File Storage · alternatives
Alternatives to TrueNAS
23 file storage tools sit alongside TrueNAS in this directory. Below is what separates each from TrueNAS on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 10
- Cheaper to start
- 0
- TrueNAS starts at
- Free
Why people look past TrueNAS
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. TrueNAS has a free tier, and starts at Free against a category median of $5/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Modern data protection for enterprise workloads
- Starts $250 a year dearer, at $250/year.
Complete backup solution with built-in ransomware protection
- No free tier, where TrueNAS has one.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than open-source.
Simple and reliable cloud backup for businesses
- No free tier, where TrueNAS has one.
- Starts $6 a month dearer, at $6/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than open-source.
Unlimited cloud backup at an affordable price
- No free tier, where TrueNAS has one.
- Starts $9 a month dearer, at $9/month.
Google's consumer cloud storage app, sharing the same 15GB quota as Gmail and Google Photos
- Sold on a Free tier plus paid storage add-on model rather than open-source.
Low cost S3-compatible object storage with egress included up to a multiple of what you store
- Starts $4 a month dearer, at $4/month.
- Sold on a Per terabyte per month model rather than open-source.
Every TrueNAS alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrueNAS (this page) | Free | Open-source | - | |
| Veeam Backup & ReplicationModern data protection for enterprise workloads | Free, then $250/year | - | - | vs TrueNAS |
| Barracuda BackupComplete backup solution with built-in ransomware protection | On request | Subscription | - | vs TrueNAS |
| CarboniteSimple and reliable cloud backup for businesses | $6/month | Subscription | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| BackblazeUnlimited cloud backup at an affordable price | $9/month | - | 2 | vs TrueNAS |
| Google Drive | Free | Free tier plus paid storage add-on | 3 | vs TrueNAS |
| IDrive e2 | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs TrueNAS |
| Cloudflare R2 | Free, then $0.015/month | Per gigabyte stored per month | 3 | vs TrueNAS |
| Ceph | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| MinIO | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs TrueNAS |
| Storj | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs TrueNAS |
| Tigris | Free, then $0.004/GB/month | Usage-based tiered storage with per-request fees | 4 | vs TrueNAS |
| Box | Free, then $5/month | Subscription | 4 | vs TrueNAS |
| Nextcloud | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs TrueNAS |
| LucidLink | $7/month | Per member per month plus storage | 3 | vs TrueNAS |
| VAST Data | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Panzura | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Scality RING | On request | Quote | 2 | vs TrueNAS |
| Cloudian | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Nasuni | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Veritas NetBackup | $100/month | Subscription | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Zerto | $5/month | Subscription | 1 | vs TrueNAS |
| Microsoft OneDrive | $1.99/month | Subscription | 4 | vs TrueNAS |
| IDrive | $2.5/month | Subscription | 7 | vs TrueNAS |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the TrueNAS badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (10)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Veeam Backup & Replication , Free, then $250/year
- Google Drive , Free
- IDrive e2 , Free, then $4/month
- Cloudflare R2 , Free, then $0.015/month
- Ceph , Free
- MinIO , Free
- Storj , Free, then $4/month
- Tigris , Free, then $0.004/GB/month
What you would be giving up
TrueNAS is most often brought in for on-premises backup and archival storage for enterprises, home lab and small business network-attached storage, media server storage for video, photo, and document libraries, disaster recovery and business continuity replication, s3-compatible object storage for cloud-native applications, high-availability storage clusters for datacentres. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If TrueNAS is broadly right and the question is cost, the TrueNAS pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the File Storage category lists everything the directory holds, and best file storage tools ranks them.
TrueNAS runs on self-hosted, linux, web, api. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about TrueNAS alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to TrueNAS?
- 23 other file storage tools are listed in this directory, led by Veeam Backup & Replication, Barracuda Backup, Carbonite, Backblaze. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to TrueNAS?
- 10 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Veeam Backup & Replication, Google Drive, IDrive e2, Cloudflare R2, Ceph.
- Is there a reason to switch away from TrueNAS?
- Nothing in the data flags one. TrueNAS has a free tier, and starts at Free against a category median of $5/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from TrueNAS?
- TrueNAS is most often brought in for on-premises backup and archival storage for enterprises, home lab and small business network-attached storage, media server storage for video, photo, and document libraries, disaster recovery and business continuity replication, s3-compatible object storage for cloud-native applications, high-availability storage clusters for datacentres. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to TrueNAS?
- None of the file storage tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these TrueNAS alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, File Storage, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare TrueNAS against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against TrueNAS covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every file storage tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the File Storage category, 23 tools beside TrueNAS. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.