Worked guide · Updated 2026-09-17
What 10 TB of backup really costs
Three worked backup budgets using the comparison calculator: long-lived objects, seven-day rotation, and a recovery month. Retention charges and traffic limits shown separately.
These are estimates from captured pricing, not live quotes or a cheapest-provider ranking. Six selected S3-compatible providers illustrate different billing rules; this is not the entire market.
Start with the workload, not the headline rate
Each scenario holds 10 TB of live stored backup data, not a 10 TB source dataset copied afresh every day. TB means 1,000 GB. Request counts and object lifetimes are explicit assumptions; your compression, deduplication and backup software can change them.
Base bills use the tool’s own computeStorageCost function and storage-catalog.json. All amounts below are USD-equivalents; conversion uses the same fixed FX snapshot as the tool (2026-08-27). Catalog date: 2026-09-01; individual capture dates and pricing sources are below. Taxes, support, compute, backup software and uncaptured retrieval charges are excluded.
The calculator does not model object age. Its linked totals match the “Calculator base” column, not the retention-adjusted estimate. The guide adds early-deletion charges separately without inflating live storage or the traffic allowance.
Long-lived backup, light restore testing
Keep each object for 90 days; download 0.5 TB per month for restore checks. Assume 100,000 writes and 20,000 reads per month, including metadata operations.
Inputs: 10 TB stored · 0.5 TB egress/month · 0.1M Class A · 0.02M Class B · 90-day object lifetime. EU selection is informational; the calculator uses its captured row, not a live regional quote.
Reproduce the calculator base for this workload →| Provider / source | Storage | Egress | Requests | Other / floors | Calculator base | Extra retention | Guide estimate / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasabi Hot Storage pricing | $79.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $79.90 | $0.00 | $79.90 |
| iDrive e2 pricing | $60.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 |
| B2 Cloud Storage pricing | $69.50 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $69.50 | $0.00 | $69.50 |
| Hetzner Object Storage pricing | $73.26 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $73.26 | $0.00 | $73.26 |
| OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) pricing | $81.10 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $81.10 | $0.00 | $81.10 |
| S3 Standard pricing | $229.88 | $36.00 | $0.51 | $0.00 | $266.39 | $0.00 | $266.39 |
What to notice: these objects live at least as long as the selected rows’ minimum retention periods. The extra-retention column is therefore zero. Traffic allowances still matter even for occasional restore tests.
Seven-day rolling snapshots
Maintain 10 TB of live backup objects, replacing one seventh each day and deleting each object at age seven days. Assume 1 million writes, 100,000 reads and 0.5 TB downloaded per month. No deduplication savings are assumed.
Inputs: 10 TB stored · 0.5 TB egress/month · 1M Class A · 0.1M Class B · 7-day object lifetime. EU selection is informational; the calculator uses its captured row, not a live regional quote.
Reproduce the calculator base for this workload →| Provider / source | Storage | Egress | Requests | Other / floors | Calculator base | Extra retention | Guide estimate / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasabi Hot Storage pricing | $79.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $79.90 | $947.39 | $1027.29 |
| iDrive e2 pricing | $60.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 | $197.14 | $257.14 |
| B2 Cloud Storage pricing | $69.50 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $69.50 | $0.00 | $69.50 |
| Hetzner Object Storage pricing | $73.26 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $73.26 | $0.00 | $73.26 |
| OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) pricing | $81.10 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $81.10 | $0.00 | $81.10 |
| S3 Standard pricing | $229.88 | $36.00 | $5.04 | $0.00 | $270.93 | $0.00 | $270.93 |
The deleted bytes still have a bill
This is a steady-state monthly estimate after the rotation has run long enough to fill the minimum billing window, not a first-month invoice. Assume a uniform daily replacement rate and a 30-day month. There are always 10 TB of live objects, each deleted at seven days.
Extra retention = live TB × 1,000 × storage rate/GB-month × max(0, minimum days / object lifetime − 1). No object-size padding is modelled; minimum monthly floors remain in the calculator base. The formula applies to these selected linear-rate rows, not every possible archival plan.
- Wasabi Hot Storage: 90-day minimum / 7-day lifetime = 12.86× gross storage exposure. 118.57 TB-month equivalents of deleted bytes × $7.99/TB-month adds $947.39. The total above includes both the base and this surcharge.
- iDrive e2: 30-day minimum / 7-day lifetime = 4.29× gross storage exposure. 32.86 TB-month equivalents of deleted bytes × $6.00/TB-month adds $197.14. The total above includes both the base and this surcharge.
Do not raise the tool’s stored-data input to simulate deleted bytes: doing so would also increase multiplier-based free traffic. Deleted-byte billing does not create extra live data to restore.
Recovery month: four full downloads
Keep the same 10 TB of long-lived objects but download 40 TB during repeated recovery tests or restores. Assume 100,000 writes and 1 million reads in this month; objects live at least 90 days.
Inputs: 10 TB stored · 40 TB egress/month · 0.1M Class A · 1M Class B · 90-day object lifetime. EU selection is informational; the calculator uses its captured row, not a live regional quote.
Reproduce the calculator base for this workload →| Provider / source | Storage | Egress | Requests | Other / floors | Calculator base | Extra retention | Guide estimate / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasabi Hot Storage pricing | $79.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $79.90 | $0.00 | Not a usable quoteFair-use limit exceeded; base above excludes an uncaptured alternative tariff. |
| iDrive e2 pricing | $60.00 | $100.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $160.00 | $0.00 | $160.00 |
| B2 Cloud Storage pricing | $69.50 | $100.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $169.50 | $0.00 | $169.50 |
| Hetzner Object Storage pricing | $73.26 | $45.47 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $118.73 | $0.00 | $118.73 |
| OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) pricing | $81.10 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $81.10 | $0.00 | $81.10 |
| S3 Standard pricing | $229.88 | $3591.00 | $0.90 | $0.00 | $3821.79 | $0.00 | $3821.79 |
A restore is traffic, not just storage
Four full downloads of the same 10 TB yield 40 TB of monthly egress. The catalogued 3× allowances for B2 and iDrive cover 30 TB; the remaining 10 TB is billable at each row’s captured egress rate. Wasabi’s recorded 1:1 fair-use threshold is exceeded: its numerical calculator result is not a purchasable 40 TB-transfer quote. No alternative tariff is captured, so none is invented here.
Provider data behind every price
These fields come directly from the same catalog as the calculator. Base bills include its existing per-provider allowances and floors. A source link is a way to check current terms, not a claim that today’s prices were re-verified for this guide.
Wasabi Hot Storage pricing
Catalog key: wasabi · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in USD.
Storage rate: $7.99/TB-month; egress rate: $0.00/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 90 days. See the calculator and source for allowances. 1:1 egress-to-storage ratio (overage throttled/suspended)
iDrive e2 pricing
Catalog key: idrive-e2 · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in USD.
Storage rate: $6.00/TB-month; egress rate: $10.00/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 30 days. First 3x stored amount in egress free per month
B2 Cloud Storage pricing
Catalog key: backblaze-b2 · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in USD.
Storage rate: $6.95/TB-month; egress rate: $10.00/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 0 days. First 3x stored amount in egress free per month
Hetzner Object Storage pricing
Catalog key: hetzner · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in EUR.
Storage rate: $7.30/TB-month; egress rate: $1.17/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 0 days. 1 TB included egress
OVHcloud Object Storage (Standard) pricing
Catalog key: ovh-standard · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in USD.
Storage rate: $8.11/TB-month; egress rate: $0.00/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 0 days. See the calculator and source for allowances.
S3 Standard pricing
Catalog key: aws-s3-standard · captured 2026-09-01 · billed in USD.
Storage rate: $23.00/TB-month; egress rate: $90.00/TB before allowances. Rates shown in USD-equivalents.
Minimum retention: 0 days. 0.1 TB included egress
Choose using recovery requirements
Test a restore before committing. Check object-lock support, regions, backup-tool compatibility and contracts separately from this cost model. A lower storage rate does not establish reliability or compliance.
Adjust your stored volume, traffic and request counts in the comparison tool →