Amazon S3 Glacier vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are both solutions in the Public Cloud Storage Services category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8, while Google is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.5. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 10.9% mindshare in PCSS, compared to Google’s 6.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Amazon S3 Glacier

Read 43 Amazon S3 Glacier reviews

3,246 Views
3,051 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Read 11 Google Cloud Storage Nearline reviews

1,708 Views
1,691 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon S3 Glacier

Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Amazon S3 Glacier and Google Cloud Storage Nearline compete in data storage solutions. Amazon S3 Glacier is often deemed more cost-effective, especially for infrequently accessed data, while Google Cloud Storage Nearline is noted for its enhanced access features and integration with Google's ecosystem.

Features: Amazon S3 Glacier offers low-cost archival storage, auto-archiving capabilities, and strong integrations with AWS services, making it ideal for various storage needs. Its security features and scalability enhance its value. Google Cloud Storage Nearline is favored for its ease of access and adaptation to data flow changes. It provides seamless integration with Google Cloud services and offers enhanced accessibility features.

Room for Improvement: Amazon S3 Glacier could enhance data retrieval speeds and improve its pricing model transparency. Users suggest better GDPR compliance and security features. Google Cloud Storage Nearline can work on reducing costs, enhancing security features, and improving its documentation and user interface for better navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Amazon S3 Glacier and Google Cloud Storage Nearline are widely used in public cloud environments. Amazon provides extensive partner support and efficient customer service, though response times could be quicker. Google Cloud offers robust support with specialized options for business services, ensuring swift issue resolution.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon S3 Glacier is generally viewed as more affordable due to its pay-what-you-use model with low storage costs, although data retrieval can be costly. Google Cloud Storage Nearline, while more expensive, offers higher availability and access speed, with both products providing strong ROI by reducing the need for on-premises infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline

March 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon S3 Glacier

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Amazon S3 Glacier is 10.9%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 6.5%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Public Cloud Storage Services Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Amazon S3 Glacier	10.9%
Google Cloud Storage Nearline	6.5%
Other	82.6%

Public Cloud Storage Services

Featured Reviews

Pat Fogarty

Project Engineer at Astellas Pharma US

Archiving data has reduced storage costs and provides reliable long‑term retention

We have not really come across any downsides for us. It is possible that the retrieval of data may be expensive, which could be an issue, but we have not experienced that in fairness. Integration with our policies would be beneficial. We have policies for our systems where we delete data after a certain number of years, and having integration with Amazon S3 Glacier would be good. Having a guarantee that Amazon S3 Glacier would persist for the amount of time that we require in our archives would be valuable. In other words, Amazon would need to commit to support for the period we need. We could be talking about 20 years or longer. We cannot always move to the next version because we need to maintain old systems and legacy systems in order to maintain archives. A guarantee around support would be a good thing to have.

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Yogesh Daga

Works

Optimized cost solutions boost long-term data retention across multiple regions

The best part of Nearline storage is the ability to take backups at optimal costs and its availability across multiple regions. It has 99.99% availability, which is extremely good. It provides an ideal storage solution for data that needs to be kept for thirty days or longer. Each storage class, such as Standard for daily data, Nearline, Coldline, and Archive, serves a specific purpose. Coldline is for ninety days, and Archive is for three hundred and sixty-five days.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The value of Amazon S3 Glacier for us is the lower cost. We put files there and tend not to touch them afterward."

"The cost is high, which I think is one of the best features of the product."

"Amazon S3 Glacier is easy to use. The platform is straightforward, and the interfaces are user-friendly and responsive. Even with a limited budget, you can train someone without an AWS certification to use it. With on-the-job training, you can ensure they understand what needs to be done to use the service."

"Amazon S3 Glacier is a scalable and easy-to-manage solution with good read-write capability."

"It is the most feature-rich platform."

"If you compare Glacier to others, the prices in terms of what you store beyond retention are much lower."

"Amazon S3 Glacier can integrate seamlessly with other AWS services."

"The solution is easy to use."

More Amazon S3 Glacier pros

"Nearline is highly stable."

"The stability is excellent; I can't think of a better service that's provided in South America, and the infrastructure overall is very stable and reliable."

"The most valuable aspect of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is its integration with the wider Google Cloud ecosystem."

"It can isolate files and stop them from corrupting other files."

"The API integration with the storage packet is the solution's most valuable feature."

"We didn't face any downtime last year using the solution."

"The data structure and the types of data that are supported are very good."

"The most valuable feature of Nearline is the access. It's helpful to move data that is generated once a month, such as salary information, to Nearline."

More Google Cloud Storage Nearline pros

Cons

"The response times could be faster. When you are with Amazon and use Glacier, you expect a response time between four to seven hours to retrieve the data."

"I am unsure if the product provides good integration capabilities. From an improvement perspective, I want the tool to provide easier integration features."

"However, when you want to retrieve the data, it is a little bit time consuming because it specifies to retrieve the data it is going to take time, so you must make sure you log store the data which you will be accessing or which you will need very frequently."

"The solution's dashboard is a bit complicated and could be improved."

"The cost can be lower."

"There is room for improvement in terms of support"

"Technical support needs improvement. Previously, even though we had premium and enterprise support, the response time would be quicker if we ran into issues, but now it is slowed down. The analytical dashboard feature, like the CloudOps dashboard, should be included in the next release of the Amazon S3 Glacier."

"A couple of times, we faced outage issues that caused us problems."

More Amazon S3 Glacier cons

"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."

"From a storage standpoint, it would be beneficial if the retrieval cost could be optimized, as it is comparatively higher than storage costs in Nearline."

"One area that needs improvement is the documentation, which I find to be disorganized and not user-friendly."

"The pricing is quite high."

"The solution needs to offer better System Information and Event Management (SEIM). I'd like to discover how we could implement something like that within Google's cloud."

"The pricing could be improved. It's completely non-competitive at this time."

"They need a better, more visual, user interface for folders and files."

"The solution needs to offer better System Information and Event Management (SEIM)."

More Google Cloud Storage Nearline cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is average and reasonable. It varies depending on the region."

"Customers prefer Amazon S3 Glacier because it is a cheap and pay-as-you-go solution."

"Amazon S3 Glacier is a cost-effective solution for archiving."

"Amazon S3 Glacier has good pricing."

"Amazon S3 Glacier is not an expensive solution, and it has a pay-as-you-go pricing model."

"We pay a monthly licensing fee for Amazon S3 Glacier."

"The price point at which the product is available is pretty good."

"Amazon S3 Glacier has a good pricing point, and you pay for what's being used."

More Amazon S3 Glacier pricing and cost advice

"Google Cloud Storage Nearline is very inexpensive. It costs us less than $50 a month to store our files. We use approximately 10 terabytes. Overall, I would rate the product a five out of five for affordability."

"Right now, for the number of servers and the storage that I have, I would say I'm charged between $125 and $150 per month."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

11%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Computer Software Company

13%

University

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	25
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...

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What do you like most about Amazon S3 Glacier?

I like creating buckets where data can be segregated at a high level and then routing the appropriate data to each designated bucket. In terms of value, I would say that the tool gets the job done ...

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What needs improvement with Amazon S3 Glacier?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?

The storage and access cost of Nearline are considered optimal compared to other cloud storage solutions, although I lack a clear view of other cloud storage costs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Cloud Storage Nearline?

From a storage standpoint, it would be beneficial if the retrieval cost could be optimized, as it is comparatively higher than storage costs in Nearline.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?

I mostly use Google Cloud Storage Nearline ( /products/google-cloud-storage-nearline-reviews ) for backing up data that is not needed for daily activities. It is ideal for files that need to be sto...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

Amazon S3 vs Amazon S3 Glacier

Compared 9% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon S3 Glacier

Compared 8% of the time

Wasabi vs Amazon S3 Glacier

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Cloud Archive Storage vs Amazon S3 Glacier

Compared 6% of the time

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Amazon S3 vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Azure Block Storage vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Compared 5% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Compared 4% of the time

More Google Cloud Storage Nearline Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3 Glacier

April 2026

Download Amazon S3 Glacier product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud Storage Nearline

March 2026

Download Google Cloud Storage Nearline product report

Also Known As

Amazon Glacier

No data available

Overview

Amazon Glacier is a secure, durable, and extremely low-cost cloud storage service for data archiving and long-term backup. Customers can reliably store large or small amounts of data for as little as $0.007 per gigabyte per month, a significant savings compared to on-premises solutions. To keep costs low, Amazon Glacier is optimized for infrequently accessed data where a retrieval time of several hours is suitable.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

A low-cost, highly-durable and highly available storage service for infrequently accessed data, data archiving, online backup and disaster recovery. Data is available instantly, not within hours or days. With sub-second average response times and 1 cent per GB/month pricing, Cloud Storage Nearline gives you terrific performance at a low cost.

Google

Sample Customers

King Cpunty, Illumina, Backupify, Nearmap.com, Scribd, Baylor College of Medicine, SoundCloud

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline

March 2026

Free Report: Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

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