What is JuiceFS used for?

JuiceFS is a distributed POSIX file system that stores data in object storage like S3 and metadata in Redis, MySQL or TiKV. It is a good fit for shared storage for machine learning workloads and mounting object storage as a file system.

Is JuiceFS open source?

Yes. JuiceFS is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at juicedata/juicefs and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. JuiceFS is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host JuiceFS?

Yes. JuiceFS can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is JuiceFS an alternative to?

JuiceFS is an open-source alternative to Amazon EFS and Azure Files. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon EFS include Ceph and SeaweedFS.

Is JuiceFS actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to JuiceFS was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v1.4.1, published on 30 July 2026. The project has 14k stars on GitHub.

JuiceFS: open-source alternative to Amazon EFS, Azure Files

About JuiceFS

JuiceFS is a POSIX file system designed for cloud-native environments and released under the Apache License 2.0. Data written through it is persisted in object storage such as Amazon S3, while the matching metadata is kept in database engines such as Redis, MySQL or TiKV, chosen according to the scenario. It is written in Go.

Its aim is to let large amounts of cloud storage be used by big data, machine learning and AI platforms as efficiently as local storage, without code changes. Highlights include full POSIX compatibility, a Hadoop Java SDK compatible with Hadoop 2.x and 3.x, an S3 gateway, and a Kubernetes CSI driver for use in clusters.

The file system can be shared and read or written by thousands of clients, with strong consistency so that confirmed changes are immediately visible on all mounts. Data encryption in transit and at rest is supported, along with global file locks, both BSD flock and POSIX locks. A quick start guide is in the documentation.

Key features

Full POSIX file system compatibility
Data stored in S3-compatible object storage
Metadata in Redis, MySQL or TiKV
Hadoop-compatible Java SDK
S3 gateway and Kubernetes CSI driver
Encryption in transit and at rest

Good fit for

→Shared storage for machine learning workloads
→Mounting object storage as a file system

Built with: Go; Redis
Tags: file-system; posix; object-storage; s3; redis; kubernetes; distributed-storage; golang

JuiceFS: questions and answers

What is JuiceFS used for?: JuiceFS is a distributed POSIX file system that stores data in object storage like S3 and metadata in Redis, MySQL or TiKV. It is a good fit for shared storage for machine learning workloads and mounting object storage as a file system.
Is JuiceFS open source?: Yes. JuiceFS is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at juicedata/juicefs and is written mainly in Go.
Is JuiceFS free?: Yes. JuiceFS is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host JuiceFS?: Yes. JuiceFS can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is JuiceFS an alternative to?: JuiceFS is an open-source alternative to Amazon EFS and Azure Files. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon EFS include Ceph and SeaweedFS.
Is JuiceFS actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to JuiceFS was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v1.4.1, published on 30 July 2026. The project has 14k stars on GitHub.