Backblaze Publishes Q1 2026 Performance Stats: Data Shows Cloud Storage Performance Varies Significantly by Region, With No Single Provider Dominant Across Geographies

Key Terms

cloud storage technical

Cloud storage is the practice of keeping digital files and databases on remote computers accessed over the internet instead of on a local hard drive, like renting a secure virtual filing cabinet you can open from any device. For investors it matters because it changes how companies spend and earn money — reducing upfront equipment costs while creating ongoing service revenue — and raises considerations about security, regulatory compliance and scalability that can affect profitability and risk.

object storage technical

Object storage is a way of saving digital files where each item is kept as a single unit with a unique name and descriptive tags, like labeled bins in a huge warehouse instead of folders on a shelf. Investors care because it scales cheaply for vast amounts of unstructured data (photos, backups, logs), influences cloud and storage costs, supports fast retrieval and compliance, and can be a driver of recurring revenue and margin for tech and cloud providers.

throughput technical

Throughput is the amount of stuff, like products or data, that a system can handle or move through in a certain period of time. For example, a factory’s throughput is how many items it produces each hour, and it matters because higher throughput usually means things are running efficiently and meeting demand quickly.

multi-threaded technical

Multi-threaded describes software or hardware that breaks work into multiple independent 'threads' so several tasks can run at the same time or appear to do so. Think of it as a kitchen where several cooks handle different dishes at once rather than one cook doing everything; this can speed up performance, improve responsiveness, and make better use of processors. For investors, multi-threading can mean a product or service is more scalable, efficient, and competitive, potentially lowering costs and boosting user experience or revenue.

virtual machines technical

A virtual machine is a software-created computer that runs inside a physical server, allowing one piece of hardware to behave like many separate computers. For investors, virtual machines matter because they enable companies to scale computing capacity, reduce costs, and deploy new services quickly—similar to renting multiple apartments inside a single building instead of buying separate houses, which can improve efficiency and influence profitability and capital needs.

monitoring network technical

A monitoring network is a coordinated system of devices, people or data feeds that continually watches for specific signals—such as equipment performance, safety incidents, clinical data or environmental readings—and reports anomalies. Like a neighborhood watch for a business or product, it helps spot problems early, supports regulatory compliance and provides investors with ongoing evidence about operational reliability, risk levels and the likely future costs or disruptions a company may face.

Data suggests enterprises relying on one vendor may be leaving performance and money on the table

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE), the high-performance cloud storage platform for the AI era, today released its Q1 2026 Performance Stats report, the second installment in its quarterly cloud storage performance testing series. The report expands testing to EU-Central for the first time and reveals that cloud storage performance varies meaningfully across geographies. Part of an ongoing, transparent benchmarking initiative, Performance Stats is designed to build a repeatable, industry-wide dataset and testing methodology to help developers, IT leaders, and researchers evaluate cloud storage performance over time.

This quarter’s report tests Backblaze B2, AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, and Wasabi Object Storage across US-East and EU-Central. As with the first Performance Stats report, Backblaze published the full testing methodology, allowing technology companies, researchers, and end users to replicate tests, scrutinize the data, and contribute to building better benchmarks over time. Because unbiased performance testing is historically difficult to execute without favoring the testing provider, Backblaze runs all tests from outside its own infrastructure.

“The goal of Performance Stats has always been to give the industry a transparent, replicable look at how cloud storage actually performs,” said Gleb Budman, CEO, Backblaze. “This quarter’s report signals our intent to be an authority in data storage performance on a global scale.”

Key Findings from Q1 2026 Testing

The report reveals significant performance variation across providers and regions, with different architectures excelling under different conditions. As the dataset continues to develop over time, early patterns are emerging—but results should be interpreted directionally rather than as definitive rankings. AWS is commonly assumed to be the default choice, but the data shows no provider—including AWS—performs consistently across regions or workloads.

• US-East performance improved broadly quarter-over-quarter: Average upload and download times improved across nearly all providers and file sizes compared to Q4 2025. Backblaze led upload averages for 256KiB and 5MiB files, with Wasabi taking the 2MiB category, a reversal from Q4 2025, when AWS led for both 2MiB and 5MiB file sizes.
• Geography matters—and US-East performance does not predict EU performance: Provider rankings shifted significantly between US-East and EU-Central. Cloudflare R2 performed notably well on EU upload and download averages, while Wasabi led several EU upload throughput categories. No single provider dominated across both regions, making a strong case for multi-cloud architecture rather than reliance on a single vendor.
• Sustained throughput tells a different story than averages: As in Q3 2025, the spread between highest and lowest throughput values per file size remains wide, particularly in multi-threaded tests, where each provider’s underlying architectural decisions show up most clearly. Average speeds alone are an incomplete picture.
• Multi-threaded download throughput follows a consistent cross-provider pattern: Across both regions and most providers, throughput rises sharply from the 256KiB to 5MiB file size, then plateaus. This early trend has held quarter-over-quarter and will continue to be tracked as the dataset matures.
• Transparency extends to Backblaze's own data: The report publishes results in full, including scenarios where Backblaze demonstrated its own performance under varying conditions.

"What you're seeing in this quarter's data are early signals about provider strengths and weaknesses, which start to make sense once you understand the architectural decisions behind them,” said Dan Spraggins, SVP of Engineering, Backblaze. “As this dataset grows quarter over quarter, those signals will become patterns, and those patterns will fundamentally change how the industry thinks about cloud storage strategy."

All tests originated from Vultr-hosted virtual machines in the respective test regions (US-East and EU-Central), routing through Catchpoint’s monitoring network to isolate provider-side performance variables from environmental noise. Testing covered average upload and download times for 256KiB, 2MiB, and 5MiB files, as well as five-minute sustained throughput benchmarks—single-threaded and multi-threaded—across 256KiB, 5MiB, 50MiB, and 100MiB file sizes.

The full Q1 2026 Performance Stats report, including detailed charts, throughput benchmarks, regional comparisons, and complete testing methodology, is available at https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-performance-stats-q1-2026/. Backblaze will also host a webinar on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PT to walk through the findings and take audience questions. Register for the webinar here.

About Backblaze

Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) gives businesses the freedom to innovate without limits by removing the barriers of lock-in, complexity, and cost. Our high-performance cloud object storage accelerates AI workflows, powers data-heavy applications, streamlines media management, and protects critical data. As an award-winning independent cloud, we provide unparalleled levels of interoperability that enable over 500,000 of our customers to reach and serve hundreds of millions of end users in 175 countries around the world. For more information, please go to www.backblaze.com.

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Media Contact:

Renatta Siewert

press@backblaze.com

Source: Backblaze, Inc.