5 S3 Providers With Object Locking in 2026

Object locking is one of those S3 features you do not care about until the day you really care.

It helps protect objects against changes or deletion for a defined period. That makes it useful for backups, compliance workflows, ransomware protection, audit logs, invoice archives, and other files where "oops, deleted it" is not an acceptable incident report.

Here are five S3 providers with object locking to compare in 2026.

What object locking is good for

Object locking can help with:

• Immutable backups
• Audit logs
• Compliance archives
• Ransomware-resistant storage
• Accidental deletion protection
• Retention workflows

It is not a replacement for access control, monitoring, backups, or common sense. But it is a very useful layer.

Quick comparison

1. Sliplane Object Storage

Sliplane Object Storage supports object locking and versioning, which makes it a good fit for backups and important app files.

The pricing is simple: 5 EUR per 250 GB per month, excluding tax. The first GB is free. No request fees, no ingress fees, and no egress fees.

That matters for locked objects because retained versions still count as stored data. You want to understand what your retention policy will cost.

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 object locking in a German region.
• You want no egress or request fees.
• You want a simple backup/archive bucket.
• You run apps on Sliplane.

Skip it if:

• You need enterprise-grade compliance controls around object lock.
• You need many storage classes.
• You need many global regions.

2. Hetzner Object Storage

Hetzner Object Storage lists object locking as a feature.

It is S3-compatible and available in Nuremberg, Falkenstein, and Helsinki. That makes it interesting for European backup storage, especially if your servers already run on Hetzner.

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/Finnish storage.
• You want object locking near Hetzner infrastructure.

Skip it if:

• You want no per-bucket fees, egress fees, or request fees.
• You want storage inside your app platform.
• You do not already use Hetzner.

3. Scaleway Object Storage

Scaleway Object Storage lists object lock and versioning among its S3-compatible features.

It also offers multiple storage classes, which can be useful for backup and archive workflows where locked data moves through lifecycle stages.

Use Scaleway if:

• You want EU storage.
• You need storage classes.
• You want object lock plus lifecycle options.

Skip it if:

• You want no egress fees.
• You want a German provider.
• You only need a simple app backup bucket.

4. AWS S3

AWS S3 has the most mature object locking story.

If you need serious compliance workflows, governance mode, compliance mode, legal holds, and deep AWS integration, AWS S3 is the reference implementation most people compare against.

The downside is the usual AWS downside: setup complexity, IAM complexity, and billing complexity.

Use AWS S3 if:

• You need enterprise-grade S3 Object Lock.
• You already run on AWS.
• You have compliance requirements that expect AWS.

Skip it if:

• You want a simple bucket.
• You are avoiding AWS complexity.
• You want European startup-friendly pricing.

5. Wasabi

Wasabi is commonly used for backup and immutability-focused storage, with no egress fees and no API request fees.

It can be a strong option for backup sets that should not be changed or deleted early. As always with Wasabi, read the current pricing and retention terms before building aggressive retention policies.

Use Wasabi if:

• You want no egress/API fees.
• You store large backup sets.
• Your retention windows are stable.

Skip it if:

• You frequently delete short-lived objects.
• You want a German region/provider.
• You want app-platform integration.

Which S3 provider with object locking should you choose?

Conclusion

Object locking is especially useful for backups, archives, and compliance-sensitive files.

For enterprise compliance, AWS S3 is still the heavyweight. For European infrastructure, Hetzner and Scaleway are worth checking. For backup-heavy workloads, Wasabi can work well.

If you want S3-compatible object locking in Germany with no egress fees and no request fees, Sliplane Object Storage gives you the simpler path.