Cost Analysis
August 2025 • 8 min read
Choosing between Azure Blob Storage and SharePoint isn't just about features - it's about total cost of ownership. Here's the complete breakdown.
Storage Costs: The Headline Numbers
| Storage Type | Per GB/Month | Per TB/Month | Annual (1TB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SharePoint Online | £0.22 | £225 | £2,700 |
| Azure Blob (Hot) | £0.021 | £21 | £252 |
| Azure Blob (Cool) | £0.011 | £11 | £132 |
| Azure Blob (Archive) | £0.001 | £1 | £12 |
Savings Example: For 2TB of storage, you'd save £4,896 annually by using Azure Blob Hot tier instead of SharePoint (£5,400 vs £504).
But Wait... There Are Hidden Costs
Azure Blob Storage Additional Costs
Data Transfer (Egress)
- First 5GB/month: Free
- Next 10TB: £0.07/GB
- Next 40TB: £0.065/GB
Operations
- Read operations: £0.00036/10K
- Write operations: £0.0045/10K
- List operations: £0.045/10K
SharePoint Hidden Costs
- User licenses: Requires Microsoft 365 licenses for all users
- Version storage: Each file version counts toward storage quota
- Sync overhead: OneDrive client resource usage
Feature Comparison
| Feature | SharePoint | Azure Blob | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (per TB) | £225/month | £21/month | Blob |
| Co-authoring | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Not available | SharePoint |
| Version History | ✅ Full versioning | ⚠️ Basic versioning | SharePoint |
| Search | ✅ Content indexing | ⚠️ Metadata only | SharePoint |
| File Size Limit | 250GB | 4.75TB | Blob |
| Workflows | ✅ Power Automate | ⚠️ Custom logic | SharePoint |
| CDN/Performance | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Global CDN | Blob |
| Compliance | ✅ Built-in policies | ⚠️ Custom setup | SharePoint |
Real-World Cost Scenarios
Scenario 1: Marketing Team (Heavy Downloads)
- Storage: 1TB of media files
- Usage: 100GB downloads per month
- Users: 15 people accessing files
SharePoint Costs
- Storage: £225/month
- Downloads: £0 (included)
- Total: £225/month
Azure Blob Costs
- Storage: £21/month
- Downloads: £7/month (100GB)
- Total: £28/month
Savings: £197/month (£2,364/year)
Scenario 2: Archive Storage (Minimal Access)
- Storage: 5TB of archived files
- Usage: 10GB downloads per month
- Users: Occasional access only
SharePoint Costs
- Storage: £1,125/month
- Downloads: £0 (included)
- Total: £1,125/month
Azure Blob (Cool) Costs
- Storage: £55/month
- Downloads: £0.70/month
- Total: £55.70/month
Savings: £1,069/month (£12,828/year)
When to Choose What
Choose SharePoint When:
- Heavy collaboration needed
- Office documents (Word, Excel, PPT)
- Workflow automation required
- Compliance features needed
- Built-in search is critical
- Storage under 1TB
Choose Azure Blob When:
- Large files (videos, images, CAD)
- Archive/backup storage
- High storage volumes (multi-TB)
- Cost is primary concern
- Custom applications needed
- Global content delivery
The Hybrid Approach
The smartest organizations don't choose one or the other - they use both:
- SharePoint for active collaboration (documents, spreadsheets, presentations)
- Azure Blob for bulk storage (media, archives, large files)
- Integrated interface so users don't see the complexity
Migration Considerations
- Data transfer costs: Moving large amounts of data to Azure can incur egress charges
- User training: Different interfaces require some adjustment
- Application compatibility: Some tools expect SharePoint storage
- Backup strategy: Ensure both systems are properly backed up
Deployment experience
Early customer deployments have shown same-day setup is realistic where the Azure Storage account, SAS token and SharePoint App Catalog are already available.
Customer feedback has directly shaped recent improvements, including upload options, folder and subfolder search, large-folder Load more and improved file and folder handling.
BlobBridge is designed for teams that want SharePoint-based access to Azure Blob Storage without sending end users to the Azure portal.