Exoscale vs MinIO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, MinIO grades higher than Exoscale: 2.2 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
MinIO grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Exoscale
European cloud provider with S3-compatible object storage
From $0.0000275
Which one is for you
Pick Exoscale if
- Fits if your data must stay in European data centers
- Works for backup jobs that already write to an S3 endpoint
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a file-sharing app, as there are no desktop sync clients or folder sharing
- Skip it if you want to try before paying, since nothing is free and no trial is shown
- Watch out: outbound traffic costs $0.02 per GiB on top of storage
- Watch out: prices exclude tax and may show in EUR, CHF or USD, and Archival Storage has no published rate
Pick MinIO if
- Fits if you run your own infrastructure and need S3-style storage
- Works for data teams that want a single test node for free
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a file-sync or sharing app
- Not for you if you want a managed service, as it runs on your own servers
- Watch out: the pricing page says the original AGPLv3 edition is end of life with no fixes or security patches
- Watch out: clusters need a paid subscription whose price is not published
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAExoscaleWeak | 2.2GPAMinIOFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CAbout $0.0198 per GiB-month at 720 hours, plus $0.02 per GiB of outbound traffic. Metered, so it does not line up with the category's $7 subscription middle. | CThe free tier is single-node and Enterprise Lite and Enterprise are quoted on request, so there is no price to compare. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed. You pay from the first byte. | BFree single-node deployment with the full feature set and community support. Redistribution is prohibited, and there is a 60-day trial of the paid tiers. |
| Features | CS3 API, versioning, object lock and volume tiers across European zones. Archival Storage is listed as available on request, with no published rate. | CS3 API, replication, security and management for object storage. It is not a file-sync app, and clustering is paid. |
| Ease of use | DSet up through an S3 endpoint, keys and tools such as Terraform. There is no end-user app and no store rating on record. | DDeployed on your own servers or cloud and run by operators. No store rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and API only, no desktop or phone app, though it works with Terraform, Kubernetes, Packer and Pulumi. | BWeb console, S3 API and Kubernetes, Prometheus, NVIDIA and Databricks listed. |
| Best for | S3-compatible storage hosted in European data centers | S3-compatible object storage for engineers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Exoscale and MinIO. How we grade
Where they differ
- MinIO is self-hostable, according to its own site.
In commonWebPublic APIFile management
At a glance
| Exoscale | MinIO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $0.0000275 per GiB / hour of standard object storage | Not published |
| Free plan | None | AIStor Free: the full AIStor feature set on a single-node deployment, with community Slack and documentation support. Redistribution is prohibited. |
| Free trial | None listed | 60-day free trial of Enterprise Lite and Enterprise |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Exoscale | MinIO, Inc. |
| Price read from | exoscale.com | min.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Exoscale
- This is infrastructure, not a file-sharing app: there are no desktop sync clients or folder sharing for end users.
- Prices are listed per GiB-hour; at 720 hours that is about $0.0198 per GiB-month, plus $0.02 per GiB of outbound traffic.
- Prices exclude any applicable tax and can be shown in EUR, CHF or USD.
- Archival Storage is listed as available on request, with no published rate.
MinIO
- Clustered, highly available deployments need a paid Enterprise Lite or Enterprise subscription; the free tier is single-node only.
- No Enterprise Lite or Enterprise prices are published; both are quoted on request.
- The pricing page says the original open-source MinIO edition (AGPLv3) is end of life with no fixes or security patches.
- This is infrastructure software for operators, not a consumer file-sync or sharing app.
Key features
Exoscale
- S3-compatible API
- Existing S3 clients and libraries work with the service, and it can also be used through a web interface or scripts.
- European zones
- Data is held in zones across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Croatia, in data centers the vendor says are ISO 27001 certified.
- Versioning and object lock
- Versioning, object lock and bucket replication are offered for backups and long-term archives.
- Volume tiers
- The per-GiB rate falls beyond 512 TiB and again beyond 1 PiB; the pricing page lists three storage tiers.
- Usage-based billing
- Resources are billed by the second with no long-term commitment, and the same rates apply across zones.
MinIO
- S3-compatible object storage
- AIStor is described as fully S3-compatible, with S3 Express, an Iceberg catalog and SFTP also listed among its protocols.
- Replication
- The feature list names active-active, synchronous and asynchronous, multi-site, bucket and batch replication.
- Security
- Encryption, a key management server, a data firewall and immutability are listed, and the page shows FIPS 140-3, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 badges.
- Management
- An admin console, quality-of-service controls, lifecycle management, audit trail and Prometheus metrics are listed.
- Sized by usable capacity
- Subscription pricing follows usable storage capacity after erasure-code overhead, not raw disk.
Plans
Exoscale
Simple Object Storage$0
Pay as you go, no up-front cost. Storage $0.0000275 per GiB-hour up to 512 TiB; outbound traffic $0.02 per GiB.
MinIO
Free$0
Single-node deployment with community Slack and documentation support; no resiliency beyond one node.
Enterprise LiteCustom
Multi-node, horizontally scalable, for capacity under 400 TiB. Priced on request; optional direct-to-engineer support with a sub-5-day SLA.
EnterpriseCustom
Multi-node with 24/7/365 direct-to-engineer support, a sub-4-hour SLA and dedicated onboarding. Priced on request.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Exoscale or MinIO?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Exoscale starts at $0.0000275 per GiB / hour of standard object storage, and MinIO publishes no starting price.
Which has a free plan, Exoscale or MinIO?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only MinIO has a free plan. Exoscale does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.