File Storage · alternatives
Alternatives to Ceph
20 file storage tools sit alongside Ceph in this directory. Below is what separates each from Ceph on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 8
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Ceph starts at
- Free
Why people look past Ceph
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Ceph entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is only one tier
Ceph publishes a single plan, Ceph at Free. There is no smaller tier to drop to if the fit is wrong or the budget moves.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
S3-compatible object storage server you run yourself, now under AGPL with a stripped community edition
- 2 tiers to Ceph's 1.
Open-source hypervisor combining KVM and LXC virtualisation
- No free tier, where Ceph has one.
- Publishes an entry price of €120/year, where Ceph does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 4 tiers to Ceph's 1.
Unlimited cloud backup at an affordable price
- No free tier, where Ceph has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $9/month, where Ceph does not.
- 2 tiers to Ceph's 1.
Google's consumer cloud storage app, sharing the same 15GB quota as Gmail and Google Photos
- Sold on a Free tier plus paid storage add-on model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 3 tiers to Ceph's 1.
Low cost S3-compatible object storage with egress included up to a multiple of what you store
- Publishes an entry price of $4/month, where Ceph does not.
- Sold on a Per terabyte per month model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 2 tiers to Ceph's 1.
S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet
- Publishes an entry price of $0.015/month, where Ceph does not.
- Sold on a Per gigabyte stored per month model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 3 tiers to Ceph's 1.
Every Ceph alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceph (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | |
| MinIOFar simpler to operate if you only need an S3 endpoint and not block or file storage | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Ceph |
| Proxmox VEBundles Ceph with a hypervisor and a management UI, which removes much of the initial setup work | €120/year | Subscription | 4 | vs Ceph |
| BackblazeIf the aim was cheap durable object storage rather than a private platform, a managed bucket avoids the staffing cost entirely | $9/month | - | 2 | vs Ceph |
| Google Drive | Free | Free tier plus paid storage add-on | 3 | vs Ceph |
| IDrive e2 | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs Ceph |
| Cloudflare R2 | Free, then $0.015/month | Per gigabyte stored per month | 3 | vs Ceph |
| Storj | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs Ceph |
| Tigris | Free, then $0.004/GB/month | Usage-based tiered storage with per-request fees | 4 | vs Ceph |
| Box | Free, then $5/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Ceph |
| Nextcloud | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs Ceph |
| LucidLink | $7/month | Per member per month plus storage | 3 | vs Ceph |
| VAST Data | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Panzura | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Scality RING | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Ceph |
| Cloudian | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Nasuni | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Veritas NetBackup | $100/month | Subscription | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Zerto | $5/month | Subscription | 1 | vs Ceph |
| Microsoft OneDrive | $1.99/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Ceph |
| IDrive | $2.5/month | Subscription | 7 | vs Ceph |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Ceph badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (8)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- MinIO , Free
- Google Drive , Free
- IDrive e2 , Free, then $4/month
- Cloudflare R2 , Free, then $0.015/month
- Storj , Free, then $4/month
- Tigris , Free, then $0.004/GB/month
- Box , Free, then $5/month
- Nextcloud , Free
What you would be giving up
Ceph is most often brought in for backing a private cloud where virtual machine disks, shared filesystems and an s3 endpoint all need the same hardware, growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity servers, research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storage, providing an s3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own control. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Ceph is broadly right and the question is cost, the Ceph pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the File Storage category lists everything the directory holds, and best file storage tools ranks them.
Ceph runs on linux. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Ceph alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Ceph?
- 20 other file storage tools are listed in this directory, led by MinIO, Proxmox VE, Backblaze, Google Drive. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Ceph?
- 8 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: MinIO, Google Drive, IDrive e2, Cloudflare R2, Storj.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Ceph?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Ceph?
- Ceph is most often brought in for backing a private cloud where virtual machine disks, shared filesystems and an s3 endpoint all need the same hardware, growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity servers, research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storage, providing an s3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own control. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Ceph?
- None of the file storage tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Ceph alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, File Storage, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Ceph against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Ceph covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every file storage tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the File Storage category, 20 tools beside Ceph. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.