How does ZFS compare to btrfs? I'm currently using btrfs for my home server, but I've had some strange troubles with it. I'm thinking about switching to ZFS, but I don't want to end up in the same situation.
If btrfs had been in better shape, I would have been a btrfs contributor. Unfortunately for btrfs, it not only was in bad shape back then, but other btrfs issues continued to bite me every time I tried it over the years for anything serious (e.g. frequent ENOSPC errors when there is still space). ZFS on the other hand just works. Myself and many others did a great deal of work to ensure it works well.
The main reason for the difference is that ZFS had a very solid foundation, which was achieved by having some fantastic regression testing facilities. It has a userland version that randomly exercises the code to find bugs before they occur in production and a test suite that is run on every proposed change to help shake out bugs.
ZFS also has more people reviewing proposed changes than other filesystems. The Btrfs developers will often state that there is a significant man power difference between the two file systems. I vaguely recall them claiming the difference was a factor of 6.
Anyway, few people who use ZFS regret it, so I think you will find you like it too.
Some simple use-cases are arguably production ready with BTRFS, YMMV.
I use ZFS on Arch Linux and overall have had no problems with it so far. There's more customization and methods to optimize performance. My one suggestion is to do a lot of research and testing with ZFS. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's been worth the switch for me.