# Object storage for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "object storage service" and as "S3-compatible cloud storage", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/cloud/object-storage/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/cloud/object-storage/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Backblaze B2 leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 60 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Backblaze B2](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/backblaze-b2/index.md) | 47% | 6% | 71 |
| 2 | [Wasabi Object Storage](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wasabi-object-storage/index.md) | 20% | 29% | 62 |
| 3 | [Cloudflare R2](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-r2/index.md) | 18% | 4% | 57 |
| 4 | [DigitalOcean Spaces](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/digitalocean-spaces/index.md) | 5% | 10% | 41 |
| 5 | [Amazon S3](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-s3/index.md) | 5% | 56% | 66 |
| 6 | [Google Cloud Storage](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-storage/index.md) | 3% | 51% | 39 |
| 8 | [IDrive e2](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/idrive-e2/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 9 | [MinIO AIStor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/minio-aistor/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 16 |
| 43 | [Azure Blob Storage](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-blob-storage/index.md) | 0% | 49% | 35 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 43 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: DigitalOcean Spaces, Google Cloud Storage; alternatives Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, MinIO AIStor
- GPT-5.4 mini: Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare R2; alternatives Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
- Perplexity Sonar: Backblaze B2; alternatives Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage, Scality ARTESCA
- Grok 4.20: Backblaze B2; alternatives Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
- Mistral Small: Backblaze Cloud Storage; alternatives Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Backblaze B2; alternatives Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Backblaze B2; alternatives Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Wasabi Object Storage
- Kimi K2: Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage; alternatives Cloudflare R2
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Backblaze B2; alternatives Cloudflare R2, MEGA S4, Wasabi Object Storage
- MiniMax M2.5: Backblaze B2; alternatives Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
- GPT-6 Luna: Amazon S3; alternatives Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Wasabi Object Storage; alternatives Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2

## Sources the answers cite

74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- solved.scality.com: 55 answers, 68 citations
- g2.com: 36 answers, 50 citations
- backblaze.com: 33 answers, 67 citations
- github.com: 32 answers, 32 citations
- digitalocean.com: 28 answers, 38 citations
- geekflare.com: 27 answers, 27 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 21 answers, 24 citations
- wasabi.com: 16 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://solved.scality.com/object-storage-solutions-small-business (52 answers)
- https://github.com/mixpeek/awesome-object-storage (32 answers)
- https://backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing (27 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/software/best-object-storage (27 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/object-storage-solutions/small-business (24 answers)
- https://digitalocean.com/resources/articles/object-storage-solutions-cloud-data (23 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/object-storage-solutions/small-business (17 answers)
- https://edgedelta.com/company/knowledge-center/s3-object-storage-service-alternatives (16 answers)
- https://developers.cloudflare.com/r2/pricing (15 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/cloud-object-storage (14 answers)

## Warned against

- Amazon S3: 37 of 66 labels negative. "Services to Avoid or Approach with High Caution: AWS S3 ... Complex, unpredictable pricing that escalates quickly for small businesses." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Wasabi Object Storage: 18 of 62 labels negative. "90-day minimum retention policy bills full period even if you delete early... surprise charges post-deletion/cancellation, slow support, data loss incidents" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Google Cloud Storage: 20 of 39 labels negative. "Avoid Unless You Have Specific Needs - AWS S3 / Google Cloud / Azure: Higher costs, complex pricing with egress fees" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- Azure Blob Storage: 17 of 35 labels negative. "Avoid Unless You Have Specific Needs - AWS S3 / Google Cloud / Azure: Higher costs, complex pricing with egress fees" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Backblaze B2 at 51%.

- Backblaze B2: 60% to 51%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 34, unchanged.
- Wasabi Object Storage: 12% to 18%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 2 of 34.
- Cloudflare R2: 21% to 16%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 2 → 3 of 34.
- DigitalOcean Spaces: 4% to 6%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 of 34, unchanged.
- Google Cloud Storage: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 of 34, unchanged.
- Amazon S3: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 of 34, unchanged.
- MinIO AIStor: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 9 of 34.
- Storj: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 33 of 34.
- Azure Blob Storage: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 33 → 34 of 34.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.