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Amazon S3 Glacier vs Google Cloud Storage Nearline comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

Amazon S3 Glacier
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Amazon S3 Glacier is 10.3%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 6.9%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon S3 Glacier10.3%
Google Cloud Storage Nearline6.9%
Other82.8%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

PF
Project Engineer at Astellas Pharma US
Archiving data has reduced storage costs and provides reliable long‑term retention
We have not really come across any downsides for us. It is possible that the retrieval of data may be expensive, which could be an issue, but we have not experienced that in fairness. Integration with our policies would be beneficial. We have policies for our systems where we delete data after a certain number of years, and having integration with Amazon S3 Glacier would be good. Having a guarantee that Amazon S3 Glacier would persist for the amount of time that we require in our archives would be valuable. In other words, Amazon would need to commit to support for the period we need. We could be talking about 20 years or longer. We cannot always move to the next version because we need to maintain old systems and legacy systems in order to maintain archives. A guarantee around support would be a good thing to have.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon S3 Glacier is an easy-to-use solution."
"The most valuable feature of Glacier is its storage capability and cost benefit."
"We like that the price is cheaper."
"Amazon S3 Glacier can integrate seamlessly with other AWS services."
"I find Amazon S3 Glacier valuable for storing various documents like purchase orders, standard documents, and drawings."
"We use the solution for migration."
"The solution is great for storing data you don't usually need access to. It's also well-integrated with Amazon S3."
"The tool is simple to use and not very expensive."
"It provides the necessary support and flexibility to manage data storage effectively, especially during times of variable data flow."
"It can isolate files and stop them from corrupting other files."
"We didn't face any downtime last year using the solution."
"The best part of Nearline storage is the ability to take backups at optimal costs and its availability across multiple regions."
"The most valuable feature of Nearline is the access. It's helpful to move data that is generated once a month, such as salary information, to Nearline."
"Nearline is highly stable."
"The data structure and the types of data that are supported are very good."
"I find the flexibility in storing documents or data and the ease of retrieval valuable with this solution."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improvements in the transfer rate as it takes quite a long time to retrieve data from Glacier compared to standard S3 storage."
"The solution’s deployment process is complex and could be improved."
"The product could be improved in terms of the customer support team's response times."
"I am unsure if the product provides good integration capabilities. From an improvement perspective, I want the tool to provide easier integration features."
"The product’s pricing must be improved."
"I believe the usage reporting could be simplified, particularly for billing purposes. Overall, I find Amazon S3 Glacier's reporting system somewhat confusing compared to other hyperscalers in the market."
"Their pricing structure is always a big topic. It's so difficult to understand."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"They need a better, more visual, user interface for folders and files."
"The pricing could be improved. It's completely non-competitive at this time."
"One area that needs improvement is the documentation, which I find to be disorganized and not user-friendly."
"The suggestion for improvement primarily revolves around cost efficiency."
"The UI could be a little bit more effective."
"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."
"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."
"The pricing is quite high."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is cost-effective."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is a cost-effective solution for archiving."
"Amazon S3 Glacier has a good pricing point, and you pay for what's being used."
"Customers prefer Amazon S3 Glacier because it is a cheap and pay-as-you-go solution."
"I've operated with Amazon S3 Glacier in two modes. Firstly, there's the trial mode, where I experimented with the platform, learned its functionalities, and applied it to my work. Secondly, there's the corporate account mode, where my team handles the operations, and I receive billing reports."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is very cheap, but the cost becomes a concern when you have a very large amount of data."
"The product is very cheap."
"Amazon S3 Glacier has good pricing."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
7%
Performing Arts
5%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...
What needs improvement with Amazon S3 Glacier?
We have not really come across any downsides for us. It is possible that the retrieval of data may be expensive, which could be an issue, but we have not experienced that in fairness. Integration w...
What is your primary use case for Amazon S3 Glacier?
We were using Amazon S3 Glacier, and I have experience with this solution. We had an S3 bucket that we were using about a year ago. We just started using Amazon S3 Glacier, and overall, I have been...
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.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Glacier
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

King Cpunty, Illumina, Backupify, Nearmap.com, Scribd, Baylor College of Medicine, SoundCloud
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Google Cloud Storage Nearline and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.