Backblaze survey finds 95% of enterprises face surprise cloud storage fees

A new study released by Backblaze and Dimensional Research found that a majority of enterprises managing high volumes of data face unexpected cloud storage fees, creating challenges for infrastructure planning as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates.

According to the study, 95 percent of respondents reported being surprised by cloud storage charges, primarily due to egress fees and opaque billing structures. The survey included 403 IT leaders managing more than 250 terabytes of data in the cloud. The findings show that the cost of accessing and moving data is now a primary barrier to adopting multi-cloud strategies, cited by 58 percent of respondents.

The report indicates that enterprises managing more than five petabytes of data are especially vulnerable to budget overruns. As AI and analytics workloads demand faster, larger datasets, organizations are being forced to scale back or reprioritize to manage costs.

In response to rising storage expenses:

• 56 percent of organizations are reducing dataset size
• 46 percent are tightening retention policies
• 40 percent are diverting funds from other initiatives
• 37 percent are curtailing dataset usage
• 21 percent are reducing staff allocation
• 15 percent are absorbing the added cost without action

Gleb Budman, CEO at Backblaze, said, “The data shows what many IT leaders already know from experience: innovation is being throttled not by technology limits, but by cloud economics via egress fees and unpredictable charges.”

The study also notes a shift toward independent storage providers. Sixty-two percent of respondents indicated a preference for best-of-breed vendors over single-provider ecosystems, citing the need to avoid restrictive pricing models and vendor lock-in.

However, the study found that 97 percent of organizations see data movement costs and technical complexity as key obstacles to switching providers.

“As AI and other data-intensive workloads expand, the ability to move data freely and affordably is no longer optional — it’s a strategic requirement,” said Diane Hagglund, principal at Dimensional Research and author of the study.

Advertisement

The “2025 Cloud Storage Survey” was conducted between May 24 and June 5, 2025.