What Samba does

Samba is a free, open-source software suite implementing the Server Message Block (SMB/CIFS) and Active Directory protocols for Linux and Unix-like systems, providing secure, stable file and print services plus full Active Directory Domain Controller capabilities. Created in 1992 by Andrew Tridgell through reverse-engineering of the SMB protocol, Samba has been continuously developed for over 30 years and is distributed as source code and as a native package across every major Linux distribution. Its target users are network administrators and infrastructure operators in mixed Windows/Linux environments — specifically cloud PaaS providers, software-defined storage vendors, high-performance computing environments, and enterprise NAS deployments that need protocol-level Windows interoperability and AD integration without proprietary Microsoft licensing.

The software is maintained by a globally distributed community of approximately 40 contributors (10–15 active Git committers) coordinated through mailing lists, IRC, the Samba Wiki, and conferences such as sambaXP and the SNIA Storage Developer Conference. The Samba Team is fiscally hosted by the Software Freedom Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Brooklyn, NY, which handles donations and administrative functions. Development is funded through corporate sponsorships (IBM, Red Hat, SUSE, Catalyst, SerNet) and grants including from the Sovereign Tech Fund, with no venture capital or private equity ownership.

Samba's commercial activity occurs through third parties rather than the project itself: Catalyst (New Zealand, Australia, UK) and SerNet (Germany, USA) provide paid Samba consultancy, development, and 24/7 SLA support, and SerNet sells enterprise-distributed SAMBA+ packages for major Linux platforms and IBM AIX. Pricing for the core software is free under the GNU GPL; pricing for support and SAMBA+ subscriptions is set by the commercial providers. There are no direct end-customer relationships at the project level, no public revenue disclosures, and no product-level APIs or SDKs for third-party integration.

Name

Samba

Legal name

Samba Team

Website

https://samba.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Samba is an open-source software suite that implements SMB/CIFS and Active Directory protocols for Linux and Unix systems, providing file/print services and AD domain controller capabilities for cloud, storage, HPC, and enterprise NAS operators worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Network File and Print Services Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

File Storage, Sync & Sharing (BPAMAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Directory Services & Identity Stores (LDAP/AD, Cloud Directory) (HDAEAJAA), Directory Services & Identity Data Platforms (BPAMAEAG), Cloud Security Services (Posture Mgmt, Workload Protection) (BPAKAHAK), Identity, Access Control & Device Authentication Infrastructure (SSO/Directory, NAC) (EDAEAHAG)

Keywords

• SMB/CIFS file sharing
• Active Directory integration
• Windows interoperability software
• Linux Unix networking
• Open source infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Riyadh

HQ country

Saudi Arabia

HQ region

Middle East

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Free Software Distribution: Samba is distributed as free software under the GNU General Public License. Users can freely download, use, and modify the software.
2. Commercial Support Services: Third-party commercial support providers including Catalyst and SerNet offer paid support, consulting, and development services with SLAs.
3. Donations: The Samba Team accepts donations to cover expenses for running samba.org and developing Samba, including travel to conferences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Samba is an open-source software suite that implements the SMB/CIFS and Active Directory protocols for Linux and UNIX-like systems, providing secure, stable file and print services across mixed Windows/Linux environments. Since version 4.0, it can function as either an Active Directory Domain Controller or as a member server, enabling Linux/Unix servers and desktops to integrate seamlessly into AD environments. It also serves as a high-performance, scalable distributed platform for cluster filesystems used in cloud PaaS, software-defined storage, HPC, and enterprise NAS deployments.

Product overview

Samba is a unified open-source software suite that delivers Windows interoperability for Linux and Unix environments. At its core is the Samba server daemon (smbd) providing SMB/CIFS file and print sharing, complemented by the nmbd daemon for NetBIOS name resolution and browsing. Since version 4.0, Samba has included a full Active Directory Domain Controller implementation, allowing it to serve as a drop-in replacement for Windows AD infrastructure. The suite integrates with related sub-projects (talloc, tevent, tdb, ldb) and is distributed as source code with binary packages available through major Linux distributions and enterprise providers such as SerNet's SAMBA+.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SAMBA+: Enterprise Samba packages offered by SerNet with enhanced Active Directory support and file systems support for IBM's GPFS, available via software subscription for major Linux platforms and IBM AIX.

Products and services

• Samba The core open-source software suite implementing SMB/CIFS and Active Directory protocols for Linux and UNIX-like systems, delivering file and print services, AD Domain Controller or member-server functionality, cluster filesystem access, and Windows interoperability. Distributed free of charge under the GNU GPL; targeted at IT administrators, enterprises, cloud PaaS providers, SDS/HPC/NAS vendors, and mixed Windows/Linux environments.
• SAMBA+ Enterprise-grade Samba package provided by SerNet as a subscription offering, bundling enhanced AD support and additional filesystems (e.g., IBM GPFS) for major Linux distributions and IBM AIX. Targeted at enterprise customers requiring commercial-grade Samba deployments beyond the free open-source build.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Software Freedom ConservancycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamba is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy, which provides organizational support, handles donations (as a 501(c)(3) charity), and helps manage the project's legal and administrative needs.
• CatalystcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCatalyst (New Zealand, Australia, UK) provides Samba support and development services with a special focus on the Samba Active Directory Domain Controller. Andrew Bartlett leads their Samba consultancy group with over ten years of Samba Team experience.
• SerNetcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSerNet is a leading Samba service provider offering support, consulting, development, and SLAs worldwide (24/7 availability). They provide SAMBA+ enterprise packages for major Linux platforms and IBM AIX. They organize the annual sambaXP conference. Multiple Samba Team members work with SerNet including Jule Anger (release manager), Volker Lendecke (founder), and Stefan Metzmacher (main Samba 4 author).
• SNIA (Storage Network Industry Association)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamba participates in the SNIA SMB3 Interoperability Lab EMEA and Storage Developer Conference, collaborating on storage industry standards and interoperability testing.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• SerNet: SerNet is the leading commercial Samba support provider and organizer of sambaXP, offering SAMBA+ enterprise packages with SLAs, GPFS support, and IBM AIX binaries. It is the closest commercial wraparound of the Samba project and a primary route by which enterprises consume Samba commercially.
• Catalyst IT: Catalyst provides paid Samba consultancy and AD Domain Controller implementation services across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, with deep Samba Team involvement (e.g., Andrew Bartlett). It is a direct commercial services peer in the Samba ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Red Hat: Red Hat is both a corporate sponsor of Samba and a major Linux distribution vendor that ships Samba in RHEL and Fedora. It is a broad incumbent ecosystem player that influences Samba packaging, security backports, and enterprise adoption.
• SUSE: SUSE ships Samba in SLES and openSUSE and is a long-standing corporate sponsor. As a broad enterprise Linux incumbent, it shapes Samba distribution and enterprise support paths comparable to Red Hat.
• Microsoft Active Directory: Microsoft Active Directory is the proprietary incumbent that Samba's AD Domain Controller implementation was built to interoperate with—and in many cases replace. It is the dominant identity and directory platform Samba targets and partially substitutes for.

Emerging players

• Nextcloud: Nextcloud is an open-source file sync, sharing, and collaboration platform that often runs alongside or on top of Samba's SMB layer. It overlaps with Samba's file-sharing use case from a higher application layer and is an adjacent comparable in the open-source file services space.
• iXsystems (TrueNAS): TrueNAS (by iXsystems) is a leading open-source enterprise NAS platform built around ZFS that uses Samba as its SMB sharing layer. It is a downstream commercial consumer of Samba and a direct comparable for the SMB3/NAS target use case.
• FreeIPA: FreeIPA is an open-source identity management stack for Linux/Unix that integrates with AD and provides DNS, Kerberos, and policy management. It is an emerging/niche alternative or complement to Samba for centralized identity in Linux environments.
• OpenLDAP: OpenLDAP is the canonical open-source LDAP directory implementation that Samba integrates with for identity data. It is an adjacent identity infrastructure peer, frequently combined with Samba and Kerberos in Linux identity stacks.

Others

• Software Freedom Conservancy: The fiscal and legal host for the Samba project and a 501(c)(3) charity that handles donations and administrative support. It is an enabling/ecosystem peer rather than a competitor, providing the governance wrapper that allows Samba to operate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PLbw4szFfveGrLSCyxZY2XL294I6F8-LCe
• Xx.com/jra_samba
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/samba-team

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Samba