Object Storage Providers Price Comparison: 1 TB Storage & 1 TB Egress Benchmark

Hetzner Object Storage Pricing Analysis#

Hetzner’s object storage service is compatible with the Amazon Web Services S3 protocol. This compatibility allows users to easily leverage various S3‑related tools and libraries to manage data stored on Hetzner. Hetzner offers a very straightforward pricing plan with a base monthly price of $5.99 / €4.99 (VAT excluded). This price includes 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of outbound traffic. In other words, for users who need 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of egress per month, Hetzner’s base price fully covers both requirements and looks highly competitive at first glance.

If a user’s outbound traffic exceeds the 1 TB allowance, Hetzner charges for the additional traffic. According to the official documentation, the overage fee is $1.20 / €1.00 per TB (VAT excluded). This rate is relatively low compared to some other providers, so occasional overages will not significantly increase the bill. Note that Hetzner’s pricing may vary by customer location, mainly because of differences in VAT. For example, VAT is 19% in Germany. Users therefore need to factor in their local tax rate when calculating the final cost.

In addition, Hetzner provides free traffic within the same network region. Specifically, data uploads (ingress) are free, and transfers within the same Hetzner network region (e.g., between servers in the EU region, or within the US region) are also free. If you are using other Hetzner services such as cloud servers in the same region as your object storage, traffic between those services and object storage is not charged. Hetzner also does not charge for S3 API calls such as PUT, GET, or DELETE. This is a significant advantage for applications that interact frequently with object storage and helps reduce overall operational cost.

DigitalOcean Spaces Pricing Analysis#

DigitalOcean Spaces is another object storage service compatible with the Amazon Web Services S3 API. Its pricing model differs from Hetzner’s. DigitalOcean offers a base subscription at $5.00 per month. This base subscription includes 250 GiB of storage and 1 TiB (1024 GiB) of outbound data transfer. For users who need 1 TB (1024 GiB) of storage, the storage included in the base subscription is insufficient.

For storage beyond the base subscription, DigitalOcean charges $0.02 per GiB per month. To reach 1 TB of storage, you need an additional (1024 GiB − 250 GiB) = 774 GiB. The cost of this extra storage is:

$$774 ,\text{GiB} \times $0.02/\text{GiB} = $15.48 \text{ per month}$$

For outbound traffic, DigitalOcean’s base subscription already includes 1 TiB (1024 GiB). So if you need 1 TB of outbound traffic per month, you do not pay any additional fee because it is covered by the base subscription.

Putting it together, the total cost for 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of outbound traffic with DigitalOcean Spaces is the base subscription plus the extra storage: $5.00 + $15.48 = $20.48 per month. This is higher than Hetzner’s base price, but it includes more outbound traffic allowance.

Wasabi Pricing Analysis#

Wasabi is known for its “hot cloud storage” and zero egress fees, and it is compatible with the Amazon Web Services S3 API. Wasabi’s Pay‑as‑You‑Go pricing is very simple: storage is priced at $6.99 per TB per month. This price is consistent across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. For users who need 1 TB of storage per month, the cost is $6.99.

Wasabi’s key advantage is that it does not charge for egress (downloads) or API requests. This means that even if your monthly outbound traffic reaches 1 TB, there is no additional fee. This is very attractive for workloads that require frequent data access or downloads.

However, Wasabi’s Pay‑as‑You‑Go pricing comes with a minimum storage commitment. Even if your actual usage is below 1 TB, you still pay for a full TB, i.e., $6.99 per month. For the Wasabi Cloud NAS product, the minimum storage commitment is 10 TB. So if your storage requirement is exactly 1 TB, your Wasabi cost is $6.99 per month with no additional traffic charges.

Scaleway Object Storage Pricing Analysis#

Scaleway’s object storage is also S3‑compatible and offers multiple storage classes for different needs. For comparison purposes, we focus on the “Multi‑AZ Standard” storage class, which provides high availability across multiple Availability Zones.

Scaleway Multi‑AZ Standard object storage is priced at €0.00002/GB/hour, which is approximately €0.0146/GB/month. Therefore, 1 TB (1024 GB) of storage costs roughly:

$$1024 ,\text{GB} \times €0.0146/\text{GB}/\text{month} = €14.97 \text{ per month}$$

For outbound traffic, Scaleway includes 75 GB free each month, and charges €0.01/GB beyond that. For 1 TB (1024 GB) of egress, the billable portion is (1024 GB − 75 GB) = 949 GB, which costs:

$$949 ,\text{GB} \times €0.01/\text{GB} = €9.49$$

So the total cost for 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of outbound traffic with Scaleway Multi‑AZ Standard is approximately €14.97 (storage) + €9.49 (egress) = €24.46 per month. These prices are in euros; the actual cost in US dollars will vary with the exchange rate.

Scaleway also provides the “One Zone ‑ IA” storage class for infrequently accessed data, with lower storage cost at about €0.012/GB/month. Its outbound traffic pricing is the same as Multi‑AZ Standard.

Vultr Object Storage Pricing Analysis#

Vultr’s S3‑compatible object storage is offered in multiple performance tiers including Standard, Premium, Performance, and Accelerated. For this cost benchmark, we use the “Standard” tier as the baseline.

Vultr Standard object storage is priced at $18 per TB per month. This price includes 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of bandwidth (egress). For users who need 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of outbound traffic per month, the Standard tier fits the benchmark scenario exactly, resulting in a total cost of $18 per month.

Other Vultr tiers—Premium, Performance, and Accelerated—are more expensive and target different performance requirements. Premium is priced at $36/TB/month, Performance at $50/TB/month, and Accelerated at $100/TB/month, each with corresponding storage and bandwidth quotas. For our 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress benchmark, the Standard tier is the most straightforward and cost‑efficient choice.

Other AWS S3‑Compatible Object Storage Providers#

Beyond the providers above, there are several other well‑known S3‑compatible object storage services. The following sections analyze some of them under the same 1 TB storage + 1 TB outbound traffic scenario.

Object Storage Provider Pricing Comparison Table#

To make the comparison clearer, the table below summarizes the cost for 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of outbound traffic (all prices in USD; Tencent Cloud and Huawei Cloud figures are approximate and subject to fluctuation):

Note: Scaleway prices have been converted using the approximate EUR‑USD exchange rate at the time of writing (1 EUR ≈ 1.089 USD). Tencent Cloud and Huawei Cloud prices are also approximate; actual costs depend on region, FX movements, and potential bundle discounts. Always check the latest official pricing pages for up‑to‑date information.

Conclusion#

The analysis above shows significant pricing differences between object storage providers for the 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress benchmark scenario. Hetzner, Wasabi, and Backblaze B2 are highly competitive in terms of total cost, either because they offer low storage prices or include ample free outbound traffic. Cloudflare R2, with its zero egress fee, is particularly advantageous when outbound traffic volumes are high. DigitalOcean Spaces and Vultr offer relatively balanced service quality and pricing, while large cloud providers like Tencent Cloud and Huawei Cloud have pricing influenced by more complex factors.

When choosing an object storage provider, users should look beyond price and consider their specific requirements. For example, if you expect large amounts of outbound traffic, providers that do not charge for egress or include large free egress quotas (such as Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, or Vultr Standard) may be more economical. If you are more sensitive to storage cost, Hetzner and Backblaze B2 can be attractive options. Additionally, reliability, performance, regional coverage, and integration with your existing workflows are all important considerations. Before making a final decision, always consult each provider’s latest official pricing and evaluate based on your actual usage patterns.