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Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs Microsoft Azure Object Storage comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 2024

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

Google Cloud Storage Nearline
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Object Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 6.9%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is 3.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Object Storage3.3%
Google Cloud Storage Nearline6.9%
Other89.8%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

Seamless integration with cloud services improves workflows but documentation needs enhancement
One area that needs improvement is the documentation, which I find to be disorganized and not user-friendly. The lack of comprehensive walkthrough guides for specific use cases makes it difficult to follow. To enhance the experience, more detailed examples, guides, and tutorials from start to finish would be beneficial. Additionally, the cost compared to other providers like Amazon could be regarded as a downside.
PS
Enterprise Architect at ATOS
Has supported hybrid deployments but needs stronger security features and improved handling of sudden storage spikes
For areas of improvement, they have all the features from Azure Monitor and Azure Cost Manager, which provide insights into consumption, and the policies are already taken care of, but it needs enhancement in security aspects. Security alerts and integrations could be improved as part of lifecycle management, especially for archives and restoration requirements, along with automations that we can plan. For GRS, they should offer it by default because many providers are entering the market and providing similar features, making it quite competitive from a price point of view. There are some limitations related to quotas and storage requirements. For drastic demands, we may need to provide quotas and other requirements to Microsoft for them to manage forecast and capacity planning. If there are sudden ad hoc needs that involve petabytes, there should be storage availability in the data center hosting that storage. This relates to temporary spikes in storage needs; for example, if storage is needed for a week with huge requirements, Microsoft should adapt to these requirements effectively.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable aspect of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is its integration with the wider Google Cloud ecosystem."
"Nearline is highly stable."
"The data structure and the types of data that are supported are very good."
"It can isolate files and stop them from corrupting other files."
"It provides the necessary support and flexibility to manage data storage effectively, especially during times of variable data flow."
"There are no issues with the integration of Google Cloud Storage Nearline with other Google services."
"The API integration with the storage packet is the solution's most valuable feature."
"The capacity and space on offer are excellent."
"It is easy to use, and we use it for backup and remote desktop access. It is working fine."
"We can do data queries easily."
"Blob Storage is one of the best resources in Azure for storing unstructured data such as files, video files, audio files, and Excel files."
"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."
"There are a variety of good features, the initial setup is pretty straightforward, and the solution offers good documentation so when you get the right support person you can deal with issues very fast."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is that it is on the cloud."
"The best thing is it's on the cloud. It's easily accessible to everyone through a mobile device, tablet, or laptop. Secondly, it's secure. Like any URL shared will not work after a few hours. Only the person concerned who has that URL can use it within a few hours to download the document. After that, it expires. Thirdly, we all keep an archive. For example, if there are old documents, they are still stored over there. Another nice Azure feature is that they have the regional set up for that storage, and there's no downtime, and I'm grateful for that. We don't have to worry, because it's secure. If something goes down, they have other copies of it on a separate server, and it's accessible."
"The most valuable feature is the cost value, which is very important for long term retention, and we can keep the backups for a longer duration."
 

Cons

"The suggestion for improvement primarily revolves around cost efficiency."
"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."
"Documentation is an area for improvement in Google Cloud Storage Nearline."
"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."
"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."
"Nearline security could be better. The solution could integrate better with SEIM tools."
"The interface for managing file storage in the buckets could be improved."
"The pricing is quite high."
"There are a lot of points for improvement at the moment. For example, in the case of this product, we are not able to do a backup of what we call NAS, network-attached storage appliances, directly to the cloud."
"The tool doesn't offer Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft AI."
"The pricing of the solution can be improved."
"Azure's technical support could be better - they take a long time to respond, and issues get transferred to multiple engineers, so you have to repeat the whole story every time without getting any proper resolution."
"Uploading files from the UI has presented some issues. When editing work and once you delete a file, it takes some time to recreate the same file."
"We have experienced a data copy bottleneck with the AZ copy using Microsoft Azure Object Storage, this should improve. It has high CPU consumption. There are a couple of ways to copy files fast, we have tried a few ways. Other than AZ copy, we can use Azure Fluent Storage, which also takes a lot of time to copy files. The AZ copy is faster but it takes a lot of time and CPU operations."
"The password retrieval process was very difficult."
"In future releases, I would add something like a better lifecycle management system, and for integration purposes, I would add some stuff related to newer concepts like data products and databases. I would like to have a seamless flow between those things."
 

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."
"The licensing cost of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is monthly. We have two types of licenses. One is the EA enterprise license and the other is a CSP license."
"The solution is not affordable for small businesses."
"The pricing for Microsoft Azure Object Storage is high and needs some reduction. It's a seven out of ten, price-wise, because it currently limits your consumption, so the solution should have better pricing."
"Microsoft Azure Object Storage requires a license. We are using a pay-as-you-go model and we have an enterprise subscription model as well."
"Object Storage is competitively priced."
"Encryption feature is an add-on."
"We don't need to pay for the solution's license."
"Additional costs depend on the data and complexity of the project."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
9%
Marketing Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
My experience with the licensing and cost of Google Cloud Storage Nearline has been positive.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
Documentation is an area for improvement in Google Cloud Storage Nearline. Documentation might cause some issues during deployment in future updates of Google Cloud Storage Nearline. Other than tha...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
I have integrated Google Cloud Storage Nearline with BigQuery for analytics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Object Storage?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Azure Object Storage is very good.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Object Storage?
The customer support for Microsoft Azure Object Storage is not good. If a good engineer is assigned, then it functions well. However, every time we are doing troubleshooting, it is not Microsoft.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure Object Storage?
I have used Microsoft Azure Object Storage, which is a blob storage service. Our customers use the services that we provide for blob storage. Our customers use applications, and Microsoft Azure Obj...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, Azure Object Storage, MS Azure Object Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Umbraco, Xbox, Radioshack, 343 Industries, McKesson
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs. Microsoft Azure Object Storage and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.