Garage vs SeaweedFS: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Amazon S3. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
Quick answer: Garage fits best in a home cluster of modest, even geo-distributed nodes with very low per-node resource use. SeaweedFS fits best when you need to serve huge numbers of small files at scale with extra features like erasure coding. Both are S3 API-compatible.
| Garage | SeaweedFS | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Storage | Storage |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | — | ~23k |
| Tech stack | Rust | Go |
| Replaces | Amazon S3 | Amazon S3 |
Garage
Distributed, S3-compatible object storage, an alternative to Amazon S3.
Pros
- Excellent for homelab clusters on modest hardware
Things to consider
- Cluster configuration has a bit more of a learning curve
SeaweedFS
Distributed storage for millions of files, an alternative to Amazon S3.
ℹ️ chrislusf/seaweedfs hasn't published a new version tag on Docker Hub since 3.99 (October 2025) — recent registry activity is only cosign signatures, not new consumable releases. 3.99 is the latest real version you can pin to today.
Pros
- Excellent performance with massive volumes of small files
Things to consider
- Less polished documentation than MinIO to get started
- No new version tags since 3.99 on Docker Hub (see note above)
Key features
Garage
- 100% S3-compatible API
- Built for geo-distributed clusters
- Very low per-node resource usage
SeaweedFS
- Optimized for small files at scale
- Included S3 compatibility layer
- Configurable replication and erasure coding
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Go to Stack BuilderFrequently asked questions
Garage or SeaweedFS for a homelab with modest hardware?
Garage is built specifically for that: clusters of several small, even geo-distributed nodes, with very low resource use per node. Its clustering setup has a somewhat steeper learning curve in exchange.
Which one has more features?
SeaweedFS includes configurable replication and erasure coding, and is optimized to serve billions of small files at scale — more features at the cost of a larger project.
Are both compatible with the Amazon S3 API?
Yes, both include an S3 compatibility layer, so most clients and tools that already speak S3 work against either one without code changes.
What's the difference between their licenses?
Garage uses AGPL-3.0: a strong copyleft license, with source-sharing obligations for covered modified versions and certain network use, under its terms. SeaweedFS uses Apache-2.0, a permissive license without that network-use obligation. This matters most if you plan to offer the storage as a service to third parties.