openmediavault: Debian-based NAS that runs on a Raspberry Pi
openmediavault adds a web UI for shares, users and disks to a plain Debian install. Plugins cover RAID, mergerfs, SnapRAID and Docker Compose. It is a good fit for low-power ARM boards and older PCs.
Is openmediavault right for you?
Choose openmediavault if: You want a free, lightweight NAS for a Raspberry Pi, an ARM board or an old PC.
Pros
- Free and open source
- Runs on ARM boards and needs only 1 GB of RAM
- RAID, mergerfs and SnapRAID through plugins
Cons
- Docker and VMs need plugins
- Mixed drive sizes need mergerfs
Compare with other NAS OS
See how openmediavault differs on storage, licensing and what it runs on.
| Spec | openmediavault | Unraid | TrueNAS | HexOS | ZimaOS | FygoOS | MOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | From $49 | Free | $199 lifetime | Free, $29 Plus | Free, $199 lifetime | Free |
| Licence | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 / LGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Based on | Debian | Slackware | Debian | TrueNAS | Buildroot | Linux | Devuan |
| Boots from | USB / SSD / NVMe | USB / SSD / NVMe | SSD / NVMe | SSD / NVMe | SSD / NVMe | SSD / NVMe | USB / SSD / NVMe |
| Storage | RAID, mergerfs, SnapRAID | Parity array or ZFS | ZFS | ZFS | RAID, ZFS or JBOD | ext4, Btrfs or ZFS | XFS, Btrfs, mergerfs, SnapRAID, parity array |
| Mixed drive sizes | With mergerfs | Yes | Each vdev uses its smallest drive | Each vdev uses its smallest drive | Via JBOD, without redundancy | Not documented | Yes |
| Virtual machines | Via plugin (KVM) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (ZVM) | Yes (best on x86) | Yes (QEMU/KVM) |
| Apps | Docker Compose plugin | Community Apps (Docker) | TrueNAS Apps (Docker) | Curated one-click apps | One-click store (Docker) | App Center and Docker | MOS Hub (Docker templates), LXC |
| Architecture | x86 and ARM | x86 only | x86 only | x86 only | x86 only | x86 and ARM | x86 and ARM |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 4 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB | 4 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Best for | Low-power ARM boards and old PCs | Growing a pool from mismatched drives | Data integrity, snapshots and replication | TrueNAS without the learning curve | Simple app hosting with little setup | Photo backup and file sharing with little setup | Unraid-style storage without a licence fee |