Backblaze B2 vs Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage for video archives
Backblaze B2 offers lower costs for video archives than Wasabi, saving $104 per month on a 100TB archive. While Wasabi provides more global regions, Backblaze B2 avoids Wasabi's 90-day minimum retention fees and 1TB monthly billable floor.
Storage rates and retention traps
Backblaze B2 changed its pricing on May 1, 2026. This update set the B2 Pay-as-you-go rate at $6.95 per TB/month. It also removed API transaction fees for all customers. I find these changes helpful for high-volume users. Wasabi raised its Pay-as-you-go price to $7.99 per TB/month on July 1, 2026. For a 100TB archive, Backblaze B2 costs $695 monthly, while Wasabi demands $799. This difference reaches $104 per month.
Backblaze B2 remains cheaper.
When Cal Poly Humboldt switched to Backblaze to avoid unexpected charges from Wasabi’s minimum retention policies, they successfully eliminated the monthly financial surprises caused by deleting data too early. If you store 50TB of backups and delete them on day 31, Wasabi still charges you for 60 additional days of that 50TB. For this 50TB scenario, Wasabi costs $1048.50 per month. Backblaze B2 costs only $300 for the same 50TB. Wasabi also imposes a 1TB monthly billable floor.
| Metric | Backblaze B2 | Wasabi |
|---|---|---|
| Storage (PAYG) | $6.95 / TB-month | $7.99 / TB-month |
| Egress Limit | 3x average monthly storage | 1:1 storage-to-download ratio |
| API Fees | $0 | $0 |
| Minimum Retention | None | 90 days (30 for Veeam) |
| Minimum Billable | None | 1 TB monthly floor |
Egress rules and retrieval math
Wasabi limits free egress to a 1:1 ratio between monthly downloads and active storage volume. Monthly downloads cannot exceed the active storage volume without exceeding the policy. Wasabi also imposes a 100TB absolute monthly ceiling on egress. Backblaze B2 permits free egress up to three times the average monthly storage volume. Beyond that 3x cap, Backblaze B2 charges $0.01 per GB. For 20TB of production archive with occasional retrieval, Backblaze B2 costs approximately $120 per month.
The math favors Backblaze.
You already know that object storage lacks the tools for media search or NLE editing. Wasabi functions as raw infrastructure. It lacks media previews, visual browsing, or content-level search. Editors cannot mount Wasabi buckets as local drives. Backblaze B2 suffers the same limitations. Backblaze B2 also allows for free egress to Cloudflare and Fastly via the Bandwidth Alliance. Backblaze B2 has a B2 Overdrive tier for $15 per month that allows unlimited free egress.
Production workflows and security
Wasabi maintains 16 storage regions across North America, EMEA, and APAC. Backblaze B2 operates in only 6 regions. Wasabi includes multi-user authentication and air-gapped storage through Covert Copy. Backblaze B2 lacks air-gapped capabilities. Both providers maintain a 99.9% availability SLA. Wasabi users sometimes find the bucket permission editor technical and obscure. G2 reviewers say the configuration requires copying and pasting complex strings.
Wasabi charges more.
Wasabi maintains 16,000 channel partners and a Partner Portal. Backblaze B2 uses an alliance partner program. Wasabi also has Cloud NAS at $8.99 per TB/month with a 10TB minimum.
Does the 16 global regions of Wasabi justify the $104 premium?
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