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!