Storage Cost Comparison
These estimates compare US list prices and monthly storage charges in US dollars. AWS rates use US East (N. Virginia), and consumer plans use US pricing. The estimates exclude API requests, retrieval, egress, temporary restore copies, tax, and discounts. The 1 TB comparison uses 1,000 GB.
100 GB
Prices as of 1 August 2026.
| Service | Monthly cost | Price used | Supported by this CLI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval | $0.40 | $0.004/GB-month | Yes |
| AWS S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval | $0.36 | $0.0036/GB-month | Yes; restore required |
| AWS S3 Standard | $2.30 | $0.023/GB-month | Yes |
| Backblaze B2 | $0.63 | $0.00695/GB-month after the first 10 GB free | Yes |
| Google Drive | $1.99 | Google One Basic 100 GB plan | No |
| OneDrive | $1.99 | Microsoft 365 Basic 100 GB plan | No |
1 TB
| Service | Monthly cost | Price used | Supported by this CLI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval | $4.00 | 1,000 GB at $0.004/GB-month | Yes |
| AWS S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval | $3.60 | 1,000 GB at $0.0036/GB-month | Yes; restore required |
| AWS S3 Standard | $23.00 | 1,000 GB at $0.023/GB-month | Yes |
| Backblaze B2 | $6.88 | 990 billable GB after the first 10 GB free | Yes |
| Google Drive | $9.99 | Cheapest plan covering 1 TB is the 2 TB plan | No |
| OneDrive | $9.99 | Microsoft 365 Personal 1 TB plan | No |
Cost of listing files in a snapshot
Restic can list a snapshot without downloading the backed-up file contents:
uv run restic-backups generic restic run --backup <job-id> ls <snapshot-id>The command downloads repository indexes, snapshot records, directory trees, and other required metadata. Commands such as restore and dump download file data. Restic’s local cache can reduce metadata reads on subsequent commands. Set cache-dir on a restic-repositories entry to give each repository a stable, separate cache location; see Configuration.
Prime that cache with repository metadata before browsing snapshots:
uv run restic-backups generic repository prime-cache <repository-id>This runs restic check --with-cache; it does not download backed-up file data.
| Provider | Metadata-read charges | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 | GET and LIST transactions are free; egress is free up to 3× average monthly storage | $0 within the free egress allowance |
| AWS S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, US East | $0.03/GB retrieved plus about $0.01 per 1,000 GET requests | Usually less than $0.01 |
Glacier Instant Retrieval examples below show retrieval charges only; request charges are additional:
| Metadata downloaded | Retrieval charge |
|---|---|
| 10 MB | ~$0.0003 |
| 100 MB | ~$0.003 |
| 1 GB | $0.03 |
AWS currently includes the first 100 GB per month of internet data transfer out, aggregated across AWS services and regions. Backblaze charges $0.01/GB only for egress beyond its free allowance. Exact costs depend on the repository’s metadata size, object count, local cache, and other usage during the billing month.
Important differences
AWS and Backblaze prices are metered object-storage charges. Google Drive and OneDrive prices are fixed consumer subscription tiers that include other services. This project supports S3-compatible and local filesystem storage; Google Drive and OneDrive cannot be selected as storage backends.
Both Glacier classes have a 90-day minimum storage duration. Instant Retrieval is immediately readable but has a 128 KB minimum billable object size and separate data-retrieval charges. Flexible Retrieval first requires an archive restore: expedited retrieval typically takes 1–5 minutes, standard takes 3–5 hours, and bulk takes 5–12 hours. It also bills 40 KB of metadata per object, which is not included in the estimates above.
For Flexible Retrieval, configure a restore policy and set ALLOW_ARCHIVE_RETRIEVAL=1 when running retrieval-related commands. S3 Standard and B2 do not require an archive restore before normal access. Backblaze includes free egress up to three times average monthly storage; AWS transfer and request charges vary by usage and region.
Prices vary by country and can change. Check the current official pages before choosing a provider: