Cloudflare launches Basin data platform with no R2 egress fees
Cloudflare has launched its Data Platform from beta to general availability, rebranding it as Basin. The service offers a serverless model with no egress fees and open standards based on Apache Iceberg, positioning it as an alternative to hyperscaler services that charge for data movement across regions. This matters because many companies seek ways to avoid vendor lock-in and reduce data management costs.
Basin encompasses three components: Basin Pipelines, Basin Catalog, and Basin SQL, which allow companies to store data in R2 and process it with various external query engines including DuckDB, Snowflake, Spark, and Trino. The platform uses Apache Iceberg to ensure open standards and interoperability. However, whilst direct R2 egress is free, Cloudflare does charge for data delivery when Basin Pipelines loads data into Apache Iceberg or Parquet formats, after included allowances run out.
- Cloudflare launches Basin, a serverless data platform with no egress fees
- Uses Apache Iceberg for open standards and to avoid vendor lock-in
- Free data movement between regions, though some services still carry charges
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Companies that store large amounts of data often face significant costs when moving that data between different cloud services or regions. Most major cloud providers charge what are known as egress fees—charges that apply when data leaves their networks. This can make switching providers expensive and complicated, leading many businesses to seek alternatives.
Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure company, has launched Basin, a data platform designed to help companies store and process data whilst avoiding some of these egress charges. The platform uses Apache Iceberg, an open standard for data format, meaning information is not locked into Cloudflare's proprietary system. Companies can use various external tools and services to analyse data stored in Basin.
This matters because businesses increasingly want to avoid vendor lock-in—the situation where switching providers becomes prohibitively expensive or difficult. Basin represents one attempt to address this concern by offering no egress fees within its own ecosystem and using open standards that give customers more flexibility.
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Originally published by The Register as “Cloudflare launches Data Platform with bland ‘Basin’ branding, promise of fewer fees”.