Samba
The facts below are what the maker publishes about Samba, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From Samba's own pricing page, checked 11 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Samba | Free | Free Software licensed under the GNU General Public License |
The facts
Each one read from Samba's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Active Directory
- Samba can integrate Linux and Unix servers and desktops into Active Directory environments as a domain controller or member server.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Active Directory roles
- Samba can act as an Active Directory Domain Controller or as a member server.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Commercial services
- Listed providers offer services including consultancy, development, system integration, hosting, and training; some offer support backed by an SLA.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Commercial support
- The project lists commercial support providers but says it does not assure or endorse those providers.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Commercial support caveat
- The Samba Team says it cannot assure or endorse the commercial support providers listed on its site.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Community support
- The support page points users to a Matrix Samba channel, mailing lists, and bug reporting and team contact options.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Distributed storage
- Samba provides access to cluster filesystems and is used by PaaS providers, software-defined storage solutions, HPC applications, and enterprise NAS.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The project describes its wiki as comprehensive and the most up-to-date Samba documentation.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Downloads
- Samba source code is distributed over HTTPS, and the site recommends using its GPG public key to verify current releases.checked 5 Oct 2026
- File and print services
- Samba provides file and print services for clients using SMB and other AD protocols, including LDAP and Kerberos.checked 11 Oct 2026
- History
- The project page says Samba has continued to grow in popularity every year since its release in 1992.checked 11 Oct 2026
- License
- Samba is Free Software licensed under the GNU General Public License.checked 11 Oct 2026
- License and project
- Samba is licensed under the GNU General Public License and is developed, maintained, and supported by a worldwide community.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Security updates
- The project publishes security updates and asks reports of suspected serious security holes to be sent to [email protected].checked 11 Oct 2026
- Security verification
- The Samba distribution GPG public key can be used to verify that releases have not been tampered with.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Source download
- The Samba source code is distributed over HTTPS, and the site identifies samba-latest.tar.gz as the likely download.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Storage use
- The project describes Samba as scalable distributed software for cluster filesystems, including use in PaaS, software-defined storage, HPC, and enterprise NAS.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project lists community support through Matrix and mailing lists, and links to independent commercial support providers.checked 5 Oct 2026
- What it does
- Samba is an open source implementation of the SMB and Active Directory protocols for Linux and UNIX-like systems.checked 11 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Linux packages
- The site says all major Linux and Free Unix distributions provide Samba as a native package.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Platform availability
- The download page says major Linux and Free Unix distributions provide Samba as a native package.checked 5 Oct 2026
Alternatives to Samba
- 1
Internxt Drive
Free planOpen sourceAndroidiOSWebAPI8.6Free plan - 2
Seafile
Free planOpen sourceAndroidiOSWebAPI8.6Free plan - 3
Box
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI8.3From $5 a month - 4
Google Drive
Free planAndroidiOSmacOSWindows8.2Free plan - 5
MEGA
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI8.2Free plan - 6
Microsoft OneDrive
Free planAndroidiOSmacOSWindows8.0From $1.99 a month