Backblaze B2 vs Wasabi: Which Should You Buy?

If you’ve been in the home-lab game for any length of time, you know that a local backup is just a “suggestion” until you have an off-site copy. Following the 3-2-1 rule isn’t optional; it’s survival. For most of us, renting out a physical server at a friend’s house is too much friction, which leads us to S3-compatible object storage.

When looking for a cloud target that won’t bankrupt you, two names always come up: Backblaze B2 and Wasabi. Both are SaaS solutions designed to act as the final destination for your most critical data. But while they look similar on a pricing page, the “gotchas” in their fine print can fundamentally change which one belongs in your backup pipeline.

Quick verdict

Depending on how you handle your data—whether you’re doing a slow drip of archives or frequent large-scale restores—your choice changes.

If you are…	Buy this	Why?
The Budget Archivist	Backblaze B2	Lowest monthly cost per TB and excellent NAS integration.
The Frequent Restorer	Wasabi	No egress fees mean you can pull your data back without a bill.

Spec-by-spec

Here is how the two stack up based on the core specifications.

Feature	Backblaze B2	Wasabi
Category	Object Storage	Object Storage
Type	SaaS	SaaS
Price per TB/mo	$6	$7
Egress Fees	Yes	No
API Fees	Not Specified	None
Storage Minimums	None specified	90-day minimum storage
Primary Use Case	S3-style off-site target	S3 backup

The Analysis: Cost vs. Convenience

The Egress Trap

In the world of cloud storage, “egress” is the industry term for taking your data out of their system. This is where Backblaze B2 and Wasabi diverge sharply. Backblaze charges egress fees. For a home-labber who just wants to push backups up and hope they never have to touch them again, this isn’t an issue. However, if you are frequently migrating datasets or testing your restore process (which you should be doing), those fees can add up.

Wasabi takes the opposite approach by eliminating egress and API fees entirely. You pay a flat monthly rate for the space you use, and pulling that data back down to your local array is “free.” For users who treat their cloud storage as an active part of their workflow rather than a digital vault, this is a massive advantage.

The Minimum Storage Catch

While Wasabi wins on egress, they have a specific policy that can bite the unwary: the 90-day minimum storage duration. In plain English, if you upload a terabyte of data and delete it after ten days, you are still paying for those files for the remainder of the 90 days.

This makes Wasabi less ideal for “scratch” space or temporary backups that change rapidly. If your backup strategy involves rotating snapshots frequently or deleting large chunks of old data every few weeks, you might find yourself paying for “ghost” data. Backblaze B2, by contrast, is generally more flexible for those who need to prune their archives without a time-based penalty.

Integration and Simplicity

From a deployment perspective, both services offer S3 compatibility, meaning they play nice with almost every backup tool in the home-lab ecosystem. However, Backblaze B2 has earned a reputation for being particularly “NAS-native.” If you are using popular NAS operating systems, the integration is often a one-click affair, making it an incredibly simple target for those who don’t want to spend their weekend wrestling with API keys and bucket policies.

Pros & Cons

Backblaze B2

Pros:

• Cheap: At $6/TB/mo, it is the more affordable option on a pure storage basis.
• Simple: Extremely easy to set up; highly compatible with NAS hardware.
• NAS-native: Designed to slot directly into existing home server workflows.

Cons:

• Egress Fees: You will pay to get your data back, which can be a deterrent for frequent restores.

Wasabi

Pros:

• No Egress/API Fees: Predictable monthly billing regardless of how much you download.
• Cheap: While slightly more expensive per TB than B2, the lack of egress fees often offsets this.

Cons:

• 90-day Minimum: You are committed to paying for any uploaded data for at least 3 months.

Which should you buy?

The decision comes down to your “Restore Velocity.”

Choose Backblaze B2 if you want the absolute lowest monthly cost and a “set it and forget it” experience. It is the ideal choice for deep archival—data that you are terrified of losing but hope you never actually have to download. If you’re running a standard NAS setup and just need an S3-style target that doesn’t require a PhD in cloud architecture, this is your best bet.

Choose Wasabi if you value predictability over the lowest possible entry price. The $1 difference per TB is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that comes with no egress fees. If you have a habit of auditing your backups or moving large volumes of data between sites, Wasabi prevents “bill shock” at the end of the month. Just be mindful of that 90-day minimum; don’t use it for temporary files.

FAQ

Do I need special hardware to use these services? No. Both are SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings. As long as you have an internet connection and software capable of S3-compatible uploads, you can use either service from any device.

What is “Egress” in cloud storage? Egress refers to the data leaving the provider’s network. While most providers let you upload data for free (ingress), some charge a fee based on the amount of data you download back to your local machine.

Can I switch between Backblaze B2 and Wasabi later? Yes, but be careful. Moving data from one to another involves downloading everything from the first provider—which would trigger egress fees if you are moving away from Backblaze B2—and uploading it to the second.

Why does Wasabi have a 90-day minimum storage period? This is a business model choice that allows them to offer no egress fees. It essentially ensures a baseline level of revenue per object uploaded, preventing users from using their platform as a high-speed temporary transit zone for data.

Our pick for personal cloud storage

Want privacy-first storage without recurring monthly fees? Consider pCloud — it’s EU/Swiss-based with optional zero-knowledge encryption and one-time lifetime plans, a strong value alternative for backing up your own data.