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Object storage · November 2026 Edition

Cloudflare R2 vs Google Cloud Storage

Four of fourteen models named Cloudflare R2 first on the direct prompt; zero named Google Cloud Storage. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cloudflare R2 carries 64 labels and Google Cloud Storage 50, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Cloudflare R2

accepted challenger

Named in two categories this edition.

Google Cloud Storage

criticized challenger

Named in four categories this edition.

First-choice share20%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate12%30%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#5A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels6450A 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 Google Cloud Storage · Cloudflare R2 vs Amazon S3

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 modelsGoogle Cloud Storage
Direct401 against Google Cloud Storage
Paraphrase301 against Google Cloud Storage
Comparative001 against Google Cloud Storage
Budget-constrained314 against Google Cloud Storage
Scale-constrained00
Negative008 against Cloudflare R2 · 8 against Google Cloud Storage
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 Google Cloud Storage were named in the same answer ninety-two times, of the 162 answers naming Cloudflare R2 and the 154 naming Google Cloud Storage. In those answers Google Cloud Storage took the first choice one time and Cloudflare R2 twenty-three.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare R2 and Google Cloud Storage 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
Cloudflare R2 Google Cloud Storage first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare R2 on the left and Google Cloud Storage on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare R2 and Google Cloud Storage stood in it.

Cloudflare R2 first, Google Cloud Storage an alternative

4 of 14 modelsGoogle Cloud Storage 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
GLM 4.7 FlashXBackblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage

Neither was the first choice, one was named

10 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon S3 alternatives: Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
Perplexity SonarBackblaze B2 alternatives: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
Mistral SmallAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, MEGA S4
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
GPT-6 LunaAmazon S3 alternatives: Azure Blob Storage, Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage
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 twenty-two points.
Cloudflare R222%#2 of 8
Google Cloud Storage0%#7 of 8
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare R2 leads by eighteen points.
Cloudflare R220%#2 of 8
Google Cloud Storage2%#5 of 8
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Cloudflare R2 leads by eight points.
Cloudflare R29%#3 of 11
Google Cloud Storage2%#9 of 11
The full enterprise standing →

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

What the models said about Google Cloud Storage

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

“Avoid These Budget Killers ... Google Cloud Storage standard: Similar high egress fees” 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
“Avoid using their Standard S3 tiers if you are on a budget” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“For most small businesses just starting out, Google Cloud Storage or AWS S3 free tiers are hard to beat” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“Microsoft Azure / Google Cloud: Choose these if your company is heavily invested in their respective Microsoft 365 or Workspace infrastructures” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · alternative
“For companies already in the Microsoft or Google ecosystem, Azure Blob Storage or Google Cloud Storage may be more suitable.” Mistral Small · direct prompt · alternative
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.