Azure Blob Storage vs IDrive e2
IDrive e2 is cheaper across every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | Azure Blob Storage | IDrive e2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.018/GB-mo | $0.0060/GB-mo | 3× IDrive e2 |
| Data transfer out | $0.087/GB | $0.010/GB | 8.7× IDrive e2 |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | — |
Source: Microsoft pricing (May 2026) · IDrive pricing (August 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | Azure Blob Storage | IDrive e2 | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | $9.06 | $1.12 | IDrive e2saves $7.94/mo (88%) |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | $96 | $13 | IDrive e2saves $83/mo (86%) |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | $906 | $112 | IDrive e2saves $794/mo (88%) |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
Azure Blob Storage
by Microsoft
Microsoft's object store with hot, cool, cold, and archive tiers. Moving between tiers carries its own transaction cost that is easy to miss when modelling the bill.
Free tier: 5 GB of hot block storage for 12 months
IDrive e2
by IDrive
Among the lowest published storage rates of any S3-compatible service, with egress free up to three times stored volume and $0.01/GB beyond it. A newer platform with a shorter durability track record than its rivals.
Free tier: 10 GB free, with egress included up to 3x stored data
Common questions
- Is Azure Blob Storage or IDrive e2 cheaper in 2026?
- IDrive e2 is cheaper in all 3 modelled workloads.
- What is the difference in egress cost between Azure Blob Storage and IDrive e2?
- IDrive e2 charges $0.010 per GB against Azure Blob Storage's $0.087, roughly 8.7× cheaper. Egress usually dominates the bill once traffic is measured in terabytes.
- Which has the better free tier, Azure Blob Storage or IDrive e2?
- Both publish one. Azure Blob Storage: 5 GB of hot block storage for 12 months. IDrive e2: 10 GB free, with egress included up to 3x stored data.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.