FreeNAS® vs Ubuntu Server with ZFS on Linux
High Level Comparison
FreeNAS® and Ubuntu Linux are Open Source operating systems that support many of the same features like ZFS, SMB, copy-on-write, and snapshots. Both operating systems offer a robust feature set capable of handling NAS and SAN applications.
FreeNAS
FreeNAS is a free, Open Source software network-attached storage (NAS) system based on FreeBSD and the OpenZFS file system. It is licensed under the terms of the BSD License. In 2009, the development team concluded that FreeNAS® would need to be completely re-written in order to incorporate modern features like a plugin architecture, updates to the base system, and an up-to-date user interface. To carry this out, the project was transferred over to iXsystems®, who moved from a m0n0wall and PHP-based architecture to one based on FreeBSD’s embedded build system, the Python programming language, the Django CMS, and the Dojo JavaScript toolkit.
Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu Server is an operating system based on Debian Linux that offers a full range of server features. Development is funded by Canonical, which offers professional support services. Ubuntu Server differs from the desktop edition as it runs in a screen mode character-based environment, though an X Window desktop environment can be added manually. The Server edition is certified to work with VMware ESXi Server, VirtualBox, XenServer hypervisors, Microsoft Hyper-V, QEMU, Kernel-based Virtual Machine, or any other IBM PC compatible emulator or virtualizer. Ubuntu Server utilizes a linux module for kernel security by default.
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| Feature | FreeNAS 9.10 | Ubuntu Server 16.04 |
| Ease of use | Graphical UI, little command line knowledge required | Manual UI set up, most functions require use of command line |
| Storage experience | Some recommended | Recommended |
| UNIX command line experience | Minimal | Substantial |
| Documentation | Complete User Guide | Complete Documentation |
| Localization support | Yes | Yes |
| How-To videos | Yes | Third Party |
| Certified hardware available | Yes | Yes |
| Professional support available | Yes (third party) | Yes |
| Professional training available | Coming Soon | Third Party |
| Professional certification available | Coming Soon | No |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Base operating system | FreeBSD 10.3-STABLE | Debian Linux |
| Native file system | OpenZFS | ext4, OpenZFS |
| 64-Bit hardware support | Yes | Yes |
| 32-Bit hardware support | No | Yes |
| ARM architecture support | No | Yes |
| Project Activity | ||
| Active Developers (core) | 31 | 87 |
| Project Commits | 18,000+ | N/A |
| Development Language | Mostly Python | Primarily C, various others |
| Open Source Repository | https://github.com/freenas/ | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ |
| Forum Activity | Very High | Very High |
| Forum Members | 45,000+ | 2,000,000+ |
| Forum Posts | 316,200+ | 2,000,000 |
| YouTube Community Videos | 43,600+ | 1,800,000+ |
| IRC Channel | #freenas on Freenode | #ubuntu on Freenode |
| Facebook Page | 21,000+ Likes | 1,200,000+ |
| 8,000+ Followers | 95,000+ Followers | |
| Google+ | 3,100+ Followers | 300,000+ Followers |
| Features | ||
| Graphical user interface (GUI) | Yes | Must be installed manually |
| Setup wizard | Yes | No |
| Single restorable configuration file | Yes | No |
| Default settings restore | Yes | From live CD |
| Visual reporting | Included | Install package |
| IP Management | Yes | Yes |
| Web-based volume management | Yes | Yes |
| Online upgrades | Yes | Yes |
| RAID Levels Supported (ZFS) | Stripe, mirror, RAIDZ1, Z2,Z3 | Stripe, mirror, RAIDZ1, Z2, Z3 |
| RAID Levels Supported (UFS) | N/A | RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 |
| Hot-Swap hard drives | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption support | Disk | Disk, filesystem |
| Third-party applications | Yes (plugins) | Yes (package repository) |
| Websocket API | Included | Package |
| Compression | lz4, gzip, zle, lzjb | lz4, gzip, zle, lzjb |
| Deduplication | Included | Package |
| Snapshot management | Included | Package |
| ZFS replication | Included | Package |
| Remote replication | Included | Package |
| Root-on-ZFS | Included | Manual from CLI |
| Boot from RAIDZ | Yes | Manual from CLI |
| Export/Import pool | Web UI | CLI |
| Mirrored boot drive | Web UI | Manual from CLI |
| ZFS monitoring (email) | Yes | Yes |
| SSD TRIM support | Yes | Yes |
| Live CD option | No | Yes |
| Protocols, Utilities, and Directory Services | ||
| NFS (v3 and v4) | Included | Package |
| Windows (SMB) | Included | Package |
| Apple (AFP) | Included | Package |
| iSCSI Target | Included | Package |
| Kernel iSCSI | Yes | No |
| rsync | Included | Package |
| FTP | Included | Package |
| TFTP | Included | Package |
| WebDAV | Included | Package |
| LLDP | Included | CLI |
| SSH | Included | Package |
| Dynamic DNS | Included | Package |
| Active Directory integration | Included | Package |
| Active Directory Domain Controller | Included | Package |
| LDAP | Included | Package |
| Kerberos | Included | Package |
| NIS | Included | Package |
| NT4 | Included | Package |
| S.M.A.R.T. | Included | Package |
| SNMP | Included | Package |
| UPS Integration | Included | Package |
| Virtualization Support | ||
| Virtualization host support | KVM, XEN, VMware, VirtualBox | KVM, XEN, VMware, VirtualBox, Microsoft Hyper-V, QEMU |
| VirtualBox guest support | Yes | Yes |
| Hyper-V guest support | Yes | Yes |
| KVM guest support | Yes | Yes |
| ESXi guest support | Yes | Yes |
| ESXi (VMXNET3) support | Yes | Yes |
| VMWare coordinated snapshots | Yes | Yes |
| VMWare VAAI support | Yes | No |
| Third Party Plugins or Packages | ||
| bacula-sd | Yes | Yes |
| CloneDeploy | Yes | No |
| CouchPotato | Yes | No |
| Crashplan | Yes | No |
| Emby | Yes | No |
| Firefly Media Server | Yes | No |
| Headphones HTPC Manager |
Yes Yes |
No No |
| LazyLibrarian | Yes | No |
| Madsonic Maraschino |
Yes Yes |
No No |
| MineOS | Yes | No |
| Mylar | Yes | No |
| Nextcloud NZB Hydra Owncloud |
Yes Yes Yes |
No No Yes |
| Plex Media Server | Yes | No |
| Resilio S3cmd |
Yes Yes |
No Yes |
| SABnzbd | Yes | Yes |
| Sick Beard | Yes | No |
| Sonarr Subsonic |
Yes Yes |
No No |
| Syncthing | Yes | No |
| Transmission | Yes | Yes |
| XDM | Yes | Yes |