Backblaze B2

Backblaze B2 is an S3-compatible object storage service offering significantly lower pricing than most cloud providers. It's ideal for storing backups, media files, and large datasets.

Authentication

Set your Backblaze B2 credentials as environment variables:

export B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID="your-key-id"
export B2_APPLICATION_KEY="your-application-key"

Generate application keys at secure.backblaze.com/app_keys.htm.

Application key scope

Create application keys with access limited to specific buckets for better security. WebKit only needs read/write access to the buckets it manages.

Object storage

B2 provides S3-compatible object storage at a fraction of typical cloud pricing.

Configuration

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "backups",
      "type": "s3",
      "provider": "b2",
      "config": {
        "bucket_type": "allPrivate"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Bucket types

Type	Description
allPrivate	All files are private (default)
allPublic	All files are publicly accessible

Pricing

B2's pricing is straightforward and significantly cheaper than alternatives:

Resource	Price
Storage	$0.006/GB/month
Download	$0.01/GB (first 1GB free daily)
API calls	First 2,500 free, then $0.004/10,000

Compare to:

• AWS S3: ~$0.023/GB/month
• DigitalOcean Spaces: ~$0.020/GB/month
• Google Cloud Storage: ~$0.020/GB/month

Outputs

Output	Description
backups.bucket_name	Bucket name
backups.bucket_id	Bucket ID
backups.endpoint	S3-compatible endpoint

Use in environment variables

{
  "environment": {
    "production": {
      "BACKUP_BUCKET": {
        "source": "resource",
        "value": "backups.bucket_name"
      },
      "B2_ENDPOINT": {
        "source": "resource",
        "value": "backups.endpoint"
      }
    }
  }
}

S3 compatibility

B2 provides an S3-compatible API, meaning you can use standard AWS SDKs and tools:

Endpoint

The S3-compatible endpoint format is:

s3.{region}.backblazeb2.com

Regions:

• us-west-004 - US West
• eu-central-003 - EU Central

SDK configuration

Configure your application to use B2's S3-compatible endpoint:

Node.js (AWS SDK v3):

import { S3Client } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';

const client = new S3Client({
  endpoint: 'https://s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com',
  region: 'us-west-004',
  credentials: {
    accessKeyId: process.env.B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID,
    secretAccessKey: process.env.B2_APPLICATION_KEY,
  },
});

Go:

cfg, _ := config.LoadDefaultConfig(ctx,
  config.WithRegion("us-west-004"),
  config.WithEndpointResolver(aws.EndpointResolverFunc(
    func(service, region string) (aws.Endpoint, error) {
      return aws.Endpoint{
        URL: "https://s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com",
      }, nil
    }),
  ),
)

Use cases

Backup storage

B2 is excellent for database and file backups:

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "db-backups",
      "type": "s3",
      "provider": "b2",
      "config": {
        "bucket_type": "allPrivate",
        "lifecycle_rules": [
          {
            "prefix": "",
            "days_to_hide": 30,
            "days_to_delete": 90
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

WebKit's backup workflows automatically upload to B2 when configured.

Media storage

For user uploads and media files:

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "media",
      "type": "s3",
      "provider": "b2",
      "config": {
        "bucket_type": "allPublic",
        "cors_rules": [
          {
            "allowed_origins": ["https://example.com"],
            "allowed_operations": ["s3_get", "s3_head"],
            "max_age_seconds": 3600
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Archive storage

For long-term data retention:

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "archive",
      "type": "s3",
      "provider": "b2",
      "config": {
        "bucket_type": "allPrivate",
        "lifecycle_rules": [
          {
            "prefix": "",
            "days_to_hide": 0,
            "days_to_delete": 365
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Lifecycle rules

Automate file management with lifecycle rules:

{
  "config": {
    "lifecycle_rules": [
      {
        "prefix": "logs/",
        "days_to_hide": 7,
        "days_to_delete": 30
      },
      {
        "prefix": "backups/",
        "days_to_hide": 30,
        "days_to_delete": 90
      }
    ]
  }
}

Field	Description
prefix	Apply rule to files with this prefix
days_to_hide	Days before hiding files (soft delete)
days_to_delete	Days before permanent deletion

Comparison with alternatives

Feature	Backblaze B2	DigitalOcean Spaces	AWS S3
Storage cost	$0.006/GB	$0.020/GB	$0.023/GB
Download cost	$0.01/GB	$0.01/GB	$0.09/GB
Free egress	1GB/day	1TB/month	None
CDN included	No	Yes	Extra cost
Regions	2	8	20+
S3 compatible	Yes	Yes	Native

Choose B2 when:

• Cost is the primary concern
• You're storing backups or archives
• You don't need built-in CDN
• Download volume is moderate

Example: Backup configuration

Complete backup setup with B2:

{
  "resources": [
    {
      "name": "postgres",
      "type": "postgres",
      "provider": "digital_ocean",
      "config": {
        "size": "db-s-1vcpu-1gb"
      },
      "backup": {
        "enabled": true,
        "provider": "b2",
        "schedule": "0 3 * * *",
        "retention_days": 30
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "db-backups",
      "type": "s3",
      "provider": "b2",
      "config": {
        "bucket_type": "allPrivate",
        "lifecycle_rules": [
          {
            "prefix": "",
            "days_to_hide": 30,
            "days_to_delete": 90
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Further reading

• B2 Cloud Storage documentation
• S3-compatible API
• Pricing
• Application keys