Skip to content
STACK IT FAST
Share

SeaweedFS vs Garage vs MinIO

Architecture comparison 3 projects Built from source-audited deep dives

All three speak S3, but they are built for different jobs. SeaweedFS is a Haystack-style file store for billions of small files with FUSE and pluggable metadata, Garage is a small Rust cluster designed for geo-distributed nodes that fail, and MinIO is an erasure-coded Go object store whose repository is now archived.

SeaweedFS Garage MinIO
SeaweedFS
Go · Apache-2.0
Garage
Rust · AGPL-3.0
MinIO
Go · AGPL-3.0
Updated
2026-09-25

Which one should you pick?

Pick SeaweedFS if…
  • You store very many small files and want O(1) disk lookups
  • You need POSIX mounts (FUSE) or WebDAV next to the S3 API
  • You want to choose the metadata store: RocksDB, PostgreSQL or FoundationDB
Pick Garage if…
  • Your nodes are spread across sites or homes and some will go offline
  • You want a single Rust binary with embedded metadata (LMDB, SQLite or Fjall)
  • AGPL-3.0 is acceptable for your use
Pick MinIO if…
  • You already run it and need to understand the architecture you depend on
  • You rely on its Reed-Solomon erasure coding, etcd-backed IAM or tiering, and accept that the repository is archived

Side by side

Attribute SeaweedFS Garage MinIO
Written in GoRust Rust Go
License Apache-2.0 AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0
Frontend none none none
Backend & APIs GoRust Rustgarage_net GoErasure coding (Reed-Solomon)etcdLDAPOpenID Connect
Data & persistence S3RocksDB LMDBSQLiteFjall S3Azure Blob StorageGoogle Cloud StorageEvent notification targets
Infrastructure & deploy DockerKubernetes DockerNixKubernetesPrometheusWoodpecker CI DockerKubernetesPrometheus
Key decisions
  • Haystack-inspired architecture: decoupling metadata from chunk storage
  • Pluggable Filer metadata backends (RocksDB, PostgreSQL, FoundationDB)
  • Native S3 and POSIX FUSE filesystem interfaces
  • Cluster logic is split into a dozen single-purpose Cargo crates
  • Metadata storage engine is pluggable, not fixed to one database
  • Own RPC transport instead of gRPC or plain HTTP for cluster traffic
  • The project is now archived with an explicit deprecation notice
  • IAM and config state can be distributed via etcd, not only local disk
  • Enterprise identity integrates through LDAP and OpenID Connect
Audited 66f1754 · 2026-09-17 d50be27 · 2026-09-17 7aac2a2 · 2026-09-17

How they differ

Where the metadata lives

The biggest architectural split is metadata. SeaweedFS follows Facebook’s Haystack design: masters (coordinated with Raft) hand out file ids, volume servers append “needles” into large volume files and keep an in-memory index, and a separate Filer maps paths to needles in a pluggable store. Garage keeps metadata in tables replicated across the cluster by its own RPC layer, stored in an embedded engine. MinIO writes objects with Reed-Solomon erasure coding and can keep IAM and configuration in etcd.

Failure model

Garage is designed for small-to-medium clusters where nodes are expected to fail or sit in different locations, and its correctness is tested with fuzzing and Jepsen. SeaweedFS offers erasure coding for cold volumes (8 data + 4 parity shards) and a Rust volume engine for low-overhead disk I/O. MinIO’s redundancy is application-level erasure coding rather than RAID.

Interfaces and licensing

SeaweedFS exposes S3, FUSE mounts, WebDAV and Hadoop-compatible access from one weed binary and is Apache-2.0. Garage offers S3 plus its own K2V key-value API and static website hosting, under AGPL-3.0. MinIO is AGPL-3.0 and, in the audited repository, archived.

Architecture diagrams

SeaweedFS Open SVG
SeaweedFS architecture diagramS3 clients → S3 gateway (S3 API); FUSE / WebDAV → Filer (paths); S3 gateway → Filer (objects); Filer → Filer metadata (path to needle); Filer → Masters (assign fid); Filer → Volume servers (read / write); Masters → Volume servers (allocate); Volume servers → Volume files (append needles)CLIENTSSERVICESWORKERS & JOBSDATA & STORAGES3 clientsAWS SDKs · CLIFUSE / WebDAVmountS3 gatewayweed s3Filerweed filerMastersRaftVolume serversGo / Rust engineFiler metadataRocksDB · Postgres · FDBVolume files.dat / .idx · ECobjectsassign fidS3 APIpathsread / writeallocateappend needlespath to needle
Garage Open SVG
Garage architecture diagramS3 clients → garage binary (S3 API); K2V clients → garage binary (K2V API); Website visitors → garage binary (garage_web); garage binary → Metadata tables (objects · keys); garage binary → Block manager (put / get blocks); Metadata tables → Metadata DB (garage_db); Block manager → Data blocks (chunks); Metadata tables → Cluster RPC (sync); Cluster RPC → Other nodes (replicate)CLIENTSSERVICESWORKERS & JOBSDATA & STORAGEEXTERNALS3 clientsAWS SDKs · CLIK2V clientsk2v-clientWebsite visitorsstatic hostinggarage binaryhyper · S3 / K2V / adminCluster RPCgarage_netMetadata tablesgarage_tableBlock managergarage_blockMetadata DBLMDB / SQLite / FjallData blockslocal disksOther nodesreplicationsyncS3 APIK2V APIgarage_webobjects · keysput / get blocksgarage_dbchunksreplicate
MinIO Open SVG
MinIO architecture diagramS3 clients → S3 API handlers (S3); Admin clients → S3 API handlers (admin API); S3 API handlers → IAM (authorize); S3 API handlers → Erasure engine (put / get); Erasure engine → Erasure sets (data + parity); Self-healing → Erasure sets (repair); IAM → etcd (state); IAM → LDAP / OIDC (federate); Erasure engine → Tiering targets (tier cold data); S3 API handlers → Event targets (bucket events)CLIENTSSERVICESWORKERS & JOBSDATA & STORAGEEXTERNALS3 clientsAWS SDKs · CLIAdmin clientsadmin APIS3 API handlerscmd/api-*.goIAMcmd/iam*.goErasure engineReed-SolomonSelf-healingglobal-heal · background opsErasure setslocal drivesetcdIAM & config (optional)Event targetsKafka · NATS · Redis …Tiering targetsAzure Blob · GCSLDAP / OIDCidentity providersauthorizeS3admin APIput / getdata + parityrepairstatetier cold datafederatebucket events

Frequently asked questions

Is MinIO still maintained?

The audited MinIO repository is archived and carries an explicit deprecation notice, so new deployments should weigh that against SeaweedFS (Apache-2.0) or Garage (AGPL-3.0), which are both active.

Which is written in Rust: SeaweedFS, Garage or MinIO?

Garage is written entirely in Rust. SeaweedFS is written in Go with a Rust re-implementation of its volume server, and MinIO is written in Go.

Do SeaweedFS, Garage and MinIO need an external database?

Garage embeds its metadata store (LMDB, SQLite or Fjall). SeaweedFS keeps file metadata in a pluggable Filer store such as RocksDB, PostgreSQL or FoundationDB. MinIO stores objects with application-level erasure coding and can distribute IAM and config state through etcd.

More architecture comparisons

View all

RustFS vs Garage

RustFS vs Garage compared on architecture: two Rust S3 object stores, erasure coding vs replication, metadata, protocols, licensing and deployment.

SeaweedFS vs RustFS

SeaweedFS vs RustFS compared on architecture: Haystack-style volumes and a Filer vs erasure-coded object storage, Go vs Rust, protocols and licensing.

AFFiNE vs AppFlowy

AFFiNE vs AppFlowy compared on architecture: React + Yjs vs Flutter + Rust, local-first storage, sync servers, native code and local AI.

Appsmith vs ToolJet vs Budibase

Appsmith, ToolJet and Budibase compared on architecture: Java vs NestJS vs Koa, MongoDB vs PostgreSQL vs CouchDB, sandboxing, plugins and deployment.