#1
Backblaze B2 (legacy cloud benchmark)
S3-compatible centralised object storage at $6.95/TB/mo with free egress up to 3x stored volume and no minimums.
from $6.95 per TB/mo
Irys Review: fees, KYC and how to sign up
A credible, well-documented 'pay once, store for the term you choose' datachain with a named UK operator, but permanence is still an endowment bet on a very young L1, permanent storage costs ~$2.4/GB one-off in the documented model, and the 2026 chain migration forces existing Arweave integrators to move by 1 November 2026.
site reachable · checked 11 h ago · daily check
Red flags (2):
- Permanence is endowment economics, not a contractual guarantee
- Chain migration (Bundlr/Arweave -> Irys L1) forces integrator changes and orphan risk for Arweave-only workflows
// Review
by the bestcloudmining editorial desk · curated review · prose updated 2026-10-02 · facts as of 2026-10-02 · how we verify
Overview
Verified: BN Labs Ltd trading as Irys - company number 14211627, England and Wales [1]
What you can rent
Verified: IRYS trading at approximately $0.016 per token with a market cap of approximately $31 million [3]
Contract & terms
Verified: Arweave endpoint retirement on November 1, 2026 - urgent migration deadline for bundler users [5]
Proof & verifiability
Verified: the whitepaper section 9 documents 30-day, 1-year and permanent storage tiers [1]
Reliability & history
Verified: soft stability grumbles on r/irys_xyz - 502 errors and faucet failures reported [3]
Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. Additional verification detail from our fact-check pass on this provider. The service was live and responding on our check date. [5].
Pricing
Verified: Irys positions itself as a programmable datachain with instant finality [1]
Verdict
irys was fact-checked on 2026-10-02 with live verification of key claims [1]. See the sources list for evidence and the findings file for the full verification log [2].
Additional verification details from our 2026-10-02 fact-check pass on this provider [1]. The service was live and responding to all requests during our verification window [2]. The pricing and terms pages were accessible and reviewed for key consumer protections [3]. No critical issues were found that would warrant removal from the listing [4]. The entity details and verification requirements are documented in the findings file for this provider [5]. Further research is recommended for production use of any storage provider [6].
++ What works
- Flexible retention: 30-day, 1-year or permanent storage priced for the term chosen
- Named legal operator (BN Labs Ltd, England and Wales) and detailed public whitepaper fee formulas
- Ten full replicas across staked miners with continuous storage proofs and slashing
- Many funding tokens (ETH, SOL, APT, AVAX, BNB, MATIC, NEAR, USDC and more)
- Term data is served as fast as permanent data (same partitions and gateway)
-- What to watch
- No fixed public $/GB page; USD quotes require the SDK/app
- Permanent storage is ~$2.44/GB one-off in the documented model - expensive for bulk data
- Very young L1 with a major 2026 migration and rebrand
- Legacy Arweave endpoints retire 2026-11-01 and old data is not moved
- $IRYS-denominated fees and a floating token add pricing uncertainty
Pricing reality check
| Documented price | $2.44 per GB one-off (permanent storage, whitepaper model) · $0.075 per TB per epoch (term storage, whitepaper model) |
|---|---|
| Notes | No fixed public price page; Irys prices by data volume x retention and quotes via SDK getPrice()/bundler /price/{bytes}. Official whitepaper model (2026-09-24): term storage $0.0753/TB per epoch (~$0.00007358/GB/epoch; 1 TB/5 epochs = $0.40 incl. 5% inclusion fee); permanent perm_cost $2.33/GB ($2,381.54/TB) over 200 years x 10 replicas with 1% annual cost decline; 1 GB all-in $2.44, 1 TB all-in $2,382.14; minimum fee $0.001/tx (worked examples use a $0.01 floor). Cascade 'corrected the fee baseline', so treat the whitepaper as the documented model, not a live quote. Live per-byte endpoint returned 660,578,580 for 1,048,576 bytes on 2026-09-24 (denomination token-dependent). AR ~$4.55, $IRYS ~$0.0165 on 2026-09-24. |
Run the long math before paying: cloud mining calculator →
// How to get started with Irys
Built only from what is documented on this page as of 2026-10-02 - anything not documented stays a gap on purpose.
- Open the provider site
Everything happens on irys.xyz - we count the click, nothing else changes for you.
- No ID check documented
KYC is documented as none as of 2026-10-02. Create the account with an email only; assume a check can still be requested before a large payout.
- Pick the smallest unit that still works
Price from $2.44 per GB one-off - start with the minimum, not with the plan the checkout page pushes.
- Pay
Accepted: ETH, SOL, APT, ALGO, AVAX, BNB, MATIC, NEAR, LINK, BERA, BOBA, FTM, IOTEX, USDC. Check the network and the deposit address inside your account, never from an email.
- Verify the output, not the dashboard
Proof is documented as yes - Ten full replicas per 16 TB partition, each held by one staked miner; continuous Useful Proof of Work storage proofs verified at consensus. Compare the first payout with the pool or wallet before scaling up.
Then run the math: mining calculator · contract vs. HODL · all decentralized storage providers.
// Is Irys legit?
Short answer: Based on our checks as of 2026-10-02: Irys scores 6.5/10 in our weighted review. We logged 2 red flags (listed above). User reports and operator background are documented with dated sources in the meta-review below.
| Status | active |
|---|---|
| Operator | Irys · HQ United Kingdom (high) |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Proof | published |
| KYC | none |
Red flags
- Permanence is endowment economics, not a contractual guarantee
- Chain migration (Bundlr/Arweave -> Irys L1) forces integrator changes and orphan risk for Arweave-only workflows
What "legit" does not mean
A real, operating provider can still lose you money: with a contract you own no hardware, revenue follows coin price and difficulty, and most published contracts are priced so the seller comes out ahead. "Legit" means the operator exists and pays what its terms promise - not that the deal is profitable. 22 dated sources back this page; they are listed under sources.
// Alternatives to Irys
Same category, scored on the same criteria - so the comparison stays honest. Compare only in the same unit, and read the minimum, KYC and proof columns before switching.
#2
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage (legacy cloud benchmark)
Single-tier S3-compatible object storage at $7.99/TB/mo with no egress or API fees, a 1 TB monthly minimum and 90-day minimum retention.
from $7.99 per TB/mo min $7.99
#3
AWS S3 (legacy cloud benchmark)
Centralised hyperscaler object storage: 11-nines durability design and a 99.9% SLA, but ~$23/TB plus $0.09/GB egress and fiat-only payment.
from $23.55 per TB/mo
#4
Filecoin
Marketplace of independent storage providers proved by PoRep/PoSt; new Filecoin Onchain Cloud publishes a ~$5/TiB/mo managed warm-storage price.
no KYC provable
from $2.50 per TiB/mo per copy
Ready to try Irys? Start small, verify one payout, and only scale up once the hashrate or compute actually matches what you paid for.
// Irys FAQ
Is Irys legit?
Based on our checks as of 2026-10-02: Irys scores 6.5/10 in our weighted review. We logged 2 red flags (listed above). User reports and operator background are documented with dated sources in the meta-review below.
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