Cloud · head to head
Rook vs Spacelift
Rook
Cloud
Kubernetes operator that deploys and manages Ceph storage clusters
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Spacelift
Developer Tools
Infrastructure-as-code orchestration for Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi and Kubernetes
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Rook rook automates Ceph but does not abstract it, so an incident still demands Ceph expertise, and organisations without it end up hiring consultants at exactly the wrong moment.; Spacelift users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
- They diverge on capability: Rook covers Ceph operator, Spacelift covers Multi-tool orchestration.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Rook and Spacelift 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 Rook
- Ceph operator
- Block, file and object
- Erasure coding
- CSI driver
- Automated upgrades
- Multi-cluster mirroring
Only in Spacelift
- Multi-tool orchestration
- Policy as code
- Private workers
- Spaces
- Blueprints
- Drift detection
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Rook
- An on-premises Kubernetes platform needing block, shared filesystem and S3 storage without buying three productsnot Spacelift
- A team that already runs Ceph and wants its lifecycle managed declaratively inside Kubernetesnot Spacelift
- A large cluster where three-way replication overhead is unaffordable and erasure coding is requirednot Spacelift
- An organisation building a private cloud that cannot use managed cloud storage services for residency reasonsnot Spacelift
Spacelift
- Platform teams running infrastructure changes through approval gates rather than through application CInot Rook
- Organisations standardising Terraform and OpenTofu across many teams with policy enforcementnot Rook
- Estates needing private runners so cloud credentials never leave the networknot Rook
- Teams wanting drift detection and reconciliation rather than plan-time checks alonenot Rook
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Rook
- Rook automates Ceph but does not abstract it, so an incident still demands Ceph expertise, and organisations without it end up hiring consultants at exactly the wrong moment.
- There is no vendor and no SLA; the realistic commercial support routes are IBM Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation or an independent Ceph consultancy, both of which change the cost picture entirely.
- Ceph is resource hungry, needing substantial memory and dedicated disks per OSD, so the hardware cost of a properly sized cluster is often underestimated.
- Recovery and rebalancing after a disk or node failure generates heavy background input and output that can degrade application performance for hours, which surprises teams sizing for steady state.
- Minimum viable clusters require several nodes with several disks each, so it is impractical at small scale and the entry hardware cost exceeds simpler alternatives.
Spacelift
- Users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
- There is no affordable paid entry point. The free tier stops at two users and the next tier is a five-figure commitment with nothing in between.
- Three of the five tiers are quote-only, so a shortlist cannot be costed without entering a sales process with each vendor on it.
- The self-hosted build lags the hosted one, has no public worker pool and lacks the Azure and Google Cloud integrations available in the SaaS product, with OIDC federation offered as the workaround.
- Stacks, Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and Spacelift-managed state are proprietary constructs, so leaving means rebuilding the orchestration layer rather than pointing it at a different runner.
Pricing, plan by plan
Rook
Free- RookFree
- Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
- Graduated CNCF project
- Community support via GitHub and Slack only
Spacelift
Free- FreeFree
- Two users
- Public workers only
- No private workers
- Starter Plus$undefined/year
- Unlimited users
- Two public workers
- One to two private workers
- Business$undefined/year
- Unlimited users
- Three private workers
- Quoted
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Unlimited users
- Five to thirty private workers
- Self-hosted option
Which should you pick?
Choose Rook if
- You need ceph operator.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
- You also want block, file and object.
Choose Spacelift if
- You need multi-tool orchestration.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
- You also want policy as code.
Questions people ask
- Is Rook or Spacelift better?
- Neither clearly leads. Rook starts at Free and Spacelift at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Rook or Spacelift?
- Rook starts at Free and Spacelift at Free.
- Does Rook or Spacelift run on more platforms?
- Rook runs on Linux, Kubernetes. Spacelift runs on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
- Can I use Rook for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Rook best used for?
- Rook is most often used for an on-premises kubernetes platform needing block, shared filesystem and s3 storage without buying three products, a team that already runs ceph and wants its lifecycle managed declaratively inside kubernetes, a large cluster where three-way replication overhead is unaffordable and erasure coding is required, an organisation building a private cloud that cannot use managed cloud storage services for residency reasons. Of those, an on-premises kubernetes platform needing block, shared filesystem and s3 storage without buying three products and a team that already runs ceph and wants its lifecycle managed declaratively inside kubernetes are not what Spacelift is typically brought in for.
- What can Rook do that Spacelift cannot?
- Rook covers Ceph operator, Block, file and object, Erasure coding, CSI driver. Spacelift covers Multi-tool orchestration, Policy as code, Private workers, Spaces.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Rook: Who supports it in production?
Nobody by default. IBM sells Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation, which is supported Rook and Ceph, and independent consultancies sell Ceph support. Decide this before deployment.
Spacelift: How is Spacelift priced?
By tier and by private worker count rather than per user. Users are unlimited on every paid plan. The published figure on the pricing page carries no period label, and the FAQ describes the tier as an annual subscription, so confirm the period in writing.
Rook: Does it need Ceph knowledge?
Yes. Rook handles deployment and routine operations, but troubleshooting a degraded cluster is a Ceph skill and there is no way around it.
Spacelift: Does it support OpenTofu?
Yes, and Spacelift sponsors the OpenTofu project, which is a substantive hedge for anyone avoiding Terraform under the Business Source Licence.
Rook: Can it replace an object storage appliance?
Functionally yes, through the RADOS gateway, but you take on the operations that an appliance vendor would otherwise carry.
Spacelift: Is there a self-hosted version?
Yes, described as carrying Enterprise functionality, but it is priced on request and lags the hosted product on cloud integrations.
Spacelift: Why not just use the CI system we already have?
That is the real comparison. General purpose CI handles state, drift, approval gates and concurrency control for infrastructure poorly, and whether that is worth a five-figure floor depends on how much infrastructure change your organisation actually ships.
Spacelift: What happens to our pipelines if we leave?
They do not port. Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and managed state are Spacelift constructs and the orchestration has to be rebuilt elsewhere.
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