{"id":5427,"date":"2022-12-31T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/unraid-vs-freenas-2\/"},"modified":"2022-12-31T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T10:00:00","slug":"unraid-vs-freenas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/en\/unraid-vs-freenas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Unraid vs Freenas"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"4797\" data-bid=\"2\" data-placement=\"4798\">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<\/script>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unraid and Freenas are two Linux-based operating systems intended for home-built NAS and (home) servers, respectively. The biggest difference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Freenas is free, Unraid has to be purchased once. Here we compare the two HomeServer \/ NAS operating systems in a table, followed by a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Overview<\/td><td>FreeNas 11.3<\/td><td>Unraid 6.9.2<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Price<\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>From $59, one time<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Operating<\/td><td>WebGUI<\/td><td>WebGUI<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Certified hardware available<\/td><td>SoHo and Business<\/td><td>No.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>File System<\/td><td>OpenZFS<\/td><td>XFS (default), BTRFS<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Architecture<\/td><td>64-bit<\/td><td>64-bit<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Integrated visual statistics<\/td><td>CPU, disk, memory, network, processes, uptime, iSCSI, ZFS<\/td><td>CPU, disk, memory, network, processes, uptime, Docker<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Supported hard disk configurations<\/td><td>Stripe, mirror, RAIDZ1, Z2, Z3, hot-swap<\/td><td>Stripe, single parity, dual parity<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Support for encrypted storage<\/td><td>Software Disk Encryption, Self-Encrypting Drives (SED), and Dataset Encryption in TrueNAS CORE 12<\/td><td>Software Disk Encryption, Command Line Self-Encrypting Disks<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Alerting Services<\/td><td>GUI, email, and SNMP alerts, integration with AWS-SNS, InfluxDB, Slack, Mattermost, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, VictorOps<\/td><td>GUI and email notification<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Support for third-party applications<\/td><td>Plugins, Jails, bhyve VMs, Docker VMs<\/td><td>Docker, KVM, Qemu<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Integrated file sharing protocols<\/td><td>SMB, NFS, AFP, WebDAV<\/td><td>SMB, NFS, AFP<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Integrated block storage protocols<\/td><td>iSCSI<\/td><td>None.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Integrated cloud synchronization<\/td><td>Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Box, Dropbox, FTP, Google Cloud Storage, HTTP, Hubic, Mega, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, Microsoft OneDrive, pCloud, SFTP, WebDAV, Yandex<\/td><td>None. (Possible via third-party provider)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Built-in Directory Services<\/td><td>Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos, NIS<\/td><td>Active Directory<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Built-in Hardware Protocols<\/td><td>S.M.A.R.T., SCSI Enclosure Services (SES), UPS<\/td><td>S.M.A.R.T., UPS (APC)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Built-in Virtualization<\/td><td>bhyve, Docker<\/td><td>KVM, Qemu, Docker<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>App Store<\/td><td>No.<\/td><td>Yes. (Community Applications Plugin)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Number of plugins<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>121<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Docker available directly from the web interface<\/td><td>None.<\/td><td>1193<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advantages found with Unraid and FreeNAS:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Easy to use<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interfaces<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Virtual machine hosting<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hosting Docker\/Containers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The advantages of FreeNAS:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Uses the mature and powerful OpenZFS<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Standard RAID modes provide increased speed and fault tolerance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fast performance without cache drives<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fault tolerance with only two drives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The advantages of Unraid:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Uses the maximum capacity of all data disks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Parity drives protect a large number of disks without reducing capacity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Easy file-level recovery<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Data on working drives remains available during recovery<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Saves power and extends drive life by shutting down unused drives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The disadvantages of FreeNAS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fault tolerance severely limits capacity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No choice in file system<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The disadvantages of Unraid<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mediocre performance without SSD caching<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unraid vs FreeNAS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both FreeNAS and UnRAID are worthwhile solutions for creating your own file server. There is no clear answer to the question of which solution is better, and you will hear good arguments from proponents of both camps. FreeNAS is the better solution if you need Traditional Raid, while UnRAID is better if you are aiming for maximum capacity for non-critical data sets. We recommend SSD caching for both, and your backup strategy will affect the equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Unraid-server-dashboard.png-1.webp\" alt=\"Unraid server dashboard\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Unraid Dashboard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/netguide.io\/linux\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/freenas-server-dashboard.png.webp\" alt=\"FreeNAS server dashboard\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FreeNAS Dashboard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"4799\" data-bid=\"2\" data-placement=\"4800\">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<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unraid vs FreeNAS compared: two Linux-based NAS and home-server operating systems side by side in a detailed table, with pros, cons and a clear verdict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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