Comparison1 of 4
AWS S3 vs Azure Blob Storage: what the same workload costs
3 workloads, each described once and priced on both from the providers’ published list prices. Every figure is from a sample verdict, and every warning stays beside the option it belongs to.
- Azure Blob Storage cost less than AWS S3
- 3 of 3
- How much more the dearer of the 2 cost, workload by workload
- Under 1% to 10% more
- Neither was the cheapest of the 5 providers priced on each workload. Wasabi was.
- 1 of 3
3 workloads, priced on both
Each bar is that provider’s cheapest option priced in full, over the whole period, in US dollars. The workload is the same on both sides; only the provider changes.
Hot application storage
- 50 TiB, growing 3% a month
- Kept indefinitely
- Over 3 years
Microsoft Azure cost $16,986.54 less over 3 years. AWS cost 9% more.
Cheapest of the 31 options priced in fullWasabi Pay as you go in eu-west-1 $25,647.39, $8.11 per TiB-month all in
Read the sample verdictBackup with frequent change
- 200 TiB, growing 1.5% a month
- Kept 90 days
- Over 5 years
Microsoft Azure cost $17,123.80 less over 5 years. AWS cost 10% more.
Cheapest of the 34 options priced in full, 1 of these 2Azure Cold LRS in uksouth $167,606.24, $8.71 per TiB-month all in
Read the sample verdictLong-term archive
- 1,024 TiB, growing 0.5% a month
- Kept 2,555 days, locked against deletion throughout
- Over 10 years
Microsoft Azure cost $1,405.28 less over 10 years. AWS cost under 1% more.
Cheapest of the 36 options priced in full, 1 of these 2Azure Archive LRS in uksouth $315,138.42, $1,922.99 per PiB-month all in
Read the sample verdict
Before you decide
A price says nothing about how the data behaves. Every warning and note on both options is here, with the page it comes from, and none of them changes the order.
Hot application storage
Microsoft AzureAzure Hot LRS in uksouth
- WarningHeld in a single datacentre in the primary regionlearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-redundancy (opens in a new tab)
- NoteInternet egress drives the costazure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/bandwidth (opens in a new tab)
- NoteData transfer that costs less or nothingazure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/bandwidth (opens in a new tab)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/network-routing-preference (opens in a new tab)
- NoteWriting costs more than storing in month 1azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/blobs (opens in a new tab)
AWSAWS S3 Standard in eu-west-2
- NoteInternet egress drives the costaws.amazon.com/s3/pricing (opens in a new tab)
- NoteData transfer that costs less or nothingaws.amazon.com/s3/pricing (opens in a new tab)
Backup with frequent change
Microsoft AzureAzure Cold LRS in uksouth
- WarningHeld in a single datacentre in the primary regionlearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-redundancy (opens in a new tab)
- WarningMinimum retention of 90 days on data that churnslearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)
- NoteReading data carries retrieval chargeslearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)
- NoteLower published availabilitylearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)
- NoteEarlier versions of objects are charged as the data islearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/versioning-overview (opens in a new tab)
AWSAWS S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval in eu-west-2
- WarningData must be restored before it can be readdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/restoring-objects-retrieval-options.html (opens in a new tab)
- WarningMinimum storage duration of 90 days on data that churnsdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteMetadata charged on every archived objectdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteReading data carries retrieval chargesdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteWriting costs more than storing in month 1aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing (opens in a new tab)
- NoteExpedited restores are not guaranteeddocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/restoring-objects-retrieval-options.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteEarlier versions of objects are charged as the data isdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/Versioning.html (opens in a new tab)
Long-term archive
Microsoft AzureAzure Archive LRS in uksouth
- WarningData must be rehydrated before it can be readlearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/archive-rehydrate-overview (opens in a new tab)
- WarningHeld in a single datacentre in the primary regionlearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-redundancy (opens in a new tab)
- NoteMetadata charged on every archived bloblearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-plan-manage-costs (opens in a new tab)
- NoteReading data carries retrieval chargeslearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)
- NoteLower published availabilitylearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview (opens in a new tab)
AWSAWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive in eu-west-2
- WarningData must be restored before it can be readdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/restoring-objects-retrieval-options.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteMetadata charged on every archived objectdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html (opens in a new tab)
- NoteReading data carries retrieval chargesdocs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/storage-class-intro.html (opens in a new tab)
How these were priced
Priced at each provider’s current published list prices, in 1 region of each, named beside its figure. Estimates, not quotations.
Every price names its source
Each figure comes from the provider’s own published price list, and the report says how old it was.
A missing charge is never zero
An option that cannot be priced in full is marked Partial, and is not ranked.
Cost alone decides the order
Storage, requests, retrieval, data out, and early deletion are all counted, and a warning never moves an option. The method in full
No provider pays for placement, inclusion, or position. CloudVerdict is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.