Object storage · October 2026 Edition
Cloudflare R2 vs Azure Blob Storage
Two of fourteen models named Cloudflare R2 first on the direct prompt; one named Azure Blob Storage. Cloudflare R2 was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Azure Blob Storage by thirteen and Cloudflare R2 carries 47 labels and Azure Blob Storage 42, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share19%6%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate17%31%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#5A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels4742A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cloudflare R2 reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Backblaze B2 was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2 · Backblaze B2 vs Azure Blob Storage · Cloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen 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 fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cloudflare R2First choices, of fourteen modelsAzure Blob Storage
Direct211 against Azure Blob Storage
Paraphrase501 against Azure Blob Storage
Comparative101 against Cloudflare R2
Budget-constrained203 against Azure Blob Storage
Scale-constrained12
Negative207 against Cloudflare R2 · 7 against Azure Blob Storage
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Cloudflare R2 and Azure Blob Storage were named in the same answer sixty-three times, of the 135 answers naming Cloudflare R2 and the 129 naming Azure Blob Storage. In those answers Azure Blob Storage took the first choice two times and Cloudflare R2 sixteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare R2 and Azure Blob Storage stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | |||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | ||||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Cloudflare R2 Azure Blob Storage first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare R2 on the left and Azure Blob Storage on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare R2 and Azure Blob Storage stood in it.
Cloudflare R2 first, Azure Blob Storage an alternative
2 of 14 modelsAzure Blob Storage was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Gemini 3.5 FlashCloudflare R2 alternatives: Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
Kimi K2Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage first, Cloudflare R2 not the choice
1 of 14 modelsCloudflare R2 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.MiniMax M2.5Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage alternatives: Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi Object Storage
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
Grok 4.1 FastBackblaze B2 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
DeepSeek V4 FlashBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2
GLM 4.7 FlashXBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, MinIO AIStor, Wasabi Object Storage
GPT-6 LunaAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
Muse Glimmer 30Bno first choice alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
Neither was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
Perplexity SonarGoogle Cloud Storage alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
Mistral SmallBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudian HyperStore
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Qwen 3.7 FlashBackblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
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
Cloudflare R2 leads by eighteen points.
Cloudflare R218%#3 of 9Azure Blob Storage0%#9 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare R2 leads by thirteen points.
Cloudflare R219%#2 of 9Azure Blob Storage6%#5 of 9Enterprise
Cloudflare R2 leads by two points.
Cloudflare R28%#3 of 12Azure Blob Storage6%#4 of 12What the models said about Cloudflare R2
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“No versioning, no object lock, and no WORM compliance, so it is not suitable for immutable or regulatory backups.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · hard negative
“Multiple outages in 2026 (13 incidents in 8 days in Aug), including R2 failures, 503 errors, and unrepaired data” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“13 separate incidents in just 8 days... the frequent outages raise concerns about production reliability” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Heavy Egress / Global Apps | Cloudflare R2 | Best for serving media, web assets, or SaaS app files directly to users globally with zero egress fees.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Best for Active SaaS Applications & Global Read-Heavy Workloads: Cloudflare R2 ... is the premier choice.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“The best overall option in this category is Cloudflare R2, especially for read-heavy workloads” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Azure Blob Storage
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“"avoid or be cautious about ... those with high egress fees or minimum retention periods, such as GCS and Azure Cold"” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid hyperscalers (AWS/GCP/Azure) on tight budgets due to egress/API add-ons.” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · hard negative
“High egress fees (e.g., AWS S3: $0.09/GB after free tier; GCS/Azure similar) lead to unpredictable bills and vendor lock-in” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“Start with AWS S3 or Azure Blob — native integration, massive ecosystem, but watch egress costs.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage due to their enterprise-grade security” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Check AWS S3 / Azure Blob: If you are already deep in one ecosystem.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
Also compared
Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2Backblaze B2 vs Azure Blob StorageCloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3Cloudflare R2 vs Wasabi Object StorageCloudflare R2 vs DigitalOcean SpacesCloudflare R2 vs Google Cloud StorageCloudflare R2 vs Cloudian HyperStoreAmazon S3 vs Azure Blob StorageWasabi Object Storage vs Azure Blob StorageAzure Blob Storage vs DigitalOcean SpacesAzure Blob Storage vs Google Cloud StorageAzure Blob Storage vs Cloudian HyperStoreAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full object storage standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.