How to Move Data from Azure Blob Storage to Cloudflare R2
The Egress Problem
Section titled “The Egress Problem”Azure Blob Storage charges $0.087 per GB for data leaving their network. If you serve 1 TB of files per month to users or external systems, that is $87/month in egress alone, on top of storage costs.
Cloudflare R2 charges $0 for egress. Zero. Nothing. You pay for storage ($0.015/GB/month) and operations, but downloading data from R2 is free. For applications that serve files to users, APIs, CDNs, or other services, switching to R2 can cut your cloud bill significantly.
Why People Make This Move
Section titled “Why People Make This Move”The most common reason is cost. If your Azure Blob account is mostly used for serving static assets, media files, backups that get restored frequently, or API responses, the egress fees can dwarf your storage costs. R2 removes that variable entirely.
Another reason is simplicity. R2 is S3-compatible, meaning any tool or SDK that works with S3 works with R2. If your application already uses the S3 API (many do, even on Azure), the migration is mostly about moving data and updating the endpoint.
How to Transfer with Blober
Section titled “How to Transfer with Blober”Blober supports both Azure Blob Storage and Cloudflare R2 as native providers. The transfer works like any other Blober workflow: connect both accounts, select files, run.
Step 1: Connect Azure Blob Storage
Section titled “Step 1: Connect Azure Blob Storage”Add Azure Blob as a provider with your connection string. Blober lists your containers and their contents.
Step 2: Connect Cloudflare R2
Section titled “Step 2: Connect Cloudflare R2”Add Cloudflare R2 as a provider. You will need your Account ID along with an S3-compatible Access Key ID and Secret Access Key from the Cloudflare dashboard. If you also provide a Cloudflare API token, Blober can list your buckets through Cloudflare’s native API with server-side pagination, which is more efficient for accounts with many buckets.
Step 3: Create a Workflow
Section titled “Step 3: Create a Workflow”Set Azure Blob as the source and Cloudflare R2 as the destination. Browse your Azure containers, select the files or containers you want to migrate, and choose the destination bucket in R2.
Step 4: Run
Section titled “Step 4: Run”Blober streams data from Azure through your machine to R2. It uses parallel uploads on both ends, so large files move efficiently. If the transfer is interrupted, Blober resumes from where it stopped.
What About Azure Egress Fees During Migration?
Section titled “What About Azure Egress Fees During Migration?”This is the unavoidable part. Moving data out of Azure means paying egress. For the initial migration, you will pay $0.087/GB to get your data from Azure to your machine (where Blober runs), and from there to R2.
For 1 TB, that is about $87 in egress fees. That is a one-time cost. After the migration, your ongoing egress from R2 is $0.
If you were paying $87/month in Azure egress, the migration pays for itself in the first month.
Migration Cost Estimate
Section titled “Migration Cost Estimate”| Data Size | Azure Egress Cost (one-time) | Monthly Savings on R2 |
|---|---|---|
| 500 GB | ~$43 | Depends on egress pattern |
| 1 TB | ~$87 | Up to $87/month |
| 5 TB | ~$435 | Up to $435/month |
| 10 TB | ~$870 | Up to $870/month |
R2 Is S3-Compatible
Section titled “R2 Is S3-Compatible”This matters because your application code likely uses the AWS SDK or an S3-compatible client. After migrating data to R2, updating your app is often as simple as changing the endpoint URL and credentials. No SDK changes, no API rewrites.
Blober connects to R2 using the same S3 protocol, so the transfer is seamless.
When Azure Is Still the Right Choice
Section titled “When Azure Is Still the Right Choice”R2 is excellent for serving files and eliminating egress. But Azure has features that R2 does not:
- Storage tiers (Hot, Cool, Cold, Archive) for lifecycle cost optimization
- Geo-redundant replication built into the platform
- Azure Functions and event triggers tied to blob operations
- Enterprise compliance certifications that some industries require
If you need those features, Azure is worth the egress premium. Many teams keep some data on Azure (for processing and compliance) and move the served/public data to R2 (for cost savings).
Get Blober
Section titled “Get Blober”One-time purchase. Transfer as much data as you need.