Object storage · September 2026 Edition
Backblaze B2 vs Amazon S3
Four of twelve models named Backblaze B2 first on the direct prompt; five named Amazon S3. Both were named by all twelve models and Backblaze B2 carries 52 labels and Amazon S3 60, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share46%15%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate4%23%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels5260A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Backblaze B2 reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2 · Cloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the object storage page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Backblaze B2First choices, of twelve modelsAmazon S3
Direct452 against Amazon S3
Paraphrase713 against Amazon S3
Comparative19
Budget-constrained705 against Amazon S3
Scale-constrained00
Negative012 against Backblaze B2 · 3 against Amazon S3
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Backblaze B2 and Amazon S3 stood in it.
Backblaze B2 first, Amazon S3 an alternative
4 of 12 modelsAmazon S3 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Gemini 3.5 FlashBackblaze B2 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Wasabi
Grok 4.1 FastBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2
DeepSeek V4 FlashBackblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Wasabi
GLM 4.7 FlashXAzure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage
Amazon S3 first, Backblaze B2 an alternative
5 of 12 modelsBackblaze B2 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi
Perplexity SonarAmazon S3 alternatives: Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, IBM Cloud Object Storage
Mistral SmallAmazon S3, Azure Blob Storage alternatives: Google Cloud Storage, IBM Cloud Object Storage, Scality
MiniMax M2.5Amazon S3, Wasabi alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, DigitalOcean Spaces, Google Cloud Storage
Neither was the first choice, one was named
2 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Qwen 3.7 FlashWasabi alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage
Kimi K2Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, MinIO, Wasabi
Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Backblaze B2 leads by fifty-eight points.
Backblaze B260%#1 of 9Amazon S32%#6 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Backblaze B2 leads by thirty-one points.
Backblaze B246%#1 of 10Amazon S315%#3 of 10Enterprise
The order flips: Amazon S3 leads at enterprise.
Amazon S330%#1 of 11Backblaze B210%#4 of 11What the models said about Backblaze B2
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Backblaze has historically had fewer enterprise-grade uptime guarantees compared to AWS or Azure. Their SLA ... is less robust for mission-critical business applications.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“many users report that Backblaze B2 experiences intermittent speed and latency bottlenecks when handling heavy, concurrent production traffic” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“For 90% of mid-sized IT departments looking to back up servers or archive corporate data, Backblaze B2 is the safest, most flexible entry point” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Backblaze B2 is widely considered the safest, most reliable, and most predictable budget-friendly storage option for general use.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“For most mid-sized B2B companies, Backblaze B2 is the most straightforward and cost-effective S3-compatible option.” Mistral Small · paraphrase prompt · first choice
What the models said about Amazon S3
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“avoid for frequently changing data because they have 90-day and 180-day minimums, respectively” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · hard negative
“What to avoid on a budget ... ~$23/TB/month plus ~$90/TB in egress fees” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“4-10x more expensive | Avoid unless locked in” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · hard negative
“Choose AWS S3 if you need the broadest compatibility, have an existing AWS footprint, or require very granular control over storage tiers” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure Blob Storage are the top choices due to their scalability, security, and ecosystem integration.” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
“Choose Amazon S3 if you want the most mature platform, widest feature set, and strongest enterprise ecosystem.” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.