ObjectiveFS vs OpenAFS

ObjectiveFS is a shared distributed POSIX file system for persistent storage across cloud instances, laptops, containers, and office servers. It runs on Linux and macOS and can be self-hosted. The software runs on customer machines and connects directly to object stores through the S3 API, without storage clusters or metadata servers. Multiple machines can read and write the same filesystem, with updates visible across them. Supported targets include Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, IBM Cloud Object Storage, Oracle Cloud, DigitalOcean Spaces, Scaleway, Wasabi, Ceph, MinIO, NetApp StorageGRID, Hitachi Content Platform, and S3-compatible stores. Data is encrypted locally with a customer-known key and remains encrypted in transit and at rest; checksums verify integrity. Automatic and checkpoint snapshots can be mounted read-only. Personal costs $99 a month and includes 3 instances, up to 50 instances, 5TB storage, and unlimited filesystems. A 14-day trial is available, but there is no free plan. Object-store charges are billed separately. ObjectiveFS does not run natively on Windows, though a Linux machine can export it through NFS or Samba.

OpenAFS is a free, open-source implementation of the AFS distributed filesystem for accessing network files as though they were local. Location transparency lets users keep the same pathname when administrators move files between machines. AFS supports federated sharing and read-only replication across file servers, while the client Cache Manager keeps files in disk or memory cache to reduce repeated network requests. Kerberos authentication uses tokens for authenticated status, and directory access control lists define user and group permissions. Clients and servers mutually authenticate, with server processes encrypting particularly sensitive information sent to clients. However, commands in the fs, pts, and vos suites do not encrypt data before transmission. OpenAFS supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted deployment, with AFS access plus NFS and SMB/CIFS options listed. The project lists version 1.8.16.1 as a June 2026 UNIX/Linux maintenance release and distributes it under the IBM Public License. Administrators assign each AFS volume a size limit or quota.