carries additional charges, so it should not be compared directly with always-hot storage.

Scaleway Object Storage provides multiple object-storage tiers. In the Paris region, its current public pricing lists Standard One Zone at approximately €0.00803 per GB-month and Standard Multi-AZ at about €0.01606 per GB-month. Egress includes 75 GB per month, after which the published price is €0.01 per GB. That makes One Zone storage roughly €8.23 per TB-month using 1,024 GB as the conversion basis, while Multi-AZ is roughly €16.45 per TB-month. The difference illustrates why redundancy should be included in any serious price comparison.

OVHcloud Object Storage has one of the more distinctive pricing structures in this group. Its Standard Object Storage price is published at $0.00001111 per GiB-hour, while outgoing public traffic is included. Converted using the provider's 730-hour monthly convention, the standard storage rate is approximately $8.11 per TiB-month. OVHcloud states that outgoing traffic is free, although regional contractual conditions can affect that policy, particularly for certain Asia-Pacific entities. Its Infrequent Access tier is cheaper for storage but introduces data-retrieval charges and a minimum storage duration, so the cheaper headline rate does not necessarily produce a cheaper bill for frequently accessed data.

Storj uses a relatively simple usage model. Its public materials describe pay-as-you-go pricing of approximately $4 per TB-month for storage and $7 per TB of egress. That means storing 1 TB and downloading the equivalent of 1 TB during a month would produce a simple baseline of about $11 before any applicable additional charges or discounts. Storj's distributed architecture also means the storage price includes global distribution characteristics that can require additional configuration or replication with traditional providers.

UpCloud Managed Object Storage takes a bundled approach. Its global pricing currently lists Managed Object Storage at $5 per month for 250 GB, with each additional 250 GB priced at another $5. That produces an effective rate of approximately $20 per TB-month. UpCloud also states that Managed Object Storage has zero-cost egress, subject to its Fair Transfer Policy. For customers who regularly download their data, the absence of a conventional per-gigabyte egress charge can make the service considerably easier to budget.

Hetzner Object Storage is another provider where the included bandwidth matters as much as the storage price. Hetzner's Object Storage base price includes 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of egress traffic. The provider's published information gives a base price of about $5.99 per month, with additional storage and traffic charged separately. This means a customer storing around 1 TB and staying within the included 1 TB egress allowance can keep the basic monthly bill close to the base subscription price, excluding VAT and other applicable charges.

When these providers are placed side by side, the difference between advertised storage price and practical cloud-storage cost becomes clear. At roughly $6.95 per TB-month, Backblaze B2 is among the lowest-priced mainstream options for active storage, especially when the three-times-storage free-egress allowance is sufficient. Storj at around $4 per TB-month has an even lower storage component, although its $7 per TB egress rate needs to be included when data is downloaded. Wasabi's July 2026 rate of approximately $7.99 per TB-month is also highly competitive because egress remains free under its stated policy.

Cloudflare R2 sits around $15.36 per TB-month for Standard storage but removes internet egress charges, which can dramatically change the economics for content-serving applications. Vultr's approximately $18 monthly standard plan includes both 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of bandwidth. UpCloud and Linode land around $20 per TB when their 250 GB plans are scaled to 1 TB, while Akamai can be around the low-$20 range but includes a substantial transfer allowance. Scaleway can be even cheaper in its One Zone configuration, although multi-AZ storage costs more.

OVHcloud is notable because its standard object-storage price works out to roughly $8 per TB-month while outgoing traffic is included under its published conditions. Hetzner is similarly attractive for users whose storage and egress fit inside its included 1 TB allowances. These bundled models can be particularly compelling for backups and media libraries because they reduce the risk of a large surprise bandwidth bill.

The hyperscale providers tell a different story. AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage offer huge ecosystems, extensive regions, sophisticated lifecycle management, security controls, analytics integrations, and many storage classes. Their storage rates alone may appear competitive, but outbound internet traffic can significantly increase the final bill. Backblaze's own current comparison, for example, lists approximately $26 per TB-month for AWS S3, $20 for Azure, and $23 for Google Cloud in its selected comparison scenario, while showing egress rates of approximately $0.09, $0.08, and $0.11 per GB respectively. Exact official rates vary by region and usage tier, so those figures should be used as comparison benchmarks rather than universal prices.

The most important lesson is that “cheapest per TB” depends heavily on what happens after the data is stored. A backup that is rarely downloaded can tolerate a different pricing model from a video library serving hundreds of gigabytes every day. Similarly, a data lake that may be migrated to another provider in two years should consider exit and transfer costs before committing to the lowest storage rate.

Egress is especially important because it represents the cost of getting data back out of a cloud provider. Providers such as Cloudflare R2, Wasabi, UpCloud, and OVHcloud reduce or eliminate conventional internet egress charges under their published policies. Backblaze provides a substantial free-egress allowance, while Hetzner, Vultr, Linode, and Akamai include specific transfer quotas before additional bandwidth is billed. By contrast, traditional hyperscale object storage can charge a separate per-gigabyte fee once data leaves the service.

Exit fees deserve a slightly different explanation. In many object-storage products, there is not a separate line item literally called an “exit fee.” Instead, the financial barrier to leaving is usually outbound data transfer. If a company has 100 TB stored and must move all 100 TB to another provider, the amount of data transferred out can become the practical exit cost. Retrieval charges may also apply if the source data is held in a cold or archival tier.

For example, moving a frequently accessed 10 TB dataset from a service charging $0.09 per GB for internet egress could theoretically create around $900 in outbound-transfer charges before discounts or tier-specific rules. A service with free egress would remove that particular cost, although the destination provider may still charge for storage, API operations, or incoming transfer in certain circumstances. This is why an exit strategy should be considered before a large dataset is committed to a provider.

Cold storage deserves its own calculation. AWS Glacier, Azure Archive, Google Cloud Archive, Cloudflare R2 Infrequent Access, OVHcloud Infrequent Access, and Vultr Archival Storage can reduce the monthly storage component considerably. However, retrieval charges, minimum retention periods, restore processes, and transfer fees can make these services more expensive when data must be recovered frequently. Google Cloud, for example, explicitly lists retrieval charges for Nearline, Coldline, and Archive storage. OVHcloud similarly lists retrieval charges and minimum storage periods for its Infrequent Access and Cold Archive offerings.

A fair comparison therefore needs at least four numbers: storage cost, expected monthly egress, retrieval cost, and potential migration cost. API request charges can matter too, particularly for applications handling millions of small objects. Cloudflare R2, for example, charges separately for Class A and Class B operations even though its internet egress is free. The same principle applies elsewhere: a provider with inexpensive storage can become less attractive if an application performs enormous numbers of requests.

For a backup-focused workload, the strongest candidates are generally providers with low storage prices and predictable retrieval costs. Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Storj, Hetzner, OVHcloud, and Vultr can be particularly interesting depending on the required access pattern. For internet-heavy applications, egress-free or egress-friendly services such as Cloudflare R2, Wasabi, UpCloud, OVHcloud, and Backblaze B2 can deserve close attention.

For applications already deeply integrated into a major cloud ecosystem, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud may remain the practical choices even when their raw storage and egress prices are higher. The value of native identity management, analytics, databases, machine learning services, networking, automation, and regional infrastructure can outweigh a simple per-TB price difference.

The July 2026 pricing landscape therefore does not have one universal winner. Storj offers an extremely low storage rate but charges for egress. Backblaze combines low storage pricing with a generous free-egress allowance. Wasabi emphasizes predictable hot-storage economics and free egress under fair-use conditions. Cloudflare R2 trades a higher storage price than the cheapest providers for free internet egress. OVHcloud and Hetzner combine relatively low storage costs with included outbound traffic, while Vultr and UpCloud use simple bundled plans.

The best provider is ultimately the one whose pricing model matches the workload. If almost nothing is downloaded, storage price deserves the greatest weight. If data is continuously delivered to users, egress may matter more than storage. If a company expects a large migration later, exit costs can become the decisive factor. And if data will sit untouched for years, retrieval fees and minimum retention rules may matter more than the headline monthly price.

For that reason, comparing cloud storage “per TB” is useful only as a starting point. A realistic monthly estimate should multiply the stored capacity by the provider's storage rate, add expected retrieval and outbound-transfer costs, account for included bandwidth, and then consider API requests and any minimum-storage requirements. That approach gives a much more accurate picture of the true cost than a simple list of advertised storage prices.

As of July 2026, the most significant trend is clear: cloud storage competition is increasingly moving beyond the storage-only price. Providers are competing on predictable billing, free egress, included bandwidth, distributed infrastructure, and simpler migration economics. For businesses managing multiple terabytes or petabytes, those policies can save substantially more money than a small difference in the advertised storage rate.