Gluster
Gluster: A broad self-hosted storage platform for teams that need replication and flexible access. Ranked #11 of 30 in Software-Defined Storage Software by our editors (8.0/10); pricing: Free plan; best for free distributed file storage with geo-replication.
At a glance
- Editor score8.0 / 10
- PricingFree plan
- Best forFree distributed file storage with geo-replication
- Free planYes
- Paid fromFree
- Deployment modelHybrid
- Facts checked21 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Global namespace with replicated and erasure-coded volumes
- Geo-replication, snapshots, quotas, and bitrot detection
- NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and Swift REST access options
Where it doesn't
- Requires Linux and self-hosted deployment
- Commercial support is separate from the community project
- Broad capabilities can require specialist storage administration
Our verdict on Gluster
Gluster is a free, open-source distributed network filesystem for teams building storage across multiple servers. It aggregates capacity into a global namespace and supports scalable deployments for data-intensive workloads such as media streaming and data analysis. The project is designed for Linux and self-hosted environments, with documentation covering on-premises, public-cloud, and hybrid deployments. It can run on commodity hardware and offers native GlusterFS access alongside NFS and SMB/CIFS.
The published model is open source with a free plan, so there are no paid tiers to compare. Its storage capabilities cover replicated volumes with automatic self-healing, dispersed volumes using erasure coding, asynchronous geo-replication across sites, point-in-time snapshots, quotas, and bitrot detection. This gives infrastructure teams several ways to balance availability, capacity efficiency, recovery, and operational control. Access can extend through iSCSI using GlusterFS integration and through Swift REST object-storage integration.
Gluster also fits into a wider infrastructure ecosystem through OpenStack Swift, Cinder, and Keystone, plus NFS, SMB/Samba, QEMU, ZFS, Bareos, Puppet, and Consul. That breadth suits organizations integrating storage with virtualization, cloud infrastructure, backup, configuration management, or service discovery. Its trade-off is the self-hosted operating model: teams must run and administer the storage environment, while commercial support is described separately from the community software. Choose Gluster when free, distributed storage with geo-replication and multiple access protocols matters more than a managed service experience; consider an alternative if you want vendor-operated infrastructure.
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Gluster pricing
Gluster fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Free |
| Deployment model | Hybrid |
| Storage protocols | Native GlusterFS, NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Swift REST API |
| Maximum nodes | Not verified |
| Replication | Yes |
| Erasure coding | Yes |
| Kubernetes support | Not verified |
| S3-compatible access | Not verified |
| Deployment | Cloud, Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Linux |
| Support | Community, Docs |
| Built for | Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 10 integrations: OpenStack Swift, OpenStack Cinder, OpenStack Keystone, NFS, SMB/Samba, QEMU … |
| Pricing | Free plan |
| Website | gluster.org |
| Facts checked | 21 Sep 2026 |
Gluster integrations
Gluster lists 10 integrations on its own site.
- OpenStack Swift
- OpenStack Cinder
- OpenStack Keystone
- NFS
- SMB/Samba
- QEMU
- ZFS
- Bareos
- Puppet
- Consul
Alternatives to Gluster
- CephA broad, self-hosted storage cluster for object, block, and file workloads.9.4
- NetApp ONTAP SelectA mature multiprotocol SDS appliance for private cloud, data center, and edge deployments.9.2
- MinIO AIStorA self-hosted S3 platform with governance, replication, and enterprise identity support.9.0
See all Gluster alternatives →
Also Ranked In
Gluster is ranked in 2 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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