Comparing S3 Providers: Which One Fits Your Environment?

In our IT security article, “Modernizing Your Backup Environment with S3 Storage to Make It Cyber-Resilient and Cost-Effective” (published in German), we suggested focusing more on an immutable S3 object storage model to modernize your backup environment. This is not only in response to current hardware procurement costs on today's market, but in particular considering the sensitivity and sovereignty of your data—to not only enhance its cyber and data security but also increase its resilience against any potential failure scenarios.

Most organisations now send the offsite copy of their backups to S3-compatible object storage. Which provider fits rarely comes down to the price per terabyte alone. Retention periods, restore scenario and data location carry at least as much weight. In this guide I compare Wasabi, Impossible Cloud, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Veeam Data Cloud Vault and the Empalis Sovereign Vault. 

Key considerations regarding the decision to use S3 storage 

In customer conversations the first question is almost always: “What does it cost per TB?” The answer is often misleading, because providers bill in very different ways. Settle four points before you decide: 

• Cost model: A fixed price per TB, or usage-based with fees for API requests (PUT/GET) and data egress? Is there a minimum storage duration after which deleted data is still billed?
• Data location and jurisdiction: Is the data stored in Germany or the EU, and is the provider a US company subject to the CLOUD Act?
• Restore scenario: In an emergency, do you bring the data back to your own data centre, or do you start your systems directly in the cloud?
• And security: who has administrative access to the storage, and how is immutability implemented, for example via S3 Object Lock? 

S3 Storage: Provider Comparison at a Glance

*You will find details, pros and cons, and pricing for each provider in the sections that follow.

Wasabi – for international business 

Wasabi charges a fixed price per TB, currently USD 7.99 per TB per month on the pay-as-you-go plan [1]. API requests are free, and so is egress as long as your monthly downloads don't exceed your stored volume [1]. With 14 locations across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, including Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Milan [2], Wasabi suits internationally operating companies that want to keep backups close to their regional sites. 
The catch is in the small print. Pay-as-you-go comes with a 90-day minimum storage duration: delete an object earlier and Wasabi bills the remaining days as “Timed Deleted Storage”; with Reserved Capacity the minimum is 30 days [1]. In billing terms, your data ages out with a delay. With 14-day retention you keep paying for every deleted block for another 76 days. Depending on your change rate, the billed capacity can be well above what you see in the bucket. 
A good fit for: international companies with several sites and retention of 90 days or more. If you run short retention, do the maths on the minimum storage duration first. Wasabi is a US company, so check whether that matches your data sovereignty requirements.

Impossible Cloud - Sovereign S3 storage managed in-house 

Impossible Cloud is based in Hamburg and runs its S3-compatible storage exclusively in European data centres, including Germany and the Netherlands [3]. It charges a fixed EUR 7.99 per TB per month (Pay-as-you-Go), with no egress or API fees under a fair-use policy [3]. Object Lock is supported and the Veeam integration is documented [3]. 

Compared with Wasabi there is no currency risk, and both provider and data stay within European jurisdiction. The biggest advantage: Impossible Cloud has no minimum storage duration [13]. Whatever your backup software deletes drops out of billing immediately, even with short retention. Impossible Cloud has no global footprint. You manage buckets, access keys and Object Lock settings yourself, so security depends directly on your own admin processes.

Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage - S3 Storage inside your hyperscaler environment 

With the hyperscalers, the price is made up of several components: storage per GB, fees per PUT, GET and LIST request, egress when data leaves the cloud and, depending on the storage class, a minimum storage duration. On Azure that is 30 days for the Cool tier, 90 for Cold and 180 for Archive [8]. On AWS, S3 Standard-IA has 30 days and Glacier Instant Retrieval 90 days [7]. 

For backups, many people underestimate request costs. Veeam for example stores backups as many small objects, so a large full backup generates millions of PUT requests. Larger block sizes reduce the request count but increase incremental size. Restoring to your own data centre adds egress charges, precisely when nobody wants to discuss budgets. 

Their strength lies elsewhere. If your workloads already run in AWS or Azure, traffic stays within the region, restores to EC2 instances or Azure VMs are the obvious path, and their coverage is hard to beat: AWS currently operates 39 regions with 124 Availability Zones [11], and Microsoft cites more than 80 announced Azure regions [12]. For sovereignty requirements, AWS launched the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Brandenburg in January 2026 [9]. 
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Veeam Data Cloud Vault – specifically for Veeam customers 

Veeam Vault is storage managed by Veeam that you add to Veeam Backup & Replication like any other object storage repository. The Foundation edition costs USD 14 and Advanced USD 24 per TB per month, both billed annually upfront [4]. API calls, reads and egress are included: up to 20% of subscribed capacity per year with Foundation, unlimited with Advanced [4]. Data sits in Azure Blob Cool, locally redundant (LRS) for Foundation and zone-redundant (ZRS) for Advanced [4]. Vault is now also available on AWS, based on S3 Infrequent Access [5]. Minimum retention is 30 days [4]. 
The higher price buys you two things. The storage is always immutable and logically separated from production, with no Object Lock configuration on your side [5]. And your backups already sit in the cloud: with Instant Recovery to Microsoft Azure you can start workloads straight from the backup as Azure VMs, initially with reduced performance until the actual restore completes [6]. 

Empalis Sovereign Vault – Resilient and sovereign S3 storage for maximum security 

With the Empalis Sovereign Vault (ESV) we offer S3-compatible storage that is developed, hosted and operated in Germany [10]. It is billed at a fixed price per TB, with no API, transfer or egress fees and no minimum retention period [10]. All data stays on the performance tier permanently, so more than 100 restores can start in parallel in an emergency [10]. 

The key difference from the other providers is separation of access. Backup, storage and administration are deliberately kept apart, and your own administrators have no administrative rights on the ESV [10]. A compromised admin account in your organisation is therefore not enough to delete the offsite copy or change retention rules. Object Lock, enforced encryption and an automatic “Modern Airgap” right after the backup job complete the picture [10]. No providers subject to the US CLOUD Act are involved [10].

Conclusion

Emergencies matter—not the monthly bill 
There is no single best S3 provider. The price per TB is a starting point, nothing more. Work through your actual retention, change rate and restore scenario before you commit. In projects I often see combinations, such as a sovereign copy in Germany plus Vault for cloud DR of a few critical systems. 

Decide based on the emergency, not the monthly bill: where does the data need to go in a crisis, how fast, and who is allowed to touch it until then? 
If you'd like to work through your scenario or test providers in your environment, get in touch with us.

Sources and Links 

[1] Wasabi Technologies: "Pricing FAQs," wasabi.com, 2026. Available at: https://wasabi.com/pricing/faq 
[2] Wasabi Technologies: "Wasabi Storage Regions," wasabi.com, 2026. Available at: https://wasabi.com/company/storage-regions 
[3] Impossible Cloud: "For Veeam, Acronis & backup professionals," impossiblecloud.com, 2026. Available at: https://www.impossiblecloud.com/veeam 
[4] Veeam Software: "Veeam Data Cloud Vault" (product page, editions and pricing), veeam.com, 2026. Available at: https://www.veeam.com/products/veeam-data-cloud/cloud-storage-vault.html 
[5] Veeam Software: "Veeam Data Cloud Vault for AWS Backup: Immutable Storage Outside Your AWS Account," Veeam Blog, August 2026. Available at: https://www.veeam.com/blog/vault-storage-for-aws.html 
[6] Veeam Software: "Instant Recovery to Microsoft Azure," Veeam Backup & Replication 13 User Guide, 2026. Available at: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/instant_recovery_to_azure.html 
[7] Amazon Web Services: "Amazon S3 Pricing," aws.amazon.com, 2026. Available at: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/  
[8] Microsoft: "Access tiers for blob data," Microsoft Learn, 2026. Available at: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/storage/blobs/access-tiers-overview  
[9] Amazon: "AWS Launches AWS European Sovereign Cloud and Announces Expansion Across Europe," press release, January 2026. Available at: https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2026/1/aws-launches-aws-european-sovereign-cloud-and-announces-expansion-across-europe 
[10] Empalis Consulting GmbH: "Empalis Sovereign Vault (ESV)," empalis.de, 2026. Available at: https://www.empalis.de/en/solutions/empalis-sovereign-vault/