Company Overview
Backblaze is a cloud backup and object storage company founded in 2007 by Gleb Budman, Brian Beach, Casey Jones, Tim Gagunov, and Eugene Malobrodsky in San Mateo, California, USA. Known initially for its unlimited PC backup service, Backblaze later launched B2 Cloud Storage, an S3-compatible object storage platform offering significantly lower costs than major competitors. The company's annual Hard Drive Stats Report, analyzing failure rates of hundreds of thousands of drives in production, is widely regarded as an authoritative reference for drive reliability in the data center industry.
Key Milestones
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Backblaze founded in San Mateo, California by Gleb Budman, Brian Beach, Casey Jones, Tim Gagunov, and Eugene Malobrodsky |
| 2008 | Launched Backblaze Computer Backup with unlimited storage, simple pricing, and automatic data protection for consumers |
| 2015 | Released Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an S3-compatible object storage service at roughly 1/5 the cost of AWS S3 |
| 2018 | B2 surpassed 1 EB (exabyte) of stored data; introduced free egress with CDN partner program |
| 2020 | Launched B2 Lifecycle Rules for automated file archiving and deletion based on time-based policies |
| 2021 | Introduced Backblaze Business Backup with centralized management for teams and IT administrators |
| 2023 | Announced B2 Compute Partner program integrating with Fastly, Cloudflare, Bunny.net, and other CDNs for global data distribution |
| 2025 | B2 recognized in Gartner and Forrester reports as a leading cost-effective object storage solution |
| 2026 | Continues expanding global PoP footprint to improve backup and storage performance worldwide |
Core Products
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
| Backblaze Computer Backup | Unlimited online backup for PCs and Macs with automatic continuous data protection |
| Backblaze Business Backup | Unlimited backup for businesses with centralized management and policy-based configuration |
| Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage | S3-compatible object storage at roughly 1/5 the cost of AWS S3, ideal for large-scale unstructured data |
| Backblaze B2 Lifecycle Rules | Lifecycle management policies for automatic storage tier transitions and file deletion |
| Backblaze B2 Compute Partner | Integrations with leading CDN and edge platforms for low-latency global data delivery from B2 |
Competitive Advantages
- Extremely Low Storage Cost: B2 storage pricing is approximately 1/5 of AWS S3, with competitive egress fees, ideal for cost-sensitive large-scale storage.
- S3-Compatible API: Fully compatible with the Amazon S3 API, enabling seamless migration for existing S3 users and support for virtually all S3 tools and SDKs.
- Free Egress with Partners: Through the Compute Partner program, egress traffic is free when served via partnered CDNs such as Fastly, Cloudflare, and Bunny.net.
- Hard Drive Reliability Reports: Annual publication of real-world drive failure statistics based on hundreds of thousands of production drives, providing valuable insight for data center operations.
- Unlimited Backup: Both personal and business backup plans offer fixed-rate unlimited storage, eliminating capacity concerns.
Competitors
Key competitors in the cloud backup and object storage markets include:
| Competitor | Description |
|---|---|
| Carbonite | Cloud backup service for SMBs with automatic continuous backup and data recovery |
| iDrive | Cross-platform online backup and cloud storage with multi-device management and file sync |
| Acronis | Integrated data protection platform combining backup, disaster recovery, and cybersecurity |
| AWS S3 | The largest object storage platform globally, feature-rich but higher cost compared to B2 |
| Wasabi | Hot cloud storage with no egress or API request fees, a direct competitor to B2 |
| Google Cloud Storage | Google Cloud object storage with deep GCP ecosystem integration for data and AI workloads |
| CrashPlan | Continuous data backup for businesses and individuals with cloud and hybrid storage options |
