Object storage (S3-compatible services) and storage servers solve related but different problems. Choosing the wrong one for your workload costs money and creates architectural complexity that compounds over time. Here's a straightforward framework for making the right call.
Object storage: what it's actually good for
Object storage (Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, Wasabi) is optimized for: storing files that are accessed via HTTP/API, scaling to petabytes without provisioning servers, and achieving high durability (11 nines) through automatic replication. It's the right architecture for: user-uploaded content, static website assets, software distribution, and database backups.
The trade-off is access pattern. Object storage doesn't support random writes to a file — you replace the whole object. You can't mount it as a filesystem the way you would block storage. For applications that need to modify files in-place (databases, logs), object storage requires workarounds.
Block storage on a VPS: what it solves
Block storage — a mounted virtual disk on a VPS — behaves like a local hard drive. You can run a filesystem, write files in-place, run databases, and work with software that expects standard POSIX file operations.
Cherry Servers Cloud VPS provides up to 800GB NVMe or 3TB HDD storage attached to your VPS, mounted and usable like any disk. With 10G uplinks on a 100G+ backbone, serving data from these volumes runs at network speeds that don't bottleneck typical workloads. For self-hosted Nextcloud, Plex media servers, Postgres databases, or log aggregation, block storage on a VPS is simpler and often cheaper than object storage.
Dedicated servers for storage-heavy workloads
When your storage needs cross into multi-TB territory with sustained I/O, dedicated hardware wins. Cherry Servers Instant Dedicated configurations support up to 4 disks on RAID 1 with 100TB/mo of free outbound bandwidth on 10G plans — for video streaming, CDN origin, or bulk data workloads, that egress allowance alone can save thousands per month vs a cloud provider charging per-TB. Additional traffic beyond 100TB is €0.5/TB.
ServerSP's $169/mo Xeon E5 dedicated server runs hardware RAID with battery backup, dual 10Gbps SFP+ ports, and 1Gbps unmetered bandwidth — the right pick when data integrity (HW RAID + BBU survives unexpected power events without corruption) is a hard requirement for the workload.
Cost comparison for common workloads
3TB of static file storage: Cherry Servers Cloud VPS with 3TB HDD mounted vs Backblaze B2 at $18/mo (object storage, egress via Cloudflare free tier). B2 wins on cost for static asset serving with Cloudflare. Cherry Servers wins if you need the storage mounted as a filesystem or if you need bandwidth not gated through Cloudflare.
Backup storage: object storage (B2 at $6/TB/mo) wins at multi-TB scale when your backup software supports S3 APIs. For backup workloads under 1TB or that need filesystem semantics, mounting block storage on a VPS is operationally simpler.
Decision framework
Choose object storage when: you're storing user uploads or media that needs HTTP delivery, you need automatic redundancy, or you're storing database backups that will be retrieved rarely. Choose block storage on a VPS when: your application needs mounted filesystem access, you're running databases that need fast random I/O, or you want to avoid per-GB API fees on high-request workloads. Choose dedicated hardware when: you need multi-TB sustained throughput, hardware RAID with BBU for data integrity, or 100TB+ of monthly egress without per-TB fees.
For most storage use cases, start with the architecture that requires fewer moving parts. Block storage on a VPS is operationally simpler than integrating S3-compatible APIs into every write path. Add object storage when the scale or access pattern genuinely requires it.