File Storage · head to head
Ceph vs ClearML
Ceph
File Storage
Open source distributed storage providing object, block and file from one cluster
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
ClearML
Machine Learning
Open-source MLOps platform for experiment tracking and orchestration
- 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.; ClearML broad scope means more to learn and more to run than a focused tracking tool
- They diverge on capability: Ceph covers RADOS object store, ClearML covers Experiment tracking.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ceph and ClearML actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 ClearML
- Experiment tracking
- Remote execution
- Data versioning
- Pipelines
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 ClearML
- Growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity serversnot ClearML
- Research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storagenot ClearML
- Providing an S3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own controlnot ClearML
ClearML
- Tracking experiments across a team so results are reproduciblenot Ceph
- Moving training from laptops to shared GPU hardware without repackagingnot Ceph
- Versioning datasets alongside the experiments that consumed themnot 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.
ClearML
- Broad scope means more to learn and more to run than a focused tracking tool
- Self-hosting the server is real infrastructure — database, file storage and web server
- Documentation quality is uneven across the newer parts of the platform
- Smaller community than the most popular tracking tools, so fewer worked examples exist
Pricing, plan by plan
Ceph
Free- CephFree
- Full functionality, no capacity limit
- Object, block and file interfaces
- Community support via mailing list and Slack
ClearML
Free- Open sourceFree
- Experiment tracking
- Pipelines
- Self-hosted server
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 ClearML if
- You need experiment tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
- You also want remote execution.
Questions people ask
- Is Ceph or ClearML better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ceph starts at Free and ClearML at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ceph or ClearML?
- Ceph starts at Free and ClearML at Free.
- Does Ceph or ClearML run on more platforms?
- Ceph runs on Linux. ClearML runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
- 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 ClearML is typically brought in for.
- What can Ceph do that ClearML cannot?
- Ceph covers RADOS object store, RADOS Gateway, RBD block devices, CephFS. ClearML covers Experiment tracking, Remote execution, Data versioning, Pipelines.
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.
ClearML: Is ClearML free?
The open-source version is free and self-hostable. Hosted and enterprise tiers are paid.
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.
ClearML: How much code does tracking require?
Very little — adding a couple of lines to an existing training script captures parameters, metrics and environment automatically.
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.
ClearML: Does ClearML replace MLflow?
It covers MLflow’s tracking and adds orchestration, remote execution and data versioning. Whether that breadth is an advantage or extra weight depends on whether you need the rest.
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.
Related pages
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- ClearML vs Cloudian
- ClearML vs IDrive e2
- ClearML vs TrueNAS
- ClearML vs LucidLink
- ClearML vs pCloud
- ClearML vs Sync.com
- ClearML vs MLflow
- ClearML vs Weights & Biases
- ClearML vs Comet ML
- ClearML vs Neptune.ai
- ClearML vs Dataiku
- ClearML vs Pachyderm
- ClearML vs Azure Machine Learning
- ClearML vs Domino Data Lab
- ClearML vs DVC
- ClearML vs AWS SageMaker
- ClearML vs Google Vertex AI
- ClearML vs DataRobot
- ClearML vs Pinecone
- ClearML vs Python
- ClearML vs PyTorch
- ClearML vs scikit-learn
- ClearML vs Apache Spark MLlib
- ClearML vs Weaviate