this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
59 points (100.0% liked)
Selfhosted
60210 readers
939 users here now
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
-
Be civil.
-
No spam.
-
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
-
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
-
Submission headline should match the article title.
-
No trolling.
-
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Why would you pay for something, now annually, that is essentially a bad Linux webgui , which can be easily achieved for free with any Linux distro? Outside of mixed drives…
I don't pay annually. I'm locked in with permanent licensing because I've used it for over a decade (see: legacy licensing). Unless that changes, and something else can do the mixed drives as well as Unraid, I don't see that changing for me any time soon.
For my servers that aren't mixed JBOD, I use Fedora/CoreOS with Quadlets, so believe me when I say that I know that outside of that specific use case, there are better options.
But I use Unraid specifically for the ability to mix drive sizes and easily emulate and rebuild failed disks. That's it. That's the whole reasoning as to why I still use it.
Oh, also, while yes, it did become a subscription (which does not apply to me anyway), it's not necessarily a standard annual subscription, it's a one time purchase and then you can choose to stop paying until you want to update again. The subsequent payments are less than the first purchase of the license and do last for a year. You still own your license when you stop paying, you just stop getting updates until you pay that lesser amount again. While similar (and I personally wouldn't buy a license today), it isn't what an annual subscription normally implies.
I think we have different definitions of "easily".
Run fedora server, download docker, download Portainer, run images same as unraid, profit.