NovaNAS vs StarWind SAN & NAS
NovaNAS
novanas.orgStarWind SAN & NAS
starwindsoftware.comSide by side
| Figure | NovaNAS | StarWind SAN & NAS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · NAS Software | 8.5 (#3) | 7.2 (#21) |
| Audience | The site describes NovaNAS as a free, open-source option for DIY hardware and serious home or small-business storage. | StarWind describes it for organizations with low budgets and restricted IT resources that want to make efficient use of their hardware. |
| Purpose | NovaNAS is an open-source NAS operating system managed through a desktop-like web interface. | The software turns one server or a group of servers into a shared storage appliance, deployable as a VM or on bare metal. |
| Support | The README points users to documentation and GitHub Issues for support and bug reports. | The product page advertises free migration assistance, remote troubleshooting, support SLAs under one hour, and optional ProActive Premium Support with 24/7/365 monitoring. |
Plans
In their own words
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.
StarWind SAN & NAS
StarWind SAN & NAS has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.