Quick answer
Azure Blob Storage is cheaper than Amazon S3 at all three usage levels Playxoft priced. For 1 TB stored, 10 million writes, 100 million reads and 1 TB downloaded in US East, it costs $191.69 a month against $196.71, and it is cheaper in 7 of the 12 regions covered. The biggest difference is data sent to users: $83.16 a month on S3 against $80.39 on Blob Storage. Playxoft's comparison uses official list prices checked October 14, 2026, with the always-free allowances applied.
- Official list prices
- 3 usage levels
- 12 regions
- Feature comparison
- Free calculator
How to compare Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage costs
- 1Pick a usage level (100 GB stored, 1 TB stored, 20 TB stored), then change the numbers or add more items with the + buttons.
- 2Choose the Region where your users are. Prices differ by region.
- 3Adjust the numbers in each card. Every field has an i tip explaining it.
- 4Compare the two monthly totals, then open Cost breakdown to see exactly how Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage bill each line.
Which is cheaper, Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage?
Monthly list prices in US East with the always-free allowances applied:
| Usage per month | Amazon S3 | Azure Blob Storage | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 GB stored: 1M writes, 10M reads, 100 GB downloaded | $11.30 | $11.08 | Azure Blob Storage by $0.22 |
| 1 TB stored: 10M writes, 100M reads, 1 TB downloaded | $196.71 | $191.69 | Azure Blob Storage by $5.02 |
| 20 TB stored: 50M writes, 500M reads, 10 TB downloaded | $1,833.64 | $1,758.16 | Azure Blob Storage by $75.48 |
Azure Blob Storage is cheaper for 1 TB stored and downloaded in 7 of the 12 regions the calculator covers and Amazon S3 in 5. Downloads use each cloud's internet egress price.
What are the S3 and Blob Storage unit prices?
List prices in AWS us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and Azure eastus (East US), read on October 14, 2026:
| Price (US East, on-demand) | AWS | Azure |
|---|---|---|
| Object storage, per GB-month | $0.023 | $0.0208 |
| Object writes, per million | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Object reads, per million | $0.40 | $0.40 |
| Internet egress, per GB | $0.09 | $0.087 |
Is Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage cheaper in your region?
1 TB stored, 10 million writes, 100 million reads and 1 TB downloaded, priced in each of the 12 regions the calculator covers:
| Region | Amazon S3 | Azure Blob Storage | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East | $196.71 | $191.69 | Blob Storage |
| US West | $196.71 | $189.23 | Blob Storage |
| Canada | $207.76 | $199.87 | Blob Storage |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | $306.07 | $326.63 | S3 |
| Ireland | $196.71 | $192.92 | Blob Storage |
| UK (London) | $202.74 | $206.05 | S3 |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | $205.25 | $197.46 | Blob Storage |
| India | $216.59 | $230.36 | S3 |
| Singapore | $226.48 | $221.36 | Blob Storage |
| Japan (Tokyo) | $214.94 | $221.36 | S3 |
| South Korea (Seoul) | $222.02 | $221.36 | Blob Storage |
| Australia (Sydney) | $229.94 | $230.36 | S3 |
How do Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage compare on features?
| Amazon S3 | Azure Blob Storage | |
|---|---|---|
| Durability | 99.999999999% (11 nines) | 99.999999999% (11 nines, LRS) |
| Availability SLA | 99.9% | 99.9% (Hot, LRS) |
| Largest object | 50 TB | About 190.7 TiB (block blob) |
| Consistency | Strong read-after-write | Strong |
| S3 API | Native | Azure Storage API |
| Egress to the internet | Charged; 100 GB a month free account-wide | Charged; 100 GB a month free |
| Always-free storage | None | None |
Facts from each provider's own documentation, checked October 14, 2026.
What are the key differences between Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage?
- Storage. Azure Blob Hot LRS costs less per GB-month than S3 Standard in US East.
- Requests. Azure prices operations per 10,000, S3 per 1,000; writes cost the same per million in US East.
- Egress. Both give 100 GB a month free; after that Azure charges slightly less per GB in North America and Europe.
- API. S3's API is the de facto standard that many tools speak; Blob Storage has its own Azure Storage API and SDKs.
Should you choose Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage?
Choose Amazon S3 if
- your tools and partners expect the S3 API
- your compute runs on AWS
- you use S3 event triggers and analytics
Choose Azure Blob Storage if
- your apps run on Azure or use Microsoft identity
- you want slightly lower storage and egress prices
- you need block blobs larger than S3's 50 TB limit
More comparisons: AWS vs Azure · Amazon EC2 vs Azure Virtual Machines · AWS Lambda vs Azure Functions · Amazon S3 vs Cloudflare R2 · Amazon S3 vs Google Cloud Storage · Google Cloud Storage vs Cloudflare R2 · Amazon RDS vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL · Amazon DynamoDB vs Azure Cosmos DB.
Where do these prices come from?
Both sides use the provider's own published price list, read on October 14, 2026, for the same region, with the always-free allowances applied.
Prices are in US dollars, on-demand, for Linux, with no commitments. Every figure on this page is generated from the same price snapshot as the calculator, and automated tests check each claim whenever the prices change. A month is 730 hours and 1 TB is 1,024 GB. Providers change prices from time to time, so for a purchase decision confirm the final figure in the provider's console.
Moving between Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage?
Playxoft builds and runs production backends on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Cloudflare, and plans migrations between them with no surprise downtime, including white-label work for agencies. Send us your architecture or last month's invoice and we will tell you, free, which side is cheaper for your real usage. Get a free cloud cost review.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated by the Playxoft engineering team.