New blog posted here; https://www.truenas.com/blog/advantages-of-the-truenas-open-core-business-model/
For nearly two decades, TrueNAS has been built on a simple belief: your data should remain under your control. That principle continues to drive how we design, deliver, and support the world’s most trusted open enterprise storage platform.
This blog describes how TrueNAS uses open-source software with an open-core business model to drive TrueNAS Open Storage for both Enterprises and the Community.
A Proven Legacy of Open Innovation
FreeNAS Origins
In 2005, FreeNAS was created by Olivier Cochard-Labbé, based on m0n0wall and FreeBSD.
By 2009, iXsystems – founded on Berkeley Software Design roots – took stewardship of the project, combining open-source software with purpose-built hardware to bring enterprise reliability to open storage.
The Rise of TrueNAS
In 2010, FreeNAS 8.x introduced a major rewrite, integrating OpenZFS.
By 2011, the TrueNAS brand emerged as the enterprise-grade counterpart to FreeNAS, backed by professional support and certified hardware.
In 2014, TrueNAS Enterprise expanded with high availability and Fibre Channel support for mission-critical workloads.
The Merger: FreeNAS Becomes TrueNAS
In 2020, FreeNAS and TrueNAS were unified under one family:
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TrueNAS CORE: FreeBSD-based, community-supported edition
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TrueNAS SCALE: Linux-based edition built for containers and modern workloads
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TrueNAS Enterprise: Commercial appliances for advanced performance and support
The Unified Future
By 2024, TrueNAS evolved into two editions – Community and Enterprise – built from a single unified codebase.
In 2025, TrueNAS 25.10 Goldeye introduced a versioned API and new TrueNAS Connect cloud management capabilities.
As the company rebranded fully as TrueNAS, the focus sharpened: to deliver enterprise-grade storage built on open standards, trust, and transparency.
Commitment to Open Standards
TrueNAS is engineered on open technologies – Including Linux, OpenZFS, Samba, and many others – that have stood the test of time.
Over the years, our engineering team has contributed critical advancements, including as an example to the OpenZFS project:
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Cross-platform support for Linux and FreeBSD
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RAID-Z expansion
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Fast deduplication and caching
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Integration with Linux memory management and NFSv4 ACLs
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Major other performance updates and feature improvements
Our TrueNAS API (Middleware Business Logic) and User Interface are open source, released under both LGPLv3 and GPLv3 licenses and available on GitHub.
Only a set of enterprise modules – for example, those required for clustering, high availability, and FIPS 140 management – carry commercial licenses to sustain ongoing development.
This hybrid approach delivers the best of both worlds: open innovation and enterprise reliability.
Open-Source Powered by an Open-Core Model
TrueNAS is not funded by a large charitable foundation, like the Linux Foundation. Instead, the TrueNAS company self-funds development through the delivery and support of commercial offerings. This is an open-core business model funded without venture capital.
TrueNAS Community Edition is open-source, feature-complete, and will remain freely available. This level of openness is possible because the business is funded by an open-core business model.
The open-core model keeps TrueNAS Community Edition open and free. Enterprise offerings such as TrueNAS Enterprise appliances and TrueNAS Connect are paid offerings, funding engineering, support, testing, and long-term innovation for TrueNAS users around the world.
Enterprise revenues allow the team to continue releasing Community Edition without compromise. This creates a clear structure.
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Open-source delivers transparency, broad adoption, and real-world validation.
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Open-core monetizes certain enterprise and business feature sets, not the foundation.
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Community Edition remains free forever with the same interface used by every TrueNAS system.
TrueNAS ships Community Edition and Enterprise as a single unified image. A license key activates enterprise features. This improves quality because every user runs the same code path.
Some enterprise components carry commercial licenses or are delivered as binary packages. These pieces are not required for Community Edition functionality and protect the TrueNAS business from unauthorized forks of enterprise-oriented proprietary functionality. They also allow TrueNAS to integrate third-party, proprietary software and/or drivers where it is needed or cost-effective.
TrueCommand and TrueNAS Connect follow this model. They add enterprise management and convenience. They are not required to operate Community Edition. However, TrueNAS does offer free versions of these software products.
This open-core structure stands in contrast to closed, proprietary storage vendors. Closed models avoid transparency and lock customers in, while open-core funds open-source, instead. It generates the funds for investment into engineering and user control, giving organizations enterprise-grade reliability while maintaining independence and data freedom.
The Open Storage Flywheel
The open-core model creates a self-sustaining cycle of innovation, quality, and trust across the entire TrueNAS ecosystem.
This creates a virtuous cycle we call the Open Storage Flywheel.
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Continually improving and releasing Community Edition grows the world’s largest open storage community.
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User adoption creates real-world coverage, testing, and feedback at a scale no internal lab can match.
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Breadth of usage accelerates innovation and strengthens reliability across diverse environments.
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That proven quality builds confidence with enterprise customers who depend on TrueNAS for their mission-critical workloads.
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Their investment fuels further engineering, documentation, and long-term development.
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And the cycle accelerates with each turn, compounding value for users and customers alike.
Community users benefit from faster innovation and a hardened core platform.
Enterprise customers gain advanced capabilities, reliability, and predictable performance at lower total cost.
TrueNAS directs resources into engineering instead of overhead, bureaucracy, or lock-in strategies.
Today, the results are becoming increasingly visible.
TrueNAS powers Amazon Prime Video’s global NBA coverage, delivering the reliability and scalability required for worldwide live production.
TrueNAS was named CIOReview’s Data Storage Company of the Year for its leadership in open enterprise storage.
The open-core business model is not just about saving cost. It is a force-multiplier model that increases quality, accelerates innovation, and strengthens trust across the entire user base.
Sustaining Openness at Enterprise Scale
TrueNAS remains committed to openness and enterprise-level execution. We will continue to:
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Provide a free, fully functional Community Edition that anyone can deploy and modify.
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Guarantee data portability through OpenZFS, giving users full control over their data and systems.
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Collaborate with open technology communities to advance shared innovation.
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Maintain a sustainable business model that supports our engineers, customers, and global community.
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Deliver transparent, enterprise-ready solutions with award-winning support and predictable pricing.
TrueNAS proves that open and enterprise can coexist, in harmony, to the mutual benefit of all.
Openness drives innovation. Enterprise discipline sustains it.
That open-core combination makes TrueNAS the most trusted choice for organizations that demand freedom, performance, and peace of mind.
The Future of Enterprise Storage Is Open
Modern organizations cannot afford closed systems that limit choice, slow innovation, restrict interoperability, and raise cost. TrueNAS proves that openness increases reliability and performance. It does not weaken them.
By using transparent standards, shared innovation, and a unified codebase refined across millions of deployments, TrueNAS gives organizations durable control over their data, their costs, and their roadmap.
The shift to open enterprise storage is not only a technology trend. It is a return to control, where you decide how your data is stored and how your future is built.
That future is already here with TrueNAS.
Glossary
TrueNAS Open Core Business Model
The business model used by TrueNAS where the core storage platform is open-source and freely available, while some advanced enterprise features are licensed commercially. Enterprise revenue funds ongoing open-source development, testing, and support.
TrueNAS Community Edition
The free and open-source edition of TrueNAS, built from the same unified codebase as Enterprise. It is feature-complete for many deployments and keeps the same user interface and core storage capabilities used across all TrueNAS systems.
TrueNAS Enterprise
The commercial edition of TrueNAS delivered as appliances and subscriptions. It adds licensed features such as high availability, clustering, FIPS‑ready management, and advanced support, designed for mission‑critical and large‑scale enterprise workloads.
Open Storage Flywheel
A self‑reinforcing cycle where open-source adoption of TrueNAS Community Edition drives more real‑world testing and feedback. That improves quality and features, which attracts more enterprise users. Their investment then funds further engineering, documentation, and innovation for the entire ecosystem.
OpenZFS
The open-source filesystem and volume manager that powers TrueNAS. OpenZFS provides data integrity checks, copy‑on‑write, snapshots, replication, RAID‑Z, block cloning, deduplication, and other features that ensure data portability and long‑term control over stored data.