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Cloud · head to head

Longhorn vs Orca Security

Longhorn logo

Longhorn

Cloud

Open source distributed block storage for Kubernetes, incubating at the CNCF

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orca Security logo

Orca Security

Cloud

Agentless cloud-native application protection platform for code-to-runtime security.

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Longhorn has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Longhorn there is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.; Orca Security no public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from sales.
  • They diverge on capability: Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Longhorn and Orca Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Longhorn and Orca Security differ
AttributeLonghornOrca Security
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Kubernetesweb, api

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

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 Longhorn

  • Per-volume controllers
  • Synchronous replication
  • Snapshots and backups
  • Volume expansion
  • Disaster recovery volumes
  • Web interface

Only in Orca Security

  • Agentless cloud scanning
  • Attack path analysis
  • Shadow AI detection
  • Secure code development
  • Alert prioritization
  • Workload protection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Longhorn

  • An on-premises Kubernetes cluster with local disks and no SAN that needs replicated persistent volumesnot Orca Security
  • Edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole clusternot Orca Security
  • A K3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloadsnot Orca Security
  • A team that wants snapshots and S3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licencesnot Orca Security

Orca Security

  • Gaining full cloud asset visibility without deploying agentsnot Longhorn
  • Prioritizing cloud risk with attack path correlationnot Longhorn
  • Detecting shadow AI usage across cloud environmentsnot Longhorn
  • Scanning code, containers, and IaC before deploymentnot Longhorn
  • Reducing alert fatigue through contextual risk scoringnot Longhorn

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Longhorn

  • There is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • Synchronous replication across nodes means write latency depends on the slowest replica and the network between nodes, which makes it a poor fit for latency-sensitive databases.
  • Every replica is a full copy, so three-way replication consumes three times the raw capacity, unlike erasure-coded systems that are far more space efficient.
  • It is designed for block storage on modest clusters and does not scale to the node counts or throughput that Ceph or a commercial array handles, so growth eventually forces a migration.
  • Recovery from certain degraded states, such as a volume stuck detaching or replicas failing to rebuild, requires manual intervention and knowledge of Longhorn internals that is not widely held.

Orca Security

  • No public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from sales.
  • Agentless-only scanning may miss some runtime telemetry that agent-based tools capture.
  • Full value depends on integrating many of the platform's modules across code, cloud, and AI.
  • Primarily targeted at mid-to-large organizations with multi-cloud environments.

Pricing, plan by plan

Longhorn

Free
  • LonghornFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
    • Community support via GitHub and Slack only
    • No vendor SLA or escalation path

Orca Security

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Orca Security review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Longhorn if

  • You need per-volume controllers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
  • You also want synchronous replication.
Longhorn review

Choose Orca Security if

  • You need agentless cloud scanning.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want attack path analysis.
Orca Security review

Questions people ask

Is Longhorn or Orca Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Longhorn starts at Free and Orca Security at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Longhorn or Orca Security?
Longhorn has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Longhorn and On request for Orca Security.
Does Longhorn or Orca Security run on more platforms?
Longhorn runs on Linux, Kubernetes. Orca Security runs on web, api.
Can I use Longhorn for free?
Yes. Longhorn has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Orca Security starts at On request.
What is Longhorn best used for?
Longhorn is most often used for an on-premises kubernetes cluster with local disks and no san that needs replicated persistent volumes, edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole cluster, a k3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloads, a team that wants snapshots and s3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licences. Of those, an on-premises kubernetes cluster with local disks and no san that needs replicated persistent volumes and edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole cluster are not what Orca Security is typically brought in for.
What can Longhorn do that Orca Security cannot?
Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Synchronous replication, Snapshots and backups, Volume expansion. Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning, Attack path analysis, Shadow AI detection, Secure code development.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Longhorn: Who do we call when it breaks?

Nobody, unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime, which includes commercial support for Longhorn. This is the decisive question for production use.

Orca Security: How much does Orca Security cost?

Orca Security does not publish pricing tiers or rates on their website. Organizations must contact Orca Security directly or request a demo to receive custom pricing information based on their specific use case and requirements.

Source
Longhorn: How much capacity does replication cost?

Full copies, so three replicas means three times the raw capacity. Budget accordingly rather than assuming erasure coding efficiency.

Longhorn: Is it suitable for production databases?

For modest workloads yes, but synchronous replication adds write latency and high-transaction databases usually want something faster.

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