Object storage · Comparison
Amazon S3 vs Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Amazon S3 | Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedThe S3 API itself, with compliance-mode Object Lock, replication and a self-serve HIPAA BAA in place, billed per use with no minimum charge. | Worth the priceHot object storage at a flat $7.99 per TB a month in every region, with no egress or API request fees while downloads stay within what you store. |
| Overall score | 6.4Best | 6.2 |
| Free option | Free trial | 30-day free trial |
| Card to start | –Not measured | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.023/GB-mo | $7.99/TB-mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Standard storage price | $0.023/GB-month (US East, first 50 TB; binary GB) | $7.99/TB-month, same in all 16 regions (the FAQ counts 1 TB as 1,024 GB) |
| Egress to the internet | $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB (US East); 100 GB a month free across AWS | No fee while monthly downloads stay at or below active storage; no price above that |
| Request fees | PUT, COPY, POST, LIST $0.005 per 1,000; GET $0.0004 per 1,000 | None (API requests free under a fair-use policy) |
| Free option | No permanent free storage; up to $200 in credits for new accounts | No permanent free storage; 30-day trial of 100 GB with a company email, no card |
| Reference scenario (1 TB/mo) | $122.00 in US East, $90 of it egress, computed | $7.99, the 1 TB minimum charge, computed |
| Billing minimums | None on S3 Standard; 30 to 180 days on colder classes | 1 TB a month ($7.99), 90-day storage duration, 4 KB per object |
| S3 API | Native (the S3 API itself) | S3-compatible main API (AWS SDKs work by changing the endpoint) |
| Versioning and object lock | Versioning; compliance-mode Object Lock | Versioning; compliance-mode Object Lock |
| Replication | Cross-Region and Same-Region Replication | Between regions on the same continent; paid accounts only |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | AWS SOC 2 report in AWS Artifact; ISO 27001 list names S3 | Data centres' SOC 2 only; Wasabi's own ISO 27001:2022 |
| HIPAA BAA | Self-serve in AWS Artifact | Through the sales team |
| Regions | 36, including EU and AWS GovCloud (US) | 16, including 4 in the EU and 2 in the UK |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Amazon S3 is the reference S3 service and has every protection and compliance feature we score. Storage and requests are priced per use with no minimum, and internet egress, billed per GB, is the main cost to plan for. | From its public pages, Wasabi sells hot S3-compatible storage at one flat $7.99 per TB a month, with no egress or request fees and retention locks no one can reverse. The 1 TB minimum, the 90-day duration and the fair-use egress rule decide whether it fits. |
Evidence: Amazon S3: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage when
- Your data is read back often and you want one flat price: our 1 TB scenario is $7.99 here against $122 on S3.
- Pick Amazon S3 when
- You need storage classes with lifecycle transitions, a self-serve HIPAA BAA or a key management service.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Amazon S3S3 Standard$0.023/GB-moUS East, first 50 TB; $0.022 next 450 TB, $0.021 over 500 TB; GB = 2^30 bytes
- PUT, COPY, POST, LIST $0.005 per 1,000 requests
- GET $0.0004 per 1,000 requests
- Internet egress $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB
- No minimum storage duration or object size
- Wasabi Hot Cloud StoragePay as You Go$7.99/TB-moSame in all regions since July 1, 2026; 1 TB minimum monthly charge; billed every 30 days by card; taxes extra
- No fees for egress, API requests or ingress (egress expected at or below active storage)
- 90-day minimum storage duration
- 4 KB minimum billable object
- Basic support: email and tickets
- Premium Support add-on from $100 a month (telephone, 24x7x365)
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Amazon S3 2026-10-15, Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Amazon S3Self-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.4/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage30-day free trial, no card needed; scored 6.2/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Amazon S3$0.023/GB-mo for the S3 Standard (US East, first 50 TB) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Amazon S36.4/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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