File Storage · alternatives
Alternatives to VAST Data
20 file storage tools sit alongside VAST Data in this directory. Below is what separates each from VAST Data 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
- 10
- Cheaper to start
- -
- VAST Data starts at
- On request
Why people look past VAST Data
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the VAST Data entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for VAST Data carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 10 of the 20 alternatives below can be used without paying.
There is only one tier
VAST Data publishes a single plan, VAST Data Platform at On request. 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.
Collection of machine learning algorithms
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where VAST Data does not.
- Sold on a open-source model rather than quote.
Open source distributed storage providing object, block and file from one cluster
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than quote.
S3-compatible object storage server you run yourself, now under AGPL with a stripped community edition
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than quote.
- 2 tiers to VAST Data's 1.
Google's consumer cloud storage app, sharing the same 15GB quota as Gmail and Google Photos
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Sold on a Free tier plus paid storage add-on model rather than quote.
- 3 tiers to VAST Data's 1.
Low cost S3-compatible object storage with egress included up to a multiple of what you store
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of $4/month, where VAST Data does not.
- Sold on a Per terabyte per month model rather than quote.
- 2 tiers to VAST Data's 1.
S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet
- Can be used without paying; VAST Data cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of $0.015/month, where VAST Data does not.
- Sold on a Per gigabyte stored per month model rather than quote.
- 3 tiers to VAST Data's 1.
Every VAST Data 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAST Data (this page) | On request | Quote | 1 | |
| WekaWeka for a software-only high performance file system that runs on hardware you choose | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| CephCeph where cost and hardware freedom outweigh the need for extreme throughput | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| MinIOMinIO if the requirement is S3 object storage rather than a high performance file system | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs VAST Data |
| Google Drive | Free | Free tier plus paid storage add-on | 3 | vs VAST Data |
| IDrive e2 | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs VAST Data |
| Cloudflare R2 | Free, then $0.015/month | Per gigabyte stored per month | 3 | vs VAST Data |
| Storj | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs VAST Data |
| Tigris | Free, then $0.004/GB/month | Usage-based tiered storage with per-request fees | 4 | vs VAST Data |
| Box | Free, then $5/month | Subscription | 4 | vs VAST Data |
| Nextcloud | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs VAST Data |
| LucidLink | $7/month | Per member per month plus storage | 3 | vs VAST Data |
| Panzura | On request | Quote | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| Scality RING | On request | Quote | 2 | vs VAST Data |
| Cloudian | On request | Quote | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| Nasuni | On request | Quote | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| Veritas NetBackup | $100/month | Subscription | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| Zerto | $5/month | Subscription | 1 | vs VAST Data |
| Microsoft OneDrive | $1.99/month | Subscription | 4 | vs VAST Data |
| Backblaze | $9/month | - | 2 | vs VAST Data |
| IDrive | $2.5/month | Subscription | 7 | vs VAST Data |
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 VAST Data badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (10)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Weka , Free
- Ceph , Free
- 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
What you would be giving up
VAST Data is most often brought in for a gpu training cluster where storage throughput, not compute, is the bottleneck on job completion, a genomics group holding petabytes of sequencing output that must stay immediately readable rather than archived to tape, a quantitative finance team running backtests over historical market data that a disk tier cannot serve fast enough, an organisation consolidating a fast tier and an archive tier into one system to reduce rack space and power draw. 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 VAST Data is broadly right and the question is cost, the VAST Data 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.
VAST Data 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 VAST Data alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to VAST Data?
- 20 other file storage tools are listed in this directory, led by Weka, Ceph, MinIO, 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 VAST Data?
- 10 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Weka, Ceph, MinIO, Google Drive, IDrive e2.
- Why do people look for an alternative to VAST Data?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: there is no free tier; there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from VAST Data?
- VAST Data is most often brought in for a gpu training cluster where storage throughput, not compute, is the bottleneck on job completion, a genomics group holding petabytes of sequencing output that must stay immediately readable rather than archived to tape, a quantitative finance team running backtests over historical market data that a disk tier cannot serve fast enough, an organisation consolidating a fast tier and an archive tier into one system to reduce rack space and power draw. 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 VAST Data?
- Weka is recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these VAST Data 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 VAST Data against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against VAST Data 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 VAST Data. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.