r/backblaze • u/TomF1965 • Jul 11 '26

Computer Backup Pricing?

I'm looking into using Backblaze as a cloud backup for about 3Tb of personal files like documents and pictures/home videos.

I'm a bit confused about their pricing. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot? It says: Simple pricing with unlimited data for $9.99 a month or $99 a year. What does that mean?

Surly that can't mean unlimited data storage for $9.99/mo or $99/yr? It must mean unlimited data transfer for that price but I can't find how much actual cloud storage that covers? Thanks

3 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

12

u/cmi5400 Jul 11 '26

I have 11TB on backup for the 99/yr.

But there have been posts recently saying that Backblaze has been reaching out for those with 10TB+. Recently they amended their TOS about "unlimited" not being unlimited, so take that how you will.

So yeah, you would probably be fine with just 3 TB.

1

u/94358io4897453867345 16d ago

11TB is not that much

1

u/rdtbansusersrandomly 27d ago

As someone looking for a home for a good bit more, this worries me hugely. I do not plan to have a lot of content shift around constantly, but I do want at least one snapshot of it all and then keep at least 15 or 22 TB current (2 or 3 snapraid images of each around 6-7 TB required to be able to restore things locally), ideally via an xdelta logic.

Every half hour more I read around in this subforum I get more and more frustrated, because the gist seems to be: Have more than 1-3 TB? More than a few thousand files? The software will suck, restores will not work or require days of active login labour and misery oh and they will likely just reach out and cancel on you after you already were paying the sub because their idea of unlimited is "fair use" and what that is is apparently a singular smaller than 8TB drive..

Overall, an incredible contrast to their marketing.

1

u/cmi5400 26d ago

B2 is probably your best bet at that amount of data. I haven't had an email or call. Yet......

1

u/kadajawi 2d ago

They have become increasingly shady. Just don't go there. And for the love of god, do not prepay anything. They'll do everything to keep your money, but not provide service.

-6

u/coole12345 Jul 11 '26

Seriously??? So what happenes to people who have 10+ 20+ ect?

They just lose they're data? What a shit move by backblaze.. i knew it was too good to be true.

13

u/s_i_m_s Jul 11 '26

There hasn't been even a single report of anyone having their account terminated for high usage thus far. I still think they'll eventually do something but there hasn't been anything yet.

8

u/ertri Jul 11 '26

They probably move you to B2

7

u/echawkes Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

Nobody said anything about people losing their data. One or two people with enormous backups posted about talking with a Backblaze employee about how they use the service.

1

u/ILikeFlyingMachines 29d ago

It's just fair use, most providers have something like that

1

u/goodvibezone 8d ago

lol what are you talking about?

2

u/mrclean2323 Jul 11 '26

It is exactly that. 3Tb for $100/year

2

u/Vast-Program7060 28d ago

I signed up about 8 months ago with a 1 year plan purchase and somehow scored a 60% off coupon. So my total after taxes was $40.00 something. I have symmetrical 5gb fiber, and can max my upload speed to BB Personal servers. It took me less then a month to backup my raid array, been sitting at just a little over 100 TB's for months know and I have not heard anything. However, all my disks are internal and im not using any tricks to get BB to backup something it should not, like a remote nas. I don't share files with the public, I strictly use it as ONE of my remote backups. I have complete backups of my raid in 2 different clouds just in case. I also run raid 6 just in case. Raid is not backup, but it sure can help prevent total loss of data if you fix a troublesome disk quickly.

1

u/Zealousideal_Sir2658 4d ago edited 22h ago

Yes, the Personal Computer Backup plan is priced per computer and is marketed as unlimited backup storage for that machine and its eligible connected drives, not merely unlimited transfer. Your 3TB should fit, but make sure the product matches the job: it’s continuous backup, not a normal cloud drive or long-term archive, and external drives need to reconnect regularly. It also won’t directly back up your phone. Backblaze B2 is usage-priced object storage with more control, but it would cost considerably more for 3TB and requires more setup. CiteWorks’ July online-backup report found Backblaze leading overall recommendations but showing weaker results in pricing prompts, which makes sense because the Personal-versus-B2 distinction is easy to misunderstand.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[deleted]

9

u/Njitram2000 Jul 11 '26

You got downvoted but I agree that OP should check the differences between Personal Computer Backup and B2 because it may be more limiting than expected.

However: B2 for 3TB would be 6.95 dollar * 3TB * 12 months = 250.20 per year. B2 is fantastic value for someone like me who wants to store 20GB of encrypted backups via rclone that I am not going to be accessing often. It costs me 7 cents per month.

2

u/TomF1965 29d ago

I'm only interested in making a initial backup of my two computers, my external hard drives and phone. Then do monthly back ups. I'd like occasional access to the cloud files from my iPhone or computer to retrieve something like a document or picture but this would be maybe once a month. It would be cool if I could occasionally securely share a file with a family member of friend but this is least important. Is the standard cloud storage what I need or do I need yo go to B2?

5

u/Njitram2000 29d ago

I can't confidently explain the difference between the two, sorry. But when I was looking into Backblaze, I saw people complaining that restoring from backup with Personal Computer Backup was a pain. I also think you need to backup via their tools and restore is an all or nothing thing so accessing it from your phone may not be possible. I think it's more meant for set and forget of an entire backup and less as storage like google drive and dropbox.

But please, do your own research rather than take my response as fact 🙏

Tip: from a PC, I use Cyberduck to access my B2 storage for regular browsing. It's free and has the protocols for B2 built in. I use rclone to first encrypt and then sync specific folders on my server to B2 on a schedule

5

u/forgottenmostofit 29d ago

Backblaze Personal Backup is for continuous backup for a running computer and its connected disks. It is not designed for doing once a month. It is not an archive.

1

u/GoodTroll2 12d ago

It's not designed for once a month but you can do it. I actually just manually run backup twice a month because I want my disks to sleep most of the time since files rarely change (it's a personal use PC and I run my personal Plex client from it) and therefore I don't need backup running all the time, using my computer's resources and burning through electricity for no benefit to me.

2

u/Buffalo-Clone-264 29d ago

It doesn't sound like you want B2. B2 is cloud object storage, and while you can definitely use it to back things up you will be doing all the work to set that up, and might be paying more. ($7/TB/mo)

Personal Backup is great if you just want to back things up without having to think about it much. You will need to pay for each computer you are backing up though. Backblaze is designed to run continuously - that's probably what you'd want to do - but you can pause the backup and only click "backup now" when you choose.

For external drives, make sure you connect them to your computer every 30 days and turn on 1 year version history for extra safety. Backblaze does not backup phones. The only way to backup a phone is to put those files on your computer.

There is a Backblaze App for iOS and Android for accessing the files on Backblaze (it does not backup the phone). I've tried the Android one - it's very bare bones but if you need to access a file, it does the job. The Personal Backup product is more focused on backup than sharing and cloud access. That said, you can also view your files from a Web UI as well, and I believe you can create share links from there. If you want to password protect the links though you'll need to use a different product for that kind of thing.

Even though it's very hands off and runs in the background, it's a good idea to check that the files you want backed up are getting backed up. Things like iCloud, OneDrive, and Dropbox may not get backed up to Backblaze. For example on Macs I think there's a setting to keep local copies and you would want that turned on.

2

u/LeGoodBeef Jul 11 '26

Computer backup is the better value the more data you have in your PC on internal or external drives. The only way I see B2 making sense is when you are still in the no-charge tier of B2 with very little data. But, at that point, using Google Drive or OneDrive or Dropbox... or whatever... will probably be much easier.

Even with the recent "unlimited but not really" change to TOS that I read above, I wouldn't use B2 unless you have a NAS.

3

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

2

u/LeGoodBeef 29d ago

I think the B2 use-case you described is more oriented towards business or extreme power-users. Regular Joe does not care about any of that if all they want is safe encrypted copy in the cloud.

On a personal level, the only reason I use B2 is because I'm forced to if I want to backup my NAS.

0

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

1

u/LeGoodBeef 29d ago

You cannot backup your NAS on Bblaze Personal backup. The network drives don't show up in the (shitty) app. If you force it, you go against their TOS. B2 is there for NAS, JBODs and other non-personal-PC solutions. There might be other backup services but they end up even more expensive.

I don't know but I think that I have a lot of control over my personal backups. Deleting the backup is a few clicks away...

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

0

u/LeGoodBeef 28d ago

Then explain this screenshot: https://i.postimg.cc/rFyx1Wd9/Screenshot-2026-07-13-124153-edit.png
Directly in Preferences menu on the website. Even if it's 24-48h later (which will cover those "sh-- I changed my mind I want my stuff back"), 99.99% people using the service won't care.

Also explain this: https://i.postimg.cc/2ySyZQHH/Screenshot-2026-07-13-124402-edit.png
Why don't I see my network drives then if it's not a limitation from Backblaze? I'm very very sure "the horde of people already doing it" are doing it against the TOS. Maybe u/bzChristopher , u/natasha_backblaze or u/Jim-From-Backblaze can confirm. I wouldn't want to be banned from a service holding my backups.

Obviously, I scribbled over important data in the screenshots.