DPlaneOS vs NovaNAS
DPlaneOS
github.comNovaNAS
novanas.orgSide by side
| Figure | DPlaneOS | NovaNAS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · NAS Software | 8.3 (#5) | 8.5 (#3) |
| File sharing | The system supports SMB with Time Machine support, NFS, iSCSI and NVMe-oF sharing. | NovaNAS supports SMB/CIFS and NFS sharing with access controls. |
| Monitoring | Prometheus/OpenMetrics exposes ZFS health, dataset usage, scrub progress, HA peer health, replication status and BMC sensor metrics. | The site describes real-time CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring; historical monitoring and alerting are marked coming soon. |
| Purpose | DPlaneOS is a ZFS-first storage operating system for homelab and small-office NAS deployments. | NovaNAS is an open-source NAS operating system managed through a desktop-like web interface. |
| Security | Security controls include RBAC, an HMAC audit chain, CSRF protection, firewall, TLS, allowlist-validated execution and govulncheck in CI. | The site lists UFW firewall controls, DynDNS, and automatic Let's Encrypt SSL/TLS certificate management. |
| Storage | Storage features include ZFS pools, datasets, snapshots, replication, native encryption, quotas, S.M.A.R.T. and POSIX ACLs. | NovaNAS supports ZFS and EXT4 pools, RAID management, and SMB/CIFS and NFS shared folders. |
Plans
In their own words
DPlaneOS
DPlaneOS is a ZFS-first storage operating system for homelab and small-office NAS deployments. It manages pools, datasets, snapshots, replication, encryption, quotas, S.M.A.R.T. and POSIX ACLs, with sharing through SMB, NFS, iSCSI and NVMe-oF. It can manage Docker and Compose stacks, ZFS-clone sandboxes, atomic updates with rollback, and an in-browser terminal. Its architecture combines a Go daemon, PostgreSQL state, a React interface and a NixOS appliance. Identity options include local users, LDAP or Active Directory, OIDC SSO, TOTP 2FA and API tokens. Cloud synchronization supports S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Azure, Dropbox and rclone-compatible targets. Prometheus/OpenMetrics exposes storage and system metrics. Optional high availability is off by default; several HA configurations and NVMe-oF over TCP are marked experimental. Installation supports x86_64 and aarch64, including Raspberry Pi 5, with offline ISOs. The free Community Edition is licensed under AGPLv3. Minimum hardware is a 64-bit CPU and 8 GB RAM; 16 GB is recommended. One person maintains the project, which offers no vendor support.
NovaNAS
NovaNAS is a free, open-source NAS operating system managed through a desktop-like web interface. Its browser file manager supports browsing, uploading, downloading, and previewing files. Storage features include ZFS and EXT4, RAID management, and SMB/CIFS and NFS shared folders with access controls. A community app store offers one-click deployment of Docker applications such as Plex, Nextcloud, and Pi-hole. The project describes automated backups to external drives or cloud storage, and network backups between NovaNAS systems using API key authentication. Security and network tools include UFW firewall management, DynDNS, automatic Let's Encrypt certificates, and WebAuthn/FIDO2 passkey login. The interface monitors CPU, memory, disk, and network activity in real time. NovaNAS currently supports Debian 13 only, and its installer is intended for a fresh system, not an existing one. Minimum requirements are 2 GB RAM, a 1-core CPU, and a 20 GB system drive, plus data drives. Virtualization, historical monitoring, and scheduled tasks are listed as coming soon.