AWS S3 vs Cloudflare R2 vs DigitalOcean Spaces vs Wasabi

Choosing a cloud storage provider used to be simple: you picked AWS S3 because it was the only serious option. That is no longer the case. Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Wasabi have each carved out a niche by offering S3-compatible APIs with different pricing models and tradeoffs. If you are starting a new project or reconsidering where you store your data, this comparison will help you make an informed decision.

All four providers use the S3 API as their interface, which means most tools, SDKs, and applications that work with S3 will also work with the others. The differences come down to pricing, performance, regional availability, and the extras each provider bundles in.

AWS S3

Amazon Simple Storage Service is the original and still the most feature-rich object storage platform. It launched in 2006 and has been the backbone of cloud storage ever since.

Pricing. Standard storage costs approximately $0.023 per GB per month, though this varies by region. Egress (data transfer out to the internet) starts at $0.09 per GB after the first 100 GB per month. API request costs are granular: roughly $0.005 per 1,000 PUT requests and $0.0004 per 1,000 GET requests. AWS offers a free tier that includes 5 GB of standard storage, 20,000 GET requests, and 2,000 PUT requests per month for the first 12 months.

Regions. AWS operates in 35+ regions worldwide, giving you the broadest geographic coverage of any provider on this list. This matters for latency-sensitive applications and for compliance requirements that mandate data residency in specific countries.

Storage classes. S3 offers eight storage classes, from S3 Standard for frequently accessed data to S3 Glacier Deep Archive for long-term archival at a fraction of the cost. Lifecycle policies let you automatically transition objects between classes as they age.

Strengths. Unmatched feature depth. Event notifications, replication, versioning, object lock, analytics, batch operations, and integration with the entire AWS ecosystem. If you need a specific capability, S3 almost certainly supports it.

Limitations. The pricing model is complex, and egress costs can add up quickly if you serve large amounts of data to end users. The AWS Console is powerful but not beginner-friendly.

Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare launched R2 in 2022 as a direct challenge to S3’s egress pricing. Its headline feature is simple: zero egress fees.

Pricing. Storage costs $0.015 per GB per month. Egress is free. Class A operations (writes) cost $4.50 per million requests. Class B operations (reads) cost $0.36 per million requests. The free tier is generous: 10 GB of storage, 10 million Class B requests, and 1 million Class A requests per month, with no time limit.

Regions. R2 does not use traditional regions. Objects are stored globally and served from Cloudflare’s edge network. You can set location hints to influence where data is stored, but you do not select a specific region the way you do with S3.

Storage classes. R2 offers two tiers: Standard and Infrequent Access. Simpler than S3’s eight classes but sufficient for most use cases.

Strengths. Zero egress makes R2 extremely cost-effective for read-heavy workloads and content delivery. The integration with Cloudflare Workers lets you build serverless applications at the edge. The free tier is one of the best available.

Limitations. Fewer features than S3. No object lock, limited event notifications, and fewer management tools. The lack of explicit regions can be a concern for strict data residency requirements.

DigitalOcean Spaces

DigitalOcean Spaces is an S3-compatible object storage service designed to be simple and predictable. It is part of DigitalOcean’s broader cloud platform, which targets developers and small-to-medium businesses.

Pricing. Spaces costs $5 per month, which includes 250 GB of storage and 1 TB of outbound transfer. Additional storage is $0.02 per GB per month, and additional transfer is $0.01 per GB. This flat-rate model makes costs easy to predict.

Regions. Spaces is available in 14 regions. Each Space is tied to a specific region. While the coverage is smaller than AWS, it includes the most commonly needed locations in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Storage classes. Spaces offers a single storage class. There are no archival tiers or lifecycle transitions between classes.

CDN included. Spaces includes a built-in CDN at no extra cost. Enabling the CDN gives your files a separate endpoint served from DigitalOcean’s edge caches, which reduces latency for end users.

Strengths. Predictable pricing with no surprise bills. The bundled CDN adds real value. A natural choice if you are already using DigitalOcean infrastructure.

Limitations. Fewer regions and no storage classes beyond the default. Advanced features like object lock, replication, and batch operations are not available.

Wasabi

Wasabi positions itself as “hot cloud storage” with a focus on low, predictable pricing and no fees for egress or API requests.

Pricing. Storage costs $6.99 per TB per month (approximately $0.0068 per GB). There are no egress fees and no API request fees. Wasabi offers a 30-day free trial with 1 TB of storage. There is a minimum storage duration of 90 days, meaning you are billed for at least 90 days even if you delete an object earlier.

Regions. Wasabi operates in 16 regions across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each bucket is tied to a specific region.

Storage classes. Wasabi offers a single “hot” storage tier. There are no archival or infrequent access classes.

Strengths. The per-TB pricing is among the lowest in the industry for primary storage. No egress and no API fees make it extremely cost-effective for large data sets that are accessed frequently. The pricing model is transparent with no hidden line items.

Limitations. The 90-day minimum storage duration means Wasabi is not ideal for ephemeral or temporary data. There is no built-in CDN. Features like event notifications, lifecycle policies, and object lock are limited compared to S3. Wasabi does not offer a broader cloud platform, so there is no equivalent of Lambda, EC2, or Workers.

Comparison table

Which provider should you choose?

Choose AWS S3 if you need the deepest feature set, the widest regional coverage, or tight integration with other AWS services. S3 is the safe default for complex workloads, enterprise compliance, and situations where you need storage classes like Glacier for archival.

Choose Cloudflare R2 if your workload is read-heavy and egress costs are eating into your budget. R2 is a strong fit for serving assets to end users or any use case where you want to stop metering every byte that leaves your bucket.

Choose DigitalOcean Spaces if you want a simple, predictable bill and you are already using DigitalOcean infrastructure. The included CDN and flat-rate pricing make Spaces a pragmatic choice for startups and small teams that do not want to think about per-request costs.

Choose Wasabi if you are storing large volumes of data that need to remain accessible (not archived). Media libraries, backup repositories, surveillance footage, and research datasets are all good fits. Just keep the 90-day minimum duration in mind for short-lived data.

You do not have to pick just one

One of the advantages of the S3-compatible ecosystem is that you are not locked into a single provider. You can store archival data in Wasabi for the lowest per-TB cost, serve public assets from R2 to avoid egress fees, and keep operational data in S3 for its advanced features.

The challenge is managing multiple providers without juggling different dashboards and tools. That is exactly the problem Nubbo’s cloud provider support was built to solve. Nubbo connects to AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Wasabi from one interface. You can browse files, create shared links with passwords and expiration dates, build photo galleries for client delivery, and accept uploads through file requests, all without switching between consoles or installing separate tools.

Your files never pass through Nubbo’s servers. Every transfer happens directly between your browser and your storage provider using presigned URLs, so you keep full control of your data regardless of which provider you choose.

If you are managing storage across multiple providers, or even just one, and want a cleaner way to work with your files, create your free account and connect your first bucket in under two minutes.