Backblaze Pricing: How Does It Work in 2024?
One of the most important things to consider when choosing a backup provider is the cost, as a backup is only effective while you’re still able to afford it. In this article we’ll go through Backblaze’s pricing, and why it stands out from the crowd.
Written by Sapphire Fox (Editor)
Reviewed by Aleksander Hougen (Co-Chief Editor)
Facts checked by Eugenie Tiu (Editorial Assistant)
Last Updated: 2024-02-20T13:56:20+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Backblaze has three products: the unlimited Personal and Business plans, and Backblaze B2, an IaaS cloud storage platform. All of them are really cheap, but we’ll go through the full Backblaze pricing structure so you can compare it to other providers.
Key Takeaways:
- Backblaze Personal and Backblaze for Business use the same pricing structure.
- Backblaze B2 cloud storage uses a per-gigabyte payment model.
- All three products are among the cheapest backup services available.
Backblaze is one of our favorite backup providers, and it’s easily the best unlimited backup provider. The reason for this is simply because it does a good job at a low price. Although you can read on to find out how cheap it is, if you want a full overview of the service, go read our full Backblaze review.
-
12/25/2021 Facts checked
Cloudwards.net updated the article to reflect changes to Backblaze’s pricing structure.
Backblaze Pricing: Personal & Business Plans
Backblaze uses an incredibly simple pricing structure. Each license gives you unlimited backup for one device, and you can choose to buy a one-month, one-year or two-year subscription. These longer plans will give you a nice discount, but the same features come with all of the plans.
The personal and business plans even cost the same amount. The only difference is that business users can create business groups to separate their licenses, and personal users have to attach all of their licenses to one account.
- Unlimited GB
Compared to other services, $7 a month is a pretty good price, and isn’t too far off Carbonite’s basic plan – read our Carbonite review here. With the yearly plan costing $5.83 per month and the two-year plan being just $5.42 per month, it’s pretty hard to beat.
Unlimited Data Storage
The reason that few services match up to Backblaze is because it offers truly unlimited data storage. There are no caps or surprise costs that Backblaze users have to worry about.
This isn’t great if you want cloud storage features or the ability to spread your storage across multiple devices — if you want to do this, read our IDrive review. However, it’s perfect if you have a single device with lots of data stored on it.
Backblaze B2 Pricing
Backblaze B2 is the cloud computing storage that Backblaze offers. Similar to other providers though, you’ll have to pay for the amount of data you store and download. However, it’s still one of the cheapest cloud storage options available, especially with free management software like Duplicati (read our Duplicati review). Learn more in our full Backblaze B2 review.
Cost per Gigabyte of Data Stored
With Backblaze B2, you’ll get 10GB of free data storage, then each gigabyte will cost you $0.005 per month. You can also get 1GB of free downloads every day, after which each download costs $0.01 per gigabyte.
| Per Month: | Per Year: | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.005 per 1GB | $0.06 per 1GB |
| Download | $0.01 per 1GB | $0.12 per 1GB |
API calls also come at a small price. They’re split into three classes: class A transactions are free, class B transactions cost $0.004 per 10,000 after the first 2,500 in a day and class C transactions cost $0.004 per 1,000 after the first 2,500 in a day.
| Class A Transactions | Free |
| Class B Transactions | $0.004 per 10,000 |
| Class C Transactions | $0.004 per 1,000 |
Cloud Storage Pricing Comparison
For cheap IaaS, Wasabi is still king. As you can read in our Wasabi review, stored data costs $0.0059 per gigabyte per month. This is more than Backblaze, but you can download files for free. If you expect to download more than around 9% of your data each month, Wasabi is cheaper. For a full rundown on how the two compare, check out our Backblaze vs Wasabi comparison.
Storage costs for Microsoft Azure and Amazon S3 are no better, at $0.018 and $0.023 per gigabyte per month for hot storage. This may work out to be cheaper than Backblaze B2, but only if you’re downloading a lot of data. Read our Microsoft Azure review and our Amazon S3 review for more information.
Finally, there’s Google Cloud (read our Google Cloud review), which costs $0.02 per gigabyte per month to store data in the cheapest locations. With downloads costing between $0.08 and $0.12 per gigabyte, this is one of the most expensive providers for most users.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Backblaze is a pretty cheap service. The personal and business plans give you unlimited storage for a low price, and only Wasabi rivals Backblaze B2 cloud storage in price. If you need a good deal and want a simple and easy-to-use service, Backblaze is worth trying out.
What do you think of Backblaze’s pricing? Do you like the low-cost approach or do you want a service with more features? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading.
FAQ
Backblaze is cheaper than most other providers because the average user only stores a small amount of data, so it can spread the cost of an individual taking up lots of space out across everyone.
Backblaze costs just $7 per month for unlimited storage on one device. However, if you buy a one- or two-year plan, it costs just $5.83 or $5.42 per month, respectively.
Yes. Backblaze is truly unlimited, as long as all of your data is stored on one device.
Backblaze has a solid privacy policy and a good history with data storage. It also comes with private encryption, although you’ll have to hand over your private key to restore your files.