File Storage · head to head
Ceph vs Scality RING
Ceph
File Storage
Open source distributed storage providing object, block and file from one cluster
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Scality RING
File Storage
Petabyte-scale object storage software on your own hardware
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Ceph has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; Scality RING hardware is bought separately, so the software quote understates total cost and the buyer carries the sizing risk if the drive and server specification is wrong.
- They diverge on capability: Ceph covers RADOS object store, Scality RING covers S3-compatible object storage.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ceph and Scality RING actually diverge.
| Attribute | Ceph | Scality RING |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | On request |
| Pricing model | Open source, no licence fee | quote |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
Identical on both: platforms (Linux), 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 Ceph
- RADOS object store
- RADOS Gateway
- RBD block devices
- CephFS
- CRUSH placement
- Erasure coded pools
Only in Scality RING
- S3-compatible object storage
- File and object access
- Erasure coding
- Object lock
- Multi-site geodistribution
- Hardware independence
- ARTESCA
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 Scality RING
- Growing past the point where a proprietary array upgrade costs more than a rack of commodity serversnot Scality RING
- Research and media environments with petabytes of data and staff who can operate storagenot Scality RING
- Providing an S3 endpoint on premises with multi site replication under your own controlnot Scality RING
Scality RING
- A broadcaster archiving decades of video where hyperscaler storage and egress costs would be prohibitivenot Ceph
- A hospital group holding medical imaging on premises for data residency and retention reasonsnot Ceph
- An enterprise building an immutable on premises backup target for Veeam or Commvault with object locknot Ceph
- A service provider offering S3-compatible storage to its own customers on hardware it controlsnot 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.
Scality RING
- Hardware is bought separately, so the software quote understates total cost and the buyer carries the sizing risk if the drive and server specification is wrong.
- Running distributed erasure coded storage requires operations skills, and organisations that expected appliance simplicity end up staffing a storage team they had not budgeted.
- Rebuild times after a drive failure on large capacity disks are measured in hours or days, and capacity planning has to leave headroom for that degraded window.
- Pricing is per usable terabyte and quoted, so cost comparisons against cloud object storage require modelling your own retrieval patterns rather than reading a rate card.
- Small deployments carry a minimum viable node count for erasure coding to work sensibly, which makes the entry footprint larger and less economic than the per-terabyte price implies.
Pricing, plan by plan
Ceph
Free- CephFree
- Full functionality, no capacity limit
- Object, block and file interfaces
- Community support via mailing list and Slack
Scality RING
On request- Scality RING$undefined/year
- Priced per usable terabyte, subscription or perpetual
- Server hardware purchased separately by the customer
- Support tiers quoted separately
- Scality ARTESCA$undefined/year
- Lighter object store for smaller footprints
- Priced per usable terabyte
- Commonly deployed as an immutable backup target
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 Scality RING if
- You need s3-compatible object storage.
- You work on Linux.
- You also want file and object access.
Questions people ask
- Is Ceph or Scality RING better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ceph starts at Free and Scality RING at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ceph or Scality RING?
- Ceph has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ceph and On request for Scality RING.
- Does Ceph or Scality RING run on more platforms?
- Both run on Linux, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Ceph for free?
- Yes. Ceph has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Scality RING starts at On request.
- 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 Scality RING is typically brought in for.
- What can Ceph do that Scality RING cannot?
- Ceph covers RADOS object store, RADOS Gateway, RBD block devices, CephFS. Scality RING covers S3-compatible object storage, File and object access, Erasure coding, Object lock.
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.
Scality RING: Do we buy hardware from Scality?
No. RING is software; you buy commodity servers and drives yourself, which is the point for buyers who want to rebid hardware at each refresh.
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.
Scality RING: Is it S3-compatible enough for backup software?
Yes, it is a common object lock target for Veeam, Commvault and Rubrik. Verify the specific S3 features your backup product needs during a proof of concept.
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.
Scality RING: What is ARTESCA?
A lighter object store from the same company, aimed at smaller footprints and backup targets rather than multi-petabyte archives.
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
More on Scality RING
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