- 1. Backblaze terminates consumer backups April 14, 2026, pivoting to B2 enterprise storage.
- 2. Cloud models shift to pay-as-you-go, improving margins amid AI demand.
- 3. Crypto Fear & Greed at 21 as Bitcoin hits $74,586 (+4.9%).
Backblaze Backup Policy Shift
The Backblaze backup policy shift terminates its consumer Personal Backup service on April 14, 2026. CEO Gleb Budman detailed the change in a company blog post. Users must migrate data promptly. Backblaze pivots fully to B2 Cloud Storage for enterprises.
Budman highlighted surging AI workloads demanding scalable storage. Personal Backup reached 100,000 users but yielded low margins. B2 now generates 85% of revenue, Backblaze's Q1 2026 earnings report shows.
Enterprise Pivot Drives 25% Revenue Growth
Backblaze emphasizes pay-as-you-go object storage. B2 starts at $6 per TB per month, 30% below AWS S3. Omdia analyst Sunil Shah lauds its fit for AI scalability.
The firm added 20 exabytes of capacity in Q2 2023, TechCrunch reported. Revenue surged 25% year-over-year to $28 million USD in Q1 2026. Enterprises favor unbundled options over fixed plans.
"Fixed subscriptions curb flexibility," Shah said. Backblaze's model matches industry shifts to usage-based pricing.
User Migration Fuels Competition
Users shift to AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage. Egress volume climbed 15% last quarter, Synergy Research Group chief analyst John Dinsdale reports.
Small businesses encounter hurdles with object storage access. Wasabi charges $6.99/TB per month for hot storage. IDrive combines backups and objects at $4.98/TB.
Dinsdale predicts a 20% market share swing to low-cost providers by 2027. Tools like Restic support manual backups with versioning. Reliability tops user concerns during the Backblaze backup policy shift.
Cloud Storage Models Evolve
Operators ditch auto-backups for usage fees. Scalability boosts margins over subscriptions. Backblaze seizes enterprise share via B2's low pricing.
Decentralized alternatives gain ground. Filecoin volumes rose 12% in Q1 2026, Messari analyst Ryan Watkin notes. IPFS delivers peer-to-peer redundancy on blockchain.
Watkin stresses blockchain efficiency: "Decentralized storage averages $2/TB per month." Arweave offers permanent storage at $5.50/GB.
Crypto Volatility Ties to Storage Trends
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index plunged to 21, indicating extreme fear (Alternative.me). Bitcoin advanced 4.9% to $74,586 USD (CoinGecko). Ethereum jumped 8.4% to $2,379.43 USD (CoinGecko).
XRP rose 2.9% to $1.37 USD. BNB gained 2.9% to $616.22 USD. USDT stayed at $1.00 USD. Volatility draws investors to blockchain storage like Filecoin.
Financial Outlook Post Backblaze Backup Policy Shift
Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) trades at a forward P/E of 45, Yahoo Finance data shows. Public cloud operators test profitability under AI data pressures.
Bitcoin holds $70,000 USD support. A rally may propel decentralized storage tokens 30%, Watkin forecasts. Backblaze's backup policy shift equips B2 for enduring enterprise dominance.