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TrueNAS

TrueNAS

Overview

What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

TrueNAS has been widely praised by users for its intuitive interface and versatility in various use cases. Users have found it easy to …
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TrueNAS Review

10 out of 10
September 15, 2022
I've been using TrueNAS for about 5 years now, mostly in lab environments. It's been running solid for those 3 years, through …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a universal data platform that enables users to adopt a modern, open-source approach to store and protect their growing data. TrueNAS harnesses the ZFS file system to provide unified storage (File, Block Object, and Apps) with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. The TrueNAS CORE edition (formerly FreeNAS) is based on FreeBSD for unified scale-up storage. The TrueNAS SCALE edition is based on Debian Linux for either scale-up or scale-out solutions and offers Linux Containers, VMs (KVM), and scale-out ZFS storage capabilities. Both versions are free to use and work well on a variety of hardware.

TrueNAS Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

TrueNAS starts at $0.

Synology DiskStation, Dell PowerScale, and HPE StoreEasy 1000 Storage are common alternatives for TrueNAS.

The most common users of TrueNAS are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(47)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

TrueNAS has been widely praised by users for its intuitive interface and versatility in various use cases. Users have found it easy to spin up virtual machines, conduct testing, and sandboxing. It is also commonly used for setting up a Plex media server and storing documents, downloads, and media backups. The integration of TrueNAS with security protocols like ActiveDirectory, LDAP, and Kerberos networks ensures file and folder-level security. Additionally, the ZFS Filesystem in TrueNAS provides data safety in the event of hard drive failure. Its compatibility with UPS allows for power outage notifications. TrueNAS is also utilized for home security camera monitoring and recording through ZoneMinder instances. Users have reported using TrueNAS in professional environments for long-term file storage and spinning up virtual machines for testing purposes. Furthermore, in the video production industry, TrueNAS plays a crucial role in storing camera data and referencing it during edits. Educational institutions rely on TrueNAS as part of their core criteria for Networking and SMB solutions. Organizations choose TrueNAS as their main on-premises storage solution, particularly for photo and video media storage. With features like SSD-based caching, a 10GB Ethernet port, and expandable network connectivity, TrueNAS offers speed and cost-effectiveness. It is frequently used as an iSCSI Datastore in VMware for primary NAS/iSCSI servers and nightly backups of VMs. Home users benefit from using TrueNAS Core as their business data management tool or home media server due to its simplicity and reliability. TrueNAS is often implemented as a backup/sync server, replacing tape backup systems to enable snapshots and reduce file recovery time. Integration with Nextcloud makes it scalable for file sharing, collaboration, and cost reduction purposes. In server set-ups, TrueNAS serves as a SAN providing simplicity of management, high availability configuration, and excellent support. Its fast performance and power make it ideal for mission-critical backups. Users prefer TrueNAS over Docker containers or virtual machines for its efficiency in managing, storing, and sharing data. It is especially recommended as an inexpensive enterprise-grade storage option for low-cost high-performance NAS systems. TrueNAS Scale, whether installed on a Virtual Machine in VMware Workstation Pro or on dedicated hardware, offers a solid software and user experience. Users have found it easy to install and appreciate its good performance and various applications for advanced testing. For those requiring fast and robust performance in primary data centers, the all-flash devices like TrueNAS M40 are the preferred choice. Lastly, users have had positive experiences with the salespeople and support teams from iX Systems, the parent company of TrueNAS. This level of satisfaction with both the product and the company further demonstrates the trust and reliability that users have in TrueNAS.

Overall, TrueNAS has proven to be a highly versatile and user-friendly solution for a wide range of use cases. Whether it's for personal media storage, professional file management, virtual machine deployment, or data backup, TrueNAS provides the necessary features and performance to meet the needs of its users. The ability to integrate with various security protocols, collaborate through Nextcloud, and serve as a reliable SAN or backup server makes it a valuable choice for businesses and organizations of all sizes. With its affordability, speed, scalability, and excellent customer support, TrueNAS continues to be a preferred storage solution for many users across different industries.

Robust and Reliable File System: Many users have praised the ZFS file system in TrueNAS for its robustness and reliability, providing them with peace of mind for their storage needs.

Seamless Integration with Mac and Linux Machines: Several reviewers have appreciated the seamless integration of TrueNAS with Mac and Linux machines. This integration allows for easy sharing of data through protocols like SMB and NFS, enhancing collaboration among different operating systems.

Flexibility and Stability of Software RAID: The flexibility and stability of the software RAID in TrueNAS has impressed many users. They have highlighted how it allows for customizable storage configurations, providing them with a reliable solution for their specific needs.

Confusing User Interface: Some users have reported that they find the user interface of TrueNAS to be confusing and not intuitive, which can make it challenging to configure and perform tasks efficiently. This issue has been mentioned by multiple reviewers, highlighting the need for improvements in terms of usability and navigation.

Challenging Initial Installation Process: The initial installation process has been described as quite challenging by some users, requiring significant effort and time. Several reviewers have expressed their difficulties during the installation phase, suggesting that a more streamlined and user-friendly approach would greatly enhance the overall experience.

Lack of Certain Functionalities: Users have expressed their desire for additional functionalities within TrueNAS. Specifically, there are requests for better VNC support for VMs and Jails, improved DLNA services for seamless video asset serving, and increased plugin integrations. These suggestions indicate that there is room for enhancement in these areas to meet the diverse needs of users effectively.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-23 of 23)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Jorge Arturo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
the features installed on the other providers solutions, TrueNAS allow just install only the featured do you need and not others you don't like or you don't need. The isolate runtime space give for plugins jail make TrueNAS a really modular NAS solution over the other provider, for me this is really appreciated
Sean Gordon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • QNAP NAS, EMC VNX (Discontinued) and Nimble
Flexibility in Storage, configuration, and ability to scale the solution as needed. The GUI is straight forward. Finding help in the forums is also on point. Great community and support that you don't find with other products.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Synology and QNAP both felt to basic after trying TrueNAS, while NetApp and Fujitsu where both expensive and I wasn't convinced we would A utilize or need all the features and furthermore all the things we where going to use seemed to be something that TrueNAS simply did better.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
TrueNAS provides a very competitively priced option. TrueNAS is an all-in-one solution providing not only storage but services to access the storage from multiple platforms and protocols.
Matthew Juffs | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Server 2022 was familiar and up to the task, using built-in features. However, the extra bloat and features weren't necessary—and they led to the ransomware attack. TrueNAS is focused on Storage and plays well with other operating systems and servers.
Rob Anderson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The support with TrueNAS is where it really shines. You can get support that if you purchase hard drives from them, they send replacements as soon as one fails. Automatically. If you have nodes in your server they will do the same. They also do advanced replacement, you don't have to wait to ship the failed drives away before you get a new one. Depending on the level of support you subscribe to you, you can even have the parts on hand ready to be replaced. This includes entire nodes. Most other solutions, despite being great do not have any ware near this opportunity.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Having a better, trusted filesystem to build upon makes a huge difference. I want to know that if something I've written is read, it was the thing I wrote. And if it can't be read, I want to know that soon and know how to repair it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I like all three for different reasons. But TrueNAS fits the FOSS criteria perfectly, obviously. QNAP and Synology operate differently and fit different clients and/or different builds, and have a corporate entity supporting them. We have all 3, and TrueNAS likes friends. I would probably choose TrueNAS most; however, it depends on the hardware also and the budgets involved.
Peter Johnston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Much cheaper solutions available for small business. Being that TrueNAS software is well regarded and deployed on a large number of different platforms, I get to benefit from a more robust and powerful interface. Other NAS vendors just don't do the software side as well in my experience.
August 09, 2022

Amazing NAS

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Pros: TrueNAS: 1. The TrueNAS web interface looks modern. It makes tasks like provisioning drives into RAID volumes easy. 2. The ZFS RAID option allows you to add SSDs as cache drives for improved performance. Synology: 1. Synology DiskStation provides many options to create links to share files or request certain upload files. It makes it very easy to share a link that can have expired or visited counts. 2. There's always enough storage space on our Synology DiskStation, and we never have to worry about something too big to upload or share. 3. You can create shared folders as well as some private folders. This makes it easy to share collaborations with colleagues or clients. Cons: TrueNAS: 1. Not suitable for beginners as it requires in-depth knowledge of networking and storage. 2. Most of the good and required features are not available in the free version. 3. TrueNAS is worse for warranty. 4. Since TrueNAS Core is essentially free, you may find that cloud access may sometimes require more setup or modification of ports on your router or setup software provided by third-party DNS. Thus, it may have DNS issues. 5. If you are overly sensitive to noise vibration and typical mechanical noise, you will find TrueNAS to be noisier overall Synology: 1. DSM's (DiskStation Manager) built-in backup software, HyperBackup often encounters problems. 2. While Btrfs is a more advanced filesystem than ext4, it is also under permanent development, many features are not fully functional, and there are a lot of bugs. Synology has overcome many of these limitations by putting Btrfs on top of LVM, but Synology could use a better filesystem such as OpenZFS. 3. The underlying Linux operating system offers significant advantages, but also adds considerable complexity.
Greg Baughman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I chose TrueNAS (upgrading from FreeNAS) because of the small footprint, ease of use, and reliability of the ZFS file system. The file sharing protocols supported as well as the intuitive interface all make TrueNAS a great choice for business and hobbyists alike.
Brett Rutherford | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Unfortunately, I have to give the edge to Pure and Nimble simply due to the availability of enterprise-grade hot-swappable redundant power supply units - as much as I love the TrueNAS hardware solution until that particular annoyance is addressed, I can't really consider these products ready for anything beyond SOHO or Homelab environments. They would function, but speaking from experience, a little more money in high availability will keep you warm and comfy in bed and is worth the price of not being paged at 2 am for a PSU failure.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Synology - very user friendly setup and admin - extremely easy to manage storage sharing - slower iSCSI protocol TrueNAS - stepper learning curve for setup and admin - much more complex and error prune file sharing - more capable HW (CPU speed, 10gbe) - storage protocols are more performant, especially iSCSI
sandra roberts | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • NAKIVO Backup & Replication
When comparing prices and features with other software we found that TrueNas was offering an affordable price and more unique features. Also, cloud backup features is a live saver if you lose your data. The installation process was very smooth and the learning curve was easy. The customer support team has been very active and friendly.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We purchased StoreVirtual appliances 6 months before they announced end of life - we were unable to expand our volumes due to product availability. We used this opportunity to look at different vendors since we needed to configure a new product anyway. Not only did TrueNAS match the performance offered by Pure Storage and Nimble, it did it at a fraction of the cost. We had concerns over using a relatively unknown (to us) product but decided it was worth the risk. The level of support I have received from TrueNAS is beyond what I have received from any other vendor. 24 hours support. Experts available to assist, not only with support issues, but with analysis of logs and configuration changes.
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