File Storage · head to head
Ceph vs Cilium
Ceph
File Storage
Open source distributed storage providing object, block and file from one cluster
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Cilium
Cloud
eBPF-based networking, observability and security for Kubernetes
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Cilium requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
- They diverge on capability: Ceph covers RADOS object store, Cilium covers eBPF datapath.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ceph and Cilium actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Ceph
- RADOS object store
- RADOS Gateway
- RBD block devices
- CephFS
- CRUSH placement
- Erasure coded pools
Only in Cilium
- eBPF datapath
- Identity-based policy
- Hubble observability
- Sidecar-free mesh
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Ceph
- Backing a private cloud where virtual machine disks, shared filesystems and an S3 endpoint all need the same hardwarenot Cilium
- Growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity serversnot Cilium
- Research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storagenot Cilium
- Providing an S3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own controlnot Cilium
Cilium
- Kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based CNI performance degradesnot Ceph
- Network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile IP rulesnot Ceph
- Seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is droppingnot Ceph
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Cilium
- Requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
- eBPF is genuinely hard to debug when it misbehaves, and the skill is rare on most teams
- Broad scope — CNI, policy, mesh, observability — means the learning curve covers several domains at once
Pricing, plan by plan
Ceph
Free- CephFree
- Full functionality, no capacity limit
- Object, block and file interfaces
- Community support via mailing list and Slack
Cilium
Free- CiliumFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
Which should you pick?
Choose Ceph if
- You need rados object store.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux.
- You also want rados gateway.
Choose Cilium if
- You need ebpf datapath.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Kubernetes, Linux.
- You also want identity-based policy.
Questions people ask
- Is Ceph or Cilium better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ceph starts at Free and Cilium at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ceph or Cilium?
- Ceph starts at Free and Cilium at Free.
- Does Ceph or Cilium run on more platforms?
- Ceph runs on Linux. Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux.
- Can I use Ceph for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Ceph best used for?
- Ceph is most often used 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. Of those, backing a private cloud where virtual machine disks, shared filesystems and an s3 endpoint all need the same hardware and growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity servers are not what Cilium is typically brought in for.
- What can Ceph do that Cilium cannot?
- Ceph covers RADOS object store, RADOS Gateway, RBD block devices, CephFS. Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Ceph: 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.
Cilium: Is Cilium free?
Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Isovalent sells an enterprise distribution and support.
Ceph: 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.
Cilium: What does eBPF change?
It lets Cilium run packet-processing programs inside the kernel instead of relying on iptables rule chains, which behave poorly as the number of services grows.
Ceph: Can I buy support?
Yes. IBM sells IBM Storage Ceph and SUSE and others have offered supported builds; the upstream project itself is free.
Cilium: Does Cilium replace a service mesh?
It can cover much of what a mesh does without sidecars, though full mesh feature sets still favour Istio or Linkerd.
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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