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File Storage · head to head

Cloudflare R2 vs MinIO

Cloudflare R2 logo

Cloudflare R2

File Storage

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MinIO logo

MinIO

File Storage

S3-compatible object storage server you run yourself, now under AGPL with a stripped community edition

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; MinIO the AGPL v3 licence applies copyleft over network use, so embedding MinIO in a product or hosted service obliges you to release your own source or buy a commercial licence, and legal review has removed it from several vendor stacks for this reason alone.
  • They diverge on capability: Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, MinIO covers S3 API implementation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Cloudflare R2 and MinIO differ
AttributeCloudflare R2MinIO
Pricing modelPer gigabyte stored per monthOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 MinIO

  • S3 API implementation
  • Erasure coding
  • Single binary deployment
  • Bucket replication
  • Object locking and versioning
  • Identity provider integration

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 MinIO
  • Hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of CI runners pull from every daynot MinIO
  • Distributing model weights or open datasets that are downloaded far more often than they are updatednot MinIO
  • Moving off S3 specifically to stop paying data transfer charges on a read heavy bucketnot MinIO

MinIO

  • Providing an S3 endpoint inside an air gapped or regulated network where a cloud bucket is not permittednot Cloudflare R2
  • Backing a Kubernetes platform with object storage that lives on the same hardware as the clusternot Cloudflare R2
  • Standing up S3 semantics in CI so tests exercise the same API path as productionnot Cloudflare R2
  • Fronting local disk shelves with an S3 interface so applications only ever learn one storage APInot 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.

MinIO

  • The AGPL v3 licence applies copyleft over network use, so embedding MinIO in a product or hosted service obliges you to release your own source or buy a commercial licence, and legal review has removed it from several vendor stacks for this reason alone.
  • The community edition console was reduced in 2025 to an object browser, so user, policy, bucket and configuration management now happen through the mc command line client or through the paid product, which is a real operational regression for teams that trained staff on the UI.
  • The vendor has changed the terms of the free edition twice, so planning long lived infrastructure around the community build carries the risk that the next change removes something you depend on.
  • Erasure coded deployments cannot be grown by adding single drives; capacity is added in server pools, so expansion is a hardware purchase in units rather than an incremental one.
  • Commercial pricing is capacity based and aimed at large deployments, so a team that outgrows the community edition faces an enterprise sized quote rather than a graduated upgrade path.

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

MinIO

Free
  • Community (AGPL v3)Free
    • Full server functionality
    • Erasure coding and replication
    • Object browser only in the web console
  • AIStor$undefined/year
    • Commercial licence removing AGPL obligations
    • Full management console
    • Vendor support with response commitments

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 MinIO if

  • You need s3 api implementation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker.
  • You also want erasure coding.
MinIO review

Questions people ask

Is Cloudflare R2 or MinIO better?
Neither clearly leads. Cloudflare R2 starts at Free and MinIO at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cloudflare R2 or MinIO?
Cloudflare R2 starts at Free and MinIO at Free.
Does Cloudflare R2 or MinIO run on more platforms?
Cloudflare R2 runs on Web, API. MinIO runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker.
Can I use Cloudflare R2 for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 MinIO is typically brought in for.
What can Cloudflare R2 do that MinIO cannot?
Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, S3 API compatibility, Worker binding, Jurisdictional restriction. MinIO covers S3 API implementation, Erasure coding, Single binary deployment, Bucket replication.

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.

MinIO: Can I still use MinIO for free?

Yes, the AGPL v3 server remains available and functional. What changed is the console, which no longer manages users, policies or configuration in the community build.

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.

MinIO: Does AGPL affect me if I only use it internally?

Internal use without offering the software over a network to third parties generally does not trigger the source obligation, but if MinIO forms part of a service you offer to others, it does. Take advice rather than a forum answer.

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.

MinIO: What replaced the community console features?

The mc client and the server admin API. Third party UIs exist but they are not maintained by MinIO.

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.

MinIO: Is it suitable as a Veeam or restic backup target?

Yes, object locking and versioning work and both tools treat it as standard S3. Immutability depends on configuring the lock policy at bucket creation.

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