Best file storage for app uploads (worth paying for?)

We asked 10 models: Which file storage services for app uploads are actually worth paying for? Each named its own top 10.

Asked 4 ways: List request · Buyer asking for advice · Search query · Worth paying for?. Share of voice pools every wording.

Agreement between models: 64%
Same model, run twice: 75%
Different picks: 22

When agreement between models is well below a model's agreement with itself, the split reflects real differences in taste rather than randomness.

The consensus

Each cell is the position that model gave the pick; blank means it left the pick off. Click a row for each model's reasoning.

#	Pick	Listed by	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
1	Amazon S3	10/10	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	1
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#1) Industry-standard object storage with unmatched scale, integrations, and granular access control. GPT-6 Luna (#1) Best default: durable, mature, inexpensive, and integrates with nearly every app stack. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#1) Cheapest reliable object storage; industry default for app binaries. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#1) Industry standard, unmatched durability, global edge, and deep ecosystem integration. Mistral Large 4 (#1) Industry standard, unmatched durability, deepest ecosystem integration Nemotron 3 Ultra (#1) Industry standard, virtually unlimited scale, rock-solid durability, pay-as-you-go pricing. Gemini 4 Argon (#2) The undisputed industry standard with unmatched reliability, ecosystem integration, and lifecycle management features. GLM-5.3 (#2) The default for app file uploads; unmatched reliability, SDKs, and ecosystem. Kimi K3 (#2) Gold standard for durability, ecosystem, and integrations despite egress costs. MiniMax M3 (#2) Industry standard, unmatched reliability and ecosystem.
2	Cloudflare R2	10/10	2	2	1	3	2	3	1	4	4	3
Gemini 4 Argon (#1) Zero egress fees and full S3 compatibility make it the most cost-effective modern choice. Kimi K3 (#1) Zero egress fees and S3 compatibility make it the best value. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#2) S3-compatible with zero egress fees, making it cheap for serving user uploads. GPT-6 Luna (#2) Excellent low-cost object storage with no egress fees and straightforward S3 compatibility. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#2) Zero egress fees makes it dramatically cheaper at scale than S3. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#3) Zero egress fees make it unbeatable for public downloads. GLM-5.3 (#3) Zero egress fees make it the best value for upload-heavy apps. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#3) Zero egress fees, S3-compatible API, global edge network, dramatically cheaper for bandwidth. MiniMax M3 (#4) Zero egress fees, S3-compatible, excellent value. Mistral Large 4 (#4) S3-compatible with zero egress fees, ideal for high-traffic apps
3	Backblaze B2	10/10	5	5	4	2	3	1	3	1	2	5
GLM-5.3 (#1) Cheapest serious storage; great with Cloudflare for delivery. MiniMax M3 (#1) Cheap reliable storage, good for backups. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#2) Lowest per-GB price plus free egress tier beats competitors. Mistral Large 4 (#2) Cheapest S3-compatible storage with free egress up to 3x usage DeepSeek V4 Pro (#3) Lowest storage pricing with free egress up to 3x stored data. Kimi K3 (#3) Cheapest reliable storage with simple pricing and S3 API. Gemini 4 Argon (#4) Predictable, rock-bottom storage pricing with generous egress allowances and seamless CDN partnerships. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#5) Very low storage cost and generous free egress via partners; great value for uploads. GPT-6 Luna (#5) Affordable, dependable object storage that works well when cost matters more than extensive platform features. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#5) Ultra-low cost, simple pricing, S3-compatible, great for backup/archival workloads.
4	Google Cloud Storage	10/10	3	3	7	4	6	4	4	3	3	2
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#2) Excellent performance, multi-region redundancy, competitive pricing, seamless GCP integration. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#3) Reliable object storage with strong global performance and tight Firebase integration. GPT-6 Luna (#3) Reliable, polished storage with strong tooling, security controls, and global infrastructure. MiniMax M3 (#3) Strong performance, integrates well with GCP services. Mistral Large 4 (#3) Strong global network, excellent for ML and analytics workloads Qwen 3.8 Flash (#4) Strong durability, tiered classes, tight CI/CD integration. GLM-5.3 (#4) Strong performance, signed URLs, and tight GCP integration. Kimi K3 (#4) Strong performance and multi-region options with cleaner pricing than AWS. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#6) Strong SLA, multi-region redundancy, and tight GCP ecosystem tie-in. Gemini 4 Argon (#7) Top-tier global network performance and seamless integration with machine learning and analytics pipelines.
5	Azure Blob Storage	10/10	4	4	10	6	7	6	5	5	6	4
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#4) Solid choice for Microsoft-centric stacks, with good tiering and enterprise compliance. GPT-6 Luna (#4) A strong choice for Microsoft-heavy teams needing enterprise controls and broad regional coverage. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#4) Enterprise-grade, strong hybrid cloud support, tiered storage options, Microsoft ecosystem tie-in. Kimi K3 (#5) Solid enterprise option, especially for Microsoft-centric stacks. MiniMax M3 (#5) Best choice for Microsoft ecosystem integrations. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#6) Best choice inside Azure pipelines and enterprise agreements. GLM-5.3 (#6) Best choice for Microsoft-stack apps; solid SDKs and tiers. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#7) Enterprise-grade with best-in-class compliance and hybrid cloud options. Gemini 4 Argon (#10) Essential and highly performant for enterprise applications already committed to the Microsoft ecosystem.
6	Wasabi	8/10	6	6		5	4		8	6	5	7
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#4) No egress or API fees, ideal for frequent access patterns. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#5) Flat no-egress pricing ideal for write-once build artifacts. Mistral Large 4 (#5) Flat predictable pricing, zero egress fees, no minimum storage duration Claude Haiku 5.5 (#6) Flat-rate pricing with no egress or API fees, predictable for heavy upload workloads. GPT-6 Luna (#6) Predictable pricing and no egress charges suit steady workloads with manageable retention needs. MiniMax M3 (#6) Hot cloud storage with no egress fees. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#7) Hot storage pricing for cold data, no egress fees, fast performance, predictable billing.
7	DigitalOcean Spaces	9/10		9	9	7	5	9	9	7	8	8
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#5) Simple S3-compatible object storage with predictable flat pricing. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#7) Simple flat pricing, CDN included, great for small teams. MiniMax M3 (#7) Simple, affordable, developer-friendly S3-compatible option. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#8) Simple flat-rate pricing, S3-compatible, built-in CDN, great for developers/small teams. GPT-6 Luna (#9) Simple setup and predictable pricing make it appealing for smaller applications. Gemini 4 Argon (#9) Simple, predictable flat-rate pricing with a built-in CDN that prevents surprise cloud bills. GLM-5.3 (#9) S3-compatible and simple; ideal for small teams on DO. Kimi K3 (#9) Simple flat pricing with built-in CDN for straightforward projects.
8	Supabase Storage	5/10		7	5	9			10			9
Gemini 4 Argon (#5) Deep Postgres row-level security integration makes managing user permissions for uploads effortless. GPT-6 Luna (#7) Convenient app-oriented APIs, access policies, and image handling for Supabase-backed products. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#9) Cheap open Postgres-backed buckets with signed URLs built in. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#9) Postgres-integrated, row-level security, CDN included, generous free tier, developer-friendly. Kimi K3 (#10) Tightly integrated with auth and Postgres; great for full-stack apps.
9	Dropbox	3/10	7					5			7
GLM-5.3 (#5) Not built for app uploads, but API still beats generic alternatives. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#7) Polished sync and sharing, but less suited to app-backend uploads than dedicated object storage. Mistral Large 4 (#7) Best-in-class file sync and sharing with polished collaboration tools
10	Uploadcare	5/10	8		8		9		7		10
Kimi K3 (#7) Great upload widget, processing pipeline, and developer experience. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#8) Purpose-built upload pipeline with processing, CDN, and widgets that save developer time. Gemini 4 Argon (#8) Provides a complete, polished file-handling pipeline from upload widgets to fast CDN delivery. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#9) Purpose-built for app uploads with built-in CDN, image processing, and widgets.
11	Cloudinary	4/10	10	10	6				6
Gemini 4 Argon (#6) Worth every penny for media-heavy apps needing real-time image and video transformations. Kimi K3 (#6) Best-in-class image transformations, CDN, and generous free tier. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#10) Excellent for image and video uploads with on-the-fly transformations built in.
12	Firebase Storage	3/10		8		8						6
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#6) Mobile-optimized, Google-backed, automatic scaling, strong auth integration, easy client SDKs. GPT-6 Luna (#8) Fast to ship for Firebase apps, with familiar SDKs and integrated authentication rules. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#8) Effortless auth rules for mobile app user-uploaded content.
13	UploadThing	2/10			3		10
Gemini 4 Argon (#3) Purpose-built for modern TypeScript applications with an unbeatable developer experience and simple security.
14	Box	2/10	9					7
No reasons recorded.
15	Linode Object Storage	2/10								8		10
MiniMax M3 (#8) Budget-friendly, predictable pricing for small projects. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#10) Flat pricing, S3-compatible, no egress fees, reliable, good for cost-conscious deployments.

7 lower-scoring picks are not shown; every ballot below lists them in full.

Most divisive

Picks most models listed, at very different positions

Azure Blob Storage#4 for Claude Haiku 5.5 #10 for Gemini 4 Argon
Google Cloud Storage#2 for Nemotron 3 Ultra #7 for Gemini 4 Argon
Supabase Storage#5 for Gemini 4 Argon #10 for Kimi K3

Hot takes

Picks that appear on only one ballot

Bunny CDN Storage at #8, only DeepSeek V4 Pro
Google Drive at #8, only GLM-5.3
Storj at #9, only MiniMax M3
pCloud at #9, only Mistral Large 4
Hetzner Object Storage at #10, only Qwen 3.8 Flash
Microsoft OneDrive at #10, only GLM-5.3
IDrive e2 at #10, only MiniMax M3

Every ballot

Hover a pick to find it on the other ballots. Marked picks appear on no other ballot.

Claude Haiku 5.5

Amazon S3
Cloudflare R2
Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage
Backblaze B2
Wasabi
Dropbox
Uploadcare
Box
Cloudinary

87% with consensus · 90% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

Amazon S3
Cloudflare R2
Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage
Backblaze B2
Wasabi
Supabase Storage
Firebase Storage
DigitalOcean Spaces
Cloudinary

89% with consensus · 88% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

Cloudflare R2
Amazon S3
UploadThing
Backblaze B2
Supabase Storage
Cloudinary
Google Cloud Storage
Uploadcare
DigitalOcean Spaces
Azure Blob Storage

60% with consensus · 98% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

Amazon S3
Backblaze B2
Cloudflare R2
Google Cloud Storage
Wasabi
Azure Blob Storage
DigitalOcean Spaces
Firebase Storage
Supabase Storage
Hetzner Object Storage

88% with consensus · 84% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

Amazon S3
Cloudflare R2
Backblaze B2
Wasabi
DigitalOcean Spaces
Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage
Bunny CDN Storage
Uploadcare
UploadThing

88% with consensus · 95% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

Backblaze B2
Amazon S3
Cloudflare R2
Google Cloud Storage
Dropbox
Azure Blob Storage
Box
Google Drive
DigitalOcean Spaces
Microsoft OneDrive

66% with consensus · 35% self-consistent

Kimi K3

Cloudflare R2
Amazon S3
Backblaze B2
Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage
Cloudinary
Uploadcare
Wasabi
DigitalOcean Spaces
Supabase Storage

77% with consensus · 51% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

Backblaze B2
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Cloudflare R2
Azure Blob Storage
Wasabi
DigitalOcean Spaces
Linode Object Storage
Storj
IDrive e2

69% with consensus · 73% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

Amazon S3
Backblaze B2
Google Cloud Storage
Cloudflare R2
Wasabi
Azure Blob Storage
Dropbox
DigitalOcean Spaces
pCloud
Uploadcare

84% with consensus · 59% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Cloudflare R2
Azure Blob Storage
Backblaze B2
Firebase Storage
Wasabi
DigitalOcean Spaces
Supabase Storage
Linode Object Storage

81% with consensus · 84% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 46 (lightest) to 93 (darkest)

	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
Claude Haiku 5.5		93	55	77	79	61	70	63	81	84
GPT-6 Luna	93		58	82	79	58	70	65	78	89
Gemini 4 Argon	55	58		51	59	50	80	46	46	48
Qwen 3.8 Flash	77	82	51		83	72	67	74	91	81
DeepSeek V4 Pro	79	79	59	83		58	69	61	78	71
GLM-5.3	61	58	50	72	58		65	83	71	58
Kimi K3	70	70	80	67	69	65		65	63	63
MiniMax M3	63	65	46	74	61	83	65		77	65
Mistral Large 4	81	78	46	91	78	71	63	77		77
Nemotron 3 Ultra	84	89	48	81	71	58	63	65	77