that of Microsoft Azure Blob storage (opens in new tab) is a full-service object storage provider with a name everyone who computes knows and can trust with the most critical applications.
The highest echelon of cloud storage providers (opens in new tab) is quite an exclusive group, and with the Microsoft offering, Azure takes the pole position in second place behind Amazon Web Services. This shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the people of Redmond invest as much as $1 billion a year in cybersecurity (opens in new tab) research and development. There’s also further commitment to data security and privacy, as Microsoft employs more than 3,500 security experts and impressively states that it “has more certifications than any other cloud provider.”
While Microsoft Azure is a full-service cloud storage provider, it houses the Azure Blob Storage, which is for secure object storage.
Azure Blob Storage: Subscriptions and Pricing
Microsoft Azure aims to be quite transparent about its pricing. However, as with some other providers in the space, pricing can get complicated given the many options with nuanced features for the less-than-experienced buyer in the space.
Microsoft indicates that its ‘Block blob storage’ has pricing based on a number of variables. These include the monthly volume of data stored, the level of data redundancy, and the amount and types of operations performed on the data, along with data transfer costs.
For example, data stored with the hierarchical namespace protocol (NFS v3.0 protocol), with LRS, which is locally redundant storage with synchronous data copied three times in a single physical location in the primary region, in the server location in the east of the US, have a cost of $0.15 per gigabyte of premium storage, which has low and consistent latency.
While there is no free tier, there is a $200 credit available to try out the service. There is also the option of a discount for a longer commitment. Azure Storage Reserved Capacity can store the data at a lower cost with a duration of 1 or 3 years.
Azure Blob Storage: Features
Microsoft offers plenty of options for its block blob storage that revolve around balancing costs versus the frequency of data access and expected retention time. This is organized around the layer.
The Hot tier is the most expensive for storage, but the least accessible. It is designed for data that is frequently modified and accessed.
Then, as you might guess, there’s a Cool layer. This is for data that will be accessed or overwritten less frequently, especially for a minimum of 30 days. Compared to the Hot tier, storage costs are lower, but access costs are higher.
Finally, there is an archive layer, which is offline storage, designed for data that is accessed infrequently. The latency requirement is flexible, namely hours. This tier is designed to be used for data that has been stored for at least 180 days.
Azure Blob Storage: Support
The support for Azure Blob Storage depends on the chosen subscription. It starts with all subscriptions that have access to billing support, along with subscription management support. In general, this is a given, or else, once someone has a billing problem, if they don’t have access to help, almost everyone would just cancel the subscription.
However, the astute will note from above that technical support is not included in the plan. Instead, a support plan must be added at an additional cost, at an additional cost.
Many Azure users will opt for the Standard Support Plan, which has a reasonable price of $100/month. This allows the user to rate the issue up to an “A” for critical business impact, a “Fast First Response” of less than 1 hour, and issues can be submitted 24/7.
For larger business customers, the Professional Direct plan (aka ProDirect) is worth considering, for the higher cost of $1,000 per month. This has online incident submission (customer service can be called by phone, but they encourage you to use the online portal so the request is routed correctly), also with an initial response time of less than 1 hour. It adds escalation management, support for non-Microsoft technologies running on the service, consulting services to guide best practices, and unified service account management with “Ask the experts” webinars.
Also consider:
The Azure Blob Storage is a strong competitor for enterprise customers who require a customized subscription, with granular control over the types of storage and the precise level of support.
We would also recommend the IDrive e2 . consider (opens in new tab) for an object storage service, especially for smaller businesses. The benefits of this choice begin with the free 10 GB data allocation, and thereafter the pricing is greatly simplified to $0.004/GB/month, with free entry and exit. It also offers high uptime with a high level of security, with instant phone support, although limited to weekdays, along with 24/7 chat support.
Azure Blob Storage: Final Verdict
It’s easy to see why Azure Blob Storage is a strong entry-level into the object storage arena of the computer juggernaut, Microsoft. Users will appreciate the wide range of subscription plans, with many options to choose from on both the storage and support side, the option of a multi-year or annual discount, and the many server locations worldwide.
The downsides to consider are that there may just be too many options for a subscription, and technical support requires an add-on subscription in addition to billing, and even that doesn’t encourage direct phone support. All in all, this Azure Blob Storage comes on the shortlist of providers to consider, especially for enterprise customers with complicated storage needs.
We’ve rounded up the best free cloud storage (opens in new tab)†
