I tried to setup both myself a few months back. I ran into the same experience. Storj was very easy to set up while Sia, when it required me to have/spend some Sia, I stopped there.
I haven't been running Storj continuously due to some hiccups. So I can't state anything towards payouts. I may set up again to see what happens.
But I noticed that MaidSafe is also in the same game. But I didn't venture there yet. Have you tried MS? I'd be very curious to see how easy their setup is, comparisons, etc.
Thanks for sharing!
I tried MS about a year ago but they were in a very early alpha stage so I couldn't test out their software as well. I haven't tried again but I've been meaning to get involved again