Object storage · November 2026 Edition
Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2
Seven of fourteen models named Backblaze B2 first on the direct prompt; four named Cloudflare R2. Both were named by all fourteen models and Backblaze B2 carries 65 labels and Cloudflare R2 64, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share55%20%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate3%12%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels6564A 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.Amazon S3 was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Backblaze B2 vs Amazon S3 · 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 modelsCloudflare R2
Direct74
Paraphrase83
Comparative00
Budget-constrained123
Scale-constrained00
Negative002 against Backblaze B2 · 8 against Cloudflare R2
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 Cloudflare R2 were named in the same answer 134 times, of the 196 answers naming Backblaze B2 and the 162 naming Cloudflare R2. In those answers Cloudflare R2 took the first choice twenty-three times and Backblaze B2 forty-four.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare R2 stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Cloudflare R2 first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Backblaze B2 on the left and Cloudflare R2 on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare R2 stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.GLM 4.7 FlashXBackblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
Backblaze B2 first, Cloudflare R2 an alternative
6 of 14 modelsCloudflare R2 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
MiniMax M2.5Backblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2
Muse Glimmer 30BBackblaze B2 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Wasabi Object Storage
Cloudflare R2 first, Backblaze B2 an alternative
3 of 14 modelsBackblaze B2 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Gemini 3.5 FlashAmazon S3, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, MinIO AIStor, Wasabi Object Storage
Grok 4.20Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2
Kimi K2Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud 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 named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud 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 twenty-seven points.
Backblaze B249%#1 of 8Cloudflare R222%#2 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Backblaze B2 leads by thirty-five points.
Backblaze B255%#1 of 8Cloudflare R220%#2 of 8Enterprise
The order flips: Cloudflare R2 leads at enterprise.
Cloudflare R29%#3 of 11Backblaze B26%#6 of 11What 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 Cloudflare R2
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Cloudflare's status page logged 13 separate incidents between August 7 and August 14, 2026, spanning R2 storage” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Cloudflare R2 when immutable backups are required: ... flags limitations around versioning and accidental deletion” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Cloudflare says it's for testing and may be rate-limited or throttled; use a custom domain for production.” GPT-6 Luna · negative prompt · soft negative
“For most mid-market B2B companies, Cloudflare R2 offers the best balance of cost predictability, performance, and modern features.” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · first choice
“The best object storage service for a company with a limited budget is Cloudflare R2, which is the cheapest object storage at $0/mo.” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“Cloudflare R2 — if you need frequent data retrieval or public serving and want to eliminate egress fees.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget 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.