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Self-hosted S3-compatible storage · by MinIO, Inc.

MinIO (AIStor)

Once the default self-hosted S3 server; its AGPL community edition is now archived and unmaintained, and development continues only in the commercial AIStor product.

Visit min.io ↗ Alternatives Open source Open source Self-hostable
MinIO (AIStor) homepage
§1

Overview

MinIO was for years the standard way to run S3-compatible object storage on your own servers or Kubernetes: a single Go binary, fast, and close to the S3 API. The server has been licensed under the GNU AGPLv3 since 2021, and it is still the storage layer inside many self-hosted products.

Between 2025 and 2026 MinIO, Inc. wound down the community edition. In May 2025 the web console in community builds was reduced to a basic object browser, with administration moved to the mc command-line tool. In October 2025 MinIO stopped publishing community binaries and container images, telling users to build from source. In December 2025 the repository entered maintenance mode, and it now carries the notice that it is no longer maintained and is archived read-only. The last tagged community release dates from 15 October 2025.

Development continues in AIStor, a commercial product. AIStor Free is a proprietary, full-featured licence limited to a single node. Enterprise Lite (multi-node, under 400 TiB) and Enterprise (unlimited, 24/7 support) are priced by quote, with 60-day trials.

For new projects that want open-source, self-hosted S3 storage, maintained alternatives such as Garage or SeaweedFS are safer choices. Teams with existing MinIO clusters should budget for AIStor, a third-party maintained build, or a migration.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Community edition (AGPLv3) $0 Source only; repository archived and no longer maintained
AIStor Free $0 Proprietary free licence, full features, single-node only, community support
AIStor Enterprise Lite Custom Multi-node, under 400 TiB, 60-day trial, optional support add-on
AIStor Enterprise Custom Unlimited scale, 24/7 support with under-4-hour SLA

AIStor Enterprise Lite and Enterprise prices are by quote only. The community edition is AGPLv3; the AIStor Free edition uses a proprietary free licence key. MinIO lists FIPS 140-3, SOC 2, ISO 27001, SEC 17a-4(f) and FINRA certifications for AIStor. Timeline, from the GitHub repository, its discussions and a dated third-party summary: admin console removed from community builds in RELEASE.2025-05-24; community docs taken offline and binaries/images stopped after RELEASE.2025-10-15; README switched to source-only distribution in October 2025 and to 'maintenance mode' on 3 December 2025; README changed to 'no longer maintained' in February 2026; the repository shows as archived (read-only) since 25 April 2026. Reports say the minio/minio images were removed from Docker Hub in September 2026; we did not confirm that on Docker Hub.

Source: www.min.io/pricing · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

S3 API
High-compatibility S3 API used by many backup, analytics and AI tools.
Erasure coding
Distributed deployments protect data across drives and nodes.
AIStor features
Admin console, replication (active-active, multi-site), encryption with KMS, immutability, Iceberg catalog, SFTP and S3 Express protocols.
mc client
The mc command-line tool administers clusters now that the community console is a basic browser.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Very high S3 API compatibility and performance
  • Huge ecosystem of guides and integrations built over a decade
  • AIStor Free allows full features on a single node
  • Commercial support available from the vendor

Limitations

  • Community repository is archived: no new releases or reviewed patches
  • No official community binaries or container images since October 2025
  • Community console lost its admin features in May 2025
  • AIStor Free is single-node only and not open source; multi-node needs a paid quote
  • AGPLv3 obligations apply to modified community builds offered over a network
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Enterprises willing to buy AIStor subscriptions
  • Existing MinIO users planning a supported upgrade path

Look elsewhere if

  • New open-source self-hosted deployments
  • Teams that cannot build and patch software from source themselves
§6

Pricing history

  • MinIO community edition enters maintenance mode

    The README was changed on 3 December 2025 to say the project is in maintenance mode and not accepting changes, after community binaries and images had already stopped in October 2025. The repository was later marked no longer maintained and archived. Source ↗

  • MinIO removes admin console from community edition

    Release RELEASE.2025-05-24T17-08-30Z (released that day) cut the community web console down to a basic object browser; administration moved to the mc CLI. The last build with the full console was RELEASE.2025-04-22. Source ↗

§7

Alternatives to MinIO (AIStor)

Tool From Free option Stages
Supabase Managed Postgres backend platform
$25/mo Free tier
Cloudinary Image and video media platform
$89/mo Free tier
SeaweedFS Self-hosted distributed storage
— Open source
Uploadcare File upload, processing and CDN
$66/mo Free tier
Azure Blob Storage Object storage (hyperscaler)
Usage-based Paid
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage Flat-rate object storage
$7.99/mo Paid

All file and object storage →

§8

Questions

Is MinIO still open source?

The archived community code remains AGPLv3, but it is no longer maintained. MinIO's active product, AIStor, is proprietary, with a free single-node licence.

Is MinIO dead?

The community edition is: the repository entered maintenance mode in December 2025 and is now archived. MinIO, Inc. continues to develop and sell AIStor.

How much does MinIO AIStor cost?

AIStor Free costs nothing for single-node use; Enterprise Lite and Enterprise are priced by quote.

What can I use instead of MinIO?

Maintained open-source S3-compatible servers include Garage (AGPLv3) and SeaweedFS (Apache 2.0).

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