Azure Blob vs B2
Cloud object storage pricing comparison. For a mid-size SaaS workload, B2 is cheaper.
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Personal site, small app, or hobby project: 10GB storage, 50GB egress, 10,000 writes, 100,000 reads per month.
| Cost Component | Azure Blob | B2 |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.18 | $0.06 |
| Egress | $4.35 | $0.50 |
| API Requests | $0.10 | $0.08 |
| Monthly Total | $4.63 | $0.64 |
| Annual Total | $56 | $8 |
B2 is 86% cheaper for this scenario, saving $3.99/mo ($48/year).
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Azure Blob | B2 |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Compatible | No | Yes |
| Zero Egress Cost | No | No |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption at Rest | Yes | Yes |
| Customer-Managed Keys | Yes | Yes |
| Sensitive Data | full | limited |
| Data Residency | US, EU, AP, SA, AF | US, EU |
| CDN Integration | azure-cdn, cloudflare, fastly | cloudflare, fastly, bunny |
Strengths & Weaknesses
Azure Blob
Pros
- +Deep Microsoft ecosystem integration
- +Most compliance certifications
- +Immutable storage for regulatory needs
- +Competitive storage pricing
Cons
- −Complex pricing tiers
- −High egress costs
- −S3 compatibility requires extra config
B2
Pros
- +Extremely low storage price ($0.006/GB)
- +Simple flat pricing
- +S3-compatible API
- +Free egress to Cloudflare/Fastly CDN partners
Cons
- −Only 2 regions
- −No HIPAA
- −Limited feature set compared to hyperscalers
- −Smaller company risk
When to Choose Which
Choose Azure Blob if you need:
- Microsoft/Azure-heavy orgs
- Regulatory compliance workloads
- Enterprise hybrid cloud
Choose B2 if you need:
- Backup and archive storage
- Media storage on a budget
- Pairing with Cloudflare CDN for free egress