XigmaNAS vs StarWind SAN & NAS

XigmaNAS8.6Visit SSStarWind SAN & NAS8.0Visit

Higher score XigmaNAS #3 in NAS Software 8.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 7 features Visit XigmaNAS

vs

SS StarWind SAN & NAS #4 in NAS Software 8.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 7 features Visit StarWind

• XigmaNAS fits best

  Free ZFS NAS with virtualization

• StarWind SAN & NAS fits best

  Virtualization-focused shared storage

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Side by side

Feature	XigmaNAS 8.6/10 Visit ↗	SSStarWind SAN & NAS 8.0/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.6	8.0
Ranking	#3 in NAS Software	#4 in NAS Software
Best for	Free ZFS NAS with virtualization	Virtualization-focused shared storage
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Free plan	Free plan
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web, Linux
Support	Community, Docs	Email, Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs · 24/7
Built for	Solo, Small business	Small business, Mid-market
Features XigmaNAS 5/7 · StarWind SAN & NAS 2/7
Storage pools	✓	✓
User management	✓	✓
Snapshots	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
App catalog	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Container support	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Virtual machines	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Cloud sync	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	ZFS pools, software RAID, snapshots, and retention settings VirtualBox virtual machines plus FreeBSD jails and container extensions SMB/CIFS, NFS, FTP, SSH, iSCSI, and rsync services	Free plan with storage pools and broad storage protocol support High-availability shared storage for VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, and Xen Web, text-based, command-line, and vCenter management options
Cons	Requires user-provided hardware and self-hosted installation Platform options are limited to web administration and self-hosting No AI features or confirmed cloud-sync capability	The product page labels SAN & NAS as a legacy product Pricing is quote-based rather than published as a product-specific amount Requires servers or hypervisors for its appliance-style deployment model
Our verdict	XigmaNAS is a free, open-source network-attached storage operating system for home users and small businesses. It runs on user-provided hardware and provides web-based administration for storage, networking, access control, file sharing,… Read the review →	StarWind SAN & NAS turns commodity servers into shared storage appliances for file, block, and backup workloads. It is aimed at organizations running virtualized environments that need shared storage without adopting a dedicated hardware… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• XigmaNAS — where it wins

  • ZFS pools, software RAID, snapshots, and retention settings
  • VirtualBox virtual machines plus FreeBSD jails and container extensions
  • SMB/CIFS, NFS, FTP, SSH, iSCSI, and rsync services

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires user-provided hardware and self-hosted installation
  • Platform options are limited to web administration and self-hosting
  • No AI features or confirmed cloud-sync capability

• StarWind SAN & NAS — where it wins

  • Free plan with storage pools and broad storage protocol support
  • High-availability shared storage for VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, and Xen
  • Web, text-based, command-line, and vCenter management options

  Where it doesn't

  • The product page labels SAN & NAS as a legacy product
  • Pricing is quote-based rather than published as a product-specific amount
  • Requires servers or hypervisors for its appliance-style deployment model

• XigmaNAS8.6/10 · Free plan

  A free ZFS NAS operating system with virtualization and extensive file services.

  Visit XigmaNASFull verdict →
• SSStarWind SAN & NAS8.0/10 · Free plan

  A virtualization-oriented shared-storage platform with broad protocol and hypervisor support.

  Visit StarWindFull verdict →