LINBIT DRBD vs OpenEBS
LINBIT DRBD
linbit.com
OpenEBS
openebs.ioSide by side
| Figure | LINBIT DRBD | OpenEBS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $83.33/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Storage Replication Software | 8.2 (#7) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Architecture | DRBD is implemented as a kernel driver, user-space management applications, and shell scripts. | OpenEBS operates exclusively in userspace, avoiding Linux kernel-dependent software. |
| Integrations | LINBIT says its subscriptions integrate with Kubernetes and other major platforms and environments. | OpenEBS documents integrations with Prometheus, Grafana, Alert Manager, ELK, Loki, Logstash, Velero, OpenShift, EKS, DigitalOcean, Rancher, MicroK8s, and KubeSphere. |
| Purpose | DRBD is open-source distributed replicated block storage software for Linux, typically used for high-performance high availability. | OpenEBS provides local or distributed persistent volumes for Kubernetes stateful workloads. |
| Replication | The DRBD kernel driver mirrors writes to one or more peer nodes and in synchronous mode confirms completion after local and peer storage completion events. | Replicated Storage can synchronously replicate volumes across Kubernetes zones for high availability. |
| Security | The DRBD 9 guide documents TLS traffic encryption for TCP transport, with connection authentication and encryption configured through tlshd and keys in /etc/tlshd.conf. | Replicated PV Mayastor REST API TLS is available but security features are opt-in and plaintext communication remains the default. |
| Support | LINBIT HA Enterprise includes unlimited support tickets, 24x7 email and phone support, and a maximum 4-hour initial support response time. | Users can file GitHub issues or ask questions in the Kubernetes Slack #openebs channel. |
Plans
LINBIT DRBD
- DRBD open-source community versionFree
- LINBIT Starter$1,000 a year
- LINBIT HA BasicPriced on request
- LINBIT HA EnterprisePriced on request
- LINBIT HA PlusPriced on request
In their own words
LINBIT DRBD
LINBIT DRBD is open-source distributed replicated block storage software for Linux, used in high-availability setups. Its kernel driver mirrors writes to one or more peer nodes; in synchronous mode, a write completes only after local and peer storage completion events. Reads can be served locally without network traffic, and the data path avoids user-space components. DRBD combines the kernel driver with user-space management applications and shell scripts, and its command-line interface can manage large clusters without relying on cloud, virtualization, or container platforms. It supports TCP/IP and RDMA/Verbs transports, including InfiniBand, iWARP, and RoCE. The DRBD 9 guide documents TLS encryption for TCP transport. LINBIT also offers WinDRBD for Windows and says its subscriptions integrate with Kubernetes and other major platforms. The open-source community version is free; LINBIT Starter is $1,000 a year, starting from $1,000 for two nodes. The company is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
OpenEBS
OpenEBS is open-source Kubernetes storage software for developers and platform SREs deploying stateful workloads. It turns storage on Kubernetes worker nodes into local or distributed persistent volumes and operates in userspace rather than relying on Linux kernel-dependent software. Its engines include Replicated PV Mayastor and local volumes using Hostpath, LVM, ZFS, or experimental Rawfile. Mayastor can synchronously replicate volumes across Kubernetes zones. Kubernetes-native operations provide copy-on-write snapshots and clones, while Velero plugins support backup and restore to AWS S3, GCP Object Storage, or MinIO. Volumes expose metrics including IOPS, throughput, latency, and traffic patterns for Prometheus and Grafana. OpenEBS also exposes declarative APIs through Kubernetes custom resources and can be installed with Helm 3.2 or newer. Mayastor disk pools support data-at-rest encryption with user-defined AES-XTS keys. Listed use cases include self-managed databases, observability stacks, CI/CD, object storage, websites, and ML pipelines. Mayastor DiskPools are limited to one block device, and encryption keys cannot be rotated.