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StarWind Virtual SAN
Beverly, Massachusetts, USA
What it is
StarWind Virtual SAN is software intended to replace physical shared SAN storage in SMB, ROBO, and Edge environments. StarWind says it provides fault tolerance and high availability starting with two nodes. Supported protocols include iSCSI, SMB3, NFS v4.1, VVols iSCSI, NVMe over Fabrics, and iSER. The software can run natively in a Hyper-V partition on Windows or as a Linux-based virtual machine on a chosen hypervisor. An HTML5 console is used to manage hardware and software resources. Listed reliability features include ZFS self-healing, AI-powered telemetry, and call-home systems. Supported hypervisor versions include VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 or later, Windows Server Hyper-V 2019 or later, oVirt/OLVM/RHV 4.4 or later, Proxmox VE 9.1 or later, and XCP-ng 8.3 or later. The free edition is self-supported or community-supported, and its web UI is listed for KVM only; the paid edition lists KVM, Hyper-V, and ESXi. A 30-day trial is available. Paid pricing is on request.
For and against
For
- High availability is stated to start with two nodes.
- Supports iSCSI, SMB3, NFS v4.1, and other protocols.
- Offers Windows-native and Linux virtual machine deployment.
- A 30-day trial is available.
Against
- Free edition web UI is listed for KVM only.
- Free edition is self- or community-supported.
- Paid pricing is available on request.
The verdict
StarWind Virtual SAN offers multiple deployment options, protocols, and hypervisor versions for shared storage setups. The free edition has support and web UI limitations; paid plan pricing requires a request.
Who it suits
StarWind Virtual SAN is intended for SMB, ROBO, and Edge deployments that need shared storage across at least two nodes. It may suit teams using one of the listed hypervisors and storage protocols.
Plans and prices
StarWind Virtual SAN Free
functionality limitations vary by platform · support through community forum · Linux KVM version may have no functionality limits
Read 15 Oct 2026 · starwindsoftware.com
Virtual SAN Free
self-supported · functionality limitations · Linux KVM version may have no limitations
Read 1 Oct 2026 · starwindsoftware.com
StarWind Virtual SAN
software-only · customer supplies hardware · Hyper-V, VMware, Proxmox or KVM · optional ProActive Premium monitoring
Read 15 Oct 2026 · starwindsoftware.com
Datacenter
single site/datacenter · unlimited nodes · unlimited capacity · asynchronous replication
Read 1 Oct 2026 · starwindsoftware.com
Enterprise
per-node licensing · minimum two nodes · unlimited nodes · no storage-capacity limits
Read 1 Oct 2026 · starwindsoftware.com
On the record
- Appliance foundation
- The current controller VM appliance is based on Debian 13.7, uses UEFI-only boot templates and disables Secure Boot by default.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Azure integration
- The Microsoft Marketplace listing describes extending on-premises workloads to Azure and distributing highly available shared storage between private and public clouds.marketplace.microsoft.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company headquarters and founding
- LinkedIn lists StarWind Inc. headquarters in Beverly, Massachusetts and a 2003 founding year.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company investors
- Crunchbase lists three investors, including Almaz Capital and ABRT, with a Series B funding record.crunchbase.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company legal identity
- Crunchbase identifies the legal entity as StarWind Software Inc. and lists it as a subsidiary of DataCore Software.crunchbase.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn categorizes StarWind as a privately held software-development company with 201–500 employees.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- It can run as Windows-native software in a Hyper-V partition or as a Linux-based virtual machine on a chosen hypervisor.starwindsoftware.com · read 1 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The official help site provides installation, TCP/IP settings, server configuration, concepts, unattended setup and license-application guides.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Free-edition limit
- The free-versus-paid comparison lists the free edition's web UI as KVM only, while the paid edition lists KVM, Hyper-V and ESXi.starwindsoftware.com · read 1 Oct 2026
- Free-use terms
- StarWind's licensing guidance says free licences can be used in production, but free products receive support only through the online community forum.knowledgebase.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- High availability
- StarWind states that enterprise-level high availability can be configured in minutes and supports two-node deployments.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Hypervisor integrations
- Supported virtualization platforms listed by StarWind include VMware vSphere ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, oVirt/OLVM/RHV, XCP-ng and KVM-based hypervisors.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Hypervisors
- Supported hypervisor versions include VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 or later, Windows Server Hyper-V 2019 or later, oVirt/OLVM/RHV 4.4 or later, Proxmox VE 9.1 or later and XCP-ng 8.3 or later.starwindsoftware.com · read 1 Oct 2026
- Knowledge base
- StarWind maintains a searchable knowledge base covering virtualization, VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox, high availability, data protection and disaster recovery.knowledgebase.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Latest notable release
- The September 18, 2026 release introduced Debian 13.7 appliances and offline VM-based migration from Ubuntu- or CentOS-based deployments while retaining configuration and storage.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The commercial agreement grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable software licence and says StarWind source code is proprietary trade-secret material.starwindsoftware.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: documentation and monitoring
- Reviewers report confusing documentation, gaps in free-edition guidance, limited dashboards and a desire for more granular alerting.trustradius.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: free-edition management
- A G2 reviewer reports that the free VMware virtual-machine deployment lacks a Web GUI and relies on community support, while TrustRadius reviewers mention PowerShell-based management.g2.com · read 15 Oct 2026
