Object storage · October 2026 Edition
Cloudflare R2 vs DigitalOcean Spaces
Two of fourteen models named Cloudflare R2 first on the direct prompt; zero named DigitalOcean Spaces. Cloudflare R2 was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and DigitalOcean Spaces by twelve and Cloudflare R2 carries 47 labels and DigitalOcean Spaces 26, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share19%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate17%8%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#6A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels4726A 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 DigitalOcean Spaces · 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 modelsDigitalOcean Spaces
Direct20
Paraphrase50
Comparative101 against Cloudflare R2
Budget-constrained21
Scale-constrained10
Negative207 against Cloudflare R2 · 2 against DigitalOcean Spaces
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 DigitalOcean Spaces were named in the same answer forty-six times, of the 135 answers naming Cloudflare R2 and the 73 naming DigitalOcean Spaces. In those answers DigitalOcean Spaces took the first choice zero times and Cloudflare R2 fourteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare R2 and DigitalOcean Spaces 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 DigitalOcean Spaces first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare R2 on the left and DigitalOcean Spaces on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare R2 and DigitalOcean Spaces stood in it.
Cloudflare R2 first, DigitalOcean Spaces not the choice
2 of 14 modelsDigitalOcean Spaces 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
Neither was the first choice, one was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.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
7 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
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
MiniMax M2.5Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage alternatives: Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, 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 thirteen points.
Cloudflare R218%#3 of 9DigitalOcean Spaces5%#4 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare R2 leads by seventeen points.
Cloudflare R219%#2 of 9DigitalOcean Spaces2%#6 of 9Enterprise
Cloudflare R2 leads by eight points.
Cloudflare R28%#3 of 12DigitalOcean Spaces0%#– 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 DigitalOcean Spaces
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Reported 5 GB object caps on some providers, and lack of object lock/WORM support on some of these services.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“DigitalOcean Spaces: Watch Out for Size Limits & Concurrency” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“the best choice is usually Backblaze B2 or DigitalOcean Spaces” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
“If the company is looking for a cost-effective solution with good performance, providers like DigitalOcean Spaces, B2, or Hetzner could be considered.” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · alternative
“Very small fixed budget: DigitalOcean Spaces starts at $5/month for 250GB storage + 1TB outbound transfer” Muse Glimmer 30B · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared
Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2Backblaze B2 vs DigitalOcean SpacesCloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3Cloudflare R2 vs Wasabi Object StorageCloudflare R2 vs Azure Blob StorageCloudflare R2 vs Google Cloud StorageCloudflare R2 vs Cloudian HyperStoreAmazon S3 vs DigitalOcean SpacesWasabi Object Storage vs DigitalOcean SpacesAzure Blob Storage vs DigitalOcean SpacesDigitalOcean Spaces vs Google Cloud StorageDigitalOcean Spaces 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.