Unraid
Mix any drives, pay once
Unraid is a paid NAS and home-server system from Lime Technology, first released in 2005 and based on Slackware Linux. Its main idea is the array: you can mix drives of different sizes and protect them with one or two parity drives, adding disks one at a time. It runs Docker apps from the community app store and virtual machines.
Unraid specs and requirements
What Unraid can do
Strengths
- Mix old and new drives of any size and add them one at a time
- Huge community app store, plus virtual machines
- One-time licence; you keep it forever
Trade-offs
- Costs $49–$249; Starter and Unleashed include one year of updates
- Boots from a USB stick by default
- The parity drive must be at least as large as your biggest data drive
Local AI on Unraid
No built-in AI features. Community templates for Ollama support NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. How far you get depends on your memory: see what each kind of hardware can run.
Unraid vs other NAS systems
People reusing a pile of different-sized drives who want lots of apps.
| Feature | Unraid | TrueNAS | openmediavault | ZimaOS | umbrelOS | HexOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free to useUsable with no licence fee for a normal home setup. | No | Yes | Yes | YesUp to 4 drives | Yes | No |
| One-click app storeInstall apps such as Plex, Jellyfin or Nextcloud from a catalog in the web interface. | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in photo libraryA photo app made by the NAS maker, not just a third-party app you install. | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Local AI apps in the storeOllama or another local AI runtime can be installed from the official catalog or a built-in feature. | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mix drive sizes freelyAdd drives of different sizes over time and use their full capacity. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| ZFS file systemZFS checks data for silent corruption and supports snapshots. It works best with matching drives and more RAM. | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Runs on a Raspberry PiAn official or documented way to run it on a Raspberry Pi. | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| PriceOne-time prices in US dollars. | From $49 | Free | Free | Free · Plus $29 | Free | From $199 |
| Minimum RAMAs stated by the maker. | — | 8 GB | 1 GB | — | 4 GB | — |
Compare Unraid with
Unraid: common questions
Is Unraid free?
No. $49 Starter (6 drives), $109 Unleashed, $249 Lifetime; 30-day free trial.
What hardware does Unraid need?
Processor: Almost any 64-bit Intel or AMD. RAM: Not specified. System drive: USB flash drive (internal boot option since 7.3). Supported architectures: x86-64.
Can Unraid run AI locally?
No built-in AI features. Community templates for Ollama support NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.
What is Unraid based on?
Unraid is based on Slackware Linux. Storage: Array of mixed-size drives with up to two parity drives; ZFS and Btrfs pools are also supported.
Who is Unraid best for?
People reusing a pile of different-sized drives who want lots of apps.
Other NAS systems
Sources, checked October 19, 2026: Unraid pricing · What is Unraid? (docs) · Unraid on Wikipedia · Unraid 7.3.3 release notes · Community Apps: Ollama. The level is our judgment of how much a first-time NAS builder has to learn.