Home lab enthusiasts have had a clear choice when it came to using TrueNAS and Proxmox. One is perfectly suited to storing lots of data on the network, and the other is great for running countless containers and virtual machines. TrueNAS 26 is almost here, with a beta available, and it has made the operating system more akin to Proxmox than ever before. Previously, it wasn't uncommon for TrueNAS to be run within a virtual instance on Proxmox, but now the TrueNAS developers have made it much more feasible to run the NAS OS alone.

Running earlier releases of TrueNAS on a system made it a pain to run an entire home lab. It was possible, sure, but one had to leap through hoops to get everything up and running. Now, iXsystems, the developer behind the platform, has brought to the table GP passthrough, LXC container support, and a refreshed web UI. You'd be forgiven for mistaking the software for a hypervisor, and while it's not a rebrand as such, it's clear the company has set its sights on the success of Proxmox within the home lab.

But no matter how close iXsystems makes TrueNAS to be like the hypervisor, I won't be making the switch from Proxmox. I already make great use of both platforms and find them both to be worthy of a spot in my home lab.

Proxmox and TrueNAS make a dream team

Ready to store data and launch apps

I started out with a prebuilt NAS enclosure and worked up from there for the home. Instead of going all out, I decided to make it a gradual build-up and eventually landed on TrueNAS SCALE. That was responsible for running everything. Storage, apps, services, the whole lot. It worked well enough, and once you've grown used to how the OS functions and where everything is located, it's relatively easy to maintain. But Proxmox took things to an entirely new level. Making the switch transformed my home lab.

Proxmox is all about compute. Designed from the ground up as a type-1 hypervisor with KVM and LXC support, it's an absolute beast for enterprise and the home, allowing just about anyone to create their own mini datacenter. Virtual machines (VMs) and containers all run in harmony, taking full advantage of my cluster setup, which requires a few systems to be running Promox, sharing the web GUI, and making it painless to manage multiple installations. I've got Frigate, Jellyfin, Nextcloud, and more all live and well.

And that's running with connections to a single NAS enclosure, powered by TrueNAS. Local storage on the Proxmox nodes is important, but it's not vital to the operation of the full setup. I've got just a few gigabytes dedicated to each running instance. The bulk of our storage needs is handled by TrueNAS, rocking a RAID of eight spinning platters. It's still better suited to storing this data securely and reliably with snapshots, scrubbing, and replication. ZFS is bloody brilliant for storing files.

So while TrueNAS is slightly blurring the lines between storage and hypervisor, I'm still using it as it was originally intended and don't see that changing anytime soon. However, for many, especially those who prefer to consolidate everything into fewer systems, the TrueNAS 26 beta looks to be shaping up nicely.

What's new in TrueNAS 26?

It's changing the game

iXsystems has been hard at work making TrueNAS more accessible and versatile as a NAS solution. We've now got LXC-style container support, which alone closes the gap between itself and Proxmox considerably. This is what essentially allows one to turn a NAS into a home server. It was possible with apps(or custom Docker scripts) available through TrueNAS, but now it's easier than ever. LXCs require less overhead compared to a fully blown VM due to sharing the host kernel.

Instead of running self-hosted services and packages within VMs on Proxmox, I can fire up a new LXC and take fewer resources from the system, allowing for more to be launched or to provide a buffer should a service (such as Immich or Jellyfin) require more processing power and memory. That's all well and good, but all this would largely be for naught if not for the UI improvements. Getting GPU passthrough is huge, and Nvidia (and other supported) hardware can now be routed directly to hosted LXCs, just like you would on Proxmox.

TrueNAS has always felt a little too enterprise-like with its convoluted UI. It's absolutely fine once you've spent some time using TrueNAS, but it can be a nightmare for beginners and even put people off. It's what Unraid does so well. It's easy to install, manage, and run. The same largely goes for Proxmox. Though it is designed as a backbone for hosting content, it's not terribly difficult to pick up and use. The TrueNAS team continues to make improvements, and version 26 is no exception. It's even possible to quickly share files now.

With TrueNAS 26 installed, it no longer feels like a NAS with apps, much like a prebuilt enclosure. Instead, it feels more like running a general-purpose home lab OS like Proxmox. TrueNAS doesn't want to be left behind to hold all the luggage. It wants to open up your suitcase and provide clothes and other goodies like the rest of my home lab. Instead of focusing on files, it can now more conveniently handle LXCs and other software. I've been tempted to switch for the first time since launching Proxmox on my servers.

It's not quite there yet

TrueNAS 26 is still an active beta. iXsystems has some ways to go before releasing it, and the company still has ground to cover if it hopes to make a dent in Proxmox's firm grasp of the home lab market. Proxmox is simply more mature at being a hypervisor with its robust KVM implementation, advanced VM controls, and better console access. TrueNAS is evolving, and this is a new step forward, but it'll require future updates to continue refining this and making it on par with the competition.

For my home lab, I require clustering with compact systems, but there's also full support for advanced networking, VLANs, bridging, and isolation. It's still easier to build out demilitarized zones (DMZs), segmented services, and spaces for experimentation. But that's not to say TrueNAS isn't worth considering. Far from it, as it's more than capable of running most of what you'd likely wish to self-host. It's also among the best in the game for storing data. ZFS integration is truly native.

Sharing through SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and more is all fairly straightforward and robust once configured. I've yet to encounter a time when I'm required to log into my TrueNAS storage box to fix something. It continues to just work, which is precisely what I require from a NAS. TrueNAS still works best as a partner. Proxmox and TrueNAS make for quite the home lab setup. You could choose one or the other to handle both data and apps, but they individually have strengths and weaknesses offset by a hybrid approach.

I'll be keeping my eye on TrueNAS 26 as things progress, but for now, it still isn't drawing me away from Proxmox ... yet.