File Storage · head to head
Backblaze vs Ceph
Backblaze
File Storage
Unlimited cloud backup at an affordable price
- From
- $9/month
- Rated
- -
Ceph
File Storage
Open source distributed storage providing object, block and file from one cluster
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Ceph has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Backblaze personal Backup is $99 a year billed annually, with no monthly option; Ceph ceph assumes an operator who understands placement groups, CRUSH rules and recovery tuning, so organisations without dedicated storage staff routinely end up with a cluster that works until the first failure and then does not.
- They diverge on capability: Backblaze covers Unlimited backup, Ceph covers RADOS object store.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Backblaze and Ceph actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (File Storage).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Backblaze
- Unlimited backup
- Continuous backup
- Version history
- Private encryption key
- Restore by mail
- Mobile apps
- macOS
- Windows
Only in Ceph
- RADOS object store
- RADOS Gateway
- RBD block devices
- CephFS
- CRUSH placement
- Erasure coded pools
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Backblaze
- Unlimited backup of a personal computer and external drivesnot Ceph
- Restoring files from anywhere through the webnot Ceph
- Mailed hard drive restore for large recoveriesnot Ceph
- Private encryption key control for sensitive datanot Ceph
Ceph
- Backing a private cloud where virtual machine disks, shared filesystems and an S3 endpoint all need the same hardwarenot Backblaze
- Growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity serversnot Backblaze
- Research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storagenot Backblaze
- Providing an S3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own controlnot Backblaze
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Backblaze
- Personal Backup is $99 a year billed annually, with no monthly option
- Web restores are capped at 500GB per request
- Forever version history is a Business tier add-on rather than included
- Administrative controls and SSO are Business features
- Backs up user data from a computer and attached drives, so NAS and server backup are not covered by the personal plan
Ceph
- Ceph assumes an operator who understands placement groups, CRUSH rules and recovery tuning, so organisations without dedicated storage staff routinely end up with a cluster that works until the first failure and then does not.
- Small clusters are inefficient: three way replication means a third of raw capacity is usable, and erasure coding needs enough failure domains to be safe, so the economics only work above a certain size.
- Recovery and rebalancing generate heavy internal traffic, so a failed disk can degrade client latency across the cluster unless backfill is throttled correctly beforehand.
- Upgrades must follow a strict daemon order across monitors, managers, OSDs and gateways, and a mistake in that order on a live cluster is difficult to reverse.
- Because it is self hosted, every byte served to the internet is transit you pay for on your own links, so the free licence does not mean free egress and bandwidth planning becomes your problem rather than the providers.
Pricing, plan by plan
Backblaze
$9/month- Personal Backup$9/month
- Unlimited storage for single computer
- Unlimited version history
- 30-day trial
- B2 Cloud Storage$6/TB/month
- S3-compatible storage
- Pay-as-you-go model
Ceph
Free- CephFree
- Full functionality, no capacity limit
- Object, block and file interfaces
- Community support via mailing list and Slack
Which should you pick?
Choose Backblaze if
- You need unlimited backup.
- You work on Windows, macOS, Web.
- You also want continuous backup.
Choose Ceph if
- You need rados object store.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux.
- You also want rados gateway.
Questions people ask
- Is Backblaze or Ceph better?
- Neither clearly leads. Backblaze starts at $9/month and Ceph at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Backblaze or Ceph?
- Ceph has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $9/month for Backblaze and Free for Ceph.
- Does Backblaze or Ceph run on more platforms?
- Backblaze runs on Windows, macOS, Web. Ceph runs on Linux.
- Can I use Ceph for free?
- Yes. Ceph has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Backblaze starts at $9/month.
- What is Backblaze best used for?
- Backblaze is most often used for unlimited backup of a personal computer and external drives, restoring files from anywhere through the web, mailed hard drive restore for large recoveries, private encryption key control for sensitive data. Of those, unlimited backup of a personal computer and external drives and restoring files from anywhere through the web are not what Ceph is typically brought in for.
- What can Backblaze do that Ceph cannot?
- Backblaze covers Unlimited backup, Continuous backup, Version history, Private encryption key. Ceph covers RADOS object store, RADOS Gateway, RBD block devices, CephFS.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Backblaze: What is the pricing for Backblaze Personal Backup?
Backblaze Personal Backup costs $9/month on monthly billing or $8.25/month when billed annually, providing unlimited storage for a single computer.
SourceCeph: How many nodes do I need to start?
Three is the practical minimum for a replicated cluster with real fault tolerance, and most production advice starts at five once you account for maintenance windows.
Backblaze: What storage options does Backblaze B2 offer?
Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is priced at $6/TB per month with a pay-as-you-go model, and is S3 compatible for flexible cloud storage.
SourceCeph: Is it faster than a SAN?
Not on single stream latency. It wins on aggregate throughput and on growing without a forklift upgrade, which is a different property from raw speed.
Backblaze: Does Backblaze support Linux systems?
No. Backblaze does not support Linux operating systems, limiting it to Windows, macOS, and web access only.
SourceCeph: Can I buy support?
Yes. IBM sells IBM Storage Ceph and SUSE and others have offered supported builds; the upstream project itself is free.
Ceph: Should I use it just for S3?
If object is all you need, a dedicated object store is simpler to run. Ceph earns its complexity when you need block and file as well.
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