Features comparison.

This Storj and Backblaze features table compares the performance, durability, availability, scalability, ease of use, sustainability, and cost of both cloud object storage solutions. Discover what features Storj is rated higher, instances where Backblaze is rated higher, and features where both companies are on par. Overall, Storj’s distributed cloud vs. Backblaze’s central data storage puts Storj at an advantage for most use cases (See use case comparison further down the page).

Considering the best cloud storage provider for your business? Use this Storj vs. Backblaze features comparison table to make your decision.

Feature analysis summary

Overall, comparing features sets, Backblaze and Storj have more similarities than differences. In many cases, both Backlaze and Storj have comparable features.
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Performance
Performance
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Upload Speed
Good
Potential to experience slower speed the further away from the data center origin. Source reference.
Good
Consistency when accessing from different areas of the globe.
Download Speed
Good
Consistently good for download speed within the storage region.
Great
Parallelism and low latency optimizations make downloads very fast.
Performance outside of region
Poor
Potential to experience slower speed the further away from the data center origin.
Great
Consistency when accessing from different areas of the globe.
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Durability
Durability
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Outage
Good
Calculated 11X 9s annual durability, but should an outage occur at their data center, customers would lose access to their data.  
Great
Durability is 9x 9s of durability achieved through Reed-Soloman erasure codes and file repair. Because only a portion of the sharded files are needed to reconstitute and they are distributed in different locations, Storj is highly resistant to access issues.
File repair
Great
Owns the data centers in a controlled environment. Cost to repair can be cheaper.
Good
Automated file repair and constant performance measurement of storage nodes.
Replication
Poor
Doubles the cost for each region added to store copies.
Great
Multi-region/global by default and doesn’t charge for data redundancy.
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Availability
Availability
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Multi-region
Poor
Can enable replication to other regions, but it’s pay per region/zone.
Great
Can utilize its built-in global region for one low cost.
No Minimum Storage Retention Period
Great
Has this feature.
Great
Has this feature.
Immutability
Great
Has this feature.
Great
Has this feature.
Data Privacy
Good
When you use Backblaze, data encryption is built in. Files scheduled for backup are encrypted on your machine.
Great
Easy end-to-end encryption built-in; even Storj can’t read your data if they wanted to. Storj also encrypts metadata for full data privacy.
Data Loss
Good
Has lost customer data.
Great
Never lost a file.
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Scalability
Scalability
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Moving to new regions
Poor
Potential to experience slower speed the further away from the data center origin. Additional cost to add regional storage.
Great
No additional cost to access data in new regions as it is accessing from one global region.
Speed in moving to new regions
Poor
Can enable replication to other regions, but slower process with added expense. Backblaze is also currently limited to the US and parts of Europe.
Great
Data is already replicated across the globe.
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Ease of Use
Ease of Use
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UI/UX
Good
Basic UI/UX.
Great
Intuitive UI/UX that features standard developer tools including CLI, S3-compatible gateway, and Golang developer library with supported bindings.
S3 compatibility
Great
Has more maturity and wider adoption.
Good
Is S3 compatible and is growing traction with continuing technology investment. Source reference.
Multipart Upload
Great
Supports multipart upload.
Great
Supports multipart upload.
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Sustainability
Sustainability
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Carbon emitted
Good
Owns and operates data centers with a typical efficiency of 30%.
Great
Over 70% of Storj drives are already deployed and powered. Storj has the equivalent capacity of several global data centers, without constructing a single new facility. It also enables storage providers to extend the life of existing hard drives without worrying about data loss.
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Cost
Cost
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Egress more than amount stored
Good
$10/TB month.
Great
$7/TB per month.
Egress less than amount stored
Great
Offers free egress for 3x the amount of data stored.
Good
Pay for all egress, but eliminates the egress from multi-region replication.
Multi-region
Good
Limited to the US and Europe, but this multiply costs to pay to replicate to others.
Great
Region agnostic, data is stored on tens of thousands of storage nodes across the globe.

Where Storj scores higher.

Storj excels over Backblaze by eliminating the need for multi-region storage for accessibility or backup replication. For example, if you are using Backblaze and want your data to be fast and accessible in the United States and Europe, you have to place a copy in both regions and pay for that storage. However, Storj has the advantage of being global by default, so it doesn’t cost extra.

Additionally, Backblaze only has data centers in the US and Europe, so this is not an option for customers outside those regions. Storj doesn’t have regional limitations, so this is a great option for companies scaling into new markets or regions.

Customers who benefit the most from using Storj over Backblaze.

Customers who need to manage lots of servers and customers who need to pull a large amount of data quickly will benefit with Storj’s distributed network. Customers who, in times of outages and disasters, need to have their data backups safe and readily available will benefit more by using Storj. Customers who need access to their data outside of the US and Europe, as well as those with more than 3x egress will need Storj globally distributed cloud storage. Additionally, customers who are working to reduce carbon emissions from cloud storage will want to select Storj.

Where Backblaze scores higher.

Backblaze excels at having a predictable cost model. It doesn’t matter what the size of the file is with Backblaze because it costs the same. Backblaze also scores higher on egress features because of their 3x free egress per month. However, if your use case requires significant egress, Backblaze won’t be a fit.

Customers who benefit the most from using Backblaze over Storj.

Customers with basic backup and recovery needs who only need one region of storage will find Backblaze cost effective.

Compare Storj to Backblaze by use case.

Let’s see how Storj and Backblaze features compare in common use cases. In terms of “Backup and Recovery” and “Video Surveillance” use cases, Backblaze is at a slight advantage. Use case categories such as “Video Streaming” place both solutions on equal rating. However, in terms of “Active Archive”, “File Transfer” and “Media Workflow” use cases, Storj receives a higher rating versus Backblaze.

Analysis summary

Overall, if you’re looking for an alternative to Amazon S3 to cut down on some costs, Backblaze and Storj are both S3 compatible and solid choices. Neither have a minimum storage retention period, and their S3 compatibility can be a drop in replacement.
Use Case
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Active Archive
Good
Good for accessing files from one region at a low price without sacrificing accessibility.
Great
Has one of the lowest cost prices for data at rest and enables archived data to be used for machine learning and artificial intelligence modeling. Storj is also extremely secure and durable making it a great alternative to on-premise storage.
Backup and Recovery
Great
Has a few products that support their backup use case as well as verified backup and recovery providers.
Good
Has verified backup providers work well with Storj, like Veeam Ready certification, but doesn’t offer its own product.
File transfer
Good
Limited to the network bandwidth of their data center.
Great
Can utilize parallelism with its tens of thousands of storage nodes and has removed long-tail latency to achieve fast transfer speeds for large files.
Generative AI
Good
Can scale to handle large workloads.
Great
Can scale to handle large data workloads. Storj also has on-demand GPUs for data modeling.
Media Workflows
Good
Can scale to handle large workloads.
Great
Can scale to handle large data workloads. Storj also has on-demand GPUs for data modeling.
Scientific Research
Good
A good choice for production companies that only shoot and have editing resources in the US and Europe.
Great
Has worked with many media companies as the industry moves to be more global and remote. Storj is the only provider that can enable global workflows in production and post-production from one global region of storage.
Video Streaming
Good
Have CDN alliances that have free transfer between them and the CDNs.
Good
Likely will want an additional service to resize videos or use a CDN, but for some use cases is great. Storj excels at being a CDN origin for VoD.
Video Surveillance
Great
Great for active archive of video surveillance where egress is 3x or less the amount stored.
Good
Great for backup of video surveillance files, especially those that need to be accessible across multiple regions.

Better for the planet.

Storj is a much cleaner way to store data. By leveraging underutilized hardware and removing the need to store multiple copies, Storj is significantly better for the environment.

Smart compliance.

Storj Select enables configurable storage node groups that deliver the privacy, control and immutability needed to be a component of a compliant storage solution for frameworks and standards including SOC, HIPAA and GDPR.

Service providers choose Storj too.

Storj allows managed service providers and resellers to grow revenue with differentiated value. Help your customers realize the benefits and significant savings of Storj while increasing your profit margins.

Put Storj to the test.

It’s simple to set up and start using Storj. Sign up now to get 25GB free for 30 days.
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