NovaNAS vs PetaSAN

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.

PetaSAN is an open-source, software-defined storage platform for Linux and self-hosted web-managed deployments, licensed under AGPL 3. It uses Ceph and Consul, delivering storage through iSCSI, CIFS/SMB, NFS, and S3. Capacity can grow by adding nodes without interrupting service, and the system is described as multi-node active/active and highly available. Graphical interfaces are intended to help non-Linux administrators install and operate it. Listed use cases include VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, scale-out file systems, big-data analytics, database servers, and large-capacity backups. Capabilities include storage pools, user management, and snapshots. The self-support plan costs nothing; professional support and engineering consultation are also offered. Version 4.1.0 is dated February 18, 2026, and release 3.3.0 added dm-crypt OSD encryption and an HTTPS deployment wizard.