Cloud backup pricing is one of the most opaque corners of the IT industry. Headline 'starting from $0.005 per GB' numbers hide minimum charges, egress fees, retrieval costs, API request fees and storage class transitions. After running cloud backup for hundreds of Dubai businesses since 2007, Azizi Technologies has a clear picture of what each service actually costs in AED per TB per month - and which traps to watch out for. This guide is the honest 2026 cost breakdown, no vendor incentives, all numbers in AED.
The headline comparison - 1 TB stored, 1 TB restored once a year
We modelled a realistic Dubai SMB backup scenario: 1 TB of data stored continuously, with one full 1 TB restore in a 12-month period (typical for an actual recovery event), plus a 100 GB partial restore (typical for fat-finger recovery).
| Service | Storage / GB / month | Egress / GB | 12-month AED total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backblaze B2 | Request a quote | Request a quote (free under 3x stored) | Request a quote |
| Wasabi Hot Cloud | Request a quote | Free (with 90-day min retention) | Request a quote |
| AWS S3 Standard | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive | Request a quote | Request a quote (plus retrieval Request a quote) | Request a quote |
| Azure Blob Hot | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| Azure Blob Archive | Request a quote | Request a quote + Request a quote retrieval | Request a quote |
| iDrive Business | Request a quote fixed for 5 TB | Free | Request a quote |
| Carbonite Safe Server | Request a quote for 1 server | Free | Request a quote |
| Synology C2 Plus | Request a quote | Free | Request a quote |
1 TB cloud backup - 12-month total AED cost including 1.1 TB egress
The egress trap
Headline storage prices like AWS S3 Standard at Request a quote look reasonable. The egress fee at Request a quote is the gotcha - restoring 1 TB from AWS S3 Standard costs Request a quote in egress alone. For most Dubai SMBs doing real disaster recovery, Backblaze B2 or Wasabi with their free or low egress is dramatically cheaper than the hyperscalers.
Backblaze B2 - our default Dubai recommendation
B2 wins for most Dubai SMBs because it strips cloud storage to its essentials at the best price-to-performance ratio. Real costs we charge through:
- Storage: Request a quote per GB per month (US$0.006 - we round up slightly for AED conversion stability).
- Egress: Request a quote per GB but you get 3x free egress on stored amount per month. For most backup use cases, restore stays inside the free tier.
- API requests: Request a quote per 1,000 Class B operations, trivial for backup workloads.
- Object Lock: free, supports compliance and ransomware-resistant retention.
- Region: US East and EU Central; data does cross borders, factor into PDPL planning.
- Integration: native support in Synology Hyper Backup, QNAP HBS, Veeam, Arq, Cloudberry, rclone.
Wasabi - when egress costs matter most
Wasabi is Backblaze B2's closest competitor. The differences:
- Storage: Request a quote per GB per month.
- Egress: free, but with a fair-use clause - egress cannot exceed total stored data per month.
- Minimum retention: 90 days. Delete a file before 90 days and you still pay for 90 days. Important for high-churn backup retention policies.
- Regions: US, EU, AP. No Middle East region as of 2026.
- Object Lock: supported.
- Best for: media businesses, video studios, anywhere you might need to pull lots of data out for projects.
AWS S3 - power and complexity, mainly for archive
AWS S3 has the deepest feature set, the most reliable storage durability claim (11 9s) and the most complex pricing model. For Dubai SMBs we generally only use S3 in two scenarios:
- S3 Glacier Deep Archive for long-term archive (7+ year retention, regulator-driven) - Request a quote per GB per month is unbeatable, but retrieval takes 12-48 hours and adds retrieval fees.
- S3 with UAE region (me-central-1, Bahrain region available too) when the client has strict PDPL or DIFC residency requirements that Backblaze and Wasabi cannot meet.
- Otherwise, S3 Standard at Request a quote per GB plus Request a quote per GB egress is significantly more expensive than B2 or Wasabi for the same workload.
Azure Blob - the M365 alignment play
Azure Blob makes sense when your business is already deeply on M365 and Azure, you want a single billing relationship, and you can pick UAE North or UAE Central region for PDPL alignment. Azure Blob Hot is Request a quote per GB; Archive is Request a quote per GB. Egress mirrors AWS pricing. We use Azure Blob primarily for Microsoft 365 backup via Veeam or Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365.
iDrive Business and Carbonite - the small-business turnkey
iDrive Business and Carbonite Safe Server are the turnkey options - they include the backup client, the scheduling, the encryption and the storage as one product. Best for very small Dubai businesses (1-5 staff) without IT support who want a one-product-one-bill solution. The price per TB is higher than DIY B2 plus a backup client, but the simplicity is genuine. We deploy these for small clinics, accountants and law firms where IT capability is limited.
M365 and Google Workspace backup - the often-missed layer
M365 is not backed up by default
Microsoft's standard policy is 30 days for deleted item recovery and SharePoint retention. After 30 days, deleted data is permanently gone. Google Workspace is similar. A real M365 or Workspace backup requires a third-party tool - we use Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 (free with a Synology unit) or Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (around Request a quote/year).
Real Dubai monthly costs by data size
| Data backed up | B2 storage / month | Estimated egress / month | Total AED / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 GB (solo / freelancer) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 500 GB (small office) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 1 TB (mid SMB) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 3 TB (design studio) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 5 TB (video studio) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 10 TB (large SMB / production house) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
| 25 TB (enterprise SMB) | Request a quote | Request a quote | Request a quote |
Monthly cloud backup cost in AED for Dubai SMBs (Backblaze B2)
Hidden cost - bandwidth on your end
Cloud backup bandwidth use is invisible until your Dubai office internet becomes mysteriously slow. A first-time full upload of 1 TB over a 100 Mbps business fibre takes roughly 24 hours of saturated bandwidth - which means slow internet for everyone in the office. We always plan the first upload over a weekend or by shipping a seed drive to the cloud provider (Backblaze and AWS both support seed-drive ingest, AWS via Snowball).
Azizi NAS + Cloud + Recovery combo
We design hybrid setups where the NAS holds working data and Backblaze B2 holds the off-site immutable copy. From Request a quote cloud backup, plus we are the only Dubai team with a cleanroom recovery lab if the NAS or the cloud restore fails. See /data-recovery-dubai.
Common cost mistakes Dubai businesses make
- Picking storage based on headline GB price alone, ignoring egress fees that hit at restore time.
- Buying enterprise-grade storage class (AWS S3 Standard) for backup workloads when archive-grade or B2-style would do.
- Backing up duplicate data (full backup every night instead of incremental) and paying for the duplication every month.
- Not setting lifecycle policies - cold data sits in hot storage class forever, doubling or tripling the bill.
- Forgetting to back up M365 or Google Workspace and assuming the vendor handles it - they do not.
- Choosing a backup provider with no UAE region when PDPL or DIFC requirements actually mandate one.
How we pick the right service for each Dubai client
Every Azizi cloud backup engagement starts with a free 30-minute assessment that measures four things: total data volume today and growth rate, restore frequency expectations, compliance regime (PDPL, DIFC, DHCC, RERA, financial) and bandwidth available. Those four numbers usually determine the right service before we even open a calculator. A 500 GB document-only office under PDPL with a 100 Mbps line and no compliance specifics gets Backblaze B2. A DHCC clinic with 25-year retention gets a hybrid - Backblaze B2 for hot and AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive for cold. A DIFC entity gets AWS me-central-1 or Azure UAE North for residency reasons. We never push a client into the most expensive option when a cheaper one meets all the requirements.
Get an honest cloud backup quote in AED
Free 30-minute assessment. We measure your data, audit your current cloud spend, model 12-month cost across Backblaze B2, Wasabi, AWS and Azure, and pick the right one for your AED budget. Cloud backup deployment from Request a quote. AMC from Request a quote.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest cloud backup for a Dubai small business?
Backblaze B2 at Request a quote per GB per month is our default recommendation for most Dubai SMBs - low storage cost, generous free egress allowance, native support in Synology Hyper Backup and QNAP HBS, and Object Lock for ransomware protection. For very small businesses (1-5 staff) without IT support, iDrive Business at Request a quote for 5 TB is turnkey and easier to manage.
Why is AWS S3 more expensive than Backblaze B2 for backup?
AWS S3 Standard is around 4x the storage price of Backblaze B2 (Request a quote vs Request a quote per GB) and adds Request a quote per GB egress on top. For most Dubai SMB backup workloads where data sits and is occasionally restored, B2 is dramatically cheaper. AWS only makes financial sense for long-term archive via S3 Glacier Deep Archive (Request a quote per GB) or when PDPL requires the UAE region (me-central-1).
What is the egress trap in cloud backup pricing?
Egress is the fee to download your data out of the cloud. Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) charge Request a quote per GB egress, which means restoring 1 TB costs around Request a quote just in egress fees. Backblaze B2 and Wasabi charge low or zero egress, which makes them roughly 5x cheaper for a real disaster recovery event. Always model the full restore cost, not just the storage cost.
Is Microsoft 365 backed up by default?
No. Microsoft 365 has 30-day recovery for deleted items and limited retention beyond that. After 30 days, deleted emails, files and SharePoint items are permanently gone. A real M365 backup requires a third-party tool - Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 (free with a Synology unit), Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (around Request a quote per year) or Acronis Cyber Backup. Same applies to Google Workspace.
How much should a 5 TB cloud backup cost per month in Dubai?
On Backblaze B2 - around Request a quote all-in, depending on restore activity. On AWS S3 Standard - around Request a quote plus egress. On Wasabi - around Request a quote. On Synology C2 Plus - around Request a quote. The choice between them comes down to egress patterns, region requirements (PDPL) and integration with your existing backup software.
Can Azizi configure Backblaze B2 with my existing NAS?
Yes. Backblaze B2 is natively supported by Synology Hyper Backup, QNAP HBS, Veeam, Arq, Cloudberry, rclone and most other backup clients. Azizi configures the B2 bucket, creates the application keys with least-privilege scope, enables Object Lock for ransomware-resistant immutability, and sets up the schedule plus monitoring. Cloud backup deployment from Request a quote. We also run the cleanroom recovery lab in Bur Dubai if the cloud restore ever fails - see /data-recovery-dubai.
Do I need cloud backup if I already have a NAS?
Yes - a NAS alone is not 3-2-1 compliant. The NAS is one copy (on one media, on-site). You need at least one off-site copy for fire and theft protection, and one immutable copy for ransomware resistance. Cloud backup (Backblaze B2 with Object Lock is our default) usually fills both roles in a single product. The combined cost (NAS plus cloud) is still dramatically lower over 5 years than cloud-only for any data-heavy Dubai business.
Usman K.
· IT Support LeadIT support lead at Azizi Technologies. Manages 24/7 helpdesk, Microsoft 365 migrations, server administration, and managed IT contracts for Dubai SMBs. Microsoft Certified. Mentioned by name in client reviews for fast resolution.
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