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Object storage · November 2026 Edition

Backblaze B2 vs Amazon S3

Seven of fourteen models named Backblaze B2 first on the direct prompt; five named Amazon S3. Both were named by all fourteen models and Backblaze B2 carries 65 labels and Amazon S3 68, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Backblaze B2

endorsed leader

Named in three categories this edition.

Amazon S3

criticized challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share55%16%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate3%35%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels6568A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Backblaze B2 reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cloudflare R2 was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2 · Backblaze B2 vs Wasabi Object Storage · Backblaze B2 vs Google Cloud Storage

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the object storage page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Backblaze B2First choices, of fourteen modelsAmazon S3
Direct753 against Amazon S3
Paraphrase817 against Amazon S3
Comparative011
Budget-constrained1215 against Amazon S3
Scale-constrained011 against Amazon S3
Negative002 against Backblaze B2 · 8 against Amazon S3
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Backblaze B2 and Amazon S3 were named in the same answer 157 times, of the 196 answers naming Backblaze B2 and the 227 naming Amazon S3. In those answers Amazon S3 took the first choice thirty-two times and Backblaze B2 fifty-three.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Backblaze B2 and Amazon S3 stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Backblaze B2 Amazon S3 first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Backblaze B2 on the left and Amazon S3 on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Backblaze B2 and Amazon S3 stood in it.

Backblaze B2 first, Amazon S3 an alternative

7 of 14 modelsAmazon S3 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Perplexity SonarBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
DeepSeek V4 FlashBackblaze B2 alternatives: Cloudflare R2
Llama 4 MaverickBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2
Qwen 3.7 FlashBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi Object Storage
GLM 4.7 FlashXBackblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
MiniMax M2.5Backblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2
Muse Glimmer 30BBackblaze B2 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage

Amazon S3 first, Backblaze B2 an alternative

5 of 14 modelsBackblaze B2 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
Gemini 3.5 FlashAmazon S3, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, MinIO AIStor, Wasabi Object Storage
Mistral SmallAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, MEGA S4
GPT-6 LunaAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage

Neither was the first choice, one was named

2 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Grok 4.20Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2
Kimi K2Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Backblaze B2 leads by forty-two points.
Backblaze B249%#1 of 8
Amazon S37%#4 of 8
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Backblaze B2 leads by thirty-nine points.
Backblaze B255%#1 of 8
Amazon S316%#3 of 8
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: Amazon S3 leads at enterprise.
Amazon S343%#1 of 11
Backblaze B26%#6 of 11
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Backblaze B2

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“B2 does not have the same global backbone infrastructure as Google or AWS. For small, frequent requests, latency can be noticeably higher” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Backblaze B2 is popular for backups due to low cost but has had outage reports and isn't ideal for hot data.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Backblaze B2 is the safest and most popular recommendation due to its low price, free egress allowance, reliability, and S3 compatibility” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Backblaze B2 is frequently highlighted for its enterprise-ready security, 99.9% uptime SLA, and full S3 API compatibility.” Mistral Small · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Start with Backblaze B2 for its balance of price, features, and proven track record with small businesses.” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about Amazon S3

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.

“Avoid using their Standard S3 tiers if you are on a budget—their egress fees ($90+ per TB downloaded) will catch you off guard.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“AWS S3 Standard for small workloads: $0.023/GB + $0.09/GB egress adds up fast” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid for tight budgets: AWS S3, Azure Blob, or Google Cloud Storage” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · hard negative
“The Industry Standard: AWS S3 ... Best for: Deep ecosystem integration, complex security/compliance needs, and teams already built on AWS.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“For most mid-market B2B companies, AWS S3 is the safest choice due to its maturity, extensive feature set, and broad integration support.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Market leader with a full tier ladder from frequent access to archive... S3 is the default if you are already on AWS” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.