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File Storage · head to head

Cloudflare R2 vs Scality RING

Cloudflare R2 logo

Cloudflare R2

File Storage

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Scality RING logo

Scality RING

File Storage

Petabyte-scale object storage software on your own hardware

From
On request
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: 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.; Scality RING hardware is bought separately, so the software quote understates total cost and the buyer carries the sizing risk if the drive and server specification is wrong.
  • They diverge on capability: Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, Scality RING covers S3-compatible object storage.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cloudflare R2 and Scality RING actually diverge.

Attributes where Cloudflare R2 and Scality RING differ
AttributeCloudflare R2Scality RING
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer gigabyte stored per monthquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, APILinux

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 Cloudflare R2

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

Only in Scality RING

  • S3-compatible object storage
  • File and object access
  • Erasure coding
  • Object lock
  • Multi-site geodistribution
  • Hardware independence
  • ARTESCA

What people use each for

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

Cloudflare R2

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

Scality RING

  • A broadcaster archiving decades of video where hyperscaler storage and egress costs would be prohibitivenot Cloudflare R2
  • A hospital group holding medical imaging on premises for data residency and retention reasonsnot Cloudflare R2
  • An enterprise building an immutable on premises backup target for Veeam or Commvault with object locknot Cloudflare R2
  • A service provider offering S3-compatible storage to its own customers on hardware it controlsnot Cloudflare R2

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Scality RING

  • Hardware is bought separately, so the software quote understates total cost and the buyer carries the sizing risk if the drive and server specification is wrong.
  • Running distributed erasure coded storage requires operations skills, and organisations that expected appliance simplicity end up staffing a storage team they had not budgeted.
  • Rebuild times after a drive failure on large capacity disks are measured in hours or days, and capacity planning has to leave headroom for that degraded window.
  • Pricing is per usable terabyte and quoted, so cost comparisons against cloud object storage require modelling your own retrieval patterns rather than reading a rate card.
  • Small deployments carry a minimum viable node count for erasure coding to work sensibly, which makes the entry footprint larger and less economic than the per-terabyte price implies.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Scality RING

On request
  • Scality RING$undefined/year
    • Priced per usable terabyte, subscription or perpetual
    • Server hardware purchased separately by the customer
    • Support tiers quoted separately
  • Scality ARTESCA$undefined/year
    • Lighter object store for smaller footprints
    • Priced per usable terabyte
    • Commonly deployed as an immutable backup target

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Scality RING if

  • You need s3-compatible object storage.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want file and object access.
Scality RING review

Questions people ask

Is Cloudflare R2 or Scality RING better?
Neither clearly leads. Cloudflare R2 starts at Free and Scality RING at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cloudflare R2 or Scality RING?
Cloudflare R2 has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cloudflare R2 and On request for Scality RING.
Does Cloudflare R2 or Scality RING run on more platforms?
Cloudflare R2 runs on Web, API. Scality RING runs on Linux.
Can I use Cloudflare R2 for free?
Yes. Cloudflare R2 has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Scality RING starts at On request.
What is Cloudflare R2 best used for?
Cloudflare R2 is most often used for serving a large media or asset library to the public where transfer out, not storage, is the dominant cost, hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of ci runners pull from every day, distributing model weights or open datasets that are downloaded far more often than they are updated, moving off s3 specifically to stop paying data transfer charges on a read heavy bucket. Of those, serving a large media or asset library to the public where transfer out, not storage, is the dominant cost and hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of ci runners pull from every day are not what Scality RING is typically brought in for.
What can Cloudflare R2 do that Scality RING cannot?
Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, S3 API compatibility, Worker binding, Jurisdictional restriction. Scality RING covers S3-compatible object storage, File and object access, Erasure coding, Object lock.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Scality RING: Do we buy hardware from Scality?

No. RING is software; you buy commodity servers and drives yourself, which is the point for buyers who want to rebid hardware at each refresh.

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.

Scality RING: Is it S3-compatible enough for backup software?

Yes, it is a common object lock target for Veeam, Commvault and Rubrik. Verify the specific S3 features your backup product needs during a proof of concept.

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.

Scality RING: What is ARTESCA?

A lighter object store from the same company, aimed at smaller footprints and backup targets rather than multi-petabyte archives.

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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