{"id":33581,"date":"2019-05-20T19:32:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T15:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/?p=33581"},"modified":"2025-08-22T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:45:10","slug":"azure-storage-tiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/azure-storage-tiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Azure Blob Storage Tiers Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Azure Blob Storage offers an opportunity for organizations that store data in Azure to minimize cloud storage costs. For that, Microsoft has developed access tiers for your data. Below, we compare and contrast the different Azure storage tiers available and explain which Blob storage tiers to use under which conditions in order to strike the right balance between data availability and price.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"table-of-content \">\n\t\t\t\t<p>Table of Contents<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<ul><\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<h2>Azure Blob Storage Tiers Overview<\/h2>\n<p>Azure Blob storage offers three access tiers. They differ by price, early deletion fees and data recovery speeds.<\/p>\n<h3>Hot Blob Storage Tier<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-30829 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hot_Blob_Storage_Tier.png\" alt=\"Hot Blob Storage Tier\" width=\"608\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hot_Blob_Storage_Tier.png 608w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hot_Blob_Storage_Tier-300x115.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The \u201chot\u201d storage tier is designed for production and business critical data that is accessed on a common basis - daily or weekly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"perfect-pullquote vcard pullquote-align-full pullquote-border-placement-left\"><blockquote><p>Within the context of data backup, the Hot storage tier is ideal for storing the most recent data backups because it will enable you to restore data quickly if necessary.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>Thus, if you perform backups daily and retain backups for a month, you might want to keep one week\u2019s worth of backups in the Hot tier, and transition the other three weeks\u2019 worth of backups (which are less likely to be used in a recovery) to lower-cost tiers.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping only one - the most recent - backup in the hot storage tier might sound tempting, but risky. For example, if the most recent backup was performed after a malware attack, you\u2019d need to restore an older backup in order to get data back to a malware-free state.<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action__left\" style=\"width: 60%;\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action__title\">Boost Your Profits with Azure Storage and MSP360<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action__text\">Discover how to use Azure for backup in detail and perform secure, automated and price-effective backups with MSP360 Managed Backup integrated with Azure Blob Storage.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action__right\" style=\"width: 40%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Azure-WP.png\" alt=\"WP icon\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper hs-cta-deferred\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\" data-portal=\"5442029\" data-id=\"e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\" id=\"hs-cta-e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/5442029\/e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/e4bc63fd-41a6-4fba-930b-8bfd7cc53c75.png\" alt=\"CTA\"><\/a><\/span><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Cool Blob Storage Tier<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-30830 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Cool_Blob_Storage_Tier.png\" alt=\"Cool Blob Storage Tier\" width=\"608\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Cool_Blob_Storage_Tier.png 608w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Cool_Blob_Storage_Tier-300x115.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Azure Cool Blob storage tier is intended for data that you expect to access less often than once a month, but more often than once every six months or so.<\/p>\n<p>The cost per gigabyte to store data in the Cool tier is significantly lower than in the Hot tier. Prices vary between regions, but to use the East US Azure region as en example, the Azure Cool Blob storage tier is about 25 percent less expensive than the Hot tier. Savings can be greater in other regions; in US Gov Virginia, the Cool tier costs about 45 percent less than Hot.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a name=\"beyond\"><\/a>Beyond the cost of storage itself, Azure Blob charges fees for operations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some operations, such as data writes, cost more in the Cool tier than in Hot. However, if you don't often modify data in the Azure Cool Blob tier, these charges should not significantly impact you.<\/p>\n<p>You also have to pay a fee if you delete data from Cool storage, or move it to a different tier, at any time during the first 30 days after you place the data in this tier. This is called an <strong>early deletion fee<\/strong>.\u00a0Any blob that is deleted or moved out of the cool or archive tiers before 30 days and 180 days respectively will incur a prorated early deletion fee.<\/p>\n<div class=\"perfect-pullquote vcard pullquote-align-full pullquote-border-placement-left\"><blockquote><p>The Azure Cool Blob storage tier is a good choice for data backups that are older, but that you might still need to access quickly in the event of a failure.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>The transaction speed of data in the Cool tier is approximately the same as that for the Hot tier, <a href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/blog\/introducing-azure-cool-storage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to Azure<\/a>, so there is not a significant difference in data recovery time.<\/p>\n<p>There is, however, a small difference in availability: Cool storage is guaranteed to be 99% available, compared to 99.9% for Hot. (With the <em>RA-GRS<\/em> -\u00a0Read Access-Geo Redundant Storage <em>-\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/geo-redundancy-comparison-amazon-s3-microsoft-azure-google-cloud\/\">redundancy option<\/a>, Azure provides a higher read SLA of 99.99% for the Hot access tier and 99.9% for the Cool access tier.)<\/p>\n<p>Learn how to start using Azure Cool Blob storage tier in MSP360 Backup:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/azure-cool-blob-storage\/\">Azure Cool Blob Storage<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Archive Blob Storage Tier<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-30834 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Archive_Blob_Storage_Tier.png\" alt=\"Archive Blob Storage Tier\" width=\"608\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Archive_Blob_Storage_Tier.png 608w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Archive_Blob_Storage_Tier-300x115.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Azure Blob Storage's lowest-cost storage tier is Archive, which is designed for data that is accessed every 180 days or more.<\/p>\n<p>With Azure Archive storage, you can achieve prices that are about 80 percent lower than those for the Cool tier, and about 95 percent lower than for Hot. (Again, pricing specifics depend on which region you use.)<\/p>\n<p>The tradeoff for these cost savings is that in order to read data from the Archive tier, you have to \"thaw\" it first. Azure doesn't specify exactly how long this takes, but tells you to expect hours.<\/p>\n<p>You also have to pay a fee if you delete data from Azure Archive storage, or move it to a different tier, at any time during the first 180 days after you place the data in this tier.<\/p>\n<div class=\"perfect-pullquote vcard pullquote-align-full pullquote-border-placement-left\"><blockquote><p>Azure Archive storage is ideal for storing backup data that you are saving for historical or compliance reasons, and that you don't expect to use for a data recovery.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>For example, if you are subject to compliance requirements that mandate that you store certain data for a period of years (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/hipaa-compliant-cloud-backup\/\">HIPAA<\/a>), Archive is a good solution. But given that it would take hours to prepare your data for download during recovery, Azure Archive storage is not a good choice for general-purpose data backups.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/azure-archive-blob-storage\/\">Azure Archive Blob Storage<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Azure Blob Storage Tiers Comparison Table<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Azure Blob<br \/>\nStorage Tier<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Storage Cost<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Transaction Cost<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Access delay<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Early deletion fee<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Good for short-term<br \/>\nbackup and<br \/>\ndisaster recovery datasets?<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Hot<\/b><\/td>\n<td>High<\/td>\n<td>Low<\/td>\n<td>Small<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Cool<\/b><\/td>\n<td>Low<\/td>\n<td>High<\/td>\n<td>Small<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Archive<\/b><\/td>\n<td>Lowest<\/td>\n<td>Highest<\/td>\n<td>High (hours)<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Lifecycle Policy Management<\/h2>\n<p>The idea of having to determine when to move your data from one Azure Blob Storage tier to another, and then performing the migration, may seem daunting. Fortunately, Azure offers a \"lifecycle management policy\" that helps automate the process.<\/p>\n<p>Lifecycle management policies are a handy way to make sure you are not paying more for storage than you need, while still enforcing whichever data backup storage policies you have determined to be ideal for your organization.<\/p>\n<p id=\"last\">You can configure rules that tell Azure when to move certain pieces of data between Azure storage tiers. For example, if you want to keep only a week's worth of data backups in Hot storage, you could automatically transition backups to Cool after seven days.<\/p>\n<div id=\"slidebox\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper hs-cta-deferred\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" data-portal=\"5442029\" data-id=\"aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" id=\"hs-cta-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/5442029\/aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6.png\" alt=\"CTA\"><\/a><\/span><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/div>\n<p>Learn more about Azure lifecycle management policy and see how to configure it directly from MSP360 Backup:<br \/>\n<span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/azure-lifecycle-management\/\">Azure Lifecycle Management<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Backup to Azure Blob Storage with MSP360 Backup<\/h2>\n<p>MSP360 Backup makes it easy to perform data backups to Hot, Cool or Archive Azure Blob Storage tiers. To do so, first follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/how-to-use-microsoft-azure-for-backup\/\">these steps<\/a> to configure MSP360 Backup for Azure storage.<\/p>\n<p>By default, MSP360 will use the Hot tier for backup storage. If you wish to use Cool or Archive instead, simply select the corresponding option from the drop-down menu.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_60319\" style=\"width: 866px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60319\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60319\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot_34-e1748854882703.png\" alt=\"Azure storage tiers\" width=\"856\" height=\"144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot_34-e1748854882703.png 856w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot_34-e1748854882703-300x50.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot_34-e1748854882703-768x129.png 768w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot_34-e1748854882703-624x105.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 856px) 100vw, 856px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-60319\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">#image_title<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With the following features, MSP360 Backup is ideally suited for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/explorer\/windows\/\">Microsoft Azure cloud backup<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30803 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Support_for_All_Azure_Access_Tiers.png\" alt=\"Support for All Azure Access Tiers\" width=\"118\" height=\"88\" \/>Support for Azure Hot, Cool and Archive Blob storage tiers<\/strong><br \/>\nWith this flexibility, you can find the storage tier that provides the best balance between cost and performance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30804 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Support_for_Azure_Lifecycle_Management.png\" alt=\"Support for Azure Lifecycle Management\" width=\"118\" height=\"87\" \/>Lifecycle Management Policy<\/strong><br \/>\nMSP360 Backup integrates with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/azure-lifecycle-management\/\">Azure lifecycle management<\/a> feature, making it easy to move data automatically between different Azure Blob storage tiers.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30805 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Encrypted_Backup.png\" alt=\"Encrypted Backup\" width=\"118\" height=\"87\" \/>Encrypted backup<\/strong><br \/>\nSecure data in transit and at rest.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30806 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Restore_Backup_from_Azure_Storage_to_VM.png\" alt=\"Restore Backup from Azure Storage to VM\" width=\"118\" height=\"87\" \/>Restore from Blob storage to Azure Virtual Machines<\/strong><br \/>\nIf desired, MSP360 Backup can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/how-to-restore-to-azure-vm\/\">restore data directly from Blob storage to Azure Virtual Machine<\/a>, enabling a very fast and smooth restore process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about why customers choose MSP360 Backup and Azure Blob storage for their affordability, user-friendly interface and dedicated customer support:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/download\/case_studies\/ec2it.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Case Study<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Choosing wisely among the different Azure Storage tiers will allow you to minimize your cloud data storage costs without compromising your ability to restore backup data when you need it. Keep in mind that with MSP360 Backup, no matter which tier you want to use, you can easily automate the process of backing up to Azure Blob Storage.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you're an MSP and you need a backup solution to manage multiple clients seamlessly, take a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/managed-backup\/\">MSP360 Managed Backup<\/a>\u00a0- a solution that offers top-tier data protection for Windows, Linux, macOS, VMware and Hyper-V, featuring centralized management and flexible payment options for large-scale IT environments.<\/li>\n<li>If you need a backup solution for managing up to 5 devices, try <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/msp360-standalone-backup\/\">MSP360 Backup Pro. <\/a>With this solution you can conveniently manage smaller-scale IT environments and upgrade anytime.<\/li>\n<li>If you need a backup solution for personal use, try our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/backup\/free-backup-software\/\">FREE backup software <\/a>for Windows, macOS, and Linux.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Azure Blob Storage offers an opportunity for organizations that store data in Azure to minimize cloud storage costs. For that, Microsoft has developed access tiers for your data. Below, we compare and contrast the different Azure storage tiers available and explain which Blob storage tiers to use under which conditions in order to strike the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[886,878,887],"tags":[925],"class_list":["post-33581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-backup-and-dr-guides","category-msp-university","category-storage-guides","tag-azure-as-a-backup-storage-destination"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33581"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60800,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581\/revisions\/60800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}