Meter
Object storage sells capacity and API calls, not a backup product
Object storage keeps payloads and metadata as named objects in buckets behind an API. It supplies durable storage primitives, not a complete backup workflow, and its recovery cost can include requests, retrieval, temporary-copy storage, and egress in addition to stored capacity.
Put your own numbers through the calculator to see what this meter does to a normal month and to the day you restore.
Object storage keeps named objects in buckets behind an API
Object storage stores each payload with metadata and an object key inside a bucket, then exposes bucket and object operations through an API. It does not present the data as an ordinary mounted file tree or sell a complete backup workflow by itself. [1] [2]
The provider supplies the storage service. The buyer or backup product still supplies scheduling, credentials, retention logic, monitoring, and a tested recovery procedure. S3 compatibility can make software integration easier, but it does not prove that every operation or retention feature is implemented. [1] [3]
| Question | Object-storage answer | Source ref |
|---|---|---|
| What is stored? | A payload plus metadata under an object key inside a bucket [1] | [1] |
| How is it accessed? | Through bucket and object APIs used by applications and backup tools [1] [3] | [1] [3] |
| Does the service schedule backups? | does not apply. Scheduling belongs to the backup application or operating workflow [1] | [1] |
| Does S3-compatible mean identical to Amazon S3? | No. A compatible service can implement only part of the S3 API surface [3] | [3] |
Object storage and managed backup sell different units of responsibility
Object storage commonly bills capacity and data operations. Managed backup commonly adds workload-aware agents, schedules, retention, and recovery workflows and may charge per protected device, workload, or seat. Those products are not directly comparable until the missing software and operating work are accounted for. [5] [7] [8]
The provider registry contains 61 object-storage offers across 18 vendors. That count describes the captured comparison set, not 61 complete backup services. [4]
| Responsibility | Object storage alone | Managed backup | Source ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store protected bytes | Included as the core service [5] | Included or attached to the protected-workload plan [7] | [5] [7] |
| Discover workload data | does not apply to the storage API [1] | Handled by an agent or workload integration where the product documents it [7] | [1] [7] |
| Schedule and retain recovery points | Supplied by the buyer's backup software and policy [1] | Part of the managed workflow where documented [7] | [1] [7] |
| Price unit | Commonly capacity, requests, retrieval, and transfer [5] [6] | Can be per computer, workload, or seat [7] [8] | [5] [6] [7] [8] |
The storage rate is one line of an object-storage receipt
A normal month can include storage and API requests. A read-only recovery month can add retrieval, restore and read requests, temporary readable-copy storage, and destination-aware egress. It never triggers early deletion by itself because it does not delete, overwrite, move, or transition the source object. [9] [10]
Egress is the decision variable in a cross-vendor restore. Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, and Wasabi expose three different rules, so a zero storage-rate difference cannot substitute for a complete recovery receipt. [6] [11] [12]
| Provider | Published recovery boundary | Required state treatment | Source ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 | Free egress up to 3 times average monthly storage, then $0.01/GB [6] | Numeric after the allowance because the overage rate is published | [6] |
| Cloudflare R2 | Internet egress is not charged; Class A and Class B operations remain billed, and Infrequent Access retrieval is $0.01/GB [11] | Keep request and retrieval lines separate from the zero egress line | [11] |
| Wasabi | No egress fee inside the fair-use policy tied to active stored volume; an excess per-GB rate is not published [12] | conditional inside the policy and not published beyond its priced boundary | [12] |
| Read-only restore | Retrieval, requests, temporary-copy storage, and egress can apply [9] [10] | Early deletion does not apply unless a separate mutation occurs | [9] [10] |
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these pages, on the date shown. Each numbered reference in the text links to its entry here. Vendors change prices; if a date looks old, check the source. Three vendors publish a machine-readable feed and the rest are re-checked by hand, which is why the dates are not uniform.
The source ledger12 sources
- 1Backblazewww.backblaze.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 2AWS documentation: Storage class introdocs.aws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 3Cloudflare developer docs: Apidevelopers.cloudflare.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 4This repository: providers.jsonrepository · checked 2026-07-25T15:34:44Z
- 5Backblaze: Cloud storage pricingwww.backblaze.com · checked 2026-07-25T15:34:44Z
- 6Backblaze: Transaction pricingwww.backblaze.com · checked 2026-07-25T15:34:44Z
- 7Backblaze help centre: What does Backblaze Backuphelp.backblaze.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 8Acronis: Cyber protect pricingwww.acronis.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 9Amazon Web Services: S3 pricingaws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 10AWS documentation: Restoring objectsdocs.aws.amazon.com · checked 2026-07-26
- 11Cloudflare developer docs: R2 pricingdevelopers.cloudflare.com · checked 2026-07-25T15:34:44Z
- 12Wasabi: Faqwasabi.com · checked 2026-07-25T15:34:44Z