Object storage · November 2026 Edition
Cloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3
Four of fourteen models named Cloudflare R2 first on the direct prompt; five named Amazon S3. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cloudflare R2 carries 64 labels and Amazon S3 68, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in five categories this edition.
First-choice share20%16%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate12%35%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels6468A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cloudflare R2 reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Backblaze B2 was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Backblaze B2 vs Cloudflare R2 · Backblaze B2 vs Amazon S3 · Cloudflare R2 vs Wasabi Object 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.
Cloudflare R2First choices, of fourteen modelsAmazon S3
Direct453 against Amazon S3
Paraphrase317 against Amazon S3
Comparative011
Budget-constrained315 against Amazon S3
Scale-constrained011 against Amazon S3
Negative008 against Cloudflare R2 · 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, Cloudflare R2 and Amazon S3 were named in the same answer 139 times, of the 162 answers naming Cloudflare R2 and the 227 naming Amazon S3. In those answers Amazon S3 took the first choice thirty times and Cloudflare R2 thirty.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare R2 and Amazon S3 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 | | | | | | |
Cloudflare R2 Amazon S3 first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare R2 on the left and Amazon S3 on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare R2 and Amazon S3 stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.Gemini 3.5 FlashAmazon S3, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, MinIO AIStor, Wasabi Object Storage
Cloudflare R2 first, Amazon S3 an alternative
3 of 14 modelsAmazon S3 was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Grok 4.20Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2
Kimi K2Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Wasabi Object Storage
GLM 4.7 FlashXBackblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
Amazon S3 first, Cloudflare R2 an alternative
4 of 14 modelsCloudflare R2 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
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
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.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
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
Cloudflare R2 leads by fifteen points.
Cloudflare R222%#2 of 8Amazon S37%#4 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare R2 leads by four points.
Cloudflare R220%#2 of 8Amazon S316%#3 of 8Enterprise
The order flips: Amazon S3 leads at enterprise.
Amazon S343%#1 of 11Cloudflare R29%#3 of 11What 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
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.