S3 vs R2
Cloud object storage pricing comparison. For a mid-size SaaS workload, R2 is cheaper.
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Personal site, small app, or hobby project: 10GB storage, 50GB egress, 10,000 writes, 100,000 reads per month.
| Cost Component | S3 | R2 |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.23 | $0.15 |
| Egress | $4.50 | $0.00 |
| API Requests | $0.09 | $0.08 |
| Monthly Total | $4.82 | $0.23 |
| Annual Total | $58 | $3 |
R2 is 95% cheaper for this scenario, saving $4.59/mo ($55/year).
Feature Comparison
| Feature | S3 | R2 |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Compatible | Yes | Yes |
| Zero Egress Cost | No | Yes |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption at Rest | Yes | Yes |
| Customer-Managed Keys | Yes | No |
| Sensitive Data | full | limited |
| Data Residency | US, EU, AP, SA, AF | US, EU, AP |
| CDN Integration | cloudfront, cloudflare, fastly | cloudflare |
Strengths & Weaknesses
S3
Pros
- +Most feature-rich storage service
- +Largest ecosystem and tooling support
- +Granular lifecycle and tiering policies
- +Global availability with 30+ regions
Cons
- −Complex tiered pricing
- −Expensive egress fees
- −Free tier expires after 12 months
R2
Pros
- +Zero egress fees
- +S3-compatible API
- +Generous free tier (no expiry)
- +Simple flat-rate pricing
Cons
- −No lifecycle policies
- −Limited region control
- −No HIPAA support
- −Smaller ecosystem than AWS
When to Choose Which
Choose S3 if you need:
- Enterprise workloads
- Complex data lifecycle needs
- Multi-service AWS integration
Choose R2 if you need:
- High-egress workloads
- Static site assets
- CDN origin storage
- Budget-conscious projects