CostRatio Index Key Takeaways (Updated 2026):
- Cheapest 1TB Cloud Storage: TeraBox ($3.49/mo) and NordLocker ($6.99/mo for 2TB).
- Cheapest 5TB Power-User Plan: IDrive 5TB (~$3.98/mo renewal) and Microsoft 365 Family ($9.99/mo for 6TB total).
- Best Unlimited Backup Ratio: Backblaze Personal ($9.00/mo flat) and Jottacloud Unlimited (~$10.80/mo).
- Cheapest 100TB+ Object Storage: Backblaze B2 ($6.00/TB) and Wasabi ($6.99/TB with no egress fees).
If you search “cheapest cloud storage,” you’ll get dozens of generic articles recommending identical services without calculating the actual price per terabyte.
At CostRatio, we normalized pricing from 22 providers and 80+ plans into a single standard: $/TB/Month. Here is the definitive ranking.
1TB Cloud Storage Cost: Head-to-Head Comparison
1TB is the standard benchmark for personal photos, mobile media, and laptop backups. Here is what 1TB of storage actually costs across mainstream and privacy-first providers in 2026:
| Provider | Plan Size | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Effective $/TB/mo | Security / Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordLocker | 2 TB | $6.99/mo | $83.88/yr | $3.50/TB | 🔒 Zero-Knowledge E2E |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 1 TB (M365) | $6.99/mo | $69.99/yr | $5.83/TB | Standard (BitLocker) |
| Google One | 2 TB | $9.99/mo | $99.99/yr | $4.17/TB | Standard + Gemini AI |
| Apple iCloud+ | 2 TB | $9.99/mo | Monthly only | $5.00/TB | Private Relay + E2E |
| pCloud | 2 TB | $9.99/mo | $99.99/yr | $4.17/TB | Swiss Jurisdiction |
| Dropbox | 2 TB (Plus) | $11.99/mo | $119.88/yr | $5.00/TB | Standard + DocSign |
| Koofr | 1 TB | $10.80/mo | $108.00/yr | $9.00/TB | EU GDPR + WebDAV |
| Tresorit | 1 TB | $11.99/mo | $143.88/yr | $11.99/TB | 🔒 Swiss DRM & E2E |
Browse our full 1TB Cloud Storage Rankings Hub to filter and sort all 1TB tiers.
5TB & 10TB Cloud Storage: Best Value for Power Users
When you scale past 2TB, pricing structures diverge dramatically. Some consumer providers cap out at 2TB, while others offer massive volume discounts.
1. IDrive 5TB & 10TB Personal Backup
- Standard Cost: $79.50/year for 5TB (
$1.32/TB/mo) or $99.50/year for 10TB ($0.83/TB/mo). - Best For: Archiving multi-device computer backups and external hard drives.
- Gotcha: IDrive is built primarily as a backup tool rather than a real-time sync drive like Dropbox or Google Drive.
2. Microsoft 365 Family (6TB Total)
- Standard Cost: $9.99/month ($99.99/year) for 6 individual 1TB accounts.
- Effective Ratio: $1.38 / TB / month.
- Best For: Families or households where up to 6 people each receive 1TB of private cloud storage plus full Office desktop apps.
3. Hetzner Storage Box (5TB BX21)
- Standard Cost: €11.80/month (~$12.80/mo) for 5TB.
- Effective Ratio: $2.56 / TB / month with no egress fees and full WebDAV/SSH support.
Explore the 5TB Storage Plans Hub for complete specifications.
Cloud Backup Cost per TB: Unlimited vs. Pay-As-You-Go
If you have massive photo archives, video libraries, or NAS systems, standard consumer plans become prohibitively expensive.
| Provider | Storage Model | Monthly Cost | Cost Per TB | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze Personal | Unlimited PC/Mac | $9.00/mo | ~$0.90/TB (at 10TB) | Zero setup, unlimited data |
| Jottacloud | Unlimited Personal | ~$10.80/mo | ~$1.08/TB (at 10TB) | 100% green Norwegian hydro cloud |
| Backblaze B2 | Object S3 API | $0.006/GB | $6.00/TB | Transparent developer object storage |
| Wasabi | Hot Cloud S3 | $0.00699/GB | $6.99/TB | No API or egress fees |
| AWS S3 Standard | Enterprise S3 | $0.023/GB | $23.00/TB | High durability + egress fees |
Petabyte Storage Cost (1 PB+ Enterprise Scale)
For enterprise archives, machine learning datasets, and video production houses storing 1 Petabyte (1,000 TB):
- AWS S3 Standard (1 PB): ~$21,000 to $23,000/month + tens of thousands in data egress fees.
- Wasabi (1 PB): ~$6,990/month flat with zero egress costs.
- Backblaze B2 (1 PB): ~$6,000/month flat + free egress up to 3x your stored data with Cloudflare Bandwidth Alliance.
The “Cheapest” Trap: What to Watch Out For
- Promotional Lock-In vs. Renewal Rates: Never judge a provider by its 90% first-year discount. Always check the year-two renewal cost.
- Egress Fees: If you use cloud storage to stream or frequently download files, pay-as-you-go providers like AWS charge up to $0.09/GB to get your data back out. Choose Wasabi or consumer sync tools if you download frequently.
- Zero-Knowledge Encryption Add-ons: Providers like pCloud charge an extra fee for client-side encryption, whereas MEGA, NordLocker, and Tresorit include zero-knowledge encryption by default.
Use our interactive comparison tool or test head-to-head match-ups like Google One vs iCloud+ and Dropbox vs pCloud to find the exact best deal for your storage needs.