In case you didn’t hear TrueNAS is going partially closed source. However, there seems to be a lack of alternatives.
Any ideas on what to move to?
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Open media vault
One option is to use a older version of TrueNAS until some alternatives start to show up.
I would probably keep my NAS offline so it does not phone home.
I seem to recall reading that, but I think you have the wrong impression. I’m pretty sure it’s just there build system. They have always had two (one private for the paid stuff), and now they are just building everything “in private” not removing any source.
There are many projects that do not have open build systems, and I can understand them eanting to cut costs and simplify infrastructure.
e.g. just because redhat has a private build system and tries to restrict access to their binaries, that does not make them closed-source.
I think what you are referring to is this post https://forums.truenas.com/t/clearing-the-air-on-build-scripts/64357
There are people (likely in Asia) who are using the TrueNAS Build Tools to build versions that are no different other than removing license files and references, changing the name, changing some graphics and then selling the created ISO for profit.
The TrueNAS code is still GPLv3 and because it was that when they started using Linux base and not FreeBSD. The FreeBSD code is released under the BSD license which does allow closing of the source at any time. But here is what the internet had to say:
The BSD license is a permissive license that allows for minimal restrictions on how software can be used, modified, and distributed, including the ability to incorporate it into proprietary software. In contrast, GPLv3 is a copyleft license that requires any derivative works to also be distributed under the same GPLv3 terms, ensuring that the freedoms granted by the license are preserved.
Plain, good old Debian. It’s not that big of a deal to do all the config in console via SSH. You do it once and you’re done, so is the web interface that important?
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For an actual NAS solution, meaning your primary goal is storage, then Rockstor, OpenMediaVault, and TrueNAS are the big open source ones I know of. I believe they can all do ZFS and RAID these days
If you’re looking for a system to host self hosted apps, that can also do ZFS storage, check out Incus Containers on a playing Ubuntu or Debian install, and use LXConsole for the UI side.
Straight up barebones Linux.
Alpine Linux might also be interesting.
I think alpine qualifies as barebones Linux, generally.
That’s likely what I’ll end up doing
I (very much an amateur) briefly tried TueNAS scale in the past and didn’t like how they did apps. So I switched to Openmediavault, which since then has served me very well.
With a plugin I could easily add my zfs raid and I use their build in docker compose gui to run the few programs I need.
I didn’t try out others, but there are more options. CasaOS and yunohost already got mentioned, there is also Cosmos or just running a basic server with e.g Debian and maybe adding Cockpit for some management gui.
I’m unclear on the benefit either has one just an NFS server.
Openmediavault only seems to run on Debian which is a no go for me. I’m looking for something immutable (ie an an appliance)
I guess if you want specific recommendations you need to define your needs and requirements a bit more.
Since I was wondering if Cockpit is an option for immutable distros I stumbled on this video, which seems to suggest it might since it is used on one there. So I guess you could pick your favorite immutable distros and see if Cockpit works to have a easy gui for managing the server stuff.
You could of course also go for something like NixOS and make everything declarative.
For me Openmediavault was easy to set up and just works for the little stuff I want it to do.
WARNING: I am not an expert!
Maybe VanillaOS? Immutable, atomic, Debian-based. If OpenMediaVault doesn’t run directly on Vanilla, use its APX tool to make a minimalist Debian container & install OpenMediaVault there?
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters NAS Network-Attached Storage NFS Network File System, a Unix-based file-sharing protocol known for performance and efficiency RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks for mass storage SSH Secure Shell for remote terminal access ZFS Solaris/Linux filesystem focusing on data integrity
[Thread #200 for this comm, first seen 29th Mar 2026, 23:30] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
Currently running proxmox and using cockpit to present smb, which is all that I was doing with TrueNAS. Gotta set up a few pieces manually but not really a hassle.
Does cockpit have proper UI for ZFS and NFS? That’s the only reasons I’m using TrueNAS currently and I’m a bit annoyed with it generally.
Proxmox has a UI for ZFS. But you don’t really need it, ZFS is kind of set and forget and setting it up is quite easy via CLI.
Not for zfs. I mount zfs on proxmox. Why I don’t just run samba on proxmox, I’m not sure. There is some fuckery with permissions to make it work in a container and permissions are unnecessary for my use case.
But you don’t really need a ui for zfs. I ran it for 10 years on TrueNAS and only used it for initial setup.
I’m running XigmaNAS
Yunohost seems the community pick these days. I also played around with CasaOS and found it very user friendly. Though development on that one seems to have stalled.
Those aren’t NASes if I’m not mistaken?
