Backblaze Pricing Calculator for B2
An easy tool to estimate your monthly cloud storage costs with Backblaze B2. No surprises, just clear pricing.
Enter the total amount of data you plan to store.
Enter the amount of data you expect to download each month.
What is a Backblaze Pricing Calculator?
A Backblaze Pricing Calculator is a tool designed to estimate the monthly cost of using Backblaze’s B2 cloud storage service. Unlike their flat-rate Computer Backup product, B2 is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering where costs are based on usage—primarily the amount of data you store and the amount you download. This calculator simplifies the pricing model, giving you a clear estimate based on your specific needs. Understanding your potential B2 cost estimator is crucial for budgeting and comparing it against other services.
This tool is for developers, businesses, and individuals who need affordable, reliable object storage without complex pricing tiers. It helps answer the question: “How much will I actually pay for my data?”
Backblaze Pricing Formula and Explanation
The Backblaze B2 pricing model is refreshingly simple. Our backblaze pricing calculator uses this core formula:
Total Monthly Cost = Storage Cost + Download Cost
Where:
- Storage Cost = (Total Stored GB – 10 GB Free Tier) * $0.006
- Download Cost = (Total Downloaded GB – 1 GB Free Tier) * $0.01
This calculator accounts for the generous free tiers Backblaze provides to reduce your final bill. The key is to calculate the chargeable data after subtracting the free allowance.
| Variable | Meaning | Unit | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage Amount | Total data residing on Backblaze servers. | GB or TB | 1 GB – 1000+ TB |
| Download (Egress) | Data transferred out from Backblaze to the internet. | GB or TB | 1 GB – 100+ TB |
| Storage Price | Cost per gigabyte per month for storage. | USD per GB | $0.006 |
| Download Price | Cost per gigabyte for data egress. | USD per GB | $0.01 |
Practical Examples
Example 1: A Photographer’s Archive
A photographer wants to archive 2 TB of raw photos and expects to download about 50 GB per month to work on projects.
- Input (Storage): 2 TB
- Input (Download): 50 GB
- Calculation:
- Storage Cost: (2048 GB – 10 GB) * $0.006 = $12.23
- Download Cost: (50 GB – 1 GB) * $0.01 = $0.49
- Result (Total Cost): ~$12.72 per month
Example 2: A Small Business Backup
A small business backs up 500 GB of company files and only downloads about 5 GB per month for occasional file recovery.
- Input (Storage): 500 GB
- Input (Download): 5 GB
- Calculation:
- Storage Cost: (500 GB – 10 GB) * $0.006 = $2.94
- Download Cost: (5 GB – 1 GB) * $0.01 = $0.04
- Result (Total Cost): ~$2.98 per month. This shows how effective the cheap cloud storage model is for low-egress use cases.
How to Use This Backblaze Pricing Calculator
- Enter Storage Amount: Input the total amount of data you’ll be storing. Use the dropdown to select between Gigabytes (GB) and Terabytes (TB).
- Enter Download Amount: Estimate how much data you will download (egress) from B2 each month. This is often a fraction of your total storage.
- Review the Results: The calculator instantly updates your Estimated Monthly Cost.
- Check the Breakdown: The “Storage Cost” and “Download Cost” fields show you exactly where the costs are coming from, helping you understand the impact of your usage. The chart provides a quick visual reference.
- Adjust and Experiment: Change the values to see how your costs would scale up or down. This is useful for future planning and managing your cloud storage cost.
Key Factors That Affect Backblaze B2 Pricing
- Total Storage Volume: This is the primary driver of cost. The more data you store, the higher the monthly bill.
- Data Egress (Downloads): While cheaper than competitors, data egress is the second main cost factor. High-volume downloads will impact your bill.
- The Free Tier: Backblaze provides 10 GB of free storage and 1 GB of free daily downloads. Small-scale users might operate almost entirely within this free tier.
- API Calls: B2 charges for certain API operations (e.g., listing files) after a very generous daily free allowance (2,500 calls). Most users never exceed this, but highly active applications might. Our calculator omits this for simplicity, but it’s a factor for advanced users. For more, see our B2 integrations guide.
- Data Ingress (Uploads): Uploading data to Backblaze B2 is completely free, which is a significant cost advantage.
- Minimum Retention Policies: Unlike some services, Backblaze has no minimum storage duration fees, giving you more flexibility.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Is this backblaze pricing calculator official?
No, this is an independent tool designed for estimation purposes. It uses Backblaze’s publicly listed pricing for B2, but for official quotes or complex scenarios, you should consult Backblaze directly.
2. Does this calculator include the cost of Backblaze’s Personal Backup?
No. This calculator is strictly for the B2 Cloud Storage service, which is priced by usage. The Personal/Business Computer Backup service offers unlimited storage for a flat monthly or yearly fee.
3. What are data egress fees?
Egress fees, or download fees, are charges for transferring data *out* of a cloud provider’s network. Backblaze is known for having some of the lowest and most straightforward data egress fees in the industry.
4. How does the unit selector (GB/TB) work?
It converts your input into Gigabytes (GB) for the calculation, as B2 pricing is based on a per-GB model. 1 TB is treated as 1024 GB.
5. What if I upload and delete data frequently?
Backblaze bills by the byte-hour. This calculator provides a monthly estimate assuming a stable amount of storage. If your storage fluctuates significantly, your actual bill may vary slightly from this estimate.
6. Are there any hidden fees with Backblaze B2?
Backblaze prides itself on transparent pricing. The main costs are storage and downloads. The only other potential cost is for API transactions, but the free tier is large enough that most users never pay for them.
7. Why is my download cost zero?
Your download cost will be zero if your estimated monthly download amount is 1 GB or less, as it falls within the free tier allowance used by this calculator.
8. How accurate is this calculator?
It is very accurate for estimating costs based on the standard storage and download pricing. It simplifies the free download tier (1GB/month vs 1GB/day) and excludes API call costs for clarity, but for most scenarios, the estimate will be very close to the actual bill.