Every network below is a real option for hosts with spare capacity, and each one fits a different kind of operator. The table is a side-by-side read of the six host-relevant axes that matter when you’re deciding where to commit real disk and real uptime — payout shape, hardware floor, uptime expectations, payout volatility, withdrawal costs, and what happens to your collateral if a node goes offline.
Spillway works best when a host wants a small, predictable return on hardware that would otherwise sit idle — a spare drive on a home server, a NAS with slack capacity, an old machine that’s earning its keep. You commit capacity, you get paid weekly in USD, and you never lock collateral or stake tokens to participate.
The interesting tradeoff is straightforward: Spillway’s payouts are modest compared to what is possible at the macro-mining scale on Filecoin, or the long-tail endowment on Arweave — both of which can pay far more in the right conditions, with the right hardware, and with the right appetite for seizure risk. The Spillway position is the opposite end: small, steady, no slashing, no collateral, egress paid by the buyer.
If you’re weighing time against expected return — and you’d rather not stake tokens, lock collateral, or learn a storage-deal market — Spillway is the option built for you. If your priority is enterprise object storage, Storj. If you want deal-market scale with proof-of-spacetime, Filecoin. If you want the lightest possible on-ramp and don’t mind variable contract returns, Sia. If permanence is the goal, Arweave.