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File Storage · head to head

Carbonite vs Cloudflare R2

Carbonite logo

Carbonite

File Storage

Simple and reliable cloud backup for businesses

From
$6/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cloudflare R2 logo

Cloudflare R2

File Storage

S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cloudflare R2 has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Carbonite upload speeds are significantly slower than competitors due to lack of block-level algorithms and multithreading; Cloudflare R2 there is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • They diverge on capability: Carbonite covers Automatic backup, Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carbonite and Cloudflare R2 actually diverge.

Attributes where Carbonite and Cloudflare R2 differ
AttributeCarboniteCloudflare R2
Starting price$6/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer gigabyte stored per month
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, Mac, WebWeb, API
Founded2005Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (File Storage).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Carbonite

  • Automatic backup
  • Continuous protection
  • Remote file access
  • Bare metal restore
  • Encryption
  • Compliance support
  • Microsoft 365
  • Windows Server

Only in Cloudflare R2

  • Zero egress billing
  • S3 API compatibility
  • Worker binding
  • Jurisdictional restriction
  • Infrequent Access tier
  • Custom domain serving

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Carbonite

  • Data protectionnot Cloudflare R2
  • Disaster recoverynot Cloudflare R2
  • Business continuitynot Cloudflare R2
  • Ransomware protectionnot Cloudflare R2
  • Compliancenot Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2

  • Serving a large media or asset library to the public where transfer out, not storage, is the dominant costnot Carbonite
  • Hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of CI runners pull from every daynot Carbonite
  • Distributing model weights or open datasets that are downloaded far more often than they are updatednot Carbonite
  • Moving off S3 specifically to stop paying data transfer charges on a read heavy bucketnot Carbonite

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Carbonite

  • Upload speeds are significantly slower than competitors due to lack of block-level algorithms and multithreading
  • Bandwidth throttling control is limited, preventing users from managing full bandwidth allocation
  • Mobile apps and web access are more limited than sync-first services like Dropbox or Google Drive
  • Uses AES-128 encryption instead of industry-standard AES-256
  • Hybrid backup support is restricted to professional plans, unavailable for personal users

Cloudflare R2

  • There is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • Class A operations are billed at 4.50 USD per million, so a workload that writes millions of small objects can spend more on operations than on the storage those objects occupy.
  • Infrequent Access carries both a retrieval fee and a thirty day minimum storage duration, so data that is deleted or re-read sooner ends up more expensive than if it had stayed on Standard.
  • You choose a location hint rather than a region, so you cannot prove to an auditor which datacentre holds an object unless you use a jurisdiction restricted bucket, and jurisdictions are limited.
  • Support level follows your Cloudflare account plan rather than the storage spend, so a team on a low tier account gets ticket support with no storage specific SLA, and an R2 incident is a Cloudflare incident you cannot fail over from because the free egress only exists inside Cloudflare.

Pricing, plan by plan

Carbonite

$6/month
  • Basic$6/month
    • Automatic backup
    • Unlimited cloud storage
    • Easy restore

Cloudflare R2

Free
  • Free tierFree
    • 10 GB stored per month
    • 1 million Class A operations
    • 10 million Class B operations
  • Standard$0.015/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • 4.50 USD per million Class A operations
    • 0.36 USD per million Class B operations
  • Infrequent Access$0.01/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • Per gigabyte data retrieval fee
    • Thirty day minimum storage duration

Which should you pick?

Choose Carbonite if

  • You need automatic backup.
  • You work on Windows, Mac, Web.
  • You also want continuous protection.
Carbonite review

Choose Cloudflare R2 if

  • You need zero egress billing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want s3 api compatibility.
Cloudflare R2 review

Questions people ask

Is Carbonite or Cloudflare R2 better?
Neither clearly leads. Carbonite starts at $6/month and Cloudflare R2 at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carbonite or Cloudflare R2?
Cloudflare R2 has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $6/month for Carbonite and Free for Cloudflare R2.
Does Carbonite or Cloudflare R2 run on more platforms?
Carbonite runs on Windows, Mac, Web. Cloudflare R2 runs on Web, API.
Can I use Cloudflare R2 for free?
Yes. Cloudflare R2 has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Carbonite starts at $6/month.
What is Carbonite best used for?
Carbonite is most often used for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection. Of those, data protection and disaster recovery are not what Cloudflare R2 is typically brought in for.
What can Carbonite do that Cloudflare R2 cannot?
Carbonite covers Automatic backup, Continuous protection, Remote file access, Bare metal restore. Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, S3 API compatibility, Worker binding, Jurisdictional restriction.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Carbonite: Does Carbonite offer unlimited storage?

Yes, Carbonite's personal plans (Safe Basic through Safe Server Ultimate) offer unlimited cloud storage, though business plans have tiered storage starting at 250 GB.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Is egress really free, with no hidden transfer charge?

Yes for data served out of R2 to the internet. You still pay per operation for the requests that serve it, and if you pull data into R2 from another provider you pay that provider the egress on the way in.

Carbonite: What is Carbonite's pricing?

Personal plans range from $4.91 to $83.33 per month with annual billing. Business plans start around $50-$75 per endpoint annually, with volume discounts available for multi-year contracts.

Source
Cloudflare R2: How does the total cost compare with S3 for a public download bucket?

Storage is more expensive per terabyte than S3 Infrequent Access, but S3 charges roughly 90 USD per terabyte served. Any bucket that serves more than about a fifth of its stored volume each month is cheaper on R2.

Carbonite: How fast are Carbonite's upload speeds?

Carbonite's upload speeds are notably slow and are consistently identified as the platform's main weakness. The lack of block-level algorithms and multithreading contributes to these speed limitations.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Can I use R2 without using the rest of Cloudflare?

Yes, it works through the plain S3 API from anywhere. You lose the Worker binding and the free CDN caching in front of it, which is where a lot of the practical benefit sits.

Carbonite: What encryption does Carbonite use?

Carbonite uses AES-128 encryption at rest, which is an unusual choice in 2026 when AES-256 is the industry standard.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Does R2 have a cold archive class like Glacier?

No. Infrequent Access is the coldest tier, at two thirds of the Standard rate plus retrieval fees.

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