March 17, 2026
Free calls vs. fee feels
Backblaze Pricing and Product Updates
Free requests, pricier storage — and the comments are on fire
TLDR: Backblaze will make API requests free but raise storage to $6.95 per terabyte on May 1 for pay‑as‑you‑go users. Comments split: builders cheer likely savings from free requests, while others groan about higher storage costs and point to AI demand and energy prices as the new normal.
Backblaze just dropped a “good news/bad news” combo and the internet did what it does best: fight about it. Starting May 1, the company says all API calls—the little requests apps make to upload, list, or fetch files—will be free. At the same time, storage goes from $6/TB to $6.95/TB. Existing contracts stay the same until renewal, and Backblaze repeats its “simple pricing” mantra in the announcement.
In the comments, builders sprinted in cheering. One dev claimed the free requests would cut their bill in half, calling the $0.95 bump a shrug-worthy trade. Pragmatists chimed in with “still reasonable” and “least-hassle backup” vibes, basically saying: the math nets out. But the skeptics had range—some grumbled that storage prices should be going down with better tech, not up. The spiciest take? Blame AI and energy costs: “In a normal world, prices fall; in this one, they don’t.”
There was classic thread energy too: the hall monitors posting TL;DRs, the optimists tallying savings, and the jokers riffing “free APIs… but my wallet says ninety-five cents isn’t.” Love it or hate it, the community agrees on one thing: this change will move real bills, and the vibe check is a messy, memeable split.
Key Points
- •Effective May 1, standard API calls for B2 Cloud Storage are free for all customers, with exceptions for features like Event Notifications.
- •B2 Cloud Storage storage pricing increases from $6/TB to $6.95/TB effective May 1.
- •Existing committed contract pricing remains unchanged until renewal; B2 Overdrive and B2 Reserve pricing are unaffected.
- •3x free egress for all B2 customers and unlimited free egress with many partner neoclouds, CDNs, and compute providers remain unchanged.
- •The changes are justified by ongoing investments in infrastructure, performance, security, and product innovation to support demanding workloads such as AI training and media processing.