SeaweedFS is a distributed storage system for blobs, objects, files, and data lakes designed to handle billions of files at scale.
The system addresses the challenge of storing massive volumes of unstructured data efficiently by implementing a blob store with O(1) disk seek performance and cloud tiering capabilities. Its architecture separates the master server, which manages metadata, from volume servers, which store the actual data, enabling horizontal scaling. The Filer component adds a hierarchical file system layer on top of the blob store, supporting multiple access patterns and protocols.
SeaweedFS suits organizations needing petabyte-scale storage with high throughput and low latency for unstructured data. The Filer provides flexibility through support for POSIX FUSE mounting, S3 API compatibility, Hadoop integration, WebDAV access, and cloud drive connectivity. It includes erasure coding for fault tolerance and encryption for security. The system integrates with Kubernetes and supports cross-datacenter replication. Developers evaluating alternatives should consult the README's comparisons to HDFS, GlusterFS, Ceph, and Minio to understand how SeaweedFS differs in architecture and use case fit. An enterprise version is available separately.
The project maintains active development with regular binary releases across multiple platforms. Documentation includes a white paper describing the architecture, introduction slides, and a wiki. The community operates through Slack, Telegram, Reddit, and a mailing list. Development is supported through sponsorship, with gold-level sponsors listed in the repository.
