Azure Blob SFTP alternative for a partner drop, not a data lake
Bridglet is the right alternative if SFTP is switched on for one storage account so a vendor can leave a file most mornings, and the hourly charge runs all day whether anybody connects or not.
Stay on Azure if the files have to live in Blob storage you own, if Entra ID and your network rules are the point of the setup, if the hierarchical namespace is doing Data Lake work, or if that storage account already sits inside a boundary an auditor has walked. Bridglet answers none of that.
What the endpoint costs
SFTP on one storage account
$0.30 an hour for every hour SFTP is enabled on the account. Storage, transactions and egress are billed on top.
Bridglet Starter
10 GB of space, 5 shared folders, 10 connections an hour, 5 guests per shared folder
One is a protocol bolted onto storage you run. The other is an inbox, not storage. Which one you want depends on where the files are supposed to end up.
Why people look for a Azure Blob SFTP alternative
None of this is a complaint about the product. It is what the published plans charge for, and why that shape stops fitting some teams.
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The hour is the unit, and the file is not
Azure charges $0.30 an hour per storage account with SFTP enabled, which is about $216 across a 720-hour month. A partner who sends one file a day and a pipeline that sends ten thousand produce the same line on the invoice.
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Microsoft's own advice is to turn it off again
The SFTP documentation suggests enabling the protocol only while you are actively transferring data, to avoid passive charges. That is sound guidance for a migration and awkward for a drop folder a vendor uses on their own schedule.
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Hierarchical namespace is decided before the first file
SFTP support requires the hierarchical namespace, which is a property of the storage account. Collecting one CSV from one client starts with an account shaped the way Data Lake wants it, and that shape is not something you flip back on a Tuesday.
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Local users are a second identity system
An SFTP sender is a local user, and local users do not interoperate with RBAC or ABAC. Azure generates the password rather than letting you set one, permissions are granted per container, and reaching one folder needs execute on every folder above it.
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Nobody in the account can greet a non-technical sender
There is no browser front door for the person who has never installed an SFTP client. Someone has to build a link or hand out an Azure identity, and that work lands on whoever set the storage account up.
Azure Blob SFTP and Bridglet, side by side
| Azure Blob Storage with SFTP enabled | Bridglet Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Price to start |
$0.30 an hour per storage account with SFTP enabled, around $216 a month. Storage, transactions and egress are billed at the account's usual rates. verified 2026-09-22 |
$15/mo, flat, with uploads and bandwidth not metered. |
| What that includes |
An SFTP endpoint in front of storage you own. Redundancy, lifecycle rules, firewall settings and the rest of the bill stay yours to run. verified 2026-09-22 |
10 GB of space, 5 shared folders, 10 connections an hour, 5 guests per shared folder |
| The rest of the ladder |
There is no ladder. The published hourly rate is the same across every listed region, and everything else on the account is metered separately. verified 2026-09-22 |
Starter $15/mo (10 GB, 5 shared folders). Pro $49/mo (100 GB, 25 shared folders). Business $149/mo (500 GB, unlimited shared folders). |
| Setup before the first file |
A storage account with the hierarchical namespace enabled, a container, a local user, container permissions and often an ACL or two. verified 2026-09-22 |
A shared folder with a name on it, and credentials scoped to that folder. |
| Per-user fees |
No charge per user. A sender is a local user instead, with container permissions to set and a password Azure generates for them. verified 2026-09-22 |
None. Teammates cost nothing and guests are not seats. |
| Browser portal for non-technical senders |
Not listed. Somebody without an SFTP client needs an Azure sign-in or a link you generate yourself. verified 2026-09-22 |
Yes, on every plan. Send a link, the person sets their own passphrase, then uploads and downloads in the browser. |
| Webhooks |
Not part of the endpoint. Blob events go to Event Grid and the handler is code you write and host. |
Yes, on every plan. One call to a URL you set per shared folder when a file lands. |
| Retention |
Lifecycle management policies, configured on the storage account. |
Yes, on every plan. Set the number of days per shared folder and files are deleted on that schedule. |
| REST API |
Yes. The Azure REST APIs, the CLI and the SDKs cover the whole account. |
On Pro, Business and both lifetime tiers. |
The Azure Blob SFTP column was read off azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/storage/blobs on 2026-09-22, and every row marked above carries the date it was checked. Where a cell says a thing is not listed, it means the published plans are not sold on it. Bridglet's column is the limit the server actually enforces.
What you give up
Moving costs you something. Here is the part of Azure Blob SFTP that Bridglet has no answer for.
Files in Blob storage you own
The endpoint exists so uploads land in your account, under your redundancy settings, next to whatever else reads that container. Bridglet keeps files on its own disks, and no setting points a shared folder at storage of yours.
Entra ID, RBAC and your network rules
Firewalls, virtual networks, private endpoints and conditional access all apply to a storage account. Bridglet has an email sign-in for your team and SFTP credentials for senders, and nothing that plugs into your directory.
The hierarchical namespace and the Data Lake tooling
If the same files are read by Databricks, Synapse or anything else speaking the Data Lake API, the namespace is doing real work. Bridglet has one flat shared folder per sender and no analytics surface behind it.
A subscription an auditor has already seen
Plenty of storage accounts sit inside a scoped environment with diagnostic logging behind them. Moving the drop outside that subscription restarts the scoping conversation, and Bridglet brings no compliance paperwork to it.
Things Bridglet has never had
No SOC 2 report. No custom domain for your endpoint. No command line tool. No option to point a shared folder at a storage bucket you own. No phone support, and no static IP address to hand a firewall team. If any of those is a requirement, this is the wrong product and the page will not pretend otherwise.
Switching from Azure Blob SFTP
There is no migration tool and nothing copies itself across. What a move involves is this, and it is mostly telling people where to send things now.
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Write down what the endpoint is really carrying
Usually a handful of local users, one container or prefix each, and maybe an Event Grid subscription watching for new blobs. The real list is shorter than the portal makes it look, and it is the whole scope of the move.
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Create the same shared folders in Bridglet
One per sender. Each gets a path, a retention setting in days and credentials that reach nothing else in your account. No container permissions, no ACLs, no execute bit on the folders above.
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Hand every sender their new way in
A partner running a script gets a host, a username and a password or a public key, and this time the password is one you can set. Someone who was never going to install a client gets a portal link and picks a passphrase on first use.
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Replace the Event Grid subscription with the webhook
Whatever your blob-created event was starting can be started by Bridglet's webhook instead. The payload is nothing like an Event Grid schema, so read the webhook docs before you cut anything over.
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Run both for a cycle, then disable SFTP on the account
The hourly charge stops when SFTP is disabled, not when the traffic stops, so that toggle is the step that saves the money. Blobs already in the container stay there and keep billing as storage until you clear them out.
What Bridglet costs
Plans are sized by shared folders and space. Teammates, guests, webhooks and retention are in every one of them.
Starter
$15/mo
- 10 GB of space
- 5 shared folders
- 10 connections an hour
- Guest portal, webhooks, retention
Pro
$49/mo
- 100 GB of space
- 25 shared folders
- 60 connections an hour
- Guest portal, webhooks, retention
Business
$149/mo
- 500 GB of space
- unlimited shared folders
- 200 connections an hour
- Guest portal, webhooks, retention
A lifetime round is open while you read this: $59 once for Starter's limits, or $149 once for 50 GB and 15 shared folders. It is capped and it closes. Read the terms on the lifetime page.
Questions people ask before they move
Will this really cost me less than $216 a month?
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For a low-volume partner drop, yes. Starter is $15/mo and does not meter uploads or bandwidth, so a folder that takes a few files a day costs the same every month. At many terabytes the arithmetic changes, and this page would rather you ran the numbers than took its word.
Can the files still end up in my own container?
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Not on their own. There is no option to back a shared folder with storage you own. What you can do is take the webhook Bridglet sends, fetch the file over the API on Pro or above, and write it into Blob storage from your own code.
What happens to the local users and their permissions?
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They stop existing. A Bridglet credential is scoped to one shared folder when it is created, so there is no container permission matrix, no ACL to reason about and no execute bit to forget on a parent folder.
Do my senders have to change anything?
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A hostname and a username, and usually a better password. Bridglet speaks standard SFTP with password or public key authentication, so FileZilla, WinSCP, Cyberduck and the sftp command that ships with OpenSSH all connect with nothing new installed.
We use private endpoints and firewall rules. Can Bridglet match that?
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No. There is no static IP to hand a firewall team, no private link and no network isolation to configure. If the drop has to be reachable only from inside your network, keep it in Azure.
What happens when the space on Starter is not enough?
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Pro is $49/mo and gives you 100 GB of space, 25 shared folders, 60 connections an hour, 25 guests per shared folder. Business is $149/mo with 500 GB of space, unlimited shared folders, 200 connections an hour, unlimited guests per shared folder. Retention carries more of the load than the numbers suggest, because files clear on the schedule you set instead of piling up the way a container does.
Keep reading
Head to head
Bridglet vs Azure Blob SFTP
The same two products, written for someone choosing between them rather than leaving one.
Use case
SFTP for data pipelines
A landing folder that tells your pipeline when a file arrived, without an event subscription and a function in between.
Use case
SaaS SFTP exports
The folder your product writes nightly exports into, one per customer, without a storage account each.