# Best Object Storage Solutions

  *By [Rachana Hasyagar](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/rachana-hasyagar)*

   Object storage or object-based storage is a data storage architecture that handles large amounts of unstructured data as distinct units or objects. Object storage solutions distinguish these objects or blobs using metadata and custom identifiers, which are crucial for locating and accessing each data unit or object. Maintaining comprehensive metadata for every file allows these solutions to simplify [data storage](https://learn.g2.com/data-storage), eliminate hierarchical folder-level storage, and organize files within a flat address space called a storage pool.

The best object storage solutions offer unmatched scalability for storing large data volumes, like terabytes and petabytes, making them more scalable than traditional and [block storage software](https://www.g2.com/categories/block-storage) for archiving and backup purposes. Organizations use object storage software to store videos, network logs, photos, emails, sensor data, audio files, and other structured and unstructured data on-premises or in the cloud. This data may live across multiple physical devices, but users can access it from a single virtual data storage repository. Media, healthcare, e-commerce, finance, and technology companies use object storage vendors for cloud-native applications, distributed content management, big data analytics, rich media storage, Internet of Things (IoT), backup, and archiving purposes.

Modern companies rely on top-class object storage providers because of scale-out architecture, flexible data protection, [scalability](https://www.g2.com/glossary/scalability), high sequential throughput performance, searchability, and cost efficiency.

Object storage systems can store beyond exabytes of data, making them ideal for businesses looking to store a growing amount of unstructured data at affordable costs. Moreover, scale-out architecture allows easy expansion of storage capacity by adding more nodes to the cluster. Users can also add multiple metadata tags for each object search and retrieval. Object storage tools can also stream files in parallel over multiple pipes, resulting in high sequential throughput. Plus, they use erasure coding to safeguard data by spreading redundant information across various storage locations.

To qualify for inclusion in the Object Storage category, a product must:

- Store unstructured data and relevant metadata
- Facilitate data retrieval through APIs or HTTP/HTTPS
- Be offered by cloud service providers





## Category Overview

**Total Products under this Category:** 76


## Trust & Credibility Stats

**Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:**

- 30 Analysts and Data Experts
- 5,000+ Authentic Reviews
- 76+ Products
- Unbiased Rankings

G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category.


## Best Object Storage Solutions At A Glance

- **Leader:** [Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3/reviews)
- **Highest Performer:** [E2E Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/e2e-cloud/reviews)
- **Easiest to Use:** [Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3/reviews)
- **Top Trending:** [IDrive Online and SaaS Backup, Object Storage e2](https://www.g2.com/products/idrive-online-and-saas-backup-object-storage-e2/reviews)
- **Best Free Software:** [Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3/reviews)


## Top-Rated Products (Ranked by G2 Score)
  ### 1. [Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3/reviews)
  Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers. Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, secure, fast, inexpensive infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 841

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://www.g2.com/sellers/amazon-web-services-aws-3e93cc28-2e9b-4961-b258-c6ce0feec7dd)
- **Year Founded:** 2006
- **HQ Location:** Seattle, WA
- **Twitter:** @awscloud (2,223,984 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon-web-services/ (156,424 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NASDAQ: AMZN

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 41% Enterprise, 34% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Scalability (9 reviews)
- Features (7 reviews)
- Security (7 reviews)
- Cloud Storage (5 reviews)
- Ease of Use (5 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Pricing Issues (6 reviews)
- Complex Features (3 reviews)
- Complexity (3 reviews)
- Expensive (3 reviews)
- Learning Difficulty (3 reviews)

  ### 2. [Google Cloud Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-storage/reviews)
  Cloud Storage is a managed service for storing unstructured data, like videos and documents. It is most commonly used for data lakes for analytics, storing AI data, or web hosting. With Cloud Storage you can store any amount of data, and retrieve it as often as you like. New customers can use $300 in free credits to try Cloud Storage. All customers get 5 GiB of US regional storage free per month, not charged against your credits. If you’re a consumer or business looking for file sharing, check out Workspace products like Google Drive (https://workspace.google.com/products/drive/). If you’re looking for photo storage, use Google Photos (www.google.com/photos)


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 560

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.8/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Google](https://www.g2.com/sellers/google)
- **Year Founded:** 1998
- **HQ Location:** Mountain View, CA
- **Twitter:** @google (31,885,216 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1441/ (336,169 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NASDAQ:GOOG

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, CTO
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 45% Small-Business, 29% Enterprise


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Cloud Storage (35 reviews)
- Ease of Use (33 reviews)
- Security (22 reviews)
- Scalability (20 reviews)
- Features (16 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Expensive (16 reviews)
- Storage Limitations (12 reviews)
- Complexity (11 reviews)
- Cost Issues (9 reviews)
- Learning Difficulty (9 reviews)

  ### 3. [Akamai Cloud Computing](https://www.g2.com/products/akamai-cloud-computing/reviews)
  Akamai Cloud Computing is a platform and broad set of distributed cloud and edge computing services to help businesses build, deploy, and manage applications and workloads on the world’s most distributed network. Akamai’s distributed cloud computing platform is designed for developers and built by developers. The platform empowers developers to build apps and APIs using open standards designed to maximize portability and avoid lock-in. With core, distributed, and edge services, developers can choose where to deploy and scale compute, data, and security services, based on business needs.


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 386

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.4/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Akamai Technologies](https://www.g2.com/sellers/akamai-technologies)
- **Company Website:** https://www.akamai.com
- **Year Founded:** 1998
- **HQ Location:** Cambridge, MA
- **Twitter:** @Akamai (115,399 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/3925/ (10,444 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Founder
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 67% Small-Business, 15% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Ease of Use (108 reviews)
- Affordable (74 reviews)
- Features (64 reviews)
- Setup Ease (60 reviews)
- Easy Setup (56 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Expensive (23 reviews)
- Limited Features (17 reviews)
- Complex Setup (15 reviews)
- Difficult Setup (15 reviews)
- Missing Features (14 reviews)

  ### 4. [IDrive Online and SaaS Backup, Object Storage e2](https://www.g2.com/products/idrive-online-and-saas-backup-object-storage-e2/reviews)
  IDrive protects all your PCs, Macs, mobile devices, Servers, your Cloud Applications Data (SAAS) including Office 365, Google Workspace and more, and provides the best in class S3 compatible Object Storage service with IDrive e2. IDrive offers many different plans for cloud backup for your devices: -IDrive Personal -IDrive Team -IDrive Small Business -IDrive Enterprise - IDrive360 EndPoint IDrive provides Cloud Applications data (SAAS) Backup: - Microsoft Office 365 Backup - Google Workspace Backup - Dropbox and Box Backup - Salesforce Backup The company's services help over 4 million customers back up over 1 Exabyte of data


  **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 1,893

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [IDrive](https://www.g2.com/sellers/idrive)
- **Year Founded:** 2007
- **HQ Location:** Calabasas, CA
- **Twitter:** @IDriveBackup (17,855 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1498880/ (125 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Owner, Director
  - **Top Industries:** Photography, Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 88% Small-Business, 4% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Ease of Use (496 reviews)
- Affordable (403 reviews)
- Storage Capacity (378 reviews)
- Setup Ease (359 reviews)
- Backup Frequency (335 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Backup Issues (231 reviews)
- Poor Interface Design (128 reviews)
- Backup Failures (116 reviews)
- Storage Issues (113 reviews)
- Slow Backup (103 reviews)

  ### 5. [Azure Blob Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-blob-storage/reviews)
  Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft's cloud-based object storage solution designed to handle vast amounts of unstructured data, such as text and binary files. It is optimized for scenarios like serving images or documents directly to browsers, streaming video and audio, storing backups, and archiving data. Key Features and Functionality: - Scalability and Durability: Azure Blob Storage offers high scalability and durability, ensuring data is stored reliably and can be accessed as needed. - Security: It provides robust security measures, including authentication with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), role-based access control (RBAC), encryption at rest, and advanced threat protection. - Data Management: The service includes end-to-end lifecycle management, policy-based access control, and immutable storage options, facilitating comprehensive data governance. - Integration with Data Lakes: Azure Blob Storage supports Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, enabling the creation of data lakes for analytics and big data processing. - Multiple Storage Tiers: It offers various storage tiers—Premium, Hot, Cool, and Archive—allowing cost optimization based on data access patterns. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: Azure Blob Storage addresses the need for a scalable, secure, and cost-effective solution for storing unstructured data in the cloud. It enables organizations to build powerful cloud-native and mobile applications, create data lakes for analytics, and implement efficient backup and disaster recovery strategies. By offering multiple storage tiers and robust security features, Azure Blob Storage helps businesses optimize costs while ensuring data availability and protection.


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 102

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.5/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft)
- **Year Founded:** 1975
- **HQ Location:** Redmond, Washington
- **Twitter:** @microsoft (13,105,844 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/ (227,697 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** MSFT

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 44% Enterprise, 34% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Cloud Storage (9 reviews)
- Scalability (7 reviews)
- Ease of Use (6 reviews)
- Features (6 reviews)
- Azure Services (4 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Expensive (4 reviews)
- Complexity (2 reviews)
- Complex Setup (2 reviews)
- Cost Issues (2 reviews)
- Learning Difficulty (2 reviews)

  ### 6. [Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/backblaze-b2-cloud-storage/reviews)
  Backblaze B2 is S3 compatible cloud object storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Delivering performance at 1/5 the cost including free egress up to 3x monthly storage, it’s the easy choice for more than 85,000 organizations including Patagonia, UCLA, Fortune, and Streamlabs for backup, active archive, and application storage needs. Together with technology partners, Backblaze B2 helps customers break free from restrictive, overpriced legacy providers that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.


  **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 113

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 6.7/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Backblaze](https://www.g2.com/sellers/backblaze)
- **Company Website:** https://www.backblaze.com/
- **Year Founded:** 2007
- **HQ Location:** San Mateo, California
- **Twitter:** @backblaze (17,828 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2749627/ (364 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Owner
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 71% Small-Business, 19% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Affordable (17 reviews)
- Reliability (14 reviews)
- Ease of Use (12 reviews)
- Easy Setup (12 reviews)
- Storage Capacity (12 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Poor Interface Design (4 reviews)
- Poor Navigation (4 reviews)
- Storage Issues (4 reviews)
- Storage Limitations (4 reviews)
- Backup Issues (3 reviews)

  ### 7. [Wasabi Object Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/wasabi-object-storage/reviews)
  Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage is simple, fast, and affordable cloud object storage. There are no archival or warm storage tiers to deal with–it’s just one tier of highly secure, low-latency storage that’s as fast or faster than the hyperscalers’ most expensive frequent-access tiers, yet priced closer to what you’d expect to pay for slower archive storage. This makes Wasabi the ideal storage target for a wide variety of use cases, from active archives to offsite backups, to hybrid cloud storage. Best of all, there are no additional fees for egress of API calls, so you get straightforward pricing that eliminates the guesswork associated with using AWS S3 and other hyperscale storage services and free cloud storage providers.


  **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 63

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.8/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Wasabi](https://www.g2.com/sellers/wasabi)
- **Year Founded:** 2017
- **HQ Location:** Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- **Twitter:** @wasabi_cloud (6,542 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/wasabitechnologies (556 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer & Network Security
  - **Company Size:** 50% Mid-Market, 38% Small-Business


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Affordable (3 reviews)
- Affordable Pricing (3 reviews)
- Pricing (3 reviews)
- Affordability (1 reviews)
- Automatic Backup (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Poor Customer Support (2 reviews)
- Backup Issues (1 reviews)
- Data Deletion Issues (1 reviews)
- Limited Functionality (1 reviews)
- Limited Storage Capacity (1 reviews)

  ### 8. [Amazon S3 Glacier](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-s3-glacier/reviews)
  Amazon Glacier is a secure, durable, and extremely low-cost cloud storage service for data archiving and long-term backup. It is designed to deliver 99.999999999% durability, and provides comprehensive security and compliance capabilities that can help meet even the most stringent regulatory requirements. Amazon Glacier provides query-in-place functionality, allowing you to run powerful analytics directly on your archive data at rest. Customers can store data for as little as $0.004 per gigabyte per month, a significant savings compared to on-premises solutions. To keep costs low yet suitable for varying retrieval needs, Amazon Glacier provides three options for access to archives, from a few minutes to several hours.


  **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 122

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://www.g2.com/sellers/amazon-web-services-aws-3e93cc28-2e9b-4961-b258-c6ce0feec7dd)
- **Year Founded:** 2006
- **HQ Location:** Seattle, WA
- **Twitter:** @awscloud (2,223,984 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon-web-services/ (156,424 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NASDAQ: AMZN

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 38% Small-Business, 32% Enterprise


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Affordable (2 reviews)
- Data Security (2 reviews)
- Easy Integrations (2 reviews)
- Features (2 reviews)
- Reliability (2 reviews)

**Cons:**

- High Retrieval Costs (2 reviews)
- Slow Retrieval (2 reviews)
- Pricing Issues (1 reviews)
- Slow Speed (1 reviews)
- Unclear Instructions (1 reviews)

  ### 9. [Azure Kubernetes Services](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-kubernetes-services/reviews)
  Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a fully managed container orchestration service provided by Microsoft Azure, designed to simplify the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications using Kubernetes. By automating complex tasks such as cluster provisioning, upgrades, and monitoring, AKS enables developers to focus on building and maintaining applications without the operational overhead of managing Kubernetes infrastructure. Key Features and Functionality: - Managed Kubernetes Control Plane: AKS handles the Kubernetes control plane, including health monitoring and maintenance, allowing users to manage only the agent nodes. - Scalability: Easily scale applications and resources to meet changing demands with support for horizontal pod autoscaling, cluster autoscaling, and manual scaling. - Integrated Azure Services: Seamless integration with Azure services such as Azure Active Directory, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, and Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive cloud-based solution for container management. - Security and Compliance: Built-in security features include role-based access control (RBAC), private clusters, and Azure Private Link for secure communication, ensuring compliance with various industry standards. - DevOps and CI/CD Integration: Supports integration with popular DevOps and CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab, and Azure Pipelines, simplifying the deployment and management of containerized applications. Primary Value and Problem Solved: AKS addresses the challenges of deploying and managing containerized applications by providing a fully managed Kubernetes environment. It reduces the complexity and operational burden associated with Kubernetes cluster management, enabling organizations to accelerate application development and deployment. By integrating with Azure's ecosystem, AKS offers a secure, scalable, and efficient platform for running modern applications, allowing businesses to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure management.


  **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 20

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 8.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft)
- **Year Founded:** 1975
- **HQ Location:** Redmond, Washington
- **Twitter:** @microsoft (13,105,844 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/ (227,697 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** MSFT

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 50% Small-Business, 30% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Ease of Use (1 reviews)
- Setup Ease (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Expensive (1 reviews)
- Pricing Issues (1 reviews)

  ### 10. [DigitalOcean Spaces](https://www.g2.com/products/digitalocean-spaces/reviews)
  Spaces Object Storage complements local storage to help your business scale. Make data storage and delivery easy, reliable and affordable with our S3-compatible object storage, including a built-in Content Delivery Network (CDN).


  **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 42

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Auditing:** 6.7/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [DigitalOcean](https://www.g2.com/sellers/digitalocean)
- **Year Founded:** 2012
- **HQ Location:** New York
- **Twitter:** @digitalocean (221,280 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2601253/ (2,442 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NYSE: DOCN

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer
  - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 69% Small-Business, 20% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Affordability (1 reviews)
- Affordable (1 reviews)
- Affordable Pricing (1 reviews)
- Ease of Use (1 reviews)
- Management Ease (1 reviews)


  ### 11. [E2E Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/e2e-cloud/reviews)
  E2E Cloud, Meity Empanelled and NSE-Listed AI-First Hyperscaler [NSE:E2E] is a cloud service provider that helps users deploy, manage, and scale high-performance computing resources, particularly for AI/ML applications and data-intensive workloads. It is designed to serve startups, developers, data scientists, enterprises, and public sector organisations with cost-effective and scalable cloud solutions.


  **Average Rating:** 4.8/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 130

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.5/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [E2E Networks](https://www.g2.com/sellers/e2e-networks)
- **Year Founded:** 2009
- **HQ Location:** New Delhi, IN
- **Twitter:** @e2enetworks (3,396 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/e2enetworks/ (256 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** E2E (NSE)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Who Uses This:** Founder, Director
  - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 73% Small-Business, 26% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Cost-Effective (31 reviews)
- Customer Support (31 reviews)
- Affordable (27 reviews)
- Ease of Use (21 reviews)
- Services (21 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Poor Customer Support (7 reviews)
- Interface Issues (6 reviews)
- Resource Limitations (6 reviews)
- Poor Interface Design (5 reviews)
- Poor UI (5 reviews)

  ### 12. [zStorage](https://www.g2.com/products/zstorage-2025-10-01/reviews)
  Zadara is a leading provider of AI edge clouds, delivering a groundbreaking distributed cloud platform purpose-built for sovereign AI applications. Zadara platform powers advanced AI capabilities with the simplicity, agility, and flexibility of cloud computing while ensuring seamless multi-tenancy through fully automated, end-to-end provisioning of compute, storage, and networking resources. With over 500 edge cloud locations worldwide and the ability to deploy a full-scale cloud infrastructure anywhere, Zadara is uniquely equipped to meet the specialized requirements of sovereign AI workloads. Its solution ensures complete data privacy and security, adhering to stringent compliance standards while enabling both AI model training and AI real-time inference directly at the edge—ideal for service providers and modern enterprises. Zadara’s fully-managed clouds are designed to accommodate any workload, anywhere – whether on-premises, hybrid, multi-cloud or at the edge. Zadara’s cloud platform features a consumption-based pricing model with zero data egress fees, offering cost-effective scalability without hidden charges. Since 2011, Zadara has operated worldwide with a highly skilled team that provides 24/7 follow-the-sun support and services. Zadara is headquartered in Irvine, California.


  **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 26

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.7/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [ZADARA](https://www.g2.com/sellers/zadara-af93d36d-6162-424a-a78e-3f9008d79731)
- **Year Founded:** 2011
- **HQ Location:** Irvine, California
- **Twitter:** @Zadara (2,488 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/zadarastorage/about (213 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 54% Small-Business, 35% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Customer Support (4 reviews)
- Ease of Use (3 reviews)
- Affordable (2 reviews)
- Centralized Management (2 reviews)
- Performance (2 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Limited Customization (2 reviews)
- Limited Features (2 reviews)
- Limited Functionality (2 reviews)
- Slow Performance (2 reviews)
- Data Deletion Issues (1 reviews)

  ### 13. [Cloudian HyperStore](https://www.g2.com/products/cloudian-hyperstore/reviews)
  Cloudian is revolutionizing software defined object storage storage for enterprises with its exabyte-scalable data platform, designed to meet the demands of today’s data-intensive AI and analytics workloads. By bringing cloud-native S3 storage technology to on-premises and hybrid environments, we’re enabling organizations to build agile, efficient, secure, cost-effective, future-proof data infrastructures.


  **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 12

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Cloudian](https://www.g2.com/sellers/cloudian)
- **Year Founded:** 2011
- **HQ Location:** San Mateo, CA
- **Twitter:** @CloudianStorage (3,465 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2682596/ (211 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 38% Enterprise, 38% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Automation (1 reviews)
- Cloud Integration (1 reviews)
- Easy Integrations (1 reviews)
- Flexibility (1 reviews)
- Scalability (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Outdated Interface (1 reviews)
- Poor Documentation (1 reviews)
- Poor Navigation (1 reviews)

  ### 14. [Hitachi Content Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/hitachi-content-platform/reviews)
  Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) is an object storage software solution that connects data producers, users, applications and devices into a central cloud storage


  **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 11

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.7/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Hitachi Vantara](https://www.g2.com/sellers/hitachi-vantara)
- **HQ Location:** Santa Clara, CA
- **Twitter:** @HitachiVantara (28,434 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitachi-vantara/ (10,576 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 55% Enterprise, 27% Small-Business


  ### 15. [NetApp StorageGRID](https://www.g2.com/products/netapp-storagegrid/reviews)
  NetApp StorageGRID is a software-defined, object storage platform designed to store massive amounts of unstructured data securely, efficiently, and across distributed locations. It provides S3-compatible object storage with intelligent data lifecycle management, allowing organizations to automatically tier, replicate, or move data based on policies, cost, performance, or compliance needs. Built for durability, scale, and multicloud integration, StorageGRID supports long-term data growth without compromising on accessibility or control. StorageGRID is ideal for AI data prep, data lakes & analytics, and data backup & retention - especially compliance-driven datasets, and any workload where data must be retained for long periods at low cost. StorageGRID is also a strong fit for organizations building hybrid or multicloud architectures that want to keep control of their data while integrating with AWS, Azure, or on-premises applications.


  **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 17

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 7.5/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [NetApp](https://www.g2.com/sellers/netapp)
- **Year Founded:** 1992
- **HQ Location:** Sunnyvale, California
- **Twitter:** @NetApp (118,257 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2105/ (12,677 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NASDAQ

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 53% Small-Business, 35% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Customer Support (3 reviews)
- Features (2 reviews)
- Cost Management (1 reviews)
- Data Security (1 reviews)
- Easy Integrations (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Backup Issues (1 reviews)

  ### 16. [IBM Cloud Object Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-cloud-object-storage/reviews)
  Implement data storage that is scalable, flexible and simple —using the same platform across your enterprise – on premises, in the cloud or both. Flexibility Gain unmatched flexibility by choosing deployment options that meet your needs –dedicated and private cloud or public and shared cloud, implemented within a region or across multiple regions. Scalable Achieve massive scalability for any volume of data, any business need with IBM Cloud data centers worldwide. Simple Enhance efficiency and reduce costs by using an intuitive, single pane of glass for storage management.


  **Average Rating:** 3.9/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 27

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Auditing:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [IBM](https://www.g2.com/sellers/ibm)
- **Year Founded:** 1911
- **HQ Location:** Armonk, NY
- **Twitter:** @IBM (709,023 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1009/ (324,553 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** SWX:IBM

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 39% Small-Business, 32% Mid-Market


  ### 17. [Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage Classic](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-cloud-infrastructure-object-storage-classic/reviews)
  Secure, resilient and elastic object storage in the cloud, which provides enterprise-class data protection and sharing with easy access from anywhere on the internet.


  **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 12

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 7.7/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Oracle](https://www.g2.com/sellers/oracle)
- **Year Founded:** 1977
- **HQ Location:** Austin, TX
- **Twitter:** @Oracle (827,310 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1028/ (199,301 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NYSE:ORCL

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 54% Mid-Market, 31% Enterprise


  ### 18. [Qumulo Core](https://www.g2.com/products/qumulo-core/reviews)
  Qumulo is the breakthrough leader in simplifying unstructured data management at massive scale across hybrid-cloud environments. Qumulo provides a high-performance file data platform designed to store, manage and create workflows and applications with data in its native file form. Qumulo’s File Data Platform is both future-proofed and seamlessly works with existing applications and technologies: It enables customers to easily manage the full data lifecycle from ingestion, transformation, publishing and archiving with cost-effective capacity, dynamic scalability, automatic encryption, real-time analytics, and an advanced API so they can easily integrate Qumulo into their technology ecosystem and workflows.


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 17

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Qumulo](https://www.g2.com/sellers/qumulo)
- **Year Founded:** 2012
- **HQ Location:** Seattle, WA
- **Twitter:** @qumulo (2,779 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2533593/ (639 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 58% Mid-Market, 37% Enterprise


  ### 19. [MinIO AIStor](https://www.g2.com/products/minio-aistor/reviews)
  MinIO AIStor is the Exascale Data Store for the AI Enterprise AIStor is a high-performance, enterprise-grade object store designed for hyperscale AI workloads. With unmatched performance, robust data protection, and seamless scalability, AIStor powers your AI-driven enterprise with simplicity and reliability. Exabyte Scale, No Performance Collapse Grow from petabytes to exabytes in a single namespace. AIStor sustains performance at any scale. AI-Optimized Throughput & Latency Delivering microsecond latency and massive concurrency, AIStor accelerates training, inference, and fine-tuning pipelines. Hyperscaler Economics Up to 40% lower TCO than proprietary “AI storage” vendors. No lock-in, no hardware markups, no hidden tiering costs. Native AI Ecosystem Integration Seamlessly connects with PyTorch, TensorFlow, Spark, Apache Iceberg, and more—plus the industry’s most complete S3 API. Software-Defined Freedom Run anywhere, edge, core, or cloud, with no vendor lock-in, operational drag, or unnecessary bloat.


  **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 17

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [MinIO](https://www.g2.com/sellers/minio)
- **Year Founded:** 2014
- **HQ Location:** Redwood City, California
- **Twitter:** @Minio (6,984 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/minio-inc-/ (202 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 35% Small-Business, 35% Enterprise


  ### 20. [Alibaba Object Storage Service](https://www.g2.com/products/alibaba-object-storage-service/reviews)
  Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service (OSS) is an encrypted, secure, cost-effective, and easy-to-use object storage service that enables you to store, back up, and archive large amounts of data in the cloud, with a guaranteed reliability of 99.999999999%. RESTful APIs allow storage and access to OSS anywhere on the Internet. You can elastically scale the capacity and processing capability, and choose from a variety of storage types to optimize the storage cost.


  **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 11

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 5.0/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Alibaba](https://www.g2.com/sellers/alibaba)
- **HQ Location:** Hangzhou
- **Twitter:** @alibaba_cloud (1,167,297 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1218665/ (4,817 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** BABA
- **Total Revenue (USD mm):** $509,711

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 55% Enterprise, 36% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Cloud Storage (1 reviews)
- Cost Efficiency (1 reviews)
- Cost Reduction (1 reviews)
- Service Quality (1 reviews)
- Services (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Lack of Training (1 reviews)
- Limited Availability (1 reviews)

  ### 21. [Amazon S3 Adapter for SAP CPI](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-s3-adapter-for-sap-cpi/reviews)
  With the MDP Amazon S3 Adapter, you will have access easily to Amazon S3 Services. Using the MDP Amazon S3 adapter, you can access your buckets from the SAP CPI Platform. You can also filter your files using regex operation and archive, delete operations through the SAP CPI Platform.


  **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 10

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 7.5/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [MDP Group](https://www.g2.com/sellers/mdp-group)
- **Year Founded:** 2013
- **HQ Location:** Kozyatagi, Istanbul
- **Twitter:** @digitalmdp (29 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/digitalmdp (154 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 45% Small-Business, 36% Enterprise


  ### 22. [Impossible Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/impossible-cloud/reviews)
  Impossible Cloud, headquartered in Hamburg (Germany), is one of Europe’s leading providers of S3-compatible object storage. Enterprises from all over the world already rely on the GDPR-compliant solution to securely store, archive, and manage their data in certified data centers that meet the highest security standards. Whether for backup, disaster recovery, tape-to-cloud, or ransomware protection, Impossible Cloud empowers digital sovereignty with full data control, seamless integration, intuitive handling, and future-proof technology.


  **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 9

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Impossible Cloud](https://www.g2.com/sellers/impossible-cloud)
- **Year Founded:** 2021
- **HQ Location:** Hamburg, DE
- **LinkedIn® Page:** http://www.linkedin.com/company/impossiblecloud (72 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 67% Small-Business, 33% Mid-Market


  ### 23. [Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-cloud-infrastructure-object-storage/reviews)
  Automatically replicates objects across multiple fault domains for high durability. Actively monitored for data integrity and availability


  **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 9

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Oracle](https://www.g2.com/sellers/oracle)
- **Year Founded:** 1977
- **HQ Location:** Austin, TX
- **Twitter:** @Oracle (827,310 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1028/ (199,301 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NYSE:ORCL

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Company Size:** 67% Enterprise, 25% Mid-Market


  ### 24. [Scaleway](https://www.g2.com/products/scaleway/reviews)
  The cloud of choice. Build, deploy and scale applications on Europe's most complete cloud ecosystem. From Serverless architecture to Elastic Metal and everything in between.


  **Average Rating:** 4.1/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 19

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 7.5/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Scaleway](https://www.g2.com/sellers/scaleway)
- **Year Founded:** 1999
- **HQ Location:** Paris, Paris
- **Twitter:** @Scaleway (31,699 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/scaleway/ (631 employees on LinkedIn®)

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services
  - **Company Size:** 84% Small-Business, 11% Enterprise


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Affordable (1 reviews)
- Cost Efficiency (1 reviews)
- Custom Dashboards (1 reviews)
- Performance (1 reviews)
- Product Quality (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Billing Issues (2 reviews)
- Payment Issues (2 reviews)
- Caching Issues (1 reviews)
- Hidden Costs (1 reviews)
- High Pricing (1 reviews)

  ### 25. [Amazon Lightsail](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-lightsail/reviews)
  Amazon Lightsail is the easiest way to get started with AWS for developers, small businesses, students, and other users who need a simple virtual private server (VPS) solution. Lightsail provides developers compute, storage, and networking capacity and capabilities to deploy and manage websites and web applications in the cloud. Lightsail includes everything you need to launch your project quickly – a virtual machine, SSD-based storage, data transfer, DNS management, and a static IP – for a low, predictable monthly price.


  **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0
  **Total Reviews:** 53

**User Satisfaction Scores:**

- **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 8.4/10 (Category avg: 8.6/10)
- **Interoperability:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)
- **Auditing:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.7/10)
- **Availability:** 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.4/10)


**Seller Details:**

- **Seller:** [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://www.g2.com/sellers/amazon-web-services-aws-3e93cc28-2e9b-4961-b258-c6ce0feec7dd)
- **Year Founded:** 2006
- **HQ Location:** Seattle, WA
- **Twitter:** @awscloud (2,223,984 Twitter followers)
- **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon-web-services/ (156,424 employees on LinkedIn®)
- **Ownership:** NASDAQ: AMZN

**Reviewer Demographics:**
  - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  - **Company Size:** 55% Small-Business, 26% Mid-Market


#### Pros & Cons

**Pros:**

- Ease of Use (3 reviews)
- Configuration Ease (2 reviews)
- Efficiency (2 reviews)
- Management Ease (2 reviews)
- Cloud Services (1 reviews)

**Cons:**

- Complex Configuration (1 reviews)
- Complexity (1 reviews)
- Complex Usability (1 reviews)
- Learning Difficulty (1 reviews)
- Limited Compatibility (1 reviews)



## Parent Category

[Storage Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/storage-management)



## Related Categories

- [Archive Storage Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/archive-storage-solutions)
- [Hybrid Cloud Storage Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/hybrid-cloud-storage-solutions)
- [Block Storage Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/block-storage)



---

## Buyer Guide

### What You Should Know About Object Storage Solutions

Object storage is a software architecture used to handle large amounts of unstructured data. Under object storage, data is stored as discrete units or objects within a data-connected environment. Each discrete storage unit contains the data being stored since it is the data repository, the metadata (information describing the object), and a globally unique identifier or ID number, allowing applications to access the unit when required. Each object is then aggregated under storage pools with several other objects, allowing for an unlimited scale of storage.

An [application programming interface](https://www.g2.com/glossary/api-definition) (API) is used to access each object. These APIs are used to create a query for the object’s metadata. The metadata is used to locate the desired object via the internet from any device and from any location. The native API used is an HTTP-based RESTful API. Some of the HTTP commands that are used to control the data include “POST” or “PUT” to upload data within the object, “DELETE” to remove the data, ”GET” to retrieve data from the object, and several other commands.

Traditional file (network attached storage ([NAS](https://www.g2.com/glossary/network-attached-storage-definition))) and block (storage area networks (SAN)) software storage methods cannot be used when scalability is a requirement. This is where object storage steps in. Object storage solutions allow companies to store their data by providing scalability up to a terabyte (TB), petabyte (PB), or even higher.

Some common examples of object storage solutions used in daily life include storing playlists on Spotify, photos on Facebook, and documents using Google Drive, Dropbox, Sharepoint, and several other tools.

### What is object storage?

[Object storage](https://www.g2.com/articles/object-storage) is a computer data storage architecture that stores and manages large volumes of unstructured data using distinct data units or objects. Each object has a metadata and a unique identifier that users can use to retrieve and access data. Users can also customize the metadata to add contextual information for easy retrieval later. Object storage systems don’t organize files using a hierarchical path, making storing data in a flat environment easy. 

Object storage solutions store data in a global storage pool, meaning users can query and find the exact data they need using RESTful APIs, HTTP, and HTTPS. The flat environment enables users to easily locate the data they need, no matter where it's stored—be it across various devices or in different geographical locations.

### What are the common features of object storage providers?

The following are some core features within object storage solutions that can help users in several ways:

**Scale-out architecture:** Object storage software is supported by a distributed scale-out architecture. Within the architecture, several clusters of nodes exist, and these nodes contribute to the total amount of space available for storage. Users can also add nodes independently by parallelly adding them to increase capacity. Adding these nodal points provides massive scaling, even up to petabytes of data.

[Metadata](https://www.g2.com/glossary/metadata-definition) **:** The metadata feature is used in combination with several policy-based management capabilities to manage several data services, such as data protection, placement, compression, retention, deduplication, and deletion.

**Multi-tenant nature:** Object storage solutions separate infrastructure and users' needs using multi-tenancy. Data cannot be accessed by other tenants sharing the same infrastructure. This is especially useful for businesses that want to provide each department with storage space, with accessibility given to the specific department only.

**Global namespace:** A namespace is a set of signs that identify and refer to different objects. It ensures that objects are given unique names so that they can be identified easily. A namespace is a global feature, meaning that although data is stored in different locations, it will provide a common view to the user. This feature of object storage ensures nondisruptive performance, [load balancing](https://www.g2.com/articles/load-balancer), and increased performance efficiency.

**Automation:** If a service crashes or a site suddenly becomes unavailable due to faults, the object storage system automatically activates the redundant components and services (duplicates) to prevent operations from being affected. Object storage solutions are, therefore, considered self-healing or auto-healing in nature. This important feature helps companies drastically minimize downtime. 

### What are the benefits of object storage solutions?

**Scalability:** Discrete units of data are stored within an object, such as servers or storage boxes, within the data center's infrastructure. In case additional processing is required, the data center infrastructure provider needs to add server boxes parallel to the storage cluster. 

**Storing large amounts of** [unstructured data](https://www.g2.com/glossary/unstructured-data-definition) **:** Big data growth is explosive with the advent of internet communications and is still growing every second. The large amounts of unstructured data being generated require a strong storage architecture to ensure scalability, and object storage software is one of the best options for supporting unstructured data or big data.

**Increased efficiency:** Accessing data in a file system is a complex task since there are numerous folders and hierarchies to navigate. In the object storage system, information is immediately retrieved via metadata. This results in increased performance since the time to retrieve data is shortened significantly. 

**Disaster recovery support:** Object-based storage solutions allow the user to configure the system to duplicate content. Due to any unforeseen activity or a disaster, the disk within a particular cluster may fail. However, since the data has been replicated, the system will continue to operate without any interruptions. The data can be replicated within nodes and several data centers located at different geographical locations.

**Cost-effective:** One of the main cost savings comes in the form of no upfront cost since an object storage software provider would manage the hardware or servers. A user does not need to purchase several servers and storage systems and set up an IT infrastructure, thereby saving initial costs. In addition, object storage providers offer the service as a pay-as-you-go subscription fee; therefore, no upfront investment is required. 

**Compatibility with cloud computing:** Object storage is known for its compatibility with [cloud computing](https://www.g2.com/articles/cloud-computing). Object storage primarily uses cloud services or hosting services to provide storage services. Since the data is stored in the cloud (public cloud or private cloud), the company faces no major upfront cost. In addition, a company can share storage repositories among different departments within the organization, each with a dedicated resource or space.

**Simplified manageability:** As the amount of data continues to grow, a new approach is required to manage the data, and this is where object storage comes into play. Since object software manages a “name” and not the rack of storage, the difference is huge. The namespace could be located in different locations or local sites, in a single storage box, or within multiple racks. It could be configured in multiple ways, but with all these complexities, it is still manageable via a single pane of glass. 

### Who uses object storage solutions?

- **Storage engineering team:** The storage engineering team designs and deploys data storage solutions for enterprises, covering roles like storage engineers, storage object administrators, and product engineers. Storage object administrators have full control over objects, handling tasks such as listing, creating, viewing, and deleting them. The team uses object storage software to back up, store, and replicate company data, and ensure no downtime occurs if a node fails.
- **Cloud engineers:** A cloud engineer manages a company's private or public cloud services for development, testing, resource allocation, and maintenance, ensuring optimal and economical use of cloud environments. They align the company’s cloud objectives with cloud storage deployment, using an object storage system for data replication, disaster recovery, and modernizing storage infrastructure as part of the cloud journey.
- **Content and data management teams:** Since content is an integral part of unstructured data, the teams need to be able to view, stream, and analyze the content right from storage. They also need to ensure they have access to the data at an exabyte scale or as required.
- **Executive teams:** Since object storage helps firms save on high infrastructure costs, executive teams, and decision-makers can monitor object-based storage to ensure that they are obtaining a significant return on investment (ROI). With recommendations from the storage engineering and IT teams, the executive team can decide on a plan offered by the object storage software vendor. 

### What are the alternatives to object storage solutions?

In object storage solutions, the key functionality is storing the data in a single repository instead of files within folders or blocks on servers. Each self-contained repository owns the data. 

- **File storage software:** With file storage software, data is stored as a single piece of information within a folder. The folder system helps keep information organized in a hierarchical structure since it imitates how paper files are stored. In order to find the data from storage, the computer needs to follow a specified file path. The arrangement of files in the hierarchical structure follows a specified logic. File storage is the oldest and most widely used data storage type. Files stored on a personal computer are a good example of file storage since the data is stored, and to access the file, the user will need to follow a specified file path.
- **Block storage software:** Information from files is chopped into separate blocks, and the singular block is stored as a separate piece of data. Each block has an identifier, and smaller pieces of the data can be kept at convenient locations. For example, a customer could save some data on a Windows or Linux environment as required. Block storage use cases include static web content, archived information, [databases](https://www.g2.com/articles/what-is-a-database), and several others.

### Challenges with object storage software solutions

Object storage software solutions can come with their own set of challenges. 

- **Performance issues:** Object storage platforms could possibly be one of the least well-performing storage types compared to file and block storage, primarily because of heavier metadata overhead (although this has started to change with the entry of high-performance object storage solutions). In addition, the duplicate data present in another node could be situated in a completely different geographical location, creating latency issues and causing a performance drop.
- **Scaling on-premises:** For a firm that wants to start small and then scale as it grows, cloud object storage is a good solution since it allows nodes to be added to contain the firm's storage as the company expands. However, if a firm wants to start small by using object storage on-premises, it is difficult to scale since these only come in large sizes. So, it will be a challenge if a firm wants to start small and scale later on by using on-premises object storage.
- **Traditional application compatibility:** Many traditional applications, such as traditional office applications, large databases, and several other apps, are not really optimized for object storage. Although new-generation apps are supportive of the object storage nature, older applications are still supported via file or block storage, making it difficult to move into an object storage environment. Adding a file storage gateway into the infrastructure could help address compatibility issues, but this would add to the complexity of the infrastructure.
- [Data protection](https://learn.g2.com/data-protection) **:** Data security issues and breaches are important challenges for object storage systems. Since the data is replicated and located across different locations, it could be hacked at any location, violating a company's data security. Object storage will require a type of protection strategy to ensure that a company’s data is safe.

### How to choose the best object storage solution

Once a customer has decided that object storage software is best suited for the company’s storage needs and can assist its journey towards cloud storage, some considerations need to be made.

#### Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Object Storage Solutions

When selecting from various object storage vendors, there are a few key aspects that need to be taken into consideration:

- **True scalability:** Although all object storage platforms are built to scale as and when required, the actual scaling process is much more complex. Architecture constraints could limit scalability. 
- **Monitoring cost per GB ($/GB):** Cost per GB is a fundamental parameter that needs to be assessed when selecting an object storage vendor. Firms need to ensure that the cost of storing more data while scaling is at a fraction of the initial costs, especially when this storage system is expected to be used for many years.
- **Dynamic load balancing:** Data objects can be replicated and stored at different locations. For large-capacity workloads, this could make the software less responsive without the presence of a dynamic [load-balancing system](https://www.g2.com/categories/load-balancing) that would read data from the nearest location.
- **Performance consistency:** Performance consistency ensures clusters remain efficient across hardware generations. As current hardware becomes unavailable or obsolete, considerations include whether new hardware will be more affordable or expensive and if it will offer a superior cost per GB. Addressing these questions is crucial before selecting an object storage software solution.

#### Compare Object Storage Solutions

- **Create a long list:** The key aspects listed above must be carefully adhered to when making a long list of vendors. The customer can begin listing some of the top key vendors in the space and talk to different sources to identify several vendors. Ensuring that each vendor's offerings are easily categorized is a good practice, which will help create a short list for the next step.
- **Create a short list:** When choosing object-based storage solutions, aligning them with the firm's goals and objectives is important. Companies with sufficient budgets can go for complex and feature-rich systems, opting for expensive, scalable, top-tier plans offered by providers. In contrast, smaller firms that want to start with object storage and move only a few workloads can choose pay-as-you-go subscriptions, paying a small fee. Additionally, firms can review other customers' experiences to gauge integration ease, benefits, and challenges. Platforms like G2.com offer unbiased reviews and varied perspectives on object storage solutions.
- **Conduct demos:** Before integrating software into infrastructure, it's advisable to request demos from shortlisted vendors. Without this, the chosen object storage may prove unsuitable after integration, leading to serious repercussions, including financial losses and downtime. 

When evaluating vendors for object storage software, ask about compatibility with other software, data security features, authentication methods (like single sign-on and multi-factor authentication), automation capabilities, user roles, and storage tiers. Also, discuss pricing, which may vary based on location, data resilience, storage class, and archival needs. After demos, assess vendor plans to select the storage solution that best meets the company's needs and budget.

### Object storage software trends

Historically, object storage solutions were always considered long-term archiving solutions, massive data lake solutions, or just inexpensive backups. However, the need for object-based storage has been renewed, with unstructured data and data analytics taking center stage. 

#### Growth of new-age technologies

The primary benefit of object storage is how well it manages unstructured data, making it absolutely critical for modern storage solutions to support data analytics initiatives. With the growth of social media, AI, machine learning, IoT, 5G, and several other technologies and the availability of internet communication to support these technologies, organizations are creating huge amounts of unstructured data.

#### Remote work

Finally, the onset of the pandemic has coerced most organizations to work remotely, and therefore, the high availability feature of object storage is key since it replicates data across different nodes in data centers.

Researched and written by [Rachana Hasyagar](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/rachana-hasyagar)