How to Switch from Wasabi to Backblaze B2
Two S3-Compatible Providers, Different Tradeoffs
Section titled “Two S3-Compatible Providers, Different Tradeoffs”Wasabi and Backblaze B2 both position themselves as affordable alternatives to AWS S3. Both are S3-compatible. Both offer low-cost storage. But they have meaningful differences that lead people to switch from one to the other.
Wasabi’s Model
Section titled “Wasabi’s Model”Wasabi charges $6.99/TB/month with no egress fees. Sounds perfect, until you read the fine print:
- 90-day minimum retention. If you delete or overwrite a file within 90 days, you still pay for the full 90 days of storage.
- Egress is “free” with conditions. Your monthly egress cannot exceed your stored data. If you store 1 TB and download 1.5 TB in a month, Wasabi may contact you about their “reasonable use” policy.
- No native CDN partnerships. Wasabi does not have bandwidth alliance partnerships like Backblaze does.
Backblaze B2’s Model
Section titled “Backblaze B2’s Model”Backblaze B2 charges $6.95/TB/month for storage and $0.01/GB for egress. But:
- Free egress through Cloudflare. Through the Bandwidth Alliance, egress from B2 to Cloudflare is free. If you use Cloudflare as your CDN (many do), egress is effectively $0.
- No minimum retention. Store and delete whenever you want.
- Free egress allowance. B2 includes 3x your storage amount in free egress each month. If you store 1 TB, you get 3 TB of free downloads.
For most use cases, Backblaze B2 ends up cheaper or equivalent to Wasabi, with fewer restrictions.
Moving the Data
Section titled “Moving the Data”Both Wasabi and Backblaze B2 speak the S3 protocol. This means Blober uses the same underlying S3 operations for both providers, making the transfer clean and predictable.
- Connect Wasabi: Add Wasabi as a provider with your Access Key, Secret Key, and region (Wasabi uses region-specific endpoints like
s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com). - Connect Backblaze B2: Add B2 with your Application Key ID and Application Key. Blober auto-detects your bucket regions.
- Create a workflow: Source = Wasabi, Destination = B2. Browse your Wasabi buckets, select what to move.
- Run: Blober transfers with parallel multipart uploads and automatic resume.
What Blober Handles
Section titled “What Blober Handles”- Multi-region detection for B2. Backblaze B2 buckets can be in different regions. Blober fetches all buckets via B2’s native API to determine the correct region for each, then configures the S3 endpoint accordingly.
- Region-aware endpoints for Wasabi. Wasabi uses different endpoints per region. Blober maps your chosen region to the correct endpoint.
- Large file support. Both providers handle multipart uploads. Blober chunks large files and uploads them in parallel.
Watch the 90-Day Window
Section titled “Watch the 90-Day Window”When migrating from Wasabi, keep in mind the 90-day minimum retention policy. If you uploaded files to Wasabi less than 90 days ago, you will be charged for the full 90 days even after you delete them.
The practical approach:
- Transfer everything to Backblaze B2
- Wait until the oldest files in Wasabi pass the 90-day mark
- Then delete and close the Wasabi account
This avoids paying both Wasabi and B2 for the same data longer than necessary.
Pricing Side-by-Side
Section titled “Pricing Side-by-Side”| Wasabi | Backblaze B2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage per TB/mo | $6.99 | $6.95 |
| Egress per GB | $0 (with conditions) | $0.01 (free via Cloudflare) |
| Min retention | 90 days | None |
| Free egress allowance | Equal to storage | 3x storage |
| CDN partnership | None | Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance |
Get Blober
Section titled “Get Blober”One-time purchase. No recurring fees, no per-GB charges.