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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Clair vs MooseFS

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clair and MooseFS — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Clair vs MooseFS: at a glance

FeatureClairMooseFS
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score2.50.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themescontainer-security, vulnerability-scanning, sbom, red-hatdistributed-storage, maintenance-branch, data-integrity, major-version-prep
Last editorial update8h ago3mo ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Clair?

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

Read the full Clair trajectory →

What is MooseFS?

A year of pure maintenance while the 4.x line clears the runway for MooseFS 5.

MooseFS has shipped nothing but maintenance releases across the entire visible window. The last release carrying real capability work was 4.58.0, which fixed partial readdir and added directory-in-parts reading for multi-million-file directories; everything after it is correctness, packaging, and hardening. The 4.59.x releases are single-issue fixes reported by the community and by external security researchers.

Read the full MooseFS trajectory →

Clair vs MooseFS: editorial side-by-side

C
Clair
INFRA · APIS
2.5

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

◆ Current state

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

◆ Where it's heading

Since 4.8 Clair has moved from Red Hat's older OVAL data to VEX, and each release follows Red Hat's security data more closely. 4.10 adds SBOMs as an input, so Clair can match what an image's own manifest declares, not only what it finds on disk.

◆ Prediction

More 4.10 release candidates and then a final are likely; the long gap between releases suggests that could take weeks.

M
MooseFS
INFRA · APIS
0.0

A year of pure maintenance while the 4.x line clears the runway for MooseFS 5.

◆ Current state

MooseFS has shipped nothing but maintenance releases across the entire visible window. The last release carrying real capability work was 4.58.0, which fixed partial readdir and added directory-in-parts reading for multi-million-file directories; everything after it is correctness, packaging, and hardening. The 4.59.x releases are single-issue fixes reported by the community and by external security researchers.

◆ Where it's heading

The line is consolidating rather than expanding. Two signals point the same way: 4.59.1 quietly updated license handling specifically so licenses can be refreshed ahead of MooseFS 5 migrations, and 4.58.4 spent its effort on Fedora spec files and a bootstrap rewrite. That is a project stabilizing a shipping branch and widening distribution while the next major version is built elsewhere.

◆ Prediction

The 4.59.x branch keeps absorbing community bug reports at a low cadence until MooseFS 5 arrives; the license-compatibility work in 4.59.1 is the clearest evidence that migration is the next milestone rather than more 4.x features.

Alternatives to Clair and MooseFS

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Clair or MooseFS.

See all Clair alternatives → · See all MooseFS alternatives →

Recent activity from Clair and MooseFS

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
  2. 5mo agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.59.2 restores background chunk integrity testing
  3. 6mo agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.59.1 fixes chunkserver OOB read, preps MooseFS 5 licenses
  4. 6mo agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.58.4 adds Fedora packaging and logging refactor
  5. 11mo agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.58.3 tightens storage-class validation and setuid
  6. 11mo agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.58.2 adapts master-to-master timeouts for large RAM
  7. 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
  8. 1y agoMooseFSMooseFS 4.58.1 completes the flock segfault fix
  9. 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
  10. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
  11. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
  12. 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Clair and MooseFS?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Clair is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Clair better than MooseFS?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Clair is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Clair?

Top Clair alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clair alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clair for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to MooseFS?

Top MooseFS alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "MooseFS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/moosefs for the full list with editorial commentary on each.