{"id":76809,"date":"2017-09-06T07:59:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T14:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=76809"},"modified":"2021-07-23T12:56:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T19:56:09","slug":"cloud-storage-pricing-comparison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/cloud-storage-pricing-comparison\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Storage Doesn\u2019t Have to Be Convoluted, Complex, or Confusing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-77029 size-full\" title=\"Why is Cloud Storage Pricing So Confusing? \" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused.jpg\" alt=\"business man frustrated over cloud storage pricing\" width=\"1440\" height=\"820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused-1024x583.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused-768x437.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused-560x319.jpg 560w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Header-Confused-220x124.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"abstract\"><strong>Editor&#8217;s Note:<\/strong> On March 9, 2018, Backblaze <a href=\"\/blog\/backblaze-b2-drops-download-price-in-half\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dropped the price of Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage downloads from $0.02 to $0.01<\/a> per gigabyte. See our updated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/pricing#calculator\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">B2 Cloud Storage Cost Calculator<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; text-align: center; margin: 18px auto; max-width: 85%; line-height: 165%;\">So why do some vendors make it so hard to get information about how much you&#8217;re storing and how much you&#8217;re being charged?<\/p>\n<p id=\"bzdropcap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\">Cloud storage<\/a> is fast becoming the central repository for mission critical information, irreplaceable memories, and in some cases, entire corporate and personal histories. Given this responsibility, we believe cloud storage vendors have an obligation to be transparent as possible in how they interact with their customers.<\/p>\n<p>In that light we decided to challenge four cloud storage vendors and ask two simple questions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Can a customer understand how much data is stored?<\/li>\n<li>Can a customer understand the bill?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The detailed results are below, but if you wish to skip the details and the screen captures (TL;DR), we\u2019ve summarized the results in the table below.<\/p>\n<h2>Summary of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/b2\/b2-transactions-price.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cloud Storage Pricing<\/a> Test<\/h2>\n<p>Our challenge was to upload one terabyte of data, store it for one month, and then download\u00a0it. Cost is based on publicly posted rates.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;\" cellpadding=\"10\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th width=\"22%\"><\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;\">Visibility to Data Stored<\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;\">Easy to Understand Bill<\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;\">Cost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 3px solid #b0b0b0;\">\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"font-weight: bold; vertical-align: middle; font-size: 0.9em;\">Backblaze B2<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Accurate, intuitive display of storage information.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Available on demand, and the site clearly defines what has and will be charged for.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">$25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0;\">\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"font-weight: bold; vertical-align: middle; font-size: 0.9em;\">Microsoft Azure<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Storage is being measured in kibibytes, but is billed by the gigabyte. With a calculator, it is unclear how much storage we are using.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Available, but difficult to find. The nearly 30-day lag in billing creates business and accounting challenges.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">$72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0;\">\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"font-weight: bold; vertical-align: middle; font-size: 0.9em;\">Amazon S3<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Incomplete. From the file browsing user interface, while summaries of folders can be found, there is no reasonable way to understand how much data is being<br \/>\nglobally stored.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Available on demand. While there are some line items that seem unnecessary for our test, the bill is generally straightforward to understand.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">$71<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e0e0;\">\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"font-weight: bold; vertical-align: middle; font-size: 0.9em;\">Google Cloud Service<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Incomplete. From the file browsing user interface, there is no reasonable way to understand how much data is being stored.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">Available, but provides descriptions in units that are not on the pricing table nor commonly used.<\/td>\n<td class=\"tab-text-sm\" style=\"vertical-align: middle;\">$100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Details of Cloud Storage Tests<\/h2>\n<p>For our tests, we choose Backblaze B2, Microsoft\u2019s Azure, Amazon\u2019s S3, and Google Cloud Storage. Our idea was simple: Upload 1TB of data to the comparable service for each vendor, store it for one month, download that 1TB, then document and share the results.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with most obvious observation, the cost charged by each vendor for the test. Looking at the publicly available prices posted online by each vendor, here&#8217;s what costs should be:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<table style=\"width: 75%; border-collapse: collapse;\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<th width=\"50%\"><\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;\">Cost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 3px solid #b0b0b0; height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.9em;\">Backblaze B2<\/td>\n<td>$25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0; height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.9em;\">Microsoft Azure<\/td>\n<td>$72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0; height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.9em;\">Amazon S3<\/td>\n<td>$71<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-top: 1px solid #b0b0b0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e0e0; height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.9em;\">Google Cloud Service<\/td>\n<td>$100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Later in this post, we\u2019ll see if we can determine the different cost components (storage, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/b2\/docs\/downloading.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">downloading<\/a>, transactions, etc.) for each vendor, but our first step is to see if we can determine how much data we stored. In some cases, the answer is not as obvious as it would seem.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-76879\" style=\"text-align: center; padding: 18px 0 18px 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Test 1: Can a Customer Understand How Much Data Is Stored?<\/h2>\n<p>At the core, a provider of a service ought to be able to tell a customer how much of the service they are using. In this case, one might assume that providers of cloud storage would be able to tell customers how much data is being stored at any given moment. It turns out, it\u2019s not that simple.<\/p>\n<h3>Backblaze B2<\/h3>\n<p>Logging into a Backblaze B2 account, one is presented with a summary screen that displays all buckets. Each bucket displays key summary information, including data currently stored.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76909 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1.jpg\" alt=\"B2 Cloud Storage Buckets screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB1-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Clicking into a given bucket, one can browse individual files. Each file displays its size, and multiple files can be selected to create a size summary.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76910 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2.jpg\" alt=\"B2 file tree screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB2-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Accurate, intuitive display of storage information.<\/p>\n<h3>Microsoft Azure<\/h3>\n<p>Moving on to Microsoft\u2019s Azure, things get a little more \u201cexciting.\u201d There was no area that we could find where one can determine the total amount of data, in gigabytes, stored with Azure.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an area entitled \u201cusage,\u201d but that wasn\u2019t helpful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76918 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Azure cloud storage screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA1-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>We then moved on to \u201cOverview,\u201d but had a couple challenges.The first issue was that we were presented with kibibytes as a unit of measurement. One gigabyte (the unit of measurement used in Azure\u2019s pricing table) equates to roughly 976,563KiB. It struck us as odd that things would be summarized by a unit of measurement different from the billing unit of measurement.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76919 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Azure usage dashboard screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA2-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Storage is being measured in kibibytes, but is billed by the gigabyte. Even with a calculator, it is unclear how much storage we are using.<\/p>\n<h3>Amazon S3<\/h3>\n<p>Next, we checked on the data we were storing in S3. We again ran into problems.<\/p>\n<p>In the bucket overview, we were able to identify our buckets. However, we could not tell how much data was being stored.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76922 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31.jpg\" alt=\"Amazon S3 cloud storage buckets screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S31-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Drilling into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/b2\/docs\/quick_bucket.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a bucket<\/a>, the detail view does tell us file size. However, there was no method for summarizing the data stored within that bucket or for multiple files.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76923 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32.jpg\" alt=\"Amazon S3 cloud storage buckets usage screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S32-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Incomplete. From the file browsing user interface, while summaries of folders can be found, there is no reasonable way to understand how much data is being globally stored.<\/p>\n<h3>Google Cloud Storage (GCS)<\/h3>\n<p>GCS proved to have its own quirks, as well.<\/p>\n<p>One can easily find the bucket summary, however, it does not provide information on data stored.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76914 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1.jpg\" alt=\"Google Cloud Storage Bucket screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC1-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Clicking into the bucket, one can see files and the size of an individual file. However, no ability to see data total is provided.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76915 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2.jpg\" alt=\"Google Cloud Storage bucket files screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC2-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Incomplete. From the file browsing user interface, there is no reasonable way to understand how much data is being stored.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #e8e8e8; padding: 32px 18px; -webkit-box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); -moz-box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); background-color: #fcfcfc; border-radius: 15px;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ce1126; font-size: 1.1em;\">Test 1 Conclusions<\/p>\n<p>We knew how much storage we were uploading and, in many cases, the user will have some sense of the amount of data they are uploading. However, it strikes us as odd that many vendors won\u2019t tell you how much data you have stored. Even stranger are the vendors that provide reporting in a unit of measure that is different from the units in their pricing table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-76879\" style=\"text-align: center; padding: 18px 0 18px 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-80x80.png 80w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo.png 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Test 2: Can a Customer Understand the Bill?<\/h2>\n<p>The cloud storage industry has done itself no favors <a href=\"\/blog\/transparency-in-cloud-storage-costs\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">with its tiered pricing that requires a calculator to figure out what&#8217;s going on<\/a>. Setting that aside for a moment, one would presume that bills would be created in clear, auditable ways.<\/p>\n<h3>Backblaze<\/h3>\n<p>Inside of the Backblaze user interface, one finds a navigation link entitled \u201cBilling.\u201d Clicking on that, the user is presented with line items for previous bills, payments, and an estimate for the upcoming charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76911 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3.jpg\" alt=\"Backblaze B2 billing screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB3-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>One can expand any given row to see the the line item transactions composing each bill.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76912 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4.jpg\" alt=\"Backblaze B2 billing details screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Here&#8217;s more detail.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4b.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76912 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BB4b.jpg\" alt=\"Backblaze B2 billing details screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Available on demand, and the site clearly defines what has and will be charged for.<\/p>\n<h3>Azure<\/h3>\n<p>Trying to understand the Azure billing proved to be a bit tricky.<\/p>\n<p>On August 6th, we logged into the billing console and were presented with this screen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76921 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Azure billing screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MS3-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>As you can see, on August 6th, billing for the period of May-June was not available for download. For the period ending June 26th, we were charged nearly a month later, on July 24th. Clicking into that row item does display line item information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76920 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Azure cloud storage billing details screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MA4-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Available, but difficult to find. The nearly 30-day lag in billing creates business and accounting challenges.<\/p>\n<h3>Amazon S3<\/h3>\n<p>Amazon presents a clean billing summary and enables users to \u201cdrill down\u201d into line items.<\/p>\n<p>Going to the billing area of AWS, one can survey various monthly bills and is presented with a clean summary of billing charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76924 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33.jpg\" alt=\"AWS billing screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S33-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Expanding into the billing detail, Amazon articulates each line item charge. Within each line item, charges are broken out into sub-line items for the different tiers of pricing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76925 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34.jpg\" alt=\"AWS billing details screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/S34-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Available on demand. While there are some line items that seem unnecessary for our test, the bill is generally straightforward to understand.<\/p>\n<h3>Google Cloud Storage (GCS)<\/h3>\n<p>This was an area where the GCS user interface, which was otherwise relatively intuitive, became confusing.<\/p>\n<p>Going to the Billing Overview page did not offer much in the way of an overview on charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76916 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3.jpg\" alt=\"Google Cloud Storage billing screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC3-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>However, moving down to the \u201cTransactions\u201d section did provide line item detail on all the charges incurred. However, similar to Azure introducing the concept of KiB, Google introduces the concept of the equally confusing gibibyte. While all of Google\u2019s pricing tables are listed in terms of gigabytes, the line items reference gibibytes. 1GiB is 1.07374GB.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bz-shadow-box\"><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-bGlnaHRib3g=\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76917 size-full\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4.jpg\" alt=\"Google Cloud Storage billing details screenshot\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-260x195.jpg 260w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GC4-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Available, but provides descriptions in units that are not on the pricing table nor commonly used.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #e8e8e8; padding: 32px 18px; -webkit-box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); -moz-box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); box-shadow: 10px 16px 20px -10px rgba(74,74,74,0.67); background-color: #fcfcfc; border-radius: 15px;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ce1126; font-size: 1.1em;\">Test 2 Conclusions<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, some vendors do a better job than others in making their pricing available and understandable. From a transparency standpoint, it&#8217;s difficult to justify why a vendor would have their pricing table in units of X, but then put units of Y in the user interface.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-76879\" style=\"text-align: center; padding: 18px 0 18px 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo-80x80.png 80w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/backblaze-mac-logo.png 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Transparency: The Backblaze Way<\/h2>\n<p>Transparency isn\u2019t easy. At Backblaze, we believe in investing time and energy into presenting the most intuitive user interfaces that we can create. We take pride in our heritage in the consumer backup space\u2014servicing consumers has taught us how to make things understandable and usable. We do our best to apply those lessons to everything we do.<\/p>\n<p>This philosophy reflects our desire to make our products usable, but it\u2019s also part of a larger ethos of being transparent with our customers. We are being trusted with precious data. We want to repay that trust with, among other things, transparency.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s that spirit that was behind the decision to publish our <a href=\"\/blog\/life-and-times-of-a-backblaze-hard-drive\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hard drive<\/a> performance stats, to <a href=\"\/blog\/open-source-data-storage-server\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">open-source the infrastructure<\/a> that is behind us having the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/cloud-storage\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lowest cost of storage<\/a> in the industry, and also to open-source our <a href=\"\/blog\/reed-solomon\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">erasure coding<\/a> (the math that drives a significant portion of our redundancy for your data).<\/p>\n<p>Why? We believe it\u2019s not just about good user interface, it\u2019s about the relationship we want to build with our customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cloud storage is fast becoming the central repository for mission critical information, irreplaceable memories, and in some cases entire corporate and personal histories. Given this responsibility, we believe Cloud Storage vendors have an obligation to be transparent as possible in how they interact with their customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":77029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[468],"class_list":["post-76809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-storage","tag-b2cloud","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cloud Storage Pricing Comparison: AWS, Azure, Google, and B2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How much does 1TB of cloud storage cost to upload and download on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Storage and B2? 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