Welcome to our Backblaze review. Cloud storage has become an essential tool for both business and home users in recent years, as it enables you to store large amounts of data on external servers, which you can access via the internet. Backblaze offers one of the top cloud storage services out there with its B2 cloud storage platform.
If you're looking to store and protect massive amounts of data, this enterprise-grade software offers cost-effective, unlimited data storage that you pay for by the gigabyte. You can back up your PC, keep an online archive, build applications, and more. For more options, see our pick of the best cloud storage services around.
In this Backblaze review, we'll look at the key features of the Backblaze B2 cloud storage platform and whether or not it's something you should consider investing in.
Backblaze review: Pricing
One of the key strengths of Backblaze B2 is its competitive pricing plans. When you sign up to the B2 platform, your first 10 gigabytes (GB) of storage are free. After that, it costs $0.005 per GB per month. The cost of downloading stored data (also known as an egress fee) is $0.01 per GB.
While B2 prices are competitive overall, the additional egress fee is disappointing, particularly as competitor platform Wasabi does not charge them.
However, B2 is still only around 25 per cent of the cost of its main competitor, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), as well as other competitors in the market, such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Backblaze review: Features
Unlimited storage capacity
Backblaze offers a different service than popular cloud-based software such as Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive. These online services are designed for file-sharing and real-time synchronisation, which makes them useful tools for managing everyday workflows that teams collaborate on.
These kinds of services are built to give multiple users convenient access to shared files. However, this means that their storage capacity is limited, as continuously backing up and syncing large amounts of data would be impractical due to the cost and bandwidth needed. That's where Backblaze comes in.
If you want to store large amounts of data, or data that you may not need daily access to, the Backblaze B2 platform would be a good investment. It offers unlimited paid storage at a cost-effective price. This makes it a useful tool for creatives or media companies who want to keep an online archive of past clients' work, or tech leaders who want to back up their organisation's data. Data stored on the B2 cloud platform is readily accessible and easy to download onto your computer again.
S3-compatible storage
One of the key selling points of Backblaze B2 is the fact that it's compatible with Amazon S3, which is the largest and most dominant cloud storage service currently in the market.
For current users of Amazon S3, this means that migrating data to Backblaze B2 is a simple process. It also means that the B2 platform is more developer-friendly, as it offers options to move, manage and process data with minimal coding by using S3-compatible interfaces and tools.
Wide range of integrations
Backblaze B2 is a simple piece of software that fulfils its main function as a cloud storage service. On its own, it's not very feature-rich. However, it does support integrations with a wide range of third-party tools, which vastly expands the scale of its potential capabilities.
For example, an integration with Cloudflare would enable you to develop and distribute large websites and web apps globally via the Cloudflare network while storing all the files on the B2 platform. An integration with MSP360 (formerly known as Cloudberry labs) would enable you to back up your entire Windows, Mac, or Linux server to the B2 platform.
Other integrations offer data management and organisational tools, syncing and file-sharing capabilities, and more. The impressive range of integrations on offer here means that Backblaze B2 can be customised to suit the specific needs of an individual or organisation.
However, as many of its features can only be accessed through third-party integrations, Backblaze is generally better suited to more tech-savvy users. Beyond the basic functions of uploading/downloading data, it's not very beginner friendly.
Backblaze review: Interface
Backblaze B2 has a simple, web-based interface. Once you create an account on the website and log in, you can easily create 'buckets' to upload your data into.
Buckets are essentially containers for your data; they're a handy way to organise and categorise your files. You can rename them, make them public or private, and change their 'lifecycle' settings to determine how many versions of each file are kept. You can create up to 100 buckets per account, with each bucket able to hold as much data as you need in any file type.
The basic process for uploading files to buckets and downloading them again is straightforward, with drag-and-drop options enabling you to upload multiple files at once. These basic functions are easy to navigate for Backblaze beginners. However, installing third-party integrations is more challenging and would require a higher level of technical knowledge.
Backblaze review: Security
In an in-depth blog post, Backblaze states that their data durability rate is 99.999999999 per cent. According to them, this means that "if you store one million objects in B2 for 10 million years, you would expect to lose one file." They offer a very detailed explanation for how they came to this figure and state that files are stored in multiple physical locations to mitigate any potential disasters.
Files uploaded to B2 are encrypted during transfer using a secure HTTPS connection. This prevents cybercriminals or hackers from intercepting the files during transit. However, files are stored unencrypted on the B2 platform, which might be a pain point for some. It seems that the only way to get around this is to use a third-party integration to encrypt files pre-upload. If you want to ensure maximum security of your data, this is something we recommend.
Backblaze review: Support
Backblaze B2 offers a good level of free support, with an extensive library of help guides, troubleshooting docs, and how-to docs available on their website. They also offer email support with a target response time of one business day.
For those looking for a higher level of support, they also offer paid support plans at $150 per month and $400 per month. These give you more support options and shorter target response times.
Backblaze: Should I invest in it?
Backblaze B2 is an excellent cloud storage platform for those looking for an alternative to Amazon S3. With its simple interface and competitive pricing, it's a cost-effective option to store and protect large amounts of data. With the wide range of third-party integrations it offers, it's also endlessly customisable.
However, as many of its advanced features rely upon the installation of these third-party integrations, which requires technical expertise, we recommend Backblaze B2 for business and more tech-savvy users. It's also worth noting the additional egress fees when downloading data, and that files are not automatically encrypted while stored on the B2 platform.
Despite these pain points, Backblaze B2 is a strong contender in the cloud storage market overall; its cost-effective pricing and customizable features make it a solid investment.
Read more: The best web hosting services around right now
