Cloudflare R2
S3-compatible object storage with zero egress fees.
2026 verdict
Best object storage — zero egress fees make it dramatically cheaper than S3 for most use cases
Best for: Any application that serves files to end users — images, videos, downloads — where S3 egress fees are material
Not for: Applications deeply integrated with AWS services that benefit from S3's native integrations with Lambda and CloudFront
Overview
Amazon S3's business model charges you for every byte that leaves their infrastructure. For an application that stores and serves large files — images, videos, documents, software downloads — egress charges can exceed storage costs by 10x or more. Cloudflare R2 eliminates egress fees entirely. You pay for storage ($0.015/GB/month) and operations, but zero for data transfer out.
The S3-compatible API means you can use any S3 SDK or tool without modification. Switch your AWS credentials for Cloudflare's, update the endpoint URL, and your existing code works. The JavaScript and Python S3 SDKs, tools like rclone, s3cmd, and Cyberduck — all work without changes.
The integration with Cloudflare Workers is a significant advantage for teams in the Cloudflare ecosystem. An R2 binding in a Worker gives you bucket access without any HTTP round trips. For image resizing, file serving with access control, or processing uploads, this creates a clean serverless architecture without egress costs.
Workers enable custom access control — serve private files with signed URLs, apply policies based on user authentication, or process files on upload (resize images, extract metadata) before storing. All of this runs in Cloudflare's edge network globally.
The free tier is useful: 10GB storage, 1 million Class A operations, and 10 million Class B operations per month. Most side projects fit entirely within the free tier.
Pros and cons
Pros
- +Zero egress fees — the biggest cost advantage over S3
- +S3-compatible API — existing code works unchanged
- +Tight Workers integration for edge-side file processing
- +Globally distributed with Cloudflare's network
- +Generous free tier
Cons
- −Less mature than S3 — some advanced S3 features not yet supported
- −No direct public URL serving without a Worker or public bucket configuration
Pricing in 2026
Free
Free
- ·10GB storage
- ·1M Class A operations/month
- ·10M Class B operations/month
- ·Zero egress
Standard
$0.015/GB/month + operations
- ·Unlimited storage
- ·S3-compatible API
- ·Workers integration
- ·Zero egress always
$0.015/GB/month storage. Zero egress fees. Operations priced separately.
View current pricing at Cloudflare R2 →Tips for using Cloudflare R2 in production
Use a public R2 bucket with a custom domain for serving static assets — zero egress means no CDN cost
R2 + Workers + Images for automatic resizing is a cost-effective Cloudinary alternative
The `aws-sdk-v3` S3 client works with R2 — just set the endpoint to your R2 account URL
Compare Cloudflare R2 against alternatives
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Last updated 2026-01-15 · Data sourced from official documentation and independent benchmarks