Rabata.io: Where It Fits and Where It Doesn't

Rabata.io is an S3-compatible object storage provider from RCS Technologies (UK) with two products. Hot Storage is general-purpose object storage at $0.01/GB/month in us-east-1, designed for applications, media, and frequently accessed data. Backup is bulk archival storage at $49/10TB flat in eu-west-2, intended for backups, disaster recovery, and cold data. Both use standard AWS SigV4 authentication, work with any S3 SDK or CLI, and require no code changes to migrate from AWS S3: you swap the endpoint and credentials.

Rabata sells storage with an S3 API and nothing else. There is no compute layer, no managed database, and no file browser in the dashboard. You cannot preview or view objects through Rabata's web UI, so you need an S3 client or a tool like Blober to see what's in your buckets.

Rabata published benchmarks using MinIO warp v1.0.7 (released January 2025, now superseded by v1.5.0) on a Debian 13 VM in us-east-1 with 8 concurrent threads in September 2025. The methodology is public.

According to their numbers, Rabata wins upload speed by a small margin (1,462 MB/s vs AWS's 1,444) and mixed operations by 2.3x over AWS. It loses on downloads to both Backblaze (2,075 MB/s) and AWS (1,816), and loses small object throughput to iDrive e2 (962 ops/s vs 696).

The mixed operations number matters most for production workloads, because real applications read, write, list, stat, and delete at the same time.

These are same-region tests (us-east-1 to us-east-1). Performance from other geographies is unknown, and Rabata only operates in two regions. The runs last 30 seconds to 10 minutes with 8 threads, so they measure burst, not sustained multi-TB daily throughput over months. The warp version used (v1.0.7, January 2025) was already 8 months old at the time of testing and is now over a year outdated, and newer versions may produce different results.

AWS S3 publishes 99.999999999% durability. Rabata publishes no durability SLA, and their terms include a broad "as is" disclaimer with zero liability for data loss.

Write-heavy S3 workloads that need to stay cheap. If you're ingesting backup pipelines, media uploads, log aggregation, or AI training data, and your bottleneck is upload throughput plus cost, Rabata's upload speed is competitive and its $0.01/GB price is roughly 57% less than AWS's $0.023/GB first-tier pricing (AWS discounts at volume).

The Backup tier. At $49/10TB ($0.0048/GB), it is priced below Backblaze B2 ($6.95/TB, ~$0.007/GB) and Wasabi ($7.99/TB, ~$0.008/GB, since July 2026). Wasabi enforces a 90-day minimum retention, and Rabata's Backup tier has no documented minimum retention. But egress is capped at 2x your storage amount, and billing is in 10TB increments rounded up: store 1TB and you pay for 10TB.

GDPR-compliant EU storage. The eu-west-2 Backup tier gives you EU data residency, which Rabata calls out explicitly. Rabata's parent company (RCS Technologies) operates under UK law, not EU law. Hetzner also offers EU-based S3-compatible storage, with three EU regions (NBG1, FSN1, HEL1) compared with Rabata's single EU region. For European companies that need S3-compatible storage with data residency guarantees, both are worth evaluating.

Trying it out. Rabata's signup page offers a 30-day trial with no credit card required.

• Download-heavy workloads. If you're serving content to users, Backblaze B2 (2,075 MB/s downloads, ~$0.007/GB) or Cloudflare R2 ($0.015/GB storage, zero egress, weak throughput but free delivery) are better choices, depending on whether you're optimizing for speed or cost.
• Global distribution. Rabata has two regions, so it does not suit workloads that need low-latency access worldwide.
• Enterprise compliance requirements. There is no published durability SLA and no mention of SOC 2, the public track record is limited, and the benchmarks have not been independently verified.
• Ecosystem depth. There are no lifecycle policies, event notifications, or cross-region replication, no documented versioning, and no file browser in the dashboard. AWS S3 has all of these.

Going by Rabata's own benchmarks, which no one has independently verified, it offers a combination no other single provider does:

1. The fastest mixed-workload performance in its published benchmarks
2. Simple pricing at $0.01/GB with $0.01/GB egress (Backup tier: egress capped at 2x storage)
3. A trial that needs no credit card

AWS is faster on downloads but 2-3x more expensive. Backblaze is comparable on storage (~$0.007/GB) but slower on uploads. Cloudflare R2 has zero egress but performs 3-8x worse. Wasabi has no egress fees but enforces 90-day minimums. iDrive wins on small objects but falls behind on mixed workloads.

If your workload is "ingest data via S3 API, store it cheaply, occasionally read it back," Rabata is worth testing. If it needs more features, more regions, or a long track record, look elsewhere.

Blober supports Rabata.io as a native provider. Connect with your access key and secret key, and Blober detects your buckets across both regions (Hot Storage and Backup). You can use Rabata as a source or destination in any workflow: migrate to it from AWS S3, copy from Dropbox, back up from Google Drive, or download files from Rabata to your local machine. With no file browser in Rabata's dashboard, Blober is one of the easiest ways to see and manage what's in your buckets.

With Rabata, Blober can:

• Browse buckets and objects across both regions
• Upload files to Hot Storage or Backup buckets
• Download files from Rabata to local storage, or stream them to another provider
• Copy or move objects between buckets
• Delete objects

Blober finds each bucket's region for you, so there is nothing to configure.

For setup details, see the Rabata.io provider documentation.

How much does Rabata cost? Hot Storage is $0.01/GB a month in us-east-1, with $0.01/GB egress. Backup is $49 per 10TB flat in eu-west-2, billed in 10TB increments, so storing 1TB costs the same as storing 10TB.

Are Rabata's benchmarks independent? No. Rabata ran them itself, no third party has publicly replicated them, and its Terms of Service (Section 6.4) bar customers from publishing benchmarks without prior written approval.

Does Rabata have a minimum storage period? The Backup tier has no documented minimum retention, while Wasabi enforces 90 days. Backup egress is capped at 2x the amount you store.

Can I see the files in my Rabata buckets? Not in Rabata's web dashboard, which has no file browser. Use an S3 client, or connect the account to Blober, which lists buckets and objects in both regions.