Comparison with Other Storage Technologies | Apache Ozone
Skip to main content
Apache Ozone
Docs
Latest Docs
Docs 2.0.0 (Archived)
Docs 1.4.1 (Archived)DownloadRoadmapBlog
Community
Communication Channels
Who Uses Ozone?
Report An Issue
Ask a Question
How to Contribute
Events and Media
Search
Version:
2.1.1
Next
2.2.0
2.1.1
Overview
Quick Start
Core Concepts
Architecture
Replication
Namespace
Security
High Availability
Comparison with Other Storage Technologies
User Guide
Administrator Guide
System Internals
Developer Guide
This is documentation for Apache Ozone 2.1.1, which is no longer actively maintained.
For up-to-date documentation, see the latest version (2.2.0).
Core Concepts
Comparison with Other Storage TechnologiesVersion: 2.1.1
On this page
Comparison with Other Storage Technologies
This document provides a high-level comparison of Apache Ozone with other storage technologies.
Open Source Scale-out Storage Comparison​
Ozone is most often compared against other open source storage systems.
TechTypeConsistencyScaleBig Data IntegrationLicenseNotesOzoneObject / FileStrongExabyte scale, tens of billions keysNativeApache 2.0Modern Hadoop-native object store with S3 APIHDFSFileStrongPBs, billions filesNativeApache 2.0Classic Hadoop FS, no S3 API, tight Hadoop integrationCephObject / Block / FileTunable / EventualMulti-PB, very largeVia S3 Gateway/CephFSLGPLv2.1 / Ceph FoundationGeneral-purpose: underlying RADOS (object), RGW (object), CephFS (file)MinIOObjectStrongPetabyte scaleVia S3 connectorsAGPLv3 (SSPL-like)Cloud-native S3 API, lightweight, fast, no FS semanticsLustreParallel File (POSIX)StrongPB scale, HPCNoneGPLv2HPC clusters, high-throughput parallel file systemGlusterFSFile (POSIX)Eventually consistentLarge, multi-PBNoneGPLv3General-purpose scale-out distributed file storageOpenStack SwiftObjectEventualLarge, multi-PBVia connectorsApache 2.0S3-like multi-tenant object storage for private clouds
Ozone shines when users are in need of an Apache licensed, strongly consistent storage system that can scale to billions of keys/files and hundreds of PBs to EBs.
Proprietary Scale-Out Storage Comparison​
TechTypeConsistencyScaleBig Data IntegrationPerformance FocusNotesIsilon (Dell PowerScale)File (Scale-Out NAS)StrongPBs, billions of filesIndirectHigh throughput, good mixed I/OEnterprise NAS, POSIX compliant, good for mixed workloads, backup, analyticsVASTFile / ObjectStrongPBsYes, AI workloadsUltra-low latency, all-flash NVMeAll-flash, NFS/S3, great for AI/ML and large unstructured datasetsWEKAParallel FileStrongPBsHPC, AIUltra-low latency, high IOPSHigh-performance file, GPU clusters, NFS/SMB/S3Spectrum Scale (GPFS)File (POSIX)StrongPBsHPC, AIHigh throughput, scale-out metadataIBM, used in HPC/AI, policy tiering, good POSIX complianceScalityObjectStrongPBsSomeGood throughput for large objectsEnterprise S3 API, multi-region, backup archives, hybrid cloudCloudianObjectStrongPBsSomeGood throughput for backup/archiveS3-compatible object storage, ransomware protection, hybrid cloud
The proprietary systems offer enterprise-grade quality, but they often require proprietary or certified hardware.
Ozone shines when users look for commodity hardware, open systems and embrace the vibrant Apache big data open source community.
Cloud-Native Object Storage Comparison​
TechTypeConsistencyScaleBig Data IntegrationNotesAWS S3ObjectStrongExabyte+Native to cloud ecosystemThe de-facto standard for object storage; massive durability, S3 API leaderAzure ABFSFile/Object (Data Lake Storage)StrongExabyte+Azure-nativeHDFS-like semantics for Spark/Hadoop; optimized for analyticsGoogle GCSObjectStrongExabyte+Native to cloud ecosystemGlobally distributed; strong consistency; well-integrated with BigQueryOCI Object StorageObjectStrongExabyte+Via S3 API & native servicesOracle’s S3-compatible storage; integrates with OCI Data FlowAlibaba OSSObjectStrongExabyte+Via S3 API & native servicesS3-compatible, huge China/APAC footprintIBM Cloud Object StorageObjectStrongExabyte+Via S3 API & native servicesS3-compatible, geo-dispersed erasure coding for durability
These cloud storage offerings are only available from their respective public cloud vendors. In contrast, Ozone runs on-prem or in your private cloud, giving you full control.
Summary​
In summary, Ozone is the best fit in the following scenarios:
Large on-prem big data clusters migrating from HDFS.
You want S3 APIs but need strong Hadoop integration.
You want to avoid vendor lock-in and grow cost-effectively on commodity hardware.
You’re building a private or hybrid cloud with other open-source tools.
Edit this page
Previous
Ozone Manager High Availability
Next
User Guide
Open Source Scale-out Storage Comparison
Proprietary Scale-Out Storage Comparison
Cloud-Native Object Storage Comparison
Summary
Apache Software Foundation
Foundation
License
Events
Sponsorship
Privacy
Security
Thanks
Community
GitHub Discussions
Jira Issues
Slack
Mailing List
YouTube
Twitter
Repositories
Ozone
Website
Docker Image
Docker Runner Image
Copyright © 2026 The Apache Software Foundation. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
The Apache Software Foundation, Apache Ozone, Ozone, Apache, the Apache Feather, and the Apache Ozone project logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation.