Ceph vs Backblaze B2
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Ceph and Backblaze B2.
Quick Verdict
4.1/5
Ceph
0 reviews
4.2/5
Backblaze B2
0 reviews
Backblaze B2 is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.1). Open-source distributed storage system providing object, block, and file storage through a single cluster. Designed for organizations building cloud infrastructure or managing petabyte-scale data. Backblaze B2 offers S3-compatible object storage at $6.95/TB/month (raised from $6/TB in May). Free egress up to 3x stored data for all customers, unlimited free egress to partner CDNs/compute.
Ceph Unified, scalable storage platform for objects, blocks, and files | Backblaze B2 S3-compatible object storage at $6.95/TB/month with 3x free egress | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.1 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free | usage-based |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $6.95/mo |
| Best for | Enterprises and service providers building self-managed, large-scale storage with object, block, and file requirements on commodity hardware | Backup targets, snapshot archives, and asset storage where low, predictable cost beats global distribution |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | ["US West (Sacramento, Stockton, Phoenix)", "US East (Reston, VA)", "EU Central (Amsterdam, NL)", "CA East (Toronto, ON)"] |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostables3 compatible | free tiers3 compatibleus datacenterapi access |
| Visit Ceph → | Visit Backblaze B2 → | |
Ceph
Pros
- + Unified object, block, and file storage from one self-healing cluster with no single point of failure
- + Free and open source (LGPL 2.1/3.0) under Linux Foundation governance
- + Proven at very large scale — CERN, OVH, DigitalOcean run production deployments
- + S3-compatible object API (RGW), erasure coding, replication, snapshots and clones built in
- + Strong Kubernetes story (Rook, Ceph CSI) and modern ops tooling (cephadm, dashboard, Prometheus)
Cons
- - Steep learning curve; incident response and tuning require real storage expertise
- - Practical minimum is a multi-node cluster (3+ monitors, ~4 GiB RAM per OSD, 10 Gb/s networking)
- - Total cost of ownership dominated by hardware and operations, not licenses
- - Vendor ecosystem in flux (SUSE exited Ceph-based products from 2021)
Backblaze B2
Pros
- + $6.95/TB/month storage with no minimum file size or storage duration fees
- + Free egress up to 3x average monthly storage for all customers; unlimited free egress to partner CDNs/compute
- + Genuine S3-compatible API plus native API, with free Class A/B/C transactions
- + 11 nines claimed durability with published Vault math (20 shards across 20 pods)
- + EU data residency via the Amsterdam region; permanent 10 GB free tier
Cons
- - One region per account (fixed at creation); no cross-region buckets or read replicas
- - S3 compatibility is partial: no IAM roles, object tagging, or website hosting; bucket-level ACLs only
- - SLA is thin: 99.9% objective with 5–10% service credits
- - Storage price rose from $6 to $6.95/TB in May — value still strong, but the direction is upward
- - No compute, functions, or database services
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