AWS S3 vs Cloudflare R2(2026)
AWS S3 is better for teams that need battle-tested reliability. Cloudflare R2 is the stronger choice if no egress fees (huge vs aws s3). AWS S3 is paid (from $0.023/GB/month + egress) and Cloudflare R2 is freemium (from $0.015/GB/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram Nath
Affiliate disclosure: Some “Visit” links on this page are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up — at no extra cost to you. It does not affect our rankings or editorial coverage. Learn more.
AWS S3
Amazon S3 is the industry-standard object storage service with 99.999999999% durability.
Starting at $0.023/GB/month + egress
Visit AWS S3Cloudflare R2
Cloudflare R2 is an S3-compatible object storage with zero egress fees and a generous free tier.
Starting at $0.015/GB/month
Visit Cloudflare R2How Do AWS S3 and Cloudflare R2 Compare on Features?
| Feature | AWS S3 | Cloudflare R2 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | $0.023/GB/month + egress | $0.015/GB/month |
| 99.999999999% durability | ✓ | — |
| Versioning | ✓ | — |
| Lifecycle policies | ✓ | — |
| Event notifications | ✓ | — |
| Glacier archival | ✓ | — |
| Access controls | ✓ | — |
| S3-compatible API | — | ✓ |
| Zero egress fees | — | ✓ |
| Global replication | — | ✓ |
| Public buckets | — | ✓ |
| Workers integration | — | ✓ |
AWS S3 Pros and Cons vs Cloudflare R2
AWS S3
Cloudflare R2
Should You Use AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2?
For most teams, AWS S3 is the better default: it offers battle-tested reliability and is paid (from $0.023/GB/month + egress). Choose Cloudflare R2 instead if no egress fees (huge vs aws s3) matters more than egress fees add up fast. There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value battle-tested reliability or no egress fees (huge vs aws s3) more.
Choose AWS S3 if…
- •Battle-tested reliability
- •Massive ecosystem
- •Extensive tooling
Choose Cloudflare R2 if…
- •No egress fees (huge vs AWS S3)
- •S3-compatible
- •Global CDN included