Best Free and Open Source NAS Solutions

Amahi

The Amahi Home Server is an open source Linux distro based on Fedora and a major contender among top free NAS solutions. Also dubbed the “Home Digital Assistant,” Amahi’s software includes file management, backups, internet access, and integrations for third-party applications.

The Amahi HDA’s modular application architecture lets users quickly port and install applications for media, business, education, and gaming use cases. Interested users can download and install Amahi with a Linux DVD and personal computer, which takes as little as 15 minutes.

Amahi Features

Manage files across devices within a network, including access and edit rights
Built-in and configured OpenVPN server with one-click install for IPsec VPN
Pool disk space across multiple drives
Integration with Microsoft Outlook and iCal
Backup options for full-disk network, periodic Windows, or macOS via Time Machine

Amahi Pros and Cons

Pros

Access to plenty of apps
Fit for beginners and experienced users
Dedicated team and active community

Cons

Lacking consistent updates and protocol support
The interface could use an update
Apps often require additional configuration

Enterprise Storage OS

The Enterprise Storage OS is powerful, free software for administrators needing to manage block-level storage volumes. Based on the SCSI subsystem for Linux (SCST), ESOS is an open source storage server ideal for VMware ESXi, Linux disks, Windows NTFS volumes, and VMFS datastores.

With further development, ESOS bolsters its high availability storage clusters for larger workloads. Users can boot ESOS from a USB flash drive through a Linux host and server, including all binaries, files, and directories. In case of USB failure, administrators can easily copy the configuration and boot the new drive without data loss.

ESOS Features

Support for RAID controllers and targets including Fibre, iSCSI, SRP, and FCoE
Inline data deduplication, encryption, and compression with accessible tools
Components for clustering, high availability, and redundancy
Automatic migration and placement of data chunks for tiered storage devices
Text-based user interface (TUI) for simple management and storage provisioning

ESOS Pros and Cons

Pros

Very active community and forums
Optimized for SCST and virtualization
Regular updates and releases

Cons

Lacks cloud storage capabilities
No commercial support is available
Requires use of a USB flash drive

Openfiler

Openfiler is a top consideration for open source NAS software with features to deploy an IP storage gateway, NAS, or SAN appliances. Using an existing virtual machine or x86-64 server, Openfiler allows users to quickly deploy a network storage appliance with a web console for management.

Fit for Windows, Linux, and Unix clients, Openfiler offers fibre channel and iSCSI target capabilities to integrate virtualized environments like VMware and XenServer. Administrators also have access to RAID software support, scheduled point-in-time snapshots, and volume usage reporting.

Openfiler Features

Per-volume space and file quota management for groups, users, and guests
Options for synchronous or asynchronous volume migration and replication
Account management through Active Directory, LDAP, NIS, or NT4 domain controller
Block storage virtualization, including support for iSCSI and Fibre channel targets
Protocol support for Linux, FTP, CIFS/ SMB for Windows, and NFSv3 for Unix clients

Openfiler Pros and Cons

Pros

Ease of deployment and reliability
Strong compatibility and support for protocols
Commercial integration and SLA support are available

Cons

Lacks consistent updates
Slow to load at times and has an older interface
No support for RAID-Z or ZFS

OpenMediaVault

OpenMediaVault is a leading choice for free NAS solutions based on the Debian Linux distro. The dedicated NAS software uses a modular application architecture, giving users the flexibility to add and provision plugins. For networking, OpenMediaVault offers link aggregation, wake on LAN, and support for the most recent internet protocol, IPv6.

OMV is ideal for small office and home office use cases and includes multi-language support and user management. Administrators can easily manage plugs from the web-based console and schedule jobs, users, and updates through Debian package management.

OpenMediaVault Features

Data management via access control list (ACL), quotas, RAID, and GPT partitions
Options for monitoring include system state, SMART, SNMP, and email notifications
Schedule jobs, manage users and update system through web GUI
Plugins for UPS, SNMP, antivirus, USB backup, OneDrive, Amazon S3, and more
Protocol support for SSH, FTP, NFS (v3/v4), SMB/CIFS, and RSync

OpenMediaVault Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy to install and manage from GUI
Access to plenty of plugins
Support for hardware and RAID

Cons

Steep learning curve for beginning users
Limited file sharing options
Interface is in need of an update and sometimes buggy

PetaSAN

PetaSAN is scalable storage software incorporating cloud computing to offer users the same elasticity expected from SaaS applications. While not explicitly NAS software, PetaSAN still competes with the best on this list.

The free storage solution contains two core open source components, the Ceph storage engine, the Consul service mesh platform, and gateways for the gamut of industry protocols.

Users who need additional support have access to an active community forum, as well as commercial support from the dedicated PetaSAN business unit. Ideal for high concurrency I/O processes, PetaSAN can manage large capacity backups, big data analytics, and deployments for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere.

PetaSAN Features

Ceph storage engine for reliable, scalable, and cloud storage capabilities
Consul identity-based networking for secure management of cloud applications
Add nodes without disruption to scale storage cluster capacity
Self-healing, fault-tolerant, and self-adapting system
Protocol support for native Ceph storage, CIFS/SMB, iSCSI, NFS, and S3

PetaSAN Pros and Cons

Pros

Ceph is a solid object storage engine
Very active forums and documentation for community
Professional support available at cost

Cons

Difficulty with initial installation
Cluster deployment sometimes fails
Not ideal for smaller use cases

Rockstor

Rockstor is one of the best open source NAS solution providers, offering users storage server appliances powered by Linux, Docker, and Btrfs. Designed for DIY personal storage — increasingly called a private cloud — Rockstor is available as a NAS server, cloud server for small to midsize businesses (SMB), or personal cloud server.

Administrators can build storage on existing hardware or hypervisor while using Btrfs to scale Linux storage systems. Though Rockstor doesn’t have commercial support, the community has an active GitHub and developer community.

Rockstor Features

Secure web GUI with embedded documentation, like guided wizards and tool tips
Nondisruptive scaling with pool redundancy profiles and share capacities
Self-healing data, compression, and bit rot protection via Btrfs
Take or schedule periodic snapshots for restoring or rolling back prior data instances
Protocol support for SMB, NFS, and SFTP

Rockstor Pros and Cons

Pros

Intuitive user interface
Large capacity threshold
Proactive community, regular updates, and substantial documentation

Cons

Btrfs is not recommended for production use
No commercial support is available

Also read: Best FTP Servers

TrueNAS

TrueNAS — previously known as FreeNAS — is an open source leader in storage solution software. Actively developed and updated by iXsystems, the company offers free editions of its hyper-converged compute and storage platform, TrueNAS Scale, and its classic NAS operating system, TrueNAS Core.

The TrueNAS stack offers users single or multi-node options for scale-out NAS, SAN, or object storage software and appliances based on Linux and FreeBSD. TrueNAS provides a long list of features for data management, application services, security, and networking, even as a free NAS solution.

TrueNAS Features

Web GUI with REST API and alerting, reporting, and analytics for administrators
Forums, documentation, release notes, and bug ticketing via community support
Snapshots, clones, and local or remote replication to Linux ZFS
Client support for Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix, iOS, and Android devices
Protocol support for NFS, SMB, AFP, FTP, WebDAV, and rsync

TrueNAS Pros and Cons

Pros

Fit for unified storage with NAS and SAN
Robust data security and encrypted replication
Configurable, flexible, and fast storage solution

Cons

Training and documentation could use an update
Reported difficulty with initial installation
Deduplication can be RAM-intensive and cause slowness

TurnKey

TurnKey Linux is one of the most popular Linux distros and is a worthy consideration for the best free NAS solution. The TurnKey File Server offers a simple NAS software and web-based file manager for public or private storage management.

Users can deploy on bare metal, virtual machines, or cloud-based TurnKey File Server with out-of-the-box support for SSL encryption and protocols like WebDAV and Samba.

The base operating system for all TurnKey GNU/Linux solutions is TurnKey Core, offering backup and recovery, monitoring, and email alert capabilities. For interested users, TurnKey also provides free and commercial editions of its cloud servers, backups, and applications for web development, issue tracking, and the LAMP stack.

TurnKey Features

Configuration management for network, system, tool, and hardware modules
Supports popular compression types and conversion between Unix and DOS files
Persistent environment variables and smart, programmable bash shell for efficiency
Backup and data migration software for saving file changes and automatic restoration
Protocol support for SMB, NFS, WebDAV, Rsync, and SFTP

TurnKey Pros and Cons

Pros

Access to valuable applications and complete source code
Daily updates with security patches
Option to upgrade for commercial support and features

Cons

Less advanced features relative to others
Not fit for large workloads
Lacks iSCSI target support

XigmaNAS

Formerly known as NAS4Free, XigmaNAS is a leading choice for open source NAS distributions. Based on FreeBSD, XigmaNAS supports Windows, macOS, and Unix-like clients and offers a host of disk drive management, networking, and disk monitoring features.

The open source NAS solution allows administrators to manage data across several protocols, including Samba, FTP, NFS, iSCSI targets, etc. Part of XigmaNAS’s popularity includes its extra services for media or web servers, system statistics, VirtualBox, and internal file management.

XigmaNAS Features

Web GUI for configuration management and access control for a network
Disk encryption and options for partitioning MBR, GPT, and ZFS
iSCSI target and initiator for virtualized storage management
Link aggregation, wake on LAN, and highly available storage (HAST) for networking
Installable on SSD, USB, hard, or booted via LiveCD or LiveUSB

XigmaNAS Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy to install and configure
Extensive hardware compatibility
Regular updates and releases

Cons

The interface could be more intuitive
High learning curve for new Linux users
No commercial support

Free NAS Software Solutions: Honorable Mentions

EasyNAS
CryptoNAS
Libvirt
Lustre
OpenATTIC
OpenDedupe
OpenIO
OpenStack
OviOS
unRAID

What Is Network-Attached Storage?

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a physical or virtual machine designed to store local data for a home, business, or enterprise network.

As commercial IT environments increasingly adopted the client-server model in the 1980s, file servers and NAS devices emerged as a way for data administrators to centrally store and share access to a group of users across a local network.

Though NAS appliances and file servers remain similar, NAS solutions cost less and lack some of the advanced features offered by today’s modern rack servers.

Also read: Best Database Software Management Systems

A screenshot of the TrueNAS dashboard with system, CPU, and memory data.

NAS vs Storage Area Network (SAN)

As networks evolved and grew, storage-area network (SAN) solutions emerged to meet the data management needs of networks with a rising number of clients. NAS solutions are cost-effective for storing data on a local network, while SAN contains multiple devices for storing and sharing data across a network.

Though some NAS solutions work with or have SAN components, SAN orchestration is typically more involved and costly.

	NAS	SAN
Purpose	Home and Small Office	Enterprise
Administration	Beginner	Intermediate
Data	File-level	Block-level
Connection	Ethernet	Fibre Channel
Protocol	NFS, SFTP, WebDav, SMB, CIFS	AoE, FCoE, iSCSi
Redundancy	Less	More
Cost	💲	💲💲💲

What Is NAS Software?

NAS software is an application or program developed to run network-attached storage appliances.

Enterprise NAS solutions typically embed a proprietary OS and NAS applications on physical devices, but licensing and support for these devices end over time. In these instances, users and administrators can prolong the usefulness of existing hardware by using open source NAS software.

NAS Software Features

Backups: Regular synchronizations for recovering a complete copy of data
Snapshots: Active digital pictures of data for point-in-time recovery
Replication: Replicate and pull the most recent snapshots when offline
Encryption: Full-disk encryption and self-encrypting drives for security
Connectors and Controllers: Manage integrations and port connections
Administrative Management: Central console and controller for NAS data

A screenshot showing the syslog diagnostics results for OpenMediaVault.

How to Choose a Free NAS Software Solution

This question largely depends on the intended use, but there’s no shortage of inexpensive or free Linux distros designed for niche and general storage needs.

While the below list is more applicable to enterprise-grade NAS solutions, these features remain essential parts of NAS workloads to consider when identifying appropriate open source software.

Scalability of memory capacity and storage
Speed, latency, and performance
Security mechanisms like encryption, firewalls, and VPNs
Flexibility to add and alter components
Support for file protocols and integrations
Cloud integrations and remote access

As with any open source solution, users can’t expect the world. The solutions listed above offer many of the same features across commercial NAS products, making their use a very cost-effective way to handle less critical data management.

Solution	File Sharing	Monitoring	Backups	CIFS/SMB	NFS	S3	SAN	iSCSI	Disk Pooling
Amahi	✅	✅	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅
ESOS	✅	🚫	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅	🚫
OpenFiler	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫	✅	✅	✅
OpenMediaVault	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫
PetaSAN	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫
RockStor	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅
TrueNAS	✅	✅	🚫	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
TurnKey	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫
XigmaNAS	✅	✅	🚫	✅	✅	🚫	✅	✅	🚫

Best Free and Open Source NAS Solutions

Comparing Free and Open Source NAS Solutions