Ceph vs Garage
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Ceph
Distributed object, block, and file storage platform
VS
Garage
Lightweight S3-compatible distributed object store
| Feature | Ceph | Garage |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | File Sync & Storage | File Sync & Storage |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,069 | ★ 1,600 |
| First released | 2006 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Amazon S3, Google Drive | Amazon S3, Dropbox |
What are Ceph and Garage?
Ceph
Ceph is a highly scalable distributed storage system that provides object, block, and file storage in a unified cluster. It is designed for fault tolerance with no single point of failure.
- Unified object, block, and file storage
- Self-healing and self-managing
- Massive scalability
Garage
Garage is a distributed object storage service designed for self-hosting across multiple geographic locations. It implements the S3 API and prioritizes resilience over raw performance.
- S3-compatible API
- Geo-distributed replication
- Low resource footprint
Ceph vs Garage: key differences
Ceph is written in C++, while Garage is built with Rust. Licensing differs — LGPL-2.1 for Ceph versus AGPL-3.0 for Garage. Garage is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Ceph. Ceph is the more established project (first released 2006), while Garage arrived in 2021. Ceph has the considerably larger community, at 17,069 GitHub stars versus 1,600.
Why pick each one
Choose Ceph if…
- Object, block and file
- No single failure point
- Massive proven scalability
Watch out for
- Steep operational complexity
- Needs multiple nodes
- High hardware requirements
Choose Garage if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.6k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Ceph or Garage better?
Neither is universally better. Ceph has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Ceph and Garage free and open-source?
Yes. Ceph is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Garage under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ceph and Garage with Docker?
Ceph: yes. Garage: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ceph or Garage?
Garage has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Ceph. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.