Ceph vs Garage vs Zenko CloudServer

Ceph, Garage, and Zenko CloudServer are all free, self-hosted, S3-compatible alternatives to commercial object storage, but they target very different…

Ceph

Open Source · From Free

Best for: Enterprises, cloud providers, and research institutions that need petabyte-to-exabyte-scale unified object, block, and file storage on commodity hardware, with the option of paid Red Hat support.

Garage

Open Source · From Free

Best for: Small teams, self-hosting communities, and nonprofits running geographically distributed clusters on modest or secondhand hardware who need a lightweight S3-compatible store.

Zenko CloudServer

open-source · From Free (open source)

Best for: Developers who need a drop-in, Docker-deployable S3-compatible endpoint for local testing, CI/CD pipelines, or bridging application code across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud backends.

At a Glance

	Ceph	Garage	Zenko CloudServer
Primary category	Cloud Storage	Cloud Storage	Cloud Storage
Rating	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Pricing model	Open Source	Open Source	open-source
Starting price	Free	Free	Free (open source)
Free plan	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Free trial	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Platforms	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Team collaboration	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
AI features	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Public API	Yes	Yes	Yes

Standout Differences

Ceph is the only unified object, block, and file platform of the three

Ceph exposes S3/Swift-compatible object storage, block storage for VMs and containers, and a POSIX filesystem from one cluster, and is proven at exabyte scale with commercial Red Hat backing, while Garage and Zenko CloudServer focus solely on the S3 object storage interface.

Ceph

Garage is purpose-built for geo-distributed, low-resource self-hosting

Garage uses Dynamo-style consistent hashing and CRDTs instead of a consensus protocol, letting it run reliably on secondhand or low-power hardware spread across multiple physical locations, a scenario Ceph and Zenko are not specifically designed for.

Garage

Zenko CloudServer is a portable S3 compatibility layer, not a storage cluster

Zenko CloudServer implements the S3 API and can route to local disk or to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud backends, making it valuable for avoiding vendor lock-in and for fast Docker-based local testing rather than for running its own resilient multi-node cluster.

Zenko CloudServer

All three avoid vendor lock-in with zero software license cost

Ceph, Garage, and Zenko CloudServer are all free and open source, giving teams an S3-compatible alternative to AWS S3 that they fully own and can run on their own infrastructure.

Ceph, Garage, Zenko CloudServer

Operational complexity differs sharply across the three

Ceph demands significant in-house distributed-systems expertise to deploy and tune, while Garage ships as a single dependency-free binary and Zenko CloudServer deploys via an official Docker image within minutes.

Ceph, Garage, Zenko CloudServer

Feature-by-Feature

Storage Model and API

Feature	Ceph	Garage	Zenko CloudServer
Unified object, block, and file storage in one system	Available	Unavailable	Unavailable
S3-compatible object storage API	Available	Available	Available
Multi-cloud backend proxying (route to AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage)	Not documented	Not documented	Available

Deployment Footprint

Feature	Ceph	Garage	Zenko CloudServer
Runs on low-power or secondhand hardware	Unavailable	Available	Limited
Built-in tolerance for geo-distributed, high-latency nodes	Limited	Available	Not documented
Quick Docker-based single-node deployment	Limited	Available	Available

Scale and Support

Feature	Ceph	Garage	Zenko CloudServer
Proven exabyte-scale cluster deployments	Available	Limited	Not documented
Vendor-backed commercial support option	Available	Unavailable	Limited

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Ceph

No individual plan breakdown documented yet.

Garage

Self-Hosted (Open Source) — Free N/A

Zenko CloudServer

Open Source — Free N/A

Pros & Cons

Ceph

Pros

Free and open source with no software license cost
Proven at large scale, backed by Red Hat's ongoing development investment
Unifies object, block, and file storage in a single cluster instead of separate systems
Runs on standard commodity hardware rather than proprietary storage appliances

Cons

Requires significant in-house expertise to deploy, tune, and operate reliably at scale
Enterprise support via Red Hat Ceph Storage has pricing that is not publicly listed
Not designed for small-scale or single-node use cases where simpler storage would suffice
Cluster rebalancing and recovery operations can be resource-intensive on large deployments

Garage

Pros

Free and open source under AGPLv3 with no vendor lock-in
Genuinely lightweight; runs on secondhand or low-power hardware
Purpose-built for geo-distributed, non-datacenter deployments
Avoids consensus bottlenecks through a CRDT-based design
Backed by public research funding rather than venture capital, aligning incentives with users

Cons

Not a fully managed service; requires self-hosting and cluster administration
Smaller ecosystem and less commercial support than AWS S3, MinIO or Backblaze B2
Best suited to small-to-medium scale rather than hyperscale storage needs
AGPLv3 licensing can be a blocker for some commercial redistribution use cases

Zenko CloudServer

Pros

Completely free and open source under a permissive Apache 2.0 license
Full S3 API compatibility means minimal to no code changes for existing S3 applications
Supports multiple cloud backends, reducing vendor lock-in
Fast Docker-based deployment suited to local development and CI/CD
Backed by an established storage vendor (Scality) with an active open-source community

Cons

Requires self-hosting and infrastructure management, unlike a managed cloud storage service
No official paid support tier included with the open-source project itself
Best suited for developers comfortable with Docker and Node.js-based tooling
Enterprise-grade features and support require Scality's separate commercial products

Use Cases

Choose Ceph: Enterprises, cloud providers, and research institutions that need petabyte-to-exabyte-scale unified object, block, and file storage on commodity hardware, with the option of paid Red Hat support.

Choose Garage: Small teams, self-hosting communities, and nonprofits running geographically distributed clusters on modest or secondhand hardware who need a lightweight S3-compatible store.

Choose Zenko CloudServer: Developers who need a drop-in, Docker-deployable S3-compatible endpoint for local testing, CI/CD pipelines, or bridging application code across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud backends.

Ceph

Private & Hybrid Cloud Storage — Enterprises and cloud providers use Ceph as the storage backend for OpenStack clouds and Kubernetes persistent volumes.
Large-Scale Research & Archival Storage — Research institutions use Ceph to store and preserve large datasets at petabyte-to-exabyte scale on commodity hardware.

Garage

Self-hosted backup target — Provides an S3-compatible destination for backup tools like restic and rclone across low-cost servers.
Storage backend for federated apps — Serves as the object storage layer for federated services such as Mastodon, Matrix and PeerTube.
Geo-redundant community storage — Lets non-profits and collectives replicate data across volunteer or donated hardware in different locations.

Zenko CloudServer

Local S3 development and testing — A development team runs CloudServer in Docker to test S3-dependent application code without connecting to a live AWS account.
Multi-cloud storage abstraction — An enterprise uses CloudServer to present a single S3-style API in front of both Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage, avoiding vendor lock-in.
On-premises S3-compatible storage — An organization with data sovereignty requirements deploys CloudServer on its own hardware to get S3-compatible storage without using a public cloud.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is easiest to self-host for a small project: Ceph, Garage, or Zenko CloudServer?

Garage and Zenko CloudServer are both far easier to get running than Ceph. Garage ships as a single dependency-free Rust binary with low hardware requirements, and Zenko CloudServer has an official Docker image that can be running within minutes. Ceph requires standing up and tuning a distributed cluster, which typically demands dedicated operations expertise.

Can any of these tools replace block or file storage, not just object storage?

Only Ceph. It exposes block storage (RBD) for VMs and containers and a POSIX-compliant filesystem (CephFS) alongside its S3-compatible object storage, all from the same cluster. Garage and Zenko CloudServer are focused solely on S3-compatible object storage.

Is Zenko CloudServer good for avoiding AWS vendor lock-in?

Yes, that is one of its core use cases. Zenko CloudServer implements the S3 API but can route requests to local disk or to AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Storage as the underlying backend, so application code written against the S3 API can move between clouds without rewrites.

Which of these three has paid enterprise support available?

Ceph has the most established paid support path through Red Hat Ceph Storage, an enterprise-supported distribution from Red Hat. Zenko CloudServer's maker, Scality, offers separate commercial products for teams that need support beyond the open-source project. Garage is community-supported only, with no vendor-backed support tier.

Is Garage suitable for large-scale enterprise storage needs?

Garage is explicitly designed for small-to-medium scale, geographically distributed deployments on modest or secondhand hardware rather than hyperscale storage. Organizations needing petabyte-to-exabyte-scale storage are better served by Ceph, which is proven at that scale and backed by Red Hat.

Do these tools require expensive, uniform data center hardware to run?

No, not all of them. Garage was specifically built to run on heterogeneous, low-power, or even secondhand servers spread across different physical locations. Zenko CloudServer can run as a lightweight single instance via Docker. Ceph is the exception, since it is designed for commodity server clusters and performs best with more uniform, dedicated infrastructure.

Read the full Ceph review · Read the full Garage review · Read the full Zenko CloudServer review

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