Overview
IDrive e2 is the S3-compatible object storage service from IDrive, a long-running backup company. It offers a single hot storage tier across 14 regions in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, and positions itself as a low-cost alternative to hyperscalers for backups and application data.
Pay-as-you-go costs $0.006 per GB-month, with a minimum charge of $6 for 1 TB: store 900 GB and you still pay $6. There is no minimum retention period and no charge for deleting objects. API calls are free, and egress is free as long as monthly downloads stay at or below three times your active storage; beyond that it costs $0.01 per GB.
Yearly plans start at $59.50 per TB per year, with the first year at half price ($29.75 for 1 TB), and scale up to 1,000 TB. Veeam, MSP360 and reseller customers get a lower rate.
Features include object lock, versioning, cross-region replication, event notifications, bucket logging, public buckets, MFA and free migration from other clouds. For projects storing well under 1 TB, the minimum makes it less attractive than services with a free tier.
Pricing and plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $0.006/GB-month | Minimum charge $6 for 1 TB; no minimum retention |
| Yearly 1 TB | $59.50/yr | $29.75 for the first year; overuse billed at $0.006/GB-month |
| Yearly 10 TB | $595/yr | $297.50 for the first year |
| Veeam/MSP/Reseller | From $49.50/yr per TB | $5/TB pay-as-you-go minimum for this channel |
What it does
- Free API calls
- No charges for requests of any kind.
- 3x free egress
- Downloads up to three times your active storage per month are free; overage is $0.01/GB.
- No minimum retention
- Objects can be deleted at any time without early-deletion fees.
- 14 regions
- Storage regions across the US, Canada, Europe and Asia.
- Ransomware protection
- Object lock, versioning and retention settings keep backups immutable.
- Free migration
- Move data from other cloud providers at no extra cost.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Among the lowest per-TB list prices
- Free API calls and generous free egress
- No minimum storage duration
- Discounted first-year yearly plans
Limitations
- Pay-as-you-go bills a minimum of 1 TB ($6) each month
- Egress above 3x stored data costs $0.01/GB
- First-year discounts end after year one
- Single storage class with no archive tier
Who it suits
Good for
- Backup targets for Veeam, MSP360 and similar tools
- Storing terabytes of data on a budget
- Teams needing regions in the US, Europe and Asia
Look elsewhere if
- Small projects storing a few gigabytes
- Download-heavy public content well above 3x storage
Alternatives to IDrive e2
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vultr Object Storage Tiered object storage | $6/mo | ||
| Supabase Managed Postgres backend platform | $25/mo | Free tier | |
| ImageKit Image and video CDN with media library | $89/mo | Free tier | |
| Storj Distributed object storage | Usage-based | ||
| SeaweedFS Self-hosted distributed storage | — | ||
| OVHcloud Object Storage EU object storage | Usage-based |
Questions
How much does IDrive e2 cost?
Pay-as-you-go is $0.006 per GB-month with a $6 (1 TB) monthly minimum; yearly plans start at $59.50 per TB, with the first year at $29.75.
Does IDrive e2 charge for egress?
Egress is free up to three times your active storage each month; beyond that it is $0.01 per GB.
Does IDrive e2 charge for API calls?
No. IDrive e2 does not charge for API requests.
Does IDrive e2 have a minimum storage duration?
No. There is no minimum retention and no fee for deleting objects.
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