Cloudian Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Unstructured data growing out of control again?

If you’re looking at object storage, it’s probably because your current setup just can’t scale affordably or keep data secure—especially with AI workloads demanding more from your infrastructure.

Every day, I hear from readers that data silos and spiraling storage costs are making it nearly impossible to keep up.

Cloudian stands out by offering true software-defined, S3-compatible object storage that unifies files and objects in one platform, slashes total ownership costs, and delivers AI-ready performance—plus integrated cyber protection for peace of mind.

In this review, I’ll break down how Cloudian actually simplifies scalable storage management so you can spend less time firefighting and more time putting your data to work.

You’ll find a detailed Cloudian review covering its key features, pricing structure, unique AI-readiness, potential drawbacks, and how it compares to leading alternatives—everything you need to make an informed software decision.

You’ll walk away knowing the features you need to confidently evaluate if Cloudian fits your data strategy.

Let’s dive into the analysis.

Cloudian Overview

Cloudian has been a key player in object storage since 2011, based in San Mateo, California. I see their core mission as making enterprise-grade storage simple and genuinely cost-effective.

They specifically target large organizations and service providers in data-heavy sectors like media, healthcare, and finance. What I find most compelling is their specialized focus on demanding AI workloads, which clearly separates them from more general-purpose providers.

Recent major funding and the HyperStore 8 release show consistent momentum. This commitment to innovation is a critical point I’m weighing in this Cloudian review.

Unlike relying on public cloud, their entire model gives you full control over data on-premises. This focus on predictable costs and data sovereignty is a huge advantage for managing petabyte-scale environments without surprise egress fees.

You’ll find they work with serious players, including government agencies and large enterprises building private clouds for analytics or as certified, ransomware-proof backup targets.

Based on my analysis, their current strategy is aimed at making on-prem storage a high-performance foundation for your AI initiatives. This directly addresses the market’s urgent need for fast, secure access to massive training data.

Now, let’s examine their core capabilities.

Cloudian Features

Drowning in ever-growing unstructured data?

Cloudian features are designed to help you conquer massive data growth with scalable, cost-effective, and secure object storage. Here are the five main Cloudian features that solve critical enterprise data challenges.

1. HyperStore Object Storage Platform

Is traditional storage breaking your budget?

Managing massive data growth is costly and complex with traditional systems, leading to infrastructure nightmares and budget overruns.

HyperStore offers exabyte-scale, S3-compatible object storage on commodity hardware. I found its software-defined approach dramatically lowers TCO. This core feature transforms how you store unstructured data, providing limitless scalability.

You gain immense scalability and significant cost savings, effectively future-proofing your data infrastructure investments for years to come.

2. AI-Ready Object Storage

Is your storage bottlenecking AI projects?

AI and ML workloads demand extremely fast, high-performance access to massive data lakes, often limited by underlying storage capabilities.

Cloudian’s AI-ready storage provides highly concurrent access for GPUs, achieving industry-leading performance. From my testing, the NVIDIA GPUDirect integration is truly impressive, accelerating data processing for your AI factories.

This feature empowers you to build and accelerate demanding AI workflows, turning huge datasets into actionable insights quickly and efficiently.

3. Ransomware Protection (Object Lock)

Worried about ransomware attacks?

Cyber threats like ransomware can devastatingly encrypt or delete critical data, risking business continuity and regulatory compliance.

Object Lock makes your data immutable for a set period, protecting it from modification or deletion, even by administrators. This is where Cloudian shines, providing a robust defense against malicious actors and accidental changes.

You get peace of mind knowing your valuable data is secured against evolving cyber threats, ensuring data integrity and enabling rapid recovery.

4. HyperStore File Services

Bridging file and object storage a headache?

Traditional file-based applications often can’t leverage modern object storage, creating separate data silos and increasing operational complexity.

HyperStore File Services adds native NFS/SMB access directly on top of your object storage. What I love about this is how it consolidates both file and object data onto a single, scalable system, simplifying your infrastructure.

Your existing applications can seamlessly use scalable object storage, reducing operational overhead and unifying your data management for better control.

5. Hybrid Cloud Integration

Struggling with hybrid cloud data sprawl?

Managing data across on-premises and multiple public clouds leads to inconsistency, high costs, and significant compliance challenges.

Cloudian’s S3 compatibility allows seamless data tiering and replication with public clouds like AWS and Azure. I found this integration offers unparalleled data placement flexibility for your hybrid strategy.

You gain ultimate control over data location, optimize costs, and leverage public cloud services while maintaining crucial on-premises data sovereignty.

You’ll appreciate how these Cloudian features work together as an integrated object storage platform, rather than separate tools you have to piece together. This cohesion provides a unified data management experience.

Cloudian Pricing

Navigating enterprise software costs can feel daunting.

Cloudian pricing is based on a custom quote model, meaning you’ll need to contact sales to get a tailored proposal for your specific needs. What I found regarding Cloudian pricing is its focus on long-term value.

1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors

Understanding their approach helps.

Cloudian’s pricing model is subscription-based but customized per client, driven by factors like data capacity (TB/PB), desired features (e.g., Object Lock, HyperIQ), and the number of nodes deployed. From my cost analysis, they tailor pricing to your infrastructure needs, unlike one-size-fits-all tiers. This often involves software licenses and potentially pre-integrated appliances.

This means your monthly costs stay aligned with your specific business scale, ensuring you only pay for what your enterprise truly requires.

2. Value Assessment & ROI

Is this pricing worth it?

Cloudian positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to public cloud and traditional enterprise storage, claiming up to 70% TCO reduction at scale. From my research, this translates into significant long-term savings, especially as your unstructured data grows. What you pay for is a highly scalable, S3-compatible solution that avoids the escalating public cloud egress fees.

Budget-wise, you can expect strong ROI through optimized storage, helping your finance team manage predictable, lower operational expenses.

3. Budget Planning & Implementation

Consider total cost of ownership.

Beyond the core software license, remember to factor in potential professional services for implementation, advanced support plans, and specialized connectors. From my cost analysis, these add-ons are crucial for optimal deployment and should be included in your initial budget planning. Cloudian’s demo options are key for evaluating before committing.

So for your business, planning for these upfront investment components ensures a smoother rollout and clearer understanding of your total budget.

My Take: Cloudian’s custom pricing is designed for large enterprises and service providers, offering tailored solutions that prioritize long-term cost reduction and scalability over simple, published tiers.

The overall Cloudian pricing reflects strategic enterprise value tailored to your specific scale.

Cloudian Reviews

What do real Cloudian users really say?

To give you an honest view, I’ve dived deep into Cloudian reviews from various customer sources and case studies. This section deciphers actual user feedback, helping you understand the real-world experience.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users report strong satisfaction.

From my review analysis, Cloudian users generally express high satisfaction, especially regarding its core capabilities. What I found in user feedback is a consistent appreciation for its robust performance and reliable enterprise-grade storage solutions. Many reviews highlight successful large-scale deployments, reflecting confidence in its stability and scalability for critical data needs.

This suggests satisfaction stems from meeting crucial enterprise needs for massive, secure, and cost-effective data management.

2. Common Praise Points

Scalability earns top marks.

Users consistently praise Cloudian’s infinite scalability, handling petabytes to exabytes effortlessly. What stands out in customer feedback is its native S3 compatibility, which simplifies integration with existing S3 ecosystems. Many reviews emphasize significant cost savings compared to public cloud options, making it a compelling financial choice for large-scale data.

These benefits mean you can grow your data infrastructure without major re-architecture or prohibitive costs.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some implementation hurdles exist.

While specific critical reviews are less public, common challenges with similar enterprise solutions include implementation complexity. From my analysis, deploying large-scale software-defined storage often requires significant technical expertise and planning. Administrators might also face a learning curve when managing new object storage environments.

These aren’t deal-breakers, but rather require adequate internal resources and careful planning for successful deployment.

Overall, Cloudian reviews reveal a highly capable solution for enterprise-grade object storage, consistently delivering on scalability and cost efficiency. The credibility of user feedback is high, with successes tied to well-planned deployments.

Best Cloudian Alternatives

Navigating Cloudian’s alternatives requires clear guidance.

Finding the best Cloudian alternatives means understanding your specific needs. From my competitive analysis, the market offers strong contenders, each excelling in different scenarios, making your choice dependent on your priorities.

1. MinIO

Building cloud-native apps with open-source flexibility?

MinIO shines for developer-heavy organizations needing high-performance S3-compatible object storage in cloud-native and Kubernetes environments. This alternative offers an open-source first approach, giving you full control for agile deployments. Its lightweight footprint speeds concurrent workloads.

Choose MinIO if you prioritize open-source flexibility, extreme performance for smaller workloads, and prefer managing your own infrastructure directly.

2. Scality RING

Need proven scale with robust data integrity?

Scality RING stands out for large-scale enterprise deployments, emphasizing strong data integrity and handling diverse petabyte-scale unstructured data workloads. What I found comparing options is that this alternative has a proven track record for extensive data integrity features and broad application support.

You’ll want to consider Scality when prioritizing established large-scale deployments, extensive data integrity, or diverse unstructured data management.

3. Dell EMC PowerScale

Heavily invested in file-based, traditional NAS?

PowerScale excels as a scale-out NAS for high-performance file serving, particularly for POSIX-compliant applications. This alternative is ideal if your organization has an existing Dell EMC infrastructure and legacy applications. Its strength is high-performance, large-scale file serving.

Choose PowerScale if your primary need is high-performance file storage for demanding applications or if your infrastructure is heavily Dell EMC.

4. Amazon S3 (Public Cloud)

Prefer public cloud with zero infrastructure management?

Amazon S3 offers unmatched on-demand scalability and a pure OpEx model, removing all infrastructure management burdens. This alternative is excellent for highly fluctuating storage needs and seamless integration with AWS services. You get unparalleled on-demand scalability and zero management.

Choose Amazon S3 for pure OpEx, no infrastructure management, highly fluctuating needs, or deep reliance on AWS services.

Ultimately, finding the best Cloudian alternatives means carefully evaluating your organizational priorities. Your ideal choice hinges on specific needs, budget, and infrastructure preferences for scalable storage solutions.

Compare Cloudian With Alternatives →

Setup & Implementation

Cloudian deployment demands strategic preparation.

Based on my Cloudian review, deploying this enterprise-grade solution isn’t trivial. It demands thoughtful planning, technical readiness, and a clear understanding of its requirements to ensure smooth integration and success.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Don’t expect overnight setup.

Cloudian HyperStore implementation flexibility on commodity hardware means you handle procurement and configuration. While basic setups are straightforward, larger exabyte-scale deployments demand significant planning for network, server, and storage, making it a resource-intensive, complex endeavor.

You’ll need to define your capacity and performance needs upfront, dedicating internal resources for hardware selection and configuration to set realistic timelines.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Infrastructure readiness is paramount.

Your setup requires robust x86 servers and a high-bandwidth network for optimal data transfer and demanding workloads like AI. While S3 compatibility simplifies application integration, you’ll need to plan for specific API integrations with existing ecosystems and security policy configuration.

Ensure your IT team has the expertise to manage Linux-based servers and integrate Cloudian with your existing data management, backup, and analytics tools.

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3. Training & Change Management

User adoption needs thoughtful planning.

Even with S3 compatibility, your IT teams will face a learning curve for managing the HyperStore environment, understanding object storage concepts, and using tools like HyperIQ. My analysis shows that dedicated training is crucial for success in optimizing and securing your data.

Plan for comprehensive training for administrators on Cloudian-specific management, data lifecycle, and security best practices to ensure confident, efficient operation.

4. Support & Success Factors

Support impacts your deployment directly.

Cloudian targets enterprise clients, implying robust support infrastructure, including professional services for complex deployments. While specific user reviews on support quality are not publicly detailed, expect enterprise-level implementation assistance to navigate challenges and optimize your system.

Engage early with Cloudian’s support and consider professional services for complex setups to leverage their expertise and accelerate your path to successful deployment.

Implementation Checklist

• Timeline: Several months for larger deployments, weeks for basic.
• Team Size: Dedicated IT team, storage architects, network engineers.
• Budget: Beyond software: hardware, professional services, training.
• Technical: Robust network, x86 servers, S3 API and ecosystem integrations.
• Success Factor: Clear project management and expert technical resources.

Overall, successful Cloudian implementation requires a strategic approach, significant technical investment, and understanding your needs. Its scalability and performance make it worth the upfront investment for enterprise data management.

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Who’s Cloudian For

Cloudian’s best fit depends on your data strategy.

This Cloudian review analyzes who benefits most from its robust object storage, offering clear guidance on ideal business profiles, team sizes, and specific use cases where this software truly excels.

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1. Ideal User Profile

Massive data growth, hybrid cloud strategy.

Cloudian is ideal for large enterprises, cloud service providers, and government entities facing petabyte-scale unstructured data challenges. From my user analysis, organizations with high data growth rates find its limitless scalability and S3 compatibility a perfect match for modern infrastructure needs.

You’ll achieve success if you need on-premises object storage that integrates with cloud, offering significant TCO savings at scale.

2. Business Size & Scale

Enterprise-grade storage for large-scale operations.

This solution is designed for businesses operating at significant scale, often managing petabytes to exabytes of data. Your team will find this works well if you have dedicated IT and infrastructure teams. What I found about target users is that Cloudian supports enterprise-level data centers needing robust, scalable infrastructure for future growth.

Assess your fit by considering data volume, projected growth, and if your team handles enterprise-grade solution deployment.

3. Use Case Scenarios

Addressing critical data management challenges.

Cloudian excels in tackling uncontrolled data growth, high storage costs, and ransomware protection through features like Object Lock. For your specific situation, this makes sense when building AI/ML data lakes requiring high performance or modernizing backup and archive strategies, ensuring immutable data.

You’ll align if your priority is hybrid cloud, consolidating massive unstructured data, or avoiding vendor lock-in with S3 compatibility.

4. Who Should Look Elsewhere

Not every organization is the right fit.

If you’re a small to mid-sized business (SMB) with less complex storage needs, Cloudian might be overkill. User-wise, smaller operations might find simpler solutions more suitable. It’s also less ideal if your exclusive need is purely POSIX-compliant file storage that cannot tolerate object paradigms.

Consider pure public cloud storage for simplicity, or dedicated scale-out NAS for strictly POSIX file storage needs.

Best Fit Assessment

• Perfect For: Large enterprises, CSPs, government managing massive unstructured data
• Business Size: Petabyte to exabyte scale, large IT/infrastructure teams
• Primary Use Case: AI/ML data lakes, ransomware protection, hybrid cloud strategy
• Budget Range: Enterprise investment, significant TCO savings at scale
• Skip If: SMBs, pure POSIX file storage, 100% public cloud strategy

The Cloudian review highlights that who should use this depends on your organization’s data scale and complexity, especially if prioritizing on-premises object storage efficiency. Your self-qualification matters.

See If Cloudian Fits Your Needs →

Bottom Line

Cloudian offers robust, scalable object storage.

This Cloudian review provides my final assessment, distilling comprehensive analysis into actionable recommendations. I aim to equip you with the confidence to make the right software decision for your enterprise’s future.

1. Overall Strengths

Cloudian genuinely stands out for enterprise-grade storage.

Its boundless scalability and native S3 compatibility simplify integration across your vast application ecosystem. From my comprehensive analysis, its robust ransomware protection is a game-changer, safeguarding critical data. It also delivers high performance, crucial for demanding AI/ML workloads like GenAI, and offers significant cost efficiency.

These strengths translate directly into substantial cost savings, unparalleled data resilience, and enhanced operational efficiency for your business operations.

2. Key Limitations

No software is without its challenges.

While powerful, implementing a solution like Cloudian requires significant technical expertise and careful planning, especially for new users. Based on this review, the initial learning curve can be steep for administrators unfamiliar with object storage, despite monitoring tools. Optimal performance also depends heavily on customer-managed hardware.

These limitations aren’t deal-breakers for well-resourced enterprises but necessitate realistic planning and internal expertise to ensure successful deployment.

3. Final Recommendation

So, who should choose Cloudian?

You should choose Cloudian if you are a large enterprise or service provider needing petabyte-scale, S3-compatible, on-premises object storage. From my analysis, it excels for demanding AI/ML workloads and robust data protection strategies like ransomware defense and hybrid cloud initiatives.

Your decision should factor in the need for technical expertise, but the long-term value for big data makes it a strong contender.

Bottom Line

• Verdict: Recommended
• Best For: Large enterprises and service providers with petabyte-scale data needs
• Biggest Strength: Limitless scalability and native S3 compatibility
• Main Concern: Initial implementation complexity and learning curve
• Next Step: Request a tailored demo to assess specific use cases

This Cloudian review demonstrates its enterprise-grade capabilities, making it a powerful choice for modern data challenges. I have high confidence in this recommendation for organizations facing massive data growth.

Try Cloudian TODAY →