Alternatives / Azure Blob Storage
Looking for an open source Azure Blob Storage alternative? We compared 6 open source object storage systems by license, S3 compatibility, scaling, maintenance, and self-hosting. They range from single-node S3 servers to distributed clusters and an embedded storage engine, and the best known one, MinIO, is now archived.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| MinIO | S3-compatible server (repository archived, unmaintained) | AGPL-3.0 (archived) |
| Ceph | Unified object, block, and file storage at scale | LGPL-2.1 or LGPL-3.0 (dual) |
| Garage | Lightweight distributed storage across sites | AGPL-3.0 |
| SlateDB | Embedded storage engine on object storage | Apache-2.0 |
| Storj | Decentralized storage network | AGPL-3.0 |
| Alarik | Lightweight S3-compatible server (beta) | Apache-2.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with Azure Blob Storage's core: storing large amounts of unstructured data as objects behind an API. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and deployment in its repository. None exposes Azure's Blob API directly, so we focus on S3-compatible storage, and flag archived and beta projects. See our methodology for the full criteria.
MinIO, Garage, Storj, Ceph, and Alarik expose S3-compatible APIs, so applications written for Azure's Blob SDK need changes or an adapter. SlateDB is an embedded storage engine rather than an S3 server. Plan code changes when migrating.
MinIO's public repository is archived and marked as no longer maintained, with its last release in October 2025 and its last commit in April 2026. MinIO Inc. now points users to AIStor, a commercial product with a free edition. The code remains AGPL-3.0, but you should not start a new deployment on an unmaintained server without a plan for security fixes.
Ceph is the most proven at large scale and also offers block and file storage, but it is complex to operate. Garage is a lightweight distributed store with an S3-compatible API that replicates data across zones. Alarik is a lighter option for single nodes and small clusters, but it is beta and runs on Linux only.
MinIO, Garage, and Storj are AGPL-3.0. Ceph is dual-licensed under LGPL-2.1 or LGPL-3.0, and SlateDB and Alarik are Apache-2.0.
Ceph, Garage, SlateDB, Storj, and Alarik had commits within days or weeks of this update. MinIO is archived.
Azure Blob Storage is a proprietary Microsoft service billed by storage, operations, and data transfer, tied to Azure's ecosystem and APIs. Open-source object storage lets you run on your own hardware or any cloud, avoid egress and per-operation pricing, and use the widely supported S3 API, at the cost of running, scaling, and securing the storage yourself.
High-performance S3-compatible object storage with erasure coding, versioning, object locking, encryption, replication, and AWS SDK compatibility. The public Community server repository remains AGPL-3.0 but was archived in 2026 and is no longer actively maintained; MinIO Inc. now focuses commercially on AIStor.
Pricing: Community server source remains available under AGPL-3.0; commercial AIStor is a separate offering.
Distributed storage platform whose RADOS Gateway exposes S3-compatible and Swift-compatible APIs. Ceph also provides block storage and CephFS for private clouds, OpenStack, Kubernetes, and on-premises clusters.
Pricing: Open-source self-hosted platform; infrastructure and operations are your responsibility.
AGPL-3.0 object store designed for self-hosted and geo-distributed deployments across unreliable networks and heterogeneous servers. Available from the Deuxfleurs Git repository and mirrored on GitHub.
Pricing: Free and open source; self-hosted deployment.
Apache-2.0 embedded LSM-tree storage engine that uses an object store such as Amazon S3 as its durable storage layer. It enables database-style systems without managing local persistent disks, but is not an S3 server or S3 replacement.
Pricing: Open-source embedded library; an underlying object store is required.
Open-source decentralized storage network that encrypts data, splits it into pieces, and distributes it across independent storage nodes. Applications can use S3-compatible access through a gateway; the storage network is a commercial hosted service.
Pricing: Commercial hosted storage network with open-source core components.
Swift-based S3-compatible object-storage system with web console, versioning, multipart uploads, bucket policies, lifecycle rules, webhooks, replication, and distributed erasure coding. It can start as a simpler deployment and scale into a cluster.
Pricing: Free and open source under Apache-2.0; self-hosted.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MinIO | S3 server | AGPL-3.0 (archived) | Yes | Existing deployments |
| Ceph | Distributed storage | LGPL-2.1 or LGPL-3.0 | Yes | Large clusters |
| Garage | Distributed S3 store | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Small multi-site clusters |
| SlateDB | Embedded engine | Apache-2.0 | Embedded | Databases on object storage |
| Storj | Decentralized network | AGPL-3.0 | Yes or hosted | Distributed storage |
| Alarik | S3 server | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Light S3-compatible storage |
Need object, block, and file storage at scale
Ceph provides unified storage from one cluster on commodity hardware, but it is complex to run.
Want lightweight distributed object storage
Garage is an AGPL-3.0 S3-compatible store that replicates data across zones and runs on modest hardware.
Want a lightweight S3-compatible server
Alarik is Apache-2.0 and scales from one node to sharded clusters, but it is beta software and Linux only.
Want decentralized, encrypted storage
Storj spreads encrypted file pieces across independent nodes, as a paid service or with its AGPL-3.0 code.
Already run MinIO
MinIO's repository is archived, so plan a migration or move to the commercial AIStor edition.