Cloud storage vendor Backblaze just announced a new study in partnership with Dimensional Research that examines how hidden cloud storage costs are driving major shifts in enterprise infrastructure strategies. As AI adoption accelerates, organizations are increasingly hitting a wall – not in innovation, but in cloud bills.
“The data shows what many IT leaders already know from experience: innovation is being throttled not by technology limits, but by cloud economics via egress fees and unpredictable charges,” said Gleb Budman, CEO at Backblaze.
According to the survey of 403 leaders managing over 250TB in the cloud, 95% of companies have been hit with unexpected cloud storage charges, most often due to steep egress fees and opaque billing models. 58% of respondents say the cost of moving or accessing data is now the single biggest barrier to realizing multi-cloud strategies. The challenge intensifies with scale: enterprises managing more than five petabytes of data are the most vulnerable to budget overruns that disrupt operations and stall transformation.
The fact that 95% of organizations have had unexpected cloud storage costs isn’t okay, or the cost of doing business, for Budman.
“That’s crazy!” he declared. “How many parts of your business are you ok having surprise costs?”
The research highlights the tension between modern workloads and outdated pricing models. AI and advanced analytics depend on massive, fast-moving datasets, but organizations are being forced into trade-offs:
56% are shrinking stored datasets to control costs.
46% are tightening retention policies, reducing data available for future AI training and analytics.
40% are diverting funds from other mission-critical initiatives to cover storage overruns.
The research found that some organizations are taking even more drastic measures: 37% curtail dataset usage and 21% reduce headcount or staff allocation. 15% perform what might be the most shocking measure by taking no action and simply absorbing the costs.
“The data shows what many IT leaders already know from experience: innovation is being throttled not by technology limits, but by cloud economics via egress fees and unpredictable charges,” Budman stated. “In a cloud-first, AI-powered world, the question is no longer whether you can afford innovation – it’s whether your current cloud provider will let you.”
According to the research, nearly every organization surveyed has been hit by surprise charges like retrieval, egress, or PUT fees.
With 62% of respondents preferring to select best of breed providers versus one-stop-shops, these findings highlight a growing shift.
The market is responding to cost pressures, with organizations increasingly adopting multi-cloud strategies to avoid single vendor lock-in and unpredictable pricing models. Even the largest hyperscalers are beginning to acknowledge customer frustration with restrictive data movement costs. However, while the study shows enterprises are actively evaluating independent and transparent storage providers, it also found that 97% perceive costs of egressing and moving data and technical complexity as the top two barriers to making the switch.
Budman emphasized the importance of high-performance, affordable object storage in cloud native workloads, and why Backblaze is heading to KubeCon as a sponsor for that reason.
“This study’s findings are consistent with what we’re hearing across the industry,” said Diane Hagglund, Principal at Dimensional Research and author of the study. “As AI and other data-intensive workloads expand, the ability to move data freely and affordably is no longer optional—it’s a strategic requirement.”
The 2025 study surveyed more than 400 IT decision makers responsible for managing at least 250TB of data in the public cloud. The findings make one thing clear: as AI, analytics, and data-intensive workloads expand, hidden costs and limited interoperability are forcing companies to rethink their cloud strategies. The problem is that hidden fees are everywhere.
Download the full report atv: https://blze.ai/DimensionalResearchReport2025