Cloudflare R2 vs Wasabi

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare's S3-compatible object storage with no egress fees and a monthly free tier.

Free plan + paid

Visit Cloudflare R2 Cloudflare R2 profile

Wasabi

S3-compatible cloud object storage with flat per-terabyte pricing and no egress or API fees.

Paid

Visit Wasabi Wasabi profile

The short answer

Cloudflare R2 suits developers serving files to the web, especially apps built on Cloudflare Workers, and small projects that fit its free tier. Wasabi suits businesses storing large backups and archives that want a flat per-terabyte bill. Both are S3-compatible with no egress fees; the biggest difference is that R2 charges per operation and per gigabyte, while Wasabi charges per terabyte with no API fees but has minimums.

Cloudflare R2 or Wasabi: our take

Both services expose an S3-compatible API and charge nothing for egress, which is the main reason people move to either from the big clouds. Cloudflare R2 lives on Cloudflare's developer platform: alongside the S3 API it has a native Workers API, so serverless code can read and write buckets without managing keys, and it includes migration tools that copy data from other S3-style providers in bulk or as objects are requested. Wasabi is a standalone storage service aimed at backups and archives, widely used with Veeam, Commvault and Rubrik, with object lock for immutable, ransomware-resistant copies.

The billing models suit different workloads. R2 charges $0.015 per GB-month for Standard storage plus fees for two classes of operations, and write operations cost more per million than on some rivals. A free tier covers 10 GB of storage and a set number of reads and writes each month, and an Infrequent Access class is cheaper to store but adds retrieval fees. Wasabi starts at $7.99 per TB/month with no API or egress fees, but bills objects for at least 90 days and applies a minimum monthly charge equal to 1 TB on pay-as-you-go. That makes Wasabi poor value for a few gigabytes and good value for many terabytes that sit mostly unchanged.

R2 runs across Cloudflare's network and is managed from the dashboard, API or CLI. Wasabi has 16 storage regions in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and also sells reserved capacity for one to five years.

Pick R2 for public assets, images and app data served to the internet, for projects already on Cloudflare, or for small datasets that fit the free tier. Pick Wasabi for terabytes of backups or archives where a predictable per-terabyte price matters more than per-request flexibility.

Choose Cloudflare R2 if…

Developers serving files to the web who want to avoid egress fees, especially on Cloudflare Workers
You want a free option (Wasabi is paid only)
No egress charges for any storage class
Free tier of 10 GB storage and millions of operations a month

Choose Wasabi if…

Businesses storing backups or archives that want predictable S3-compatible storage bills
No fees for egress or API requests
Works with S3 tools and most backup software

What is Cloudflare R2?

Cloudflare R2 is an object storage service on Cloudflare's developer platform. It exposes an S3-compatible API, so existing S3 tools and SDKs work after switching the endpoint, and it also has a native API for Cloudflare Workers, which lets serverless code read and write buckets without managing keys. The main draw is that R2 charges nothing for egress, so serving files, images or datasets to the internet doesn't add bandwidth bills. You pay for stored data and for two classes of operations, with a Standard class and a cheaper Infrequent Access class that adds retrieval fees. A free tier covers 10 GB of Standard storage plus a set number of reads and writes each month. Migration tools can copy data from other S3-style providers, either in bulk or gradually as objects are requested. It runs entirely in Cloudflare's network and is managed from the dashboard, API or CLI. It suits developers serving public assets or building apps on Cloudflare.

What is Wasabi?

Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage is an object storage service that speaks the Amazon S3 API, so most tools that write to S3 can use it by changing an endpoint and keys. Its selling point is billing: you pay a flat monthly rate per terabyte stored, with no separate charges for downloading data or for API requests, which makes costs easier to predict than on the big cloud providers. All data sits in a single always-available tier, with no cold storage and no retrieval delays. It is widely used as a backup target for tools like Veeam, Commvault and Rubrik, with object lock for immutable, ransomware-resistant copies, and also for media archives and AI datasets. Wasabi runs storage regions in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Pricing is pay-as-you-go or reserved capacity bought for one to five years, and there is a free trial. Note the 90-day minimum storage duration and a minimum monthly charge tied to 1 TB on pay-as-you-go.

Side by side

Attribute	Cloudflare R2	Wasabi
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web	Web
Best for	Developers serving files to the web who want to avoid egress fees, especially on Cloudflare Workers	Businesses storing backups or archives that want predictable S3-compatible storage bills
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Cloudflare R2	Wasabi
S3 compatible	Yes	Yes