Best Object Storage Solutions: Top 5 Products to Know in 2025

What Are Object Storage Solutions?

Object storage solutions store and manage large volumes of unstructured data. Unlike traditional file or block storage, object storage organizes data as discrete units called objects, each containing the data itself, associated metadata, and a unique identifier. This architecture allows for massive scalability, making it suitable for situations where data volumes can rapidly grow, such as cloud storage, backup and recovery, and big data analytics.

These solutions eliminate the hierarchical structure found in file systems. Instead, they use a flat namespace, which simplifies management and retrieval for large datasets. Object storage is accessed through standard APIs, such as S3, and is typically designed to ensure high durability and availability through mechanisms like replication and erasure coding.

In this article:

• Key Components of Object Storage Solutions
• Notable Object Storage Solutions
• Best Practices for Successful On-Premise Object Storage Implementation

Key Components of Object Storage Solutions

Understanding the core components of object storage helps clarify how these systems manage and scale unstructured data. Here are the key elements that enable object storage to deliver performance, durability, and ease of access across a wide range of use cases.

1. Objects: At the core of object storage are the objects themselves. Each object bundles the data, metadata, and a globally unique identifier. This self-contained nature allows easy data retrieval without relying on a fixed directory path or application-specific logic.
2. Metadata: Metadata in object storage is extensive and customizable. Unlike file systems that store limited metadata, object storage allows rich, descriptive metadata. This helps with indexing, querying, and applying policies like retention or access control.
3. Flat namespace: Object storage systems use a flat namespace rather than a hierarchical structure. This design simplifies data organization and enables better scalability since there’s no need to maintain complex directory trees.
4. Unique identifiers: Each object is accessed through a unique identifier, often generated by the system or defined by the user. These IDs enable direct access to any object, eliminating path-based lookup delays and reducing complexity.
5. API-based access: Interaction with object storage typically occurs via RESTful APIs, such as Amazon S3 or OpenStack Swift. This makes it easy to integrate object storage into applications, automate workflows, and build scalable data pipelines.
6. Scalability and distribution: Object storage is inherently scalable, often distributed across multiple nodes or geographic regions. Data is typically managed in clusters that handle replication, balancing, and failover automatically.
7. Data protection mechanisms: To ensure durability and availability, object storage solutions use techniques like replication, erasure coding, and versioning. These mechanisms protect against data loss from hardware failure or corruption.
8. Access control and security: Security is enforced via access control lists (ACLs), authentication tokens, and encryption at rest and in transit. Integration with identity providers further improves data governance.
9. Multi-tenancy and billing support: Many object storage platforms support multi-tenancy with usage tracking and billing capabilities. This is essential for cloud service providers or large enterprises with multiple departments using a shared infrastructure.

Notable Object Storage Solutions

1. Cloudian

Cloudian HyperStore Object Storage Software is an enterprise-grade, software-defined storage platform designed for managing massive volumes of unstructured data at scale. Built for AI-ready performance and secure, hybrid-cloud integration, HyperStore empowers organizations to maintain full data sovereignty while delivering high throughput and bulletproof ransomware protection. With seamless S3 API compatibility and unified file-object storage, it supports capacity-intensive workflows—like AI/ML, data analytics, and backup/archival—while offering flexible deployment options on commodity hardware or Cloudian appliances.

Key features include:

• Exabyte scale: Modular architecture enables non-disruptive, limitless expansion across one or multiple sites, managed as a unified system.
• AI-ready performance: High-throughput, low-latency performance with direct S3 access, NVIDIA GPUDirect support, and flash-optimized configurations.
• S3 compatibility: Delivers the industry’s highest S3 API compatibility, fully supporting AWS S3 features and SDK for hybrid/multi-cloud environments.
• Unified file and object storage: Combines object and file data management into a single system to streamline operations and reduce TCO.
• Military-grade security: Offers encryption at rest/in transit, IAM, SAML, MFA, Object Lock, and the most complete set of data security certifications.
• Hardware freedom: Deploy on your hardware of choice or use Cloudian appliances; cut costs by up to 70% vs proprietary storage platforms.

2. Nutanix Objects Storage

Nutanix Objects Storage is a software-defined, S3-compatible object storage solution for secure hybrid cloud operations. It enables enterprises to consolidate their unstructured data—such as backups, archives, and cloud-native application data—into a single platform. The system is deployed on Nutanix AOS, either within existing clusters or across multiple clusters.

Key features include:

• S3 compatibility: Supports standard Amazon S3 APIs for integration with existing tools.
• Global namespace: Enables a unified namespace that spans petabytes across clusters.
• Scalable architecture: Scales horizontally by adding nodes.
• Software-defined flexibility: Deploys on existing or dedicated Nutanix clusters.
• Metadata tagging: Allows for project- or compliance-based tagging to improve search and organization.

3. Scality RING

Scality RING is a software-defined object storage platform for hybrid and private cloud environments. It is optimized for unstructured data workloads such as backup, archival, video content management, and big data analytics. RING provides native support for object and file storage, enabling organizations to consolidate their storage infrastructure.

Key features include:

• Multi-protocol access: Supports S3 API for object access and standard file protocols like NFS and SMB for file workloads.
• Geo-distributed architecture: Enables deployment across multiple sites with local and global access to data.
• Durability and self-healing: Uses erasure coding and replication for data protection, with automatic detection and repair of failures.
• Scalability: Designed to scale to hundreds of petabytes with billions of objects
• Integrated management and monitoring: Provides centralized tools for administration, analytics, and lifecycle management.
• Data immutability: Supports Object Lock and WORM capabilities for compliance and ransomware protection.

4. Quantum ActiveScale

Quantum ActiveScale is a software-defined object storage platform to manage active and cold data. It provides a unified, S3-compatible storage environment for data lakes, AI training pipelines, private clouds, and hybrid cloud deployments. ActiveScale allows organizations to consolidate unstructured data across multiple storage classes and formats.

Key features include:

• S3-compatible object storage: Provides a standard S3 API interface.
• Unified storage for active and cold data: Supports high-throughput access and long-term retention in the same platform.
• Data lifecycle management: Automates movement across storage tiers (flash, disk, tape) using policies based on access frequency, retention, and cost targets.
• Exabyte-scale architecture: Designed for environments with data growth.
• Hybrid and private cloud ready: Builds flexible, on-prem or hybrid cloud storage environments with predictable cost models and data sovereignty.

5. Dell ObjectScale

Dell ObjectScale is a Kubernetes-native object storage platform to support cloud-native applications and scalable multi-cloud deployments. Designed for containerized environments, ObjectScale integrates with Kubernetes orchestration and runs on Dell’s PowerScale, PowerFlex, or customer-selected infrastructure.

Key features include:

• Kubernetes-native deployment: Designed to run as microservices on Kubernetes, enabling automated scaling and orchestration.
• S3 compatibility: Provides standard Amazon S3 API support for application integration.
• Multi-tenancy and self-service: Enables secure isolation and self-provisioning for different teams or departments.
• Consistency model: Ensures reliable data access without eventual consistency delays.
• Elastic scaling: Grows dynamically across infrastructure without service interruption
• Integrated security: Includes access control, encryption, and audit logging to meet compliance and governance needs.

Best Practices for Successful On-Premise Object Storage Implementation

Organizations should consider these practices to ensure an effective object storage strategy.

1. Plan an End-to-End Data Lifecycle

Effective object storage begins with a plan for the entire data lifecycle, from ingestion through retention, retrieval, and eventual deletion. Organizations should define clear policies for data classification, retention schedules, archival, and compliance. These policies control storage costs and ensure that aging or obsolete data does not clutter the environment, improving search and retrieval efficiency.

Mapping out the data lifecycle also involves anticipating organizational changes—such as regulatory adjustments or business expansion—that could impact storage requirements. Regularly reviewing and updating lifecycle policies ensures that the storage environment remains aligned with business objectives, legal obligations, and evolving data privacy regulations.

2. Leverage Automation and Orchestration

Automation is essential for maintaining efficient, large-scale object storage environments. Automated workflows can handle repetitive tasks such as policy enforcement, replication, tiering, and object deletions according to predefined rules. This reduces human error, simplifies management, and frees up IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual operations.

Orchestration tools further enable integration with broader IT systems and processes. By linking object storage to data pipelines, backup systems, and cloud services, orchestration ensures that storage responds dynamically to changes in workloads and business needs. Using API-driven automation and orchestration also supports rapid scaling and recovery.

3. Implement Robust Monitoring and Alerting

Monitoring is a non-negotiable element of object storage management. Real-time, granular monitoring allows organizations to track storage usage, latency, API calls, capacity trends, and system health. Modern object storage platforms offer built-in dashboards and the ability to integrate with third-party observability tools, providing visibility into both day-to-day operations and long-term trends.

Alerting complements monitoring by notifying administrators of issues like hardware failures, replication lag, or unauthorized access. Effective alerting systems enable rapid response and remediation, helping maintain data availability and compliance with service-level agreements. Customizable thresholds and escalation mechanisms ensure that critical incidents are prioritized.

4. Ensure Metadata Consistency

Metadata is crucial for the function and performance of object storage, as it governs how data is indexed, searched, and retrieved. Ensuring metadata consistency is essential for maintaining data integrity across distributed environments. Organizations should establish strict protocols for metadata management, including regular audits, validation routines, and synchronization processes between storage nodes.

Consistent metadata guarantees reliable search, access control, and policy enforcement. Inconsistent or corrupted metadata can lead to data inaccessibility, security risks, or operational failures. Using automated tools for metadata health checks and correction can mitigate these risks, improve auditability, and support efficient data governance at scale.

5. Review Security Policies Regularly

Organizations should schedule routine reviews of their object storage security policies to account for evolving threats, compliance standards, and operational changes. These reviews should cover access controls, encryption settings, user permissions, and integration with identity management systems, ensuring that security is not compromised as environments change.

Updating and testing security measures regularly helps identify vulnerabilities, enforce least-privilege access models, and ensure effective response mechanisms exist for breaches or incidents. Documentation and audit trails should be maintained to track policy changes and demonstrate compliance. Security reviews should be a formal, recurring process.

Conclusion

Implementing object storage enables organizations to efficiently manage and protect rapidly growing unstructured data. By leveraging the inherent scalability, durability, and API-driven access of object storage solutions, teams can optimize data workflows and ensure long-term value from their information assets. A thoughtful approach to architecture, automation, monitoring, metadata management, and security creates a resilient storage environment.