This S3 Alternative is INSANELY Lightweight (and 100% open source)

A hands-on walkthrough of replacing AWS S3 with RustFS, an open-source, S3-compatible object storage solution written in Rust. Covers Docker Compose deployment, bucket creation, access key management, remote access via Caddy reverse proxy and DNS, pre-signed URLs, IAM-style policies, tiered storage, and integrating Restic for encrypted periodic backups. Benchmarks show RustFS outperforms MinIO for small-file workloads. The Apache 2 license is discussed as a safe choice for commercial and private use. Motivated by real-world cost savings — one team saved $1.5M/year by leaving S3.