SoftNAS
Cloud file storage software
Cloud migration software
Data integration tools
Cloud data integration software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is SoftNAS
SoftNAS is a software-defined NAS platform that provides shared file storage using NFS/SMB and iSCSI block storage on top of cloud infrastructure. It is commonly deployed on public cloud compute instances to present persistent storage to applications, virtual machines, and user file shares, and it can also be used for hybrid scenarios that connect on-premises and cloud storage. The product focuses on turning cloud object and block storage into managed file services with familiar NAS protocols and administrative controls.
NAS protocols in cloud
SoftNAS exposes SMB/CIFS and NFS file shares (and iSCSI for block) from cloud-hosted instances, which helps teams lift-and-shift workloads that expect traditional NAS access. This can reduce application changes compared with adopting object-only storage patterns. It also supports common NAS administration concepts such as shares/exports, permissions, and snapshots.
Runs on major clouds
SoftNAS is designed to run as a virtual appliance on public cloud infrastructure, allowing organizations to deploy file storage close to cloud compute. This approach can be useful when a managed cloud file service is not available in a region or does not meet a specific configuration requirement. It also enables consistent deployment patterns across environments that use different cloud providers.
Hybrid and migration use cases
SoftNAS is often used to extend or relocate file storage to the cloud while keeping access via standard protocols for users and applications. This supports common migration patterns such as moving file shares for application modernization or disaster recovery. The ability to present cloud-backed storage as NAS can simplify cutovers compared with re-platforming to new access methods.
Not a managed service
Because SoftNAS runs as customer-managed software on cloud instances, the customer remains responsible for instance sizing, OS-level operations, patching, monitoring, and backup/DR design. This can increase operational overhead compared with fully managed cloud file services. It also means availability and performance depend heavily on the underlying cloud architecture choices.
Performance depends on design
Throughput and latency are constrained by the selected instance types, network configuration, and the underlying cloud storage (block/object) used for backing. Achieving predictable performance may require careful tuning and cost trade-offs. Workloads with high metadata operations or many small files can be sensitive to these design choices.
Limited data integration scope
Despite being used in migration and hybrid storage scenarios, SoftNAS is primarily a storage platform rather than a broad data integration toolset. Organizations needing extensive ETL/ELT, application-to-application connectors, or complex orchestration typically require additional integration software. As a result, it may not satisfy “cloud data integration software” requirements on its own.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (performance-based/hourly tiers)
Free tier/trial:
- Free plan: SoftNAS Essentials — built-in 100 GB license included by default; registering/activating the product increases free storage to 300 GB. (Official docs).
- Free trial: SoftNAS Professional — full-feature 5 TB free trial license (official docs).
Example costs (Oracle Cloud / SoftNAS OCI performance tiers shown on vendor site):
- OSN-1 — $0.13 per hour (Use case: Basic file shares; OCPU 1 / vCPU 2).
- OSN-2 — $0.66 per hour (Files and small app shares; OCPU 2 / vCPU 4).
- OSN-4 — $1.58 per hour (Large applications; OCPU 4 / vCPU 8).
- OSN-8 — $2.78 per hour (SQL / NoSQL databases; OCPU 8 / vCPU 16).
- OSN-16 — $4.68 per hour (Legacy apps, virtual desktops; OCPU 16 / vCPU 32).
- OSN-24 — $6.19 per hour (Large DBs, low-latency apps; OCPU 24 / vCPU 48).
- OSN-32 — $7.71 per hour (HPC, AI/ML workloads; OCPU 32 / vCPU 64).
Other pricing notes from vendor docs (official site):
- SoftNAS supports multiple delivery models (BYOL, marketplace hourly/subscription) and can be deployed from cloud marketplaces (AWS, Azure, OCI); marketplace choices and selected VM sizes/underlying disks can affect total cost.
- Object storage (S3) and cloud disk costs follow the cloud provider rates (vendor docs reference Amazon S3 pricing as an example).
Discount/options:
- BYOL (Bring Your Own License) and instance/drive selection allow customers to optimize cost; vendor materials state customers often report 30–50% cost savings vs managed services when tuned appropriately.
Key caveats:
- The vendor presents performance-tier hourly pricing explicitly for OCI on the official SoftNAS site; other cloud-provider specific hourly prices or marketplace flexible-consumption prices may be available via cloud marketplaces (AWS/Azure) and will vary by marketplace/instance choice; those marketplace pages are outside the softnas.com site and were not used.
