Ceph vs MooseFS

Ceph is free, open-source distributed storage software for object, block, and file storage in one system. Organizations run clusters on commodity hardware that they choose and manage. Its RGW object storage supports the S3 API and Swift-compatible applications. RBD provides thin-provisioned disk images, snapshots, writable clones, and asynchronous mirroring to remote Ceph clusters. CephFS is a POSIX-compliant distributed filesystem with snapshots, quotas, and multi-cluster mirroring. The system can replicate data across devices, racks, and geographic locations, then redistribute it following hardware or connectivity failures. For Kubernetes, the project recommends Rook to run Ceph or connect an existing cluster; its CSI driver can provision block and file volumes. Installation choices include packages, container images, source clones, and tarballs. The cephadm tool requires Python 3, systemd, and Podman or Docker. Production guidance calls for at least three monitors, two managers, three OSDs, and 10 Gb/s networking between hosts. The project publishes a stable release annually and supports each series for approximately 24 months.

MooseFS is distributed storage software that combines data held across multiple servers into one resource. It can be mounted as a POSIX filesystem, used as a block device, or accessed through the C API. Reads and writes run across multiple chunkservers, so adding servers can increase both storage capacity and bandwidth. MooseFS replicates data chunks and restores missing copies after disk or node loss. The Community edition is open source under GPLv2, with one active master and single-parity erasure coding. Personal provides the full Pro feature set for non-commercial use, free up to 20 TiB of used raw space; beyond that, the listed price is €9 as a one-time purchase for each TiB. Pro adds synchronized master failover and support for clusters spanning locations. MooseFS 5 adds cluster-wide authentication. Official packages are offered for Linux distributions, FreeBSD, Raspberry Pi OS, and macOS; macOS requires macFUSE and macOS 12 or later. The native Windows client is included with Pro.