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File Storage · head to head

LucidLink vs MinIO

LucidLink logo

LucidLink

File Storage

Cloud filesystem that streams large media files on demand instead of syncing them

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MinIO logo

MinIO

File Storage

S3-compatible object storage server you run yourself, now under AGPL with a stripped community edition

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only MinIO has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: LucidLink additional storage at $7 to $8 per 100GB per month is roughly three to four times raw S3 pricing, so teams with large cold archives pay a heavy premium for data they rarely touch.; MinIO the AGPL v3 licence applies copyleft over network use, so embedding MinIO in a product or hosted service obliges you to release your own source or buy a commercial licence, and legal review has removed it from several vendor stacks for this reason alone.
  • They diverge on capability: LucidLink covers Filespaces, MinIO covers S3 API implementation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LucidLink and MinIO actually diverge.

Attributes where LucidLink and MinIO differ
AttributeLucidLinkMinIO
Starting price$7/monthFree
Pricing modelPer member per month plus storageOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOSLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker

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 LucidLink

  • Filespaces
  • On-demand streaming
  • Client-side encryption
  • Customer-managed keys
  • Bring your own storage
  • Snapshots

Only in MinIO

  • S3 API implementation
  • Erasure coding
  • Single binary deployment
  • Bucket replication
  • Object locking and versioning
  • Identity provider integration

What people use each for

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

LucidLink

  • A post house with editors in three countries cutting from one shared 4K rush library without shipping drivesnot MinIO
  • A broadcaster giving freelancers access to a project for a fortnight without provisioning VPN and a NAS mountnot MinIO
  • A game studio sharing multi-gigabyte asset builds where syncing every file to every workstation is impracticalnot MinIO
  • An architecture practice opening large point cloud and BIM files from a laptop on a hotel connectionnot MinIO

MinIO

  • Providing an S3 endpoint inside an air gapped or regulated network where a cloud bucket is not permittednot LucidLink
  • Backing a Kubernetes platform with object storage that lives on the same hardware as the clusternot LucidLink
  • Standing up S3 semantics in CI so tests exercise the same API path as productionnot LucidLink
  • Fronting local disk shelves with an S3 interface so applications only ever learn one storage APInot LucidLink

Where each one falls short

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

LucidLink

  • Additional storage at $7 to $8 per 100GB per month is roughly three to four times raw S3 pricing, so teams with large cold archives pay a heavy premium for data they rarely touch.
  • Included storage is pooled per member, so adding a seat is also how you buy capacity, and teams with a few heavy users and many light ones buy seats purely for the gigabytes.
  • Performance is bounded by the network link and local cache size, so a workstation with a small cache on a poor connection performs far worse than the demonstrations suggest.
  • Small-file and metadata-heavy workloads such as code repositories, node modules trees or build outputs perform badly, so it is not a general-purpose file server replacement.
  • Customer-managed keys and bring your own storage are Enterprise-tier options, so organisations that cannot let a vendor hold their keys cannot use the published pricing at all.

MinIO

  • The AGPL v3 licence applies copyleft over network use, so embedding MinIO in a product or hosted service obliges you to release your own source or buy a commercial licence, and legal review has removed it from several vendor stacks for this reason alone.
  • The community edition console was reduced in 2025 to an object browser, so user, policy, bucket and configuration management now happen through the mc command line client or through the paid product, which is a real operational regression for teams that trained staff on the UI.
  • The vendor has changed the terms of the free edition twice, so planning long lived infrastructure around the community build carries the risk that the next change removes something you depend on.
  • Erasure coded deployments cannot be grown by adding single drives; capacity is added in server pools, so expansion is a hardware purchase in units rather than an incremental one.
  • Commercial pricing is capacity based and aimed at large deployments, so a team that outgrows the community edition faces an enterprise sized quote rather than a graduated upgrade path.

Pricing, plan by plan

LucidLink

$7/month
  • Starter$7/month
    • 100GB included per member, pooled across the team
    • Additional storage $7 per 100GB per month
    • Client-side encryption
  • Business$32/month
    • $27 per member per month billed annually
    • 400GB included per member, pooled across the team
    • Additional storage $8 per 100GB per month
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom pricing and storage terms
    • Customer-managed encryption keys
    • Bring your own object storage bucket

MinIO

Free
  • Community (AGPL v3)Free
    • Full server functionality
    • Erasure coding and replication
    • Object browser only in the web console
  • AIStor$undefined/year
    • Commercial licence removing AGPL obligations
    • Full management console
    • Vendor support with response commitments

Which should you pick?

Choose LucidLink if

  • You need filespaces.
  • You work on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS.
  • You also want on-demand streaming.
LucidLink review

Choose MinIO if

  • You need s3 api implementation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker.
  • You also want erasure coding.
MinIO review

Questions people ask

Is LucidLink or MinIO better?
Neither clearly leads. LucidLink starts at $7/month and MinIO at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LucidLink or MinIO?
MinIO has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $7/month for LucidLink and Free for MinIO.
Does LucidLink or MinIO run on more platforms?
LucidLink runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS. MinIO runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker.
Can I use MinIO for free?
Yes. MinIO has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. LucidLink starts at $7/month.
What is LucidLink best used for?
LucidLink is most often used for a post house with editors in three countries cutting from one shared 4k rush library without shipping drives, a broadcaster giving freelancers access to a project for a fortnight without provisioning vpn and a nas mount, a game studio sharing multi-gigabyte asset builds where syncing every file to every workstation is impractical, an architecture practice opening large point cloud and bim files from a laptop on a hotel connection. Of those, a post house with editors in three countries cutting from one shared 4k rush library without shipping drives and a broadcaster giving freelancers access to a project for a fortnight without provisioning vpn and a nas mount are not what MinIO is typically brought in for.
What can LucidLink do that MinIO cannot?
LucidLink covers Filespaces, On-demand streaming, Client-side encryption, Customer-managed keys. MinIO covers S3 API implementation, Erasure coding, Single binary deployment, Bucket replication.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LucidLink: What does storage actually cost?

$7 per 100GB per month on Starter and $8 per 100GB per month on Business, above the pooled allowance. Model this separately from the seat cost.

MinIO: Can I still use MinIO for free?

Yes, the AGPL v3 server remains available and functional. What changed is the console, which no longer manages users, policies or configuration in the community build.

LucidLink: Can we hold our own encryption keys?

On the Enterprise tier, yes, along with pointing the filespace at your own S3 or Azure bucket. Not on Starter or Business.

MinIO: Does AGPL affect me if I only use it internally?

Internal use without offering the software over a network to third parties generally does not trigger the source obligation, but if MinIO forms part of a service you offer to others, it does. Take advice rather than a forum answer.

LucidLink: Does it work for source code?

Not well. It is built for large sequential reads. Many small files is the workload it handles worst.

MinIO: What replaced the community console features?

The mc client and the server admin API. Third party UIs exist but they are not maintained by MinIO.

MinIO: Is it suitable as a Veeam or restic backup target?

Yes, object locking and versioning work and both tools treat it as standard S3. Immutability depends on configuring the lock policy at bucket creation.

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