OpenEBS

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Score6.9

Rank#8 of 28

PriceFree

Free planYes

Runs onAPI, Linux, Self-hosted

Summary

OpenEBS is open-source Kubernetes storage software for developers and platform SREs running stateful workloads. It turns storage on Kubernetes worker nodes into local or distributed persistent volumes, with engines for Replicated PV Mayastor and local Hostpath, LVM, ZFS, and experimental Rawfile volumes. Mayastor can synchronously replicate volumes across Kubernetes zones; Kubernetes-native operations support copy-on-write snapshots and clones. Velero plugins provide backup and restore to AWS S3, GCP Object Storage, or MinIO. Volumes expose metrics including IOPS, throughput, latency, and traffic patterns for Prometheus and Grafana. OpenEBS operates in userspace rather than relying on Linux kernel-dependent software, and exposes declarative APIs through Kubernetes custom resources. It can be installed with Helm 3.2 or newer. Mayastor disk pools support data-at-rest encryption with user-defined AES-XTS keys, but are limited to one block device and encryption keys cannot be rotated. Stated use cases include self-managed databases, observability stacks, CI/CD, object storage, websites, and ML pipelines on Kubernetes.

Who it is for

OpenEBS suits developers and platform SREs running stateful services on Kubernetes, including databases, observability stacks, CI/CD, object storage, websites, or ML pipelines. It is a free, open-source option for Kubernetes storage.

What is good

Provides local and distributed Kubernetes persistent volumes.
Mayastor synchronously replicates volumes across zones.
Supports copy-on-write snapshots and clones.
Backups can target S3, GCP Object Storage, or MinIO.
Exposes volume metrics for Prometheus and Grafana.

What to know first

Mayastor DiskPools are limited to one block device.
Data-encryption keys cannot be rotated.
OpenEBS kubectl plugin is available for Linux.

Verdict

OpenEBS offers several Kubernetes volume types alongside replication, snapshots, backups, and monitoring metrics. The Mayastor device and key-rotation limits are important considerations for deployments using its disk pools.

OpenEBS plans and pricing

All plans

OpenEBS open source Free Open source · Kubernetes storage openebs.io · 2 Oct 2026

Compared on software-defined storage software

Free plan: Yesopenebs.io
Volume types: Hostpath, LVM, ZFS, Rawfile, Replicated PV Mayastoropenebs.io
Snapshots: Yesopenebs.io
Multi-attach: Yesopenebs.io
Encryption: Yesopenebs.io

Facts

Purpose: OpenEBS helps developers and platform SREs deploy Kubernetes stateful workloads requiring fast, reliable container-native storage.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Storage types: OpenEBS turns storage on Kubernetes worker nodes into local or distributed Kubernetes persistent volumes.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Architecture: OpenEBS operates exclusively in userspace, avoiding Linux kernel-dependent software.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Storage engines: OpenEBS v4.6 includes Replicated PV Mayastor, Local PV Hostpath, Local PV LVM, Local PV ZFS, and experimental Local PV Rawfile.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Replication: Replicated Storage can synchronously replicate volumes across Kubernetes zones for high availability.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Snapshots and clones: OpenEBS provides copy-on-write snapshots and clones using Kubernetes-native kubectl operations.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Backup: OpenEBS backup and restore works with Velero through OpenEBS Velero plugins and can target AWS S3, GCP Object Storage, or MinIO.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Observability: OpenEBS volumes expose metrics such as IOPS, throughput, latency, and traffic patterns for Prometheus and Grafana monitoring.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Integrations: OpenEBS documents integrations with Prometheus, Grafana, Alert Manager, ELK, Loki, Logstash, Velero, OpenShift, EKS, DigitalOcean, Rancher, MicroK8s, and KubeSphere.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
API: OpenEBS exposes declarative APIs through Kubernetes custom resources.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Security: Replicated PV Mayastor supports TLS for its public REST API, while JWT authentication and internal TLS are listed as planned; plaintext communication is the default.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Installation: OpenEBS can be installed with Helm 3.2 or newer, and the default chart installs Local PV Hostpath, Local PV LVM, Local PV ZFS, and Replicated Storage.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Platform limitation: The OpenEBS kubectl plugin is available for Linux.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Support: DataCore offers OpenEBS support services led by program managers and engineers with Certified Kubernetes Administrator and Developer qualifications.datacore.com · 1 Oct 2026
Governance: OpenEBS was originally built by MayaData, donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, and is a CNCF sandbox project.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Open source: The OpenEBS homepage describes the project as 100% open source.openebs.io · 1 Oct 2026
Container-native storage: OpenEBS is an open-source implementation of the Container Native Storage pattern and uses Kubernetes to orchestrate volume services.openebs.io · 2 Oct 2026
Backup integrations: OpenEBS volume backup and restore works with Velero and object-storage targets including AWS S3, GCP Object Storage and MinIO.openebs.io · 2 Oct 2026
Audience and use cases: OpenEBS is used for self-managed databases, observability stacks, CI/CD, object storage and scalable websites or ML pipelines on Kubernetes.openebs.io · 2 Oct 2026
Current limitation: Replicated PV Mayastor DiskPools are limited to a single block device and data-encryption keys cannot be rotated.openebs.io · 2 Oct 2026