Azure Blob vs DO Spaces
Cloud object storage pricing comparison. For a mid-size SaaS workload, DO Spaces 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 | DO Spaces |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.18 | $0.20 |
| Egress | $4.35 | $0.50 |
| API Requests | $0.10 | $0.00 |
| Monthly Total | $4.63 | $0.70 |
| Annual Total | $56 | $8 |
DO Spaces is 85% cheaper for this scenario, saving $3.93/mo ($47/year).
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Azure Blob | DO Spaces |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Compatible | No | Yes |
| Zero Egress Cost | No | No |
| Free Tier | Yes | No |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption at Rest | Yes | Yes |
| Customer-Managed Keys | Yes | No |
| Sensitive Data | full | limited |
| Data Residency | US, EU, AP, SA, AF | US, EU, AP |
| CDN Integration | azure-cdn, cloudflare, fastly | built-in, cloudflare |
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
DO Spaces
Pros
- +Built-in CDN included
- +Simple $5/mo base (250GB storage + 1TB egress)
- +S3-compatible API
- +Developer-friendly dashboard
Cons
- −No free tier
- −No HIPAA
- −No customer-managed encryption keys
- −Fewer regions than hyperscalers
When to Choose Which
Choose Azure Blob if you need:
- Microsoft/Azure-heavy orgs
- Regulatory compliance workloads
- Enterprise hybrid cloud
Choose DO Spaces if you need:
- Small to mid-size projects needing built-in CDN
- DigitalOcean Droplet users
- Simple static asset hosting