Benchmark finds Cloudflare R2 and Backblaze B2 undercut S3 egress costs

Egress fees often represent the largest hidden expenditure in a streaming technology stack, frequently exceeding raw storage costs by 10x for active libraries. As the market pivots toward multi-cloud architectures to avoid vendor lock-in, S3-compatible alternatives are no longer just backup targets; they are viable primary origins for CDNs. The availability of zero-egress models like R2 and B2 forces a re-evaluation of total cost of ownership (TCO) for live and VOD origin servers. Watch for further commoditization of standard storage as niche providers integrate managed services like AI-tagging and real-time QC to differentiate against AWS.

The pressure on traditional egress models intensified in early 2024 when Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud both announced they would waive data transfer fees specifically for customers permanently migrating off their platforms. Per Reuters, March 2024, these moves were largely viewed as a preemptive response to the European Union's Data Act, which aims to lower barriers for switching cloud providers. However, critics like Corey Quinn noted that these waivers apply primarily to complete exits rather than the day-to-day operational egress that plagues high-traffic media organizations.

Simultaneously, specialized providers are moving beyond pure storage to offer media-centric features. Per StorageNewsletter, June 2024, Backblaze launched 'B2 Live Read,' a patent-pending service allowing video editors to access and transform content while it is still being uploaded, targeting the live event production market. Cloudflare R2 also reported triple-digit growth through late 2025, according to internal company data, as developers leverage its zero-egress model to power API-driven and high-retrieval applications.

Market data from 2025 indicates that the global cloud object storage market is projected to reach $9.49 billion by the end of the year, growing at a 16% CAGR. This growth is being driven by the shift toward using object storage as a primary data layer for AI/ML pipelines and high-velocity analytics. As of May 2026, DigitalOcean and Akamai (via its Linode acquisition) have also upgraded their infrastructure to better compete on performance, with Akamai rolling out 'Gen2' upgrades to support lower-latency media delivery across its global edge network.