Quick answer
What are the alternatives to Hetzner Storage Box and SX storage servers?
The main alternatives to Hetzner Storage Box and SX storage servers are Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Storj, BuyVM slabs, OVHcloud and crypto-paid storage servers. Up to 20 TB, a Storage Box stays cheaper per TB: $2.27 to $3.58 on 2 November 2026. Basalthold rents 24 to 160 TB from $110.99 per 30 days, crypto only, no KYC.
What do Hetzner's storage products cost?
| Product | What it is | Capacity | Per month, before VAT | One-off setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage Box BX11 | Network storage | 1 TB | €3.20 | — |
| Storage Box BX21 | Network storage | 5 TB | €10.90 | — |
| Storage Box BX31 | Network storage | 10 TB | €20.80 | — |
| Storage Box BX41 | Network storage | 20 TB | €40.60 | — |
| SX65 | Server: Ryzen 7 3700X, 64 GB | 4 × 16 TB (64 TB raw) | €274.00 | €134 |
| SX135 | Server: Ryzen 9 3900, 128 GB | 8 × 16 TB (128 TB raw) | €449.00 | €224 |
| SX295 | Server: EPYC 7502P, 256 GB | 14 × 22 TB (308 TB raw) | €879.00 | €439 |
| Server Auction (example) | Server: Xeon W-2145, 128 GB | 10 × 16 TB (160 TB raw) | €247.00 + €1.70 for IPv4 | None |
Prices checked on
Why look for an alternative to a Storage Box?
A Storage Box is one of the cheapest terabytes you can rent, at $2.27 to $3.58. People leave it for its limits, not its price. Its strengths are real: FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, Samba, rsync over SSH, BorgBackup, restic, rclone, HTTPS and WebDAV. It keeps 10 to 40 snapshots, takes 100 sub-accounts, and has no minimum term.
The limits:
- 20 TB per box. Beyond that you juggle several boxes.
- 10 connections at once. Many parallel backup jobs queue.
- Not a server. You cannot run your own daemon on it, such as Proxmox Backup Server or an S3 gateway.
- Two countries: Germany or Finland.
- Payment and identity: our survey found no crypto option at Hetzner. Its fraud-prevention FAQ asks some accounts for an ID document or a card prepayment.
The SX line removes the size limit but adds a setup fee of half a month, and the same payment rules.
Which alternatives exist, and what do they cost?
| Option | Type | Capacity | Price per month | Crypto | ID at signup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner Storage Box | Network storage | 1 to 20 TB per box | $2.27 to $3.58 per TB | ✗ | May be asked |
| Hetzner SX line | Storage server | 64 to 308 TB raw | €274.00 to €879.00 + setup | ✗ | May be asked |
| Hetzner Server Auction | Storage server | Varies daily | From $1.72 per raw TB | ✗ | May be asked |
| Backblaze B2 | S3 object storage | Pay per TB stored | $6.95 per TB | ✗ | Not checked |
| Wasabi | S3 object storage | 1 TB minimum charge | $7.99 per TB | ✗ | Not checked |
| Storj | S3 object storage | Pay per TB stored | $7 per TB + $7 per TB downloaded | USDC only | Not checked |
| BuyVM Block Storage Slab | Disk for a BuyVM VPS | Up to 10 TB | $5.00 per TB | ✓ | Not checked |
| OVHcloud RISE-STOR | Storage server | 4 × 14 TB (56 TB raw) | €164.99 + €164.99 setup | ✗ | Manual order check |
| OffshoreDedi | Storage server | 20 to 160 TB raw | From €170.00 ($189.92) | ✓ | In some cases |
| Basalthold | Storage server | 24 to 160 TB raw | $110.99 to $561.39 | ✓ | Never |
Prices checked on
Which alternative speaks the same protocols as a Storage Box?
Only a machine you control does: object storage speaks S3, not SFTP or Borg. On a hold, each Storage Box protocol is a package you install, or one already in the system:
| Storage Box access | On a Basalthold hold | On B2, Wasabi or Storj |
|---|---|---|
| SFTP and SCP | OpenSSH, ready at delivery | No |
| rsync over SSH | Yes | No |
| BorgBackup | Borg on the server, reached over SSH | No |
| restic | SFTP, or restic's REST server | Yes, as an S3 bucket |
| rclone | SFTP or your own S3 endpoint | Yes, as an S3 bucket |
| Samba / SMB | Samba, best reached over a VPN | No |
| Snapshots | ZFS snapshots that you schedule | Provider features differ |
| Proxmox Backup Server | A ready image: Proxmox Backup Server 4 | No |
Which backup tool to put on the other end is compared in Restic or Borg: which is better for offsite backups to your own server? For Proxmox users, the datastore set-up is in How do I set up an offsite Proxmox Backup Server?
Where is a Basalthold hold better, and where is it not?
A hold is better past 20 TB, when you need your own software, or when you pay in crypto. It is worse for a few terabytes: Hold 24 costs $110.99, while a 5 TB Storage Box costs €10.90.
- Capacity: one machine of up to 160 TB raw, instead of 20 TB boxes.
- Software: Proxmox Backup Server, restic's REST server, an S3 gateway, Nextcloud. Pick Debian, Ubuntu, AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux, Proxmox VE, or Proxmox Backup Server for a ready backup target. Windows is not offered.
- Snapshots against ransomware: ZFS snapshots plus append-only access, laid out in How do I make backups immutable on my own server?
- Identity: No KYC: no ID, no selfie, no documents, no card and no phone number, at any point.
- Cities: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Bucharest (Romania) and Chisinau (Moldova): every hold in every city, at the same price.
Where Hetzner stays ahead: price per TB, snapshots managed for you, no minimum term, and the SX295's 308 TB. Of 23 storage-server sellers Basalthold checked on 2 November 2026, 6 sell in Germany and 4 in Finland, Hetzner's two countries. Every hold is on the pricing page.
How do I move from a Storage Box to a hold?
Rent the hold
Pick a hold, a term and a city, and choose Debian or Proxmox Backup Server as the system. A person on the team prepares the machine after your payment is confirmed, within 72 hours, so it is not instant; the dashboard shows its progress until the IP address appears.
Build the pool
The operating system sits on its own SSD (two mirrored SSDs on the larger holds); the data drives arrive blank and unpartitioned, so you can build ZFS, an mdadm array or a set of independent disks. If you want the team to prepare a RAID 6 or RAID 10 array before delivery, say so to support before the server is handed over. On ten drives, RAIDZ2 keeps 80% of the raw space.
Create one user per client
Give each backup client its own account and SSH key, like the sub-accounts of a Storage Box.
Copy the data across
Run rsync or rclone from the Storage Box to the hold over SFTP. Large copies take days: 20 TB needs about 44 hours if the link holds 1 Gbit/s throughout.
Point the jobs to the new target
Change the host in each backup job, run one backup, then test a restore before you cancel the box.
What else do people ask about Storage Box alternatives?
Is there anything cheaper than a Hetzner Storage Box?
Per raw TB, yes: a Hetzner auction server at $1.72 and NetDynamics24 at $1.30, on 2 November 2026. Neither showed a crypto option, and raw space shrinks under RAID. Storage Boxes cost $2.27 to $3.58, B2 $6.95 and Wasabi $7.99.
Can I pay Hetzner with crypto?
Our survey of 2 November 2026 found no crypto option at Hetzner. Basalthold takes BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC, with no KYC.
Can I use Borg with a Basalthold hold like with a Storage Box?
Yes. Install Borg on the hold, then point your client at it over SSH. You also get root, so you choose the Borg version and the disk layout.
What is the Hetzner SX65?
A storage server with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 64 GB and 4 × 16 TB drives. It cost €274.00 a month plus €134 setup, before VAT, on 2 November 2026.
Does a hold include snapshots?
Not as a service. You schedule ZFS snapshots yourself. A storage server is not a backup of itself: we keep no copy of your data anywhere else, so a second copy in another place stays your job.
Sources (11)
- Storage Box hetzner.com/storage/storage-box — Hetzner Online (read 2026-11-02)
- Server finder price feed (SX line) hetzner.com/_resources/app/data/app/live_data_en_EUR.json — Hetzner Online (read 2026-11-02)
- Server Auction feed hetzner.com/_resources/app/data/app/live_data_sb.json — Hetzner Online (read 2026-11-02)
- Fraud prevention FAQ (account verification) docs.hetzner.com/general/security-and-identify/fraud-prevention-faq — Hetzner Online (read 2026-10-30)
- Eco public catalogue (IE) — OVHcloud (read 2026-11-02)
- Storage servers my.offshorededi.com/store/storage-server — OffshoreDedi (read 2026-11-02)
- B2 Cloud Storage pricing backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing — Backblaze (read 2026-11-02)
- Cloud storage pricing wasabi.com/pricing — Wasabi Technologies (read 2026-11-02)
- Storj pricing — Storj (read 2026-11-02)
- Block Storage Slabs buyvm.net/block-storage-slabs — BuyVM (read 2026-11-02)
- Euro foreign exchange reference rates — European Central Bank (2026-10-30)