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Amazon S3 Glacier vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 22, 2025

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
6.6
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Google Cloud Storage Nearline
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Amazon S3 Glacier is 13.8%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 8.2%, up from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Amazon S3 Glacier13.8%
Google Cloud Storage Nearline8.2%
Other78.0%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

ArunDhwaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile data storage improves security and supports increasing data volumes
Amazon S3 Glacier offers robust security features and practically infinite storage, where we can store all kinds of media swiftly. It supports various data types, including semi-structured and raw formats. These features facilitate log management and data dumping since the service is versatile enough to handle large volumes of data and provide necessary security.
AmitKumar36 - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, seamless, and scalable document storage with AI and analytics integration, providing reliable support
The solution is very flexible in terms of scalability. It is an online service, so we can scale it anytime with some pre-planning. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. As for the users using this solution in our organization, that varies according to what time of the day and what day it is, but it goes around 2,000 to 3,000 users. The maximum is about 3,000. On average, it stays somewhere between 2,000 and 1,800.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon S3 Glacier is a scalable and easy-to-manage solution with good read-write capability."
"It is a very comprehensive tool."
"Data retrieval, security, compliance, and storage archiving are the most valuable features of Amazon S3 Glacier."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is a very cheap storage, where we store infrequently used data."
"The most valuable feature of Glacier is its storage capability and cost benefit."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is scalable, flexible, easy to maintain and handle."
"We use the solution for migration."
"We get free credits from Amazon, and we like the overall stability. We haven't had to rely heavily on their customer success teams, which is a good sign."
"I find the flexibility in storing documents or data and the ease of retrieval valuable with this solution."
"Nearline is highly stable."
"The capacity and space on offer are excellent."
"The best part of Nearline storage is the ability to take backups at optimal costs and its availability across multiple regions."
"The data structure and the types of data that are supported are very good."
"It provides the necessary support and flexibility to manage data storage effectively, especially during times of variable data flow."
"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."
"It can isolate files and stop them from corrupting other files."
 

Cons

"The solution's pricing is too expensive and could be improved."
"The solution's cloud storage is very expensive, and users may not be able to afford cloud storage."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is a cheaper tool if you're running it on-prem, but it is expensive if deployed on the cloud."
"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."
"Their pricing structure is always a big topic. It's so difficult to understand."
"The solution’s deployment process is complex and could be improved."
"The product is difficult to use."
"The product’s pricing must be improved."
"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."
"Nearline security could be better. The solution could integrate better with SEIM tools."
"The UI could be a little bit more effective."
"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 interface for managing file storage in the buckets could be improved."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is too expensive."
"I've operated with Amazon S3 Glacier in two modes. Firstly, there's the trial mode, where I experimented with the platform, learned its functionalities, and applied it to my work. Secondly, there's the corporate account mode, where my team handles the operations, and I receive billing reports."
"The price point at which the product is available is pretty good."
"The product is cheap."
"Customers prefer Amazon S3 Glacier because it is a cheap and pay-as-you-go solution."
"We pay a monthly licensing fee for Amazon S3 Glacier."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is very cheap, but the cost becomes a concern when you have a very large amount of data."
"There is no license, you pay for what you use."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

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...
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 ...
What needs improvement with Amazon S3 Glacier?
The support could be improved by having specialized support staff. When we submit a question, it gets passed between multiple people before finding the right expert. We typically see the case being...
What do you like most about Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
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.
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.
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.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Glacier
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

King Cpunty, Illumina, Backupify, Nearmap.com, Scribd, Baylor College of Medicine, SoundCloud
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.