Cloud Backup Pricing Comparison: AWS vs Azure vs GCP Benchm…
Cloud backup pricing benchmark comparing AWS Backup, Azure Backup, Google Cloud Backup, and cloud object storage costs, per-TB monthly pricing.
Key points
- Azure Blob Hot is $0.024/GB. Google Cloud Storage Standard is $0.020/GB. Pick the cheapest one and move on.
- Data egress alone can cost 2-3x the storage cost on a full recovery scenario.
- "The average enterprise backup restore pulls down 10-15% of total backup data annually.
- A full restore of 100TB from S3 Standard costs $9,000 in egress alone at standard pricing (100TB × $0.09/GB).
- GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage) adds 1.6x multiplier to above pricing.
- A 100TB hot backup in GRS costs $39/TB-month, making it one of the most expensive cloud backup options.
- This approach balances recovery time (hot tier accessible in minutes) with cost efficiency (cold tier at $7/TB-month).
- Egress is only modeled for hot restore (20% annually) and warm tier monthly access.
- AWS Backup costs vary significantly by storage tier: S3 Standard for hot backup data runs ~$23.50/TB-month; moving to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval drops this to ~$4.10/TB-month with 1-5 minute retrieval; Glacier Deep Archive is ~$1.01/TB-month with 12-48 hour retrieval.
- Add $0.09/GB egress ($90/TB) for full restores, making realistic cost $32-40/TB-month for hot backups with quarterly restores.
Introduction: The Deceptive Simplicity of Cloud Backup Pricing
Cloud backup pricing looks straightforward on the surface. AWS S3 Standard is $0.023/GB per month. Azure Blob Hot is $0.024/GB. Google Cloud Storage Standard is $0.020/GB. Pick the cheapest one and move on.
Except you won't. The moment you restore data, retrieve backups, or maintain geo-redundancy, the math explodes. Data egress alone can cost 2-3x the storage cost on a full recovery scenario. API request charges compound with incremental backups. Archive tiers vanish when recovery time matters.
This benchmark covers enterprise backup platform pricing, including AWS Backup managed service, Azure Backup, Google Cloud Backup and DR, and direct object storage with S3, Azure Blob, GCS, plus alternatives like Wasabi, Backblaze B2, and Cloudflare R2. We've modeled total cost of ownership for three enterprise scenarios: hot backup (frequent restore), cold backup (archival), and hybrid multi-cloud backup architecture.
"The average enterprise backup restore pulls down 10-15% of total backup data annually. Most don't factor this into cloud backup cost models. Egress fees can flip the math on which cloud is cheapest."
AWS Backup and S3 Pricing Benchmarks
AWS dominates enterprise backup primarily because of its ecosystem depth and consolidation discounts. But pricing varies wildly depending on storage tier and access pattern.
AWS Backup Managed Service
AWS Backup (the native backup service) abstracts storage tier decisions but charges based on data volume:
- AWS Backup service cost: $0.05 per GB of data protected + $0.02 per GB restored
- Underlying storage: Costs depend on storage tier used (S3 Standard by default, but can tier to Glacier)
- Real-world total: For 100TB of backup data with 10% annual restore, expect $5,000/month (service) + $2,000/month (restored data) + $2,300/month (storage) = $9,300/month
AWS Backup is primarily useful for cross-region replication and RPO/RTO compliance at scale. For pure cost optimization, direct S3 management is cheaper.
AWS S3 Storage Tier Benchmarks
List pricing for S3 storage tiers (per GB-month, 1st 50TB):
- S3 Standard: $0.023/GB = $23.55/TB-month
- S3 Standard-IA (Infrequent Access): $0.0125/GB = $12.80/TB-month (30-day minimum retention)
- S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval: $0.004/GB = $4.10/TB-month (1-5 minute retrieval)
- S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval: $0.0036/GB = $3.69/TB-month (3-5 hour retrieval)
- S3 Glacier Deep Archive: $0.00099/GB = $1.01/TB-month (12-48 hour retrieval)
AWS Egress Costs (The Hidden Cost)
Data retrieval from S3 incurs significant egress fees that most cost models overlook:
- First 1 GB/month: Free
- Next 9.999 TB/month: $0.09/GB
- 10-40 TB/month: $0.085/GB
- 40-100 TB/month: $0.06/GB
- Over 100 TB/month: Negotiate with AWS (typically $0.04-$0.05/GB)
A full restore of 100TB from S3 Standard costs $9,000 in egress alone at standard pricing (100TB × $0.09/GB). This is why egress is often the dominant cost driver for active backup strategies.
Azure Backup and Blob Storage Pricing Benchmarks
Azure Backup Managed Service
Azure Backup charges based on data protected and also recovery points:
- Data protected charge: $0.024/GB-month
- Backup storage charge: Depends on tier (LRS vs GRS)
- GRS geo-redundancy surcharge: +60% to storage cost
- Typical total (100TB, LRS): $2,400/month protected + $2,400/month storage = $4,800/month
Azure Blob Storage Tier Benchmarks
List pricing for Azure Blob storage (per GB-month, LRS):
- Hot Tier: $0.024/GB = $24.60/TB-month
- Cool Tier: $0.0115/GB = $11.78/TB-month (30-day minimum)
- Cold Tier: $0.005/GB = $5.12/TB-month (90-day minimum)
- Archive Tier: $0.00099/GB = $1.01/TB-month (180-day minimum, rehydration charges apply)
GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage) adds 1.6x multiplier to above pricing. A 100TB hot backup in GRS costs $39/TB-month, making it one of the most expensive cloud backup options.
Azure Egress and Rehydration Costs
Azure charges for data egress and "rehydration" (moving data from cold/archive tiers to hot access):
- Outbound data transfer: $0.087/GB (first 100TB/month)
- Archive rehydration: $0.02/GB (moving from Archive to Hot)
- Real restore cost (100TB from Archive): $8,700 egress + $2,000 rehydration + retrieval time = expensive and slow
Benchmark Cloud Backup Costs Across Providers
Compare AWS, Azure, GCP storage tiers with egress fees, API costs, and total 5-year TCO for your backup volume.
Google Cloud Backup and Storage Pricing Benchmarks
Google Cloud Backup and DR Service
Google Cloud Backup and DR is newer than AWS/Azure equivalents but offers competitive pricing:
- Backup management fee: $0.015/GB-month for protected data
- Storage cost: Separate, based on underlying Cloud Storage tier
- Typical total (100TB): $1,500/month management + $2,000/month storage (Standard) = $3,500/month
Google's model is cleaner than AWS in separating management from storage, but total cost is competitive rather than cheaper.
Google Cloud Storage Tier Benchmarks
List pricing for GCS (per GB-month, multi-region):
- Standard: $0.020/GB = $20.48/TB-month
- Nearline: $0.0104/GB = $10.66/TB-month (30-day minimum)
- Coldline: $0.004/GB = $4.10/TB-month (90-day minimum)
- Archive: $0.0012/GB = $1.23/TB-month (365-day minimum)
Google's Archive tier is slightly cheaper than AWS/Azure equivalents but with strict minimum retention.
Google Cloud Egress Costs
GCS egress is comparable to AWS:
- First 1 GB/month: Free
- 1-10 TB/month: $0.12/GB
- 10-100 TB/month: $0.08/GB
- Over 100 TB/month: Negotiate (typically $0.04-$0.06/GB)
Alternative Object Storage for Backup: Wasabi, Backblaze, Cloudflare
Hyperscaler lock-in and egress fees created a market for alternative object storage specifically targeting backup use cases.
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage
Wasabi competes directly on object storage cost and explicitly targets backup workloads:
- Storage cost: $0.0068/GB = $6.98/TB-month (flat rate, no tiering)
- Egress cost: Unlimited, included (no egress charges)
- API requests: Included
- Effective cost for restore-heavy workload: Much lower than AWS/Azure. 100TB with 20% annual restore = $6,980/month storage + $0 egress = $6,980/month vs $9,300+ AWS
Wasabi's value proposition is strongest for organizations that restore frequently or maintain hot/warm backups. For pure archival, AWS Deep Archive is cheaper.
Backblaze B2
Backblaze B2 targets SMB and mid-market backup:
- Storage cost: $0.006/GB = $6.15/TB-month
- Egress cost: $0.01/GB (charged for all data leaving B2)
- API requests: Free uploads, $0.004 per 10k downloads
- Effective cost (100TB, 10% restore): $6,150 storage + $10,000 egress = $16,150/month, worse than cloud hyperscalers
Cloudflare R2
Cloudflare R2 removes egress costs (like Wasabi) but charges for storage and API:
- Storage cost: $0.015/GB = $15.36/TB-month
- Egress cost: Included, unlimited
- API costs: $4.50 per million API read/write requests
- Effective cost (100TB, typical backup): $15,360/month storage + minimal API = $15,360/month
R2 is competitive for restore-heavy scenarios but more expensive than Wasabi for cold backup storage.
Cloud Backup Monthly Cost Comparison Table
The table below shows normalized monthly costs per TB for six providers across three scenarios: hot backup (frequent restore), warm backup (monthly restore), and cold archival (annual restore):
| Provider | Storage Tier | $/TB-Month (Storage) | API Costs | Egress (per Restore) | Hot Scenario ($/TB-Month) | Cold Scenario ($/TB-Month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | S3 Standard | $23.55 | Included | $90 (full restore) | $32 | $24 |
| AWS | S3 Glacier Instant | $4.10 | Included | $90 (full restore) | $29 | $4 |
| AWS | S3 Glacier Deep Archive | $1.01 | Included | $90 (full restore) | N/A (slow) | $1 |
| Azure | Blob Hot (LRS) | $24.60 | $0.01/10k ops | $87 (full restore) | $31 | $25 |
| Azure | Blob Hot (GRS) | $39.36 | $0.01/10k ops | $87 | $46 | $40 |
| Azure | Blob Archive | $1.01 | $0.02/rehydrate GB | $87 | N/A (slow) | $1 |
| GCP | Cloud Storage Standard | $20.48 | Included | $120 (full restore) | $32 | $20 |
| GCP | Cloud Storage Archive | $1.23 | Included | $120 (full restore) | N/A (slow) | $1 |
| Wasabi | Hot Cloud Storage | $6.98 | Included | Free | $7 | $7 |
| Backblaze B2 | Standard | $6.15 | $0.004/10k | $100 (full restore) | $30 | $6 |
| Cloudflare R2 | Standard | $15.36 | $4.50/M requests | Free | $18 | $15 |
The Hidden Cost Trap: Data Egress and Retrieval Fees
Cloud backup cost models almost universally underestimate egress. Here's why:
Egress Surprises in Disaster Recovery
A major data center failure forcing full recovery of 500TB backups costs:
- AWS S3 Standard: 500TB × $0.09/GB = $45,000 in egress alone (plus storage cost)
- Azure Blob Hot: 500TB × $0.087/GB = $43,500 in egress
- GCP Standard: 500TB × $0.12/GB = $60,000 in egress
- Wasabi: 500TB × $0 = $0 egress (competitive advantage in large restores)
For organizations planning DR scenarios, egress charges should be modeled in the cost of backup compliance. AWS, Azure, and GCP all offer volume discounts on egress for negotiated commitments (50-100TB+/month), but backup-to-on-prem restores don't typically trigger these.
API Request Costs on Incremental Backups
Incremental backup strategies that check object metadata on every backup run incur API costs:
- Typical incremental backup: 50,000-200,000 API requests per TB daily
- AWS S3 API cost: $0 first 2,000 requests, $0.0004 per 10,000 requests after → ~$1-5/TB-month
- Azure Blob API cost: ~$1-3/TB-month for typical workload
- Wasabi/Backblaze: Included in flat rate
Cloud Backup Reserved Capacity and EDP Impact
Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) pricing from AWS, Azure, and GCP can reduce effective cloud backup costs significantly if you're already a large customer:
- AWS: EDP discounts typically 25-35% for storage when bundled with compute/data transfer commitments
- Azure: MACC (Microsoft Azure Commitment) pricing reduces storage 20-30% if purchased with software/compute commitment
- GCP: Annual commitment discounts 25% on storage if prepaid; multi-year commitments not available for storage
Organizations with large Azure AD footprints or active Office 365 deployments should model Azure Backup cost reduction via MACC. AWS backup savings are typically lower unless you're consolidating across multiple AWS regions.
Model Your Real Cloud Backup Cost
Use our benchmarks to build 5-year TCO for your backup volume, restore patterns, and cloud provider mix.
Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Backup Architecture Cost Optimization
Many enterprises employ tiered backup strategies: hot backup in cloud (fast recovery), cold in object storage (cheap), with on-prem backup for critical systems.
Tiered Strategy Example: 500TB Total Backup
- Hot tier (50TB, AWS S3 Standard): $1,178/month
- Warm tier (150TB, S3 Glacier Instant): $615/month
- Cold tier (300TB, Wasabi): $2,094/month
- Total monthly: $3,887/month ($77.7K annually)
This approach balances recovery time (hot tier accessible in minutes) with cost efficiency (cold tier at $7/TB-month). Egress is only modeled for hot restore (20% annually) and warm tier monthly access.
Multi-Cloud Redundancy (Cross-Region)
Some enterprises require backup across cloud providers (vendor lock-in insurance) or geographic regions:
- Primary: AWS S3 Glacier Instant (100TB): $410/month
- Secondary: GCP Archive (100TB): $123/month
- Tertiary: Wasabi (100TB): $698/month
- Total: $1,231/month, cheaper than single-cloud redundancy
When Cloud Backup Is More Expensive Than On-Prem
Despite cloud's reputation for flexibility, on-premise storage can be cheaper for some organizations:
Break-Even Analysis: Cloud vs On-Prem
For a 200TB continuously growing backup:
- Cloud (AWS S3 Glacier + egress): $1,230/month = $14,760/year
- On-prem (Hybrid array + power/cooling): 200TB array $35,000 + $3,000/year support + $6,000/year power-cooling = $9,000/year
- Break-even: On-prem cheaper at year 1; cloud becomes cheaper at year 5+ (when on-prem refresh needed)
On-prem backup makes financial sense when:
- Backup data is stable (not growing 50%+ annually)
- Restore patterns are infrequent (reducing egress cost benefit)
- Data sovereignty or latency requirements mandate on-premise storage
- You already own excess storage capacity (marginal cost of adding backup is near-zero)
FAQ: Cloud Backup Pricing
How much does AWS Backup cost per TB per month?
AWS Backup costs vary significantly by storage tier: S3 Standard for hot backup data runs ~$23.50/TB-month; moving to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval drops this to ~$4.10/TB-month with 1-5 minute retrieval; Glacier Deep Archive is ~$1.01/TB-month with 12-48 hour retrieval. Add $0.09/GB egress ($90/TB) for full restores, making realistic cost $32-40/TB-month for hot backups with quarterly restores.
Is Azure Backup cheaper than AWS for enterprise workloads?
Azure Backup generally benchmarks 5-15% lower than AWS for VM backup workloads when using LRS (locally redundant) storage; GRS (geo-redundant) adds 60% and makes Azure significantly more expensive. The comparison shifts substantially based on your existing Azure MACC commitment level. If you're already paying MACC for Microsoft 365 or Azure workloads, effective Azure Backup cost can be 20-30% lower than AWS. Without MACC, AWS is typically cheaper for pure backup storage.
What are the hidden costs in cloud backup pricing?
The three major hidden cost categories are: (1) Data egress/retrieval fees that can exceed storage costs on large restores, budget $0.09-0.12/GB for major recovery scenarios. (2) API request charges accumulating with frequent incremental backups, typically $1-5/TB-month on hyperscalers. (3) Metadata storage and archive rehydration overhead that adds 5-20% to apparent data volume. Always model annual total cost including a realistic 10-15% restore scenario to surface egress impact.
Key Takeaways
Cloud backup pricing has become genuinely competitive at storage layer, but egress and API costs create the real financial distinction. AWS and Azure converge on ~$23-25/TB-month for hot storage; GCP and Wasabi are 10-15% cheaper; alternatives (Backblaze, Cloudflare) offer trade-offs between storage cost and egress fees.
The decision tree is simple: if you restore frequently and need fast recovery, Wasabi's included egress makes it the cheapest total cost of ownership. If you're already an Azure/Microsoft customer with MACC, Azure Backup becomes competitive. For pure archival (annual restores), AWS Deep Archive or GCP Archive at $1-1.5/TB-month is unbeatable.
Model your actual restore patterns. Most organizations dramatically underestimate egress costs and end up overpaying for premium storage tiers they never access.
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