Object Storage / Media API
Backblaze B2 enters at $0 against Amazon S3 at $5.87 per month. Both tools position themselves for image/video heavy applications, so the decision rarely comes down to surface features. In practice, Amazon S3 — Object storage service with 11 nines durability, S3 Select, versioning, and lifecycle management. Backblaze B2 — S3-compatible object storage at $0.006/GB with free egress to Cloudflare CDN partners. Amazon S3 scores 5/5 on developer experience versus 4/5 for Backblaze B2. Backblaze B2 rates 5/5 on transparency versus 4/5 for Amazon S3. Both tools list image/video heavy applications as a headline strength, which is why pricing and lock-in usually decide the call. Both tools surface overlapping when-to-use scenarios, including image/video heavy applications. The honest trade-off: Amazon S3 is not built for small projects, and Backblaze B2 is not the right call for small projects, so neither is a universal default. Transparency scores land at 4/5 for Amazon S3 and 5/5 for Backblaze B2, which reflects how openly each tool documents pricing, limits, and terms.
Quick take
Amazon S3 is for image/video heavy applications; Backblaze B2 overlaps on the same job; decide based on pricing model.
 Amazon S3 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Object Storage / Media API | Object Storage / Media API |
| Pricing Model | subscription | subscription |
| Entry Price | $5.87 per month | $0 |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing Complexity | — | — |
| Developer Experience | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| Pricing Transparency | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Lock-in Level | medium | medium |
| Migration Complexity | — | — |
| Data Portability | — | — |
| Enterprise | Available | Available |
| GitHub Stars | 1.0k | 609 |
| License | — | NOASSERTION |
Choose Amazon S3 if image/video heavy applications and the $5.87 per month entry price fits your budget.
Not for: Small projects
Choose Backblaze B2 if image/video heavy applications and the $0 entry price fits your budget.
Not for: Small projects
Check each tool's dedicated page for deeper reviews, setup notes, and pros/cons.
Based on the listed entry prices, no: Amazon S3 starts at $5.87 per month while Backblaze B2 starts at $0. At low volume the gap may be small, but it widens fast at scale. Always price against your own usage curve, not the headline tier.
Technically you can move between any two tools in the same category, but effort varies: leaving Amazon S3 is moderate effort at medium lock-in (S3 API became de facto standard; data egress costly), and onboarding to Backblaze B2 involves medium lock-in (S3-compatible, portable). Plan for data export, re-integration, and a parallel-run window rather than a hard cutover.
On the 0-5 developer experience score in our data, Amazon S3 rates 5/5 while Backblaze B2 rates 4/5, giving Amazon S3 the edge. Scores compress a lot of variance though — SDK language coverage, error messages, and docs quality matter more than the number. Run a quick integration spike on both before trusting the gap.
Yes, Backblaze B2 targets the same job Amazon S3 does — image/video heavy applications — so functionally it slots in as an alternative. Pricing model (subscription from $0 vs subscription from $5.87 per month) and lock-in (medium lock-in (S3-compatible, portable) vs medium lock-in (S3 API became de facto standard; data egress costly)) usually decide which is the better fit. Validate on your actual workload. Note: Backblaze B2 is explicitly not for small projects.
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