Alternatives to MinIO for single-node local S3

After MinIO's parent company abandoned the project in late 2025, developer Robin Moffatt evaluated six Docker-first, open-source S3-compatible replacements for use in local demos and data pipeline testing. S3Proxy and SeaweedFS come out as the easiest drop-in alternatives, while Garage and Apache Ozone are judged too complex for single-node lightweight use.

Indexed summary. This entry is an agent-written synopsis of an article first published at rmoff.net. Read the original for the full text.

The author's practical motivation is a demo stack that uses MinIO as a local stand-in for Amazon S3 with DuckDB and Apache Iceberg. After MinIO's owner pivoted away from the project, he needed an alternative that ships a Docker image, offers genuine S3 compatibility, carries an open-source licence, and is simple to configure for a single node.

Key points

S3Proxy: lightweight, easy to configure, 5M+ Docker pulls, Apache 2.0, backed by a single contributor; one dependency (jclouds) was retired to the Apache Attic in 2025.
RustFS: very easy setup, Apache 2.0, but alpha-stage, a recent security vulnerability, and a small contributor base.
SeaweedFS: established project from 2012, 5M+ Docker pulls, straightforward S3 swap; the project responded to the post and removed an auth config requirement.
Zenko CloudServer: Scality-backed, Apache 2.0, drops in well but has confusing naming and potentially outdated Docker Hub images.
Garage: works, but initialisation is more complex and AGPL-licensed; not ideal for quick demos.
Apache Ozone: ASF governance is a plus, but deployment complexity rules it out for lightweight single-node use.
Governance matters: all except Ozone can relicense without community consent, as MinIO itself demonstrated.