Amazon is a monolithic company so you might be forgiven for initially thinking that they have no contenders in the field of server storage. However, many are looking to make a change - perhaps to a smaller provider, or one with a more streamlined offering. Amazon S3 has a myriad of uses but is most commonly utilized for media storage, backups, and file sharing. Yep, businesses from industries far and wide store their information with S3.
What is Amazon AWS S3?
For those of you who don’t know what Amazon S3 is, here is a brief rundown. If you’re already familiar with S3 then you can skip this part, novices only!
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is an object storage service that offers scalability, data availability, security, and performance. Companies use S3 for a wide array of differing reasons, some might store private customer information on the databases or backups of important devices. Big data analytics companies are also a large user of Amazon’s object storage offering.
Related: The 5 best Bluehost alternatives for web hosting
What’s wrong with S3?
As comprehensive as Amazon’s S3 platform is, there are often complaints that it’s missing crucial features and has been over-engineered.
In this article, we will be highlighting 10 worthy alternatives to Amazon AWS S3, and all of them are solutions your business can implement right after reading this article. We’ve pre-vetted each of these alternatives to ensure you’re only being referred to practical solutions!
Top 6 Amazon AWS S3 Alternatives
Now that you’re up to date with what S3 is, we can outline the best solutions for your business.
1. Linode Object Storage
Developers may know this company as a cloud VPS provider - in operation since 2003, but only recently launching their object storage solution in October 2019. With a large presence in the APAC region, they are great for those in the southern hemisphere. A localized solution for those wanting to keep their important data a little closer to home.
Coming in at $5/mo, for the cheapest plan, you can certainly see the value in Linode Object Storage if you live in the Asia-Pacific region.
2. DreamObjects
DreamObjects is a part of a larger hosting company, Dreamhost, their venture into Object hosting has been incredibly successful and they boast one of the simplest offerings on this list. As is the case with most of the different companies on this list, they are compatible with the S3 API, however, not all features are supported. This is important if your business is after a simple solution that won’t overcomplicate the task at hand.
With the cost being set at $0.025c per gv of data, it is significantly cheaper than Amazon’s offering. If you’re running a small business and can’t justify the expense of another operator, we recommend DreamObjects!
3. Vultr Object Storage
A theme you will continue to see is traditional hosting providers offering a new Object Storage service. Vultr is no different, they have a successful VPS hosting offering and in 2019 they launched their Object Storage solution.
Vultr has 17 locations worldwide however not all of these are available for Object Storage - as their offering continues to expand they may open more of these locations up for storage. There’s nothing flash about Vultr’s Object Storage solution, but maybe that’s what you’re after. A simple choice to serve a simple solution for your business!
4. Azure Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft’s competing product/. Similar in complexity, it’s only recommended for those who know what they’re doing, for example, large corporations or those with incredibly sensitive data.
As such, Azure is considered an enterprise solution so keep reading if you’re a small business owner. With a similar pricing structure to Amazon’s offering, Azure may be the choice for your company if you’re looking to steer away from controversial Amazon products.
5. Google Cloud Storage
Here we are, another enterprise level solution, they’re important guys… we promise!
Google Cloud Storage is on the same level as Amazon and Microsoft’s solutions. With an impressive 140 locations, Google Cloud has a presence in almost every country. Whilst some of the other alternatives on this list are just different Object Storage solutions, Google’s Cloud Storage is a complete alternative to AWS as a whole.
A unique selling point of Google’s alternative is their free tier, allowing you to check out how their system works before migrating.
6. Tiiny.Host
If your small business is simply looking to host files online and share outbound content, whether that be academic or professional in nature, consider Tiiny.host.
Whilst the Tiiny.host platform does not have the complex and unnecessary features that many of the larger solutions have, it is still incredibly powerful in its utility.
Password protect files, view PDFs, and manage all your files in one place - with Tiiny.host
Wrapping Up
Object Storage is a complicated topic, used by many but understood by few. If your business requires Object Storage, it’s likely that you have a specialised developer or technical product manager on your team. If you have any questions or think you’re being overcharged with your current provider, have a chat with them, they’ll always be the most knowledgeable.
