Ceph vs Spacedrive

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureCephSpacedrive
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseLGPL-2.1AGPL-3.0
LanguageC++Rust
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM4,096 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, bare-metalbinary
GitHub stars★ 16,905★ 38,732
First released20062022
ReplacesAmazon S3, Google DriveGoogle Drive, Dropbox

Why pick each one

Choose Ceph if…

  • Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 16.9k GitHub stars
Ceph details

Choose Spacedrive if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 38.7k GitHub stars
  • Written in Rust
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Spacedrive details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ceph or Spacedrive better?

Spacedrive is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Ceph if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Ceph and Spacedrive free and open-source?

Yes. Ceph is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Spacedrive under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Ceph and Spacedrive with Docker?

Ceph: yes. Spacedrive: check the project docs for container support.

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