Free Amazon S3 alternatives: 5 apps ranked by verified data

Facts checked Nov 8, 2026AppBreakup editorialHow we rank

5 of the 7 Amazon S3 alternatives we track can be used for free (free, open source, or with a free plan). Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 and Google Cloud Storage rank highest, with facts last verified Nov 8, 2026.

Quick comparison

#	App	Pricing	Verified price	Open source	Platforms	Verified facts	Score
1	Backblaze B2	Free plan + paid	$6.95 per TB/month	No	Web	5 of 5	64.8
2	Cloudflare R2	Free plan + paid	$0.015 per GB-month	No	Web	6 of 6	61.8
3	Google Cloud Storage	Free plan + paid	—	No	Web	6 of 6	59.4
4	MinIO	Free plan + paid	—	No	Self-hosted, Linux	5 of 5	42.3
5	UploadThing	Free plan + paid	$10/month for 100GB	No	Web	5 of 5	40.9

1. Backblaze B2Top pick
Best for: Developers and IT teams who want cheap S3-compatible storage without minimum duration fees
Free plan + paidWeb
64.8
score / 100
Why switch from Amazon S3
Much cheaper per terabyte, with free egress up to three times your stored data.
Pros
First 10 GB of storage is free
No minimum file size or storage duration fees
Free egress up to three times stored data
Common API calls are free on pay-as-you-go
Cons
Egress beyond three times your stored data is billed
Fewer regions and managed services around it than AWS
Some API call types still carry small charges
Visit Backblaze B2 Compare with Amazon S3 Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.387
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Backblaze B2 a good Amazon S3 alternative?
Verified facts
5 of 5 verified
Starting price
$6.95 per TB/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026backblaze.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free storage
First 10 GB
Checked Nov 8, 2026backblaze.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free egress
Up to 3x stored data
Checked Nov 8, 2026backblaze.com(opens source in a new tab)
Minimum storage duration
None
Checked Nov 8, 2026backblaze.com(opens source in a new tab)
S3 compatible
Yes
Checked Nov 8, 2026backblaze.com(opens source in a new tab)
2. Cloudflare R2
Best for: Developers serving files to the web who want to avoid egress fees, especially on Cloudflare Workers
Free plan + paidWeb
61.8
score / 100
Why switch from Amazon S3
Drop-in S3 API with zero egress fees, good for files served heavily to users.
Pros
No egress charges for any storage class
Free tier of 10 GB storage and millions of operations a month
Native Workers API alongside S3 compatibility
Built-in tools to migrate data from other providers
Cons
Write operations cost more per million than on some rivals
Infrequent Access class has retrieval fees and no free tier
Fewer storage tiers and data management features than Amazon S3
Visit Cloudflare R2 Compare with Amazon S3 Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.377
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Cloudflare R2 a good Amazon S3 alternative?
Verified facts
6 of 6 verified
Egress fees
None
Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
Standard storage price
$0.015 per GB-month
Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free tier
10 GB storage per month
Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
S3 compatible
Yes
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
Infrequent Access storage
$0.01 per GB-month
Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
Class A operations
$4.50 per million requests (Standard)
Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
3. Google Cloud Storage
Best for: Teams on Google Cloud that need durable object storage close to their compute and analytics.
Free plan + paidWeb
59.4
score / 100
Why switch from Amazon S3
Same tiered model as S3 with Standard to Archive classes, plus a monthly free allowance of 5 GiB of Standard storage for small projects.
Pros
Four storage classes with automatic lifecycle moves
Small monthly free allowance plus starting credits
Works directly with BigQuery and other Google Cloud services
Regional, dual-region and multi-region bucket options
Cons
Outbound data transfer is billed, unlike Cloudflare R2
Colder classes carry minimum storage durations
Pricing has many line items and is hard to predict
Visit Google Cloud Storage Compare with Amazon S3 Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.369
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Google Cloud Storage a good Amazon S3 alternative?
Verified facts
6 of 6 verified
Free tier
5 GiB Standard storage per month
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
New customer credit
$300 in free credits
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
Storage classes
Standard, Nearline, Coldline, Archive
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
Minimum duration
Applies to Nearline, Coldline and Archive
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
Dual-region Standard storage
$0.022 per GB/month for each region SKU (Iowa + Oregon)
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free plan
Yes, 5 GB-months of Standard storage
Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
4. MinIO
Best for: Organisations that need S3-compatible storage on their own hardware, with enterprise support
Free plan + paidSelf-hostableSelf-hosted, Linux
42.3
score / 100
Why switch from Amazon S3
S3-compatible storage you run on your own servers, to keep data on-premises.
Pros
Drop-in S3 API compatibility for existing tools and SDKs
Runs on-premises, at the edge or in any cloud
Enterprise features such as replication, encryption and immutability
Cons
Open-source repository is archived and no longer developed
Free tier is limited to single-node deployments
Multi-node clusters need a paid subscription
Visit MinIO Compare with Amazon S3 Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.312
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is MinIO a good Amazon S3 alternative?
Verified facts
5 of 5 verified
Free plan
Single-node deployments
Checked Nov 8, 2026min.io(opens source in a new tab)
Free trial
60 days (Enterprise tiers)
Checked Nov 8, 2026min.io(opens source in a new tab)
S3 compatible
Yes
Checked Nov 8, 2026min.io(opens source in a new tab)
Open-source license
AGPL-3.0
Checked Nov 3, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Open-source repo
Archived
Checked Nov 3, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
5. UploadThing
Best for: TypeScript and Next.js developers who want file uploads working in minutes without managing S3.
Free plan + paidWeb
40.9
score / 100
Why switch from Amazon S3
Handles upload UI, auth hooks and storage for you, so TypeScript apps skip signed-URL plumbing.
Pros
Type-safe server routes and drop-in upload components
Adapters for most popular JS frameworks and backends
Simple flat pricing with no separate bandwidth charges
Cons
Built for the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem only
No image resizing or transformation pipeline
Storage is hosted only; you can't self-host the service
Visit UploadThing Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.37
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is UploadThing a good Amazon S3 alternative?
Verified facts
5 of 5 verified
Free plan
2GB of storage
Checked Nov 8, 2026uploadthing.com(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$10/month for 100GB
Checked Nov 8, 2026uploadthing.com(opens source in a new tab)
Usage-based plan
From $25/month, 250GB included
Checked Nov 8, 2026uploadthing.com(opens source in a new tab)
SDK license
MIT
Checked Nov 1, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Built for
Full-stack TypeScript apps
Checked Nov 8, 2026docs.uploadthing.com(opens source in a new tab)

Quick comparison

1. Backblaze B2Top pick

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

2. Cloudflare R2

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

3. Google Cloud Storage

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

4. MinIO

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

5. UploadThing

Pros

Cons

Verified facts