5 IONOS Object Storage Alternatives in 2026

IONOS Cloud Object Storage is a German object storage option from a large German provider.

That makes it interesting for German companies, especially if procurement and vendor familiarity matter. But IONOS is not the only German or European option, and its traffic rules are worth reading carefully.

Here are five IONOS Object Storage alternatives in 2026.

What IONOS Object Storage is good at

IONOS offers S3-compatible object storage with redundant storage and free API operations listed on its pricing page.

It is a good fit if your company already uses IONOS or wants a large German provider. The main thing to check is traffic pricing, because data transmission costs are handled separately.

Quick comparison

1. Sliplane Object Storage

Sliplane Object Storage is a good IONOS alternative if you want German S3-compatible storage without traffic-pricing homework.

Sliplane is headquartered in Berlin. Object Storage is available in Germany and costs 5 EUR per 250 GB per month, excluding tax. No request fees. No ingress fees. No egress fees.

Sliplane does not charge per bucket, so splitting uploads, backups, staging assets, and customer files into separate buckets does not change the bill.

Use Sliplane if:

• You want German S3-compatible storage.
• You want no egress or request fees.
• You store uploads, backups, exports, and generated files.
• You want storage near your app platform.

Skip it if:

• You need a large enterprise cloud catalog.
• You already buy everything from IONOS.
• You need many storage classes.

2. Hetzner Object Storage

Hetzner Object Storage is the other obvious German alternative.

It is S3-compatible, has German/Finnish locations, and supports object locking, versioning, pre-signed URLs, and server-side encryption.

As of July 2026, Hetzner pricing starts at 6.49 EUR/month, excluding VAT, including 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of egress. Extra storage is listed at 8.70 EUR/TB-month, extra egress at 1 EUR/TB, and Hetzner lists ingress, internal eu-central traffic, and S3 API calls as free.

The caveat in 2026 is availability under load. On July 2, 2026, Hetzner's status page showed degraded Object Storage in multiple locations and an ongoing note that high Object Storage traffic may lead to timeouts. The durability and feature set can still make sense for backups or Hetzner-local workflows, but I would not make it the first choice for availability-sensitive app paths right now.

Use Hetzner if:

• You already use Hetzner.
• You want German infrastructure.
• You like infrastructure-level products.

Skip it if:

• You want no request/egress fees.
• You want app hosting and storage together.
• You are not already in Hetzner.

3. Scaleway Object Storage

Scaleway Object Storage is a French/EU alternative with storage classes.

It is a good fit if you care more about European infrastructure and storage lifecycle options than German vendor status.

Use Scaleway if:

• You want EU object storage.
• You need storage classes.
• You want lifecycle/archive options.

Skip it if:

• You need German storage.
• You want no egress fees.
• You want the simplest possible bill.

4. Exoscale Object Storage

Exoscale Object Storage is a European alternative with zones including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

It is useful for teams that want European data residency without using the largest cloud providers.

Use Exoscale if:

• You want European zones.
• You care about GDPR-friendly infrastructure.
• You want a German zone without IONOS.

Skip it if:

• You want no egress fees.
• You want app-platform integration.
• You want a very familiar brand.

5. Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2 is a very different IONOS alternative.

It is not German-provider storage, but it has free egress and strong edge integration. If bandwidth cost is your main issue, R2 deserves a look.

Use R2 if:

• You already use Cloudflare.
• You serve public assets.
• You want free egress.

Skip it if:

• You want a German provider.
• You want no request fees.
• You do not use Cloudflare.

Which IONOS alternative should you choose?

Conclusion

IONOS Object Storage is worth considering if your company already works with IONOS or wants a large German provider.

But if you want German S3-compatible storage with no egress fees, no request fees, and a developer-first app workflow, Sliplane Object Storage is the simpler alternative.