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Cloud Provider Benchmarks

Reports · Storage

S3-compatible object storage 2026: which of seven clouds speak the S3 API

Which of seven clouds offer S3-compatible object storage, where compatibility is only partial, and which advanced features stay unverified.

Direct answer

AWS, PortvMind, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Hetzner document S3-compatible object storage; Hetzner states partial API coverage. Google Cloud Storage is partial through its XML API. Azure Blob Storage is not S3-compatible.

Executive summary

AWS S3, PortvMind Object Storage, DigitalOcean Spaces, Vultr Object Storage and Hetzner Object Storage document an S3 API. Hetzner's own overview describes that coverage as partial. Google Cloud Storage is partial: its XML API works with HMAC keys and is not full S3 parity. Azure Blob Storage uses its own API and is not S3-compatible. PortvMind's service is located in Türkiye and documents cost from stored data, request count and data transfer. Versioning, object lock, lifecycle rules and event notifications are not assessed per provider in this edition, and no throughput or latency number is published.

Key findings

  1. 01 Five providers document an S3-compatible object store: AWS, PortvMind, DigitalOcean Spaces, Vultr and Hetzner.
  2. 02 Hetzner documents EU locations and partial S3 API coverage, so a yes on the capability row is not a claim of full parity.
  3. 03 Google Cloud Storage is partial (XML API with HMAC keys). Azure Blob Storage is no, because it uses its own API.
  4. 04 PortvMind Object Storage is located in Türkiye. Credentials, endpoint and region are created in the console.
  5. 05 Advanced features and warp throughput are out of this edition until checked or measured per provider.

1. Scope

This report records which of seven providers document object storage that applications can call with the Amazon S3 API. It separates a documented S3-compatible API from full feature parity. It does not publish throughput or latency. Method: object storage methodology. A shorter article is at S3-compatible object storage.

2. Who documents an S3 API

Object storage, block storage and backup
Criterion PortvMind AWS Azure Google Cloud DigitalOcean Vultr Hetzner
Storage & data
Block storage volumes Persistent, attachable and expandable block volumes. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
S3-compatible object storage Object storage reachable through the S3 API or an S3-compatible API. Yes Yes Native S3. No Blob Storage uses its own API. Partial XML API interoperability with HMAC keys; not full S3 API parity. Yes Spaces. Yes Yes EU locations; partial S3 API coverage.
Managed backup service Scheduled backup and restore for instances or volumes managed by the provider. Yes Instances, volumes and Kubernetes PVCs. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Server backups.
Provider Assessment What the documentation supports
AWS Yes Amazon S3, the API the others are compared with
PortvMind Yes S3-compatible API, located in Türkiye
DigitalOcean Yes Spaces
Vultr Yes Vultr Object Storage
Hetzner Yes, partial coverage EU locations; the provider states the S3 API is not fully covered
Google Cloud Partial XML API interoperability with HMAC keys, not full S3 parity
Microsoft Azure No Blob Storage uses its own API

3. What a documented S3 API covers

AWS documents Amazon S3 itself. DigitalOcean documents Spaces and Vultr documents its object storage as S3-compatible. PortvMind documents an S3-compatible API located in Türkiye, with credentials, endpoint and region created in the console, and cost from stored data, requests and transfer; versioning, object lock, lifecycle and notifications are not documented, so they are not claimed. Hetzner documents the API and states that coverage is partial. Regions and list prices for all seven are in Cloud services, regions and list prices 2026.

4. Where compatibility is partial

Hetzner. Object storage is assessed yes, with the note that locations are in the EU and that S3 API coverage is partial. Treat a successful core PUT and GET as a starting point, not as evidence that bucket policies, object lock or notifications match Amazon S3.

Google Cloud Storage. The interoperability document describes an XML API used with HMAC keys. That is enough for some S3 tools and not enough to call the service S3-compatible in the same sense as Spaces or PortvMind Object Storage. The value stays partial.

Azure Blob Storage. The product is object storage, and it is assessed no for the S3 API. Applications written to the S3 API need a translation layer that this report does not evaluate.

5. Features this edition does not score

Core operations (create and list buckets, put, get, delete, multipart upload, presigned URLs) are the usual meaning of S3 compatibility. Versioning, lifecycle transitions, object lock, conditional bucket policies and event notifications vary, and this edition did not run the methodology’s feature script against each endpoint. A later edition will record each of those as supported, unsupported or different from Amazon S3, with the error returned.

6. Measurement method for speed

The methodology measures large-object GET and PUT (64 MiB) and small-object GET latency (16 KiB) with MinIO warp from an 8 vCPU instance in the same region. This report contains no MiB/s or millisecond figures. Compare providers on API compatibility and data location; speed is outside this edition’s scope.

7. Conclusion

Five providers document an S3 API, one of them with stated partial coverage. Google Cloud is a partial interoperability path. Azure is a different API. For data that must stay in Türkiye, PortvMind Object Storage is the tracked service that documents that location together with an S3-compatible API. Test the operations your application actually calls before migrating, especially anything beyond put, get, list and multipart upload.

Limitations

  • Feature-level behaviour (versioning, object lock, lifecycle, bucket policies, event notifications) was not executed against each endpoint.
  • No GET or PUT throughput or latency figure is included.
  • A capability value of yes means the provider documents an S3 or S3-compatible API, not that every S3 operation matches Amazon S3.

Version history

Version Date Notes
1.0 First edition. API compatibility from documentation; no warp runs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Azure Blob Storage S3-compatible?

No. Azure Blob Storage documents its own REST API. A gateway in front of it would be a separate product, not native compatibility.

Does S3-compatible mean every S3 feature works?

No. In this report it means the provider documents the S3 API or an S3-compatible API. Hetzner explicitly documents partial coverage. Versioning, object lock and event notifications still have to be tested.

Sources

  1. [1] Amazon S3 — AWS Official documentation accessed:
  2. [2] Cloud Storage interoperability — Google Cloud Official documentation accessed:
  3. [3] Azure Blob Storage — Microsoft Official documentation accessed:
  4. [4] DigitalOcean Spaces — DigitalOcean Official documentation accessed:
  5. [5] Vultr Object Storage — Vultr Official documentation accessed:
  6. [6] Hetzner Object Storage overview — Hetzner Official documentation accessed:
  7. [7] PortvMind Object Storage — PortvMind Provider (first-party) accessed: