Comparing 15 NAS devices across major brands. Live pricing updated every 4 hours.
Synology dominates the home/SMB NAS space with its polished DSM operating system and broad app ecosystem. QNAP offers better hardware specs per dollar - more RAM, PCIe expandability, and HDMI output. WD My Cloud is the simplest option for users who want plug-and-play cloud backup without managing drives or RAID. For power users running Plex, VMs, or Docker, Synology DS923+ and QNAP TS-464 are the top picks.
| Price | Brand / Model | Bays | Network | Processor | RAM | Warranty | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $551.43 | WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra 8TB WDBVBZ0080JCH-NESN | 2-Bay 8TB | GbE | Marvell Armada 385 | 1GB DDR3 | 2yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS223 2-Bay Diskless DS223 | 2-Bay Diskless | GbE | Realtek RTD1619B | 2GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra 2-Bay Diskless WDBVBZ0000NCH-NESN | 2-Bay Diskless | GbE | Marvell Armada 385 | 1GB DDR3 | 2yr | Buy → |
| — | WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra 4TB WDBVBZ0040JCH-NESN | 2-Bay 4TB | GbE | Marvell Armada 385 | 1GB DDR3 | 2yr | Buy → |
| — | WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra 16TB WDBVBZ0160JCH-NESN | 2-Bay 16TB | GbE | Marvell Armada 385 | 1GB DDR3 | 2yr | Buy → |
| — | WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra 32TB WDBVBZ0320JCH-NESN | 2-Bay 32TB | GbE | Marvell Armada 385 | 1GB DDR3 | 2yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS923+ 4-Bay Diskless DS923+ | 4-Bay Diskless | GbE | AMD Ryzen R1600 | 4GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS423 4-Bay Diskless DS423 | 4-Bay Diskless | GbE | Intel Celeron J4125 | 2GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS425+ 4-Bay Diskless DS425+ | 4-Bay Diskless | 2.5GbE | Intel N95 | 4GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | QNAP TS-233 2-Bay Desktop NAS Diskless TS-233-US | 2-Bay Diskless | GbE | ARM Cortex-A55 | 2GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | QNAP TS-464 4-Bay Desktop NAS Diskless TS-464-8G-US | 4-Bay Diskless | 2.5GbE | Intel Celeron N5105 | 8GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | QNAP TS-664 6-Bay Desktop NAS Diskless TS-664-8G-US | 6-Bay Diskless | 2.5GbE | Intel Celeron N5105 | 8GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | QNAP TS-462 4-Bay Desktop NAS TS-462-4G | 4-Bay Diskless | GbE | Intel Celeron N5105 | 4GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS923+ 4-Bay Diskless DS923+ | 4-Bay Diskless | GbE | AMD Ryzen R1600 | 4GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
| — | Synology DiskStation DS923+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure DS923+ | 4-Bay Diskless | GbE | AMD Ryzen R1600 | 4GB DDR4 | 3yr | Buy → |
2-bay NAS units suit home users backing up a few devices. 4-bay models enable RAID 5/6 for data protection. 6+ bay units target prosumers and small businesses with growing storage needs.
Most NAS devices are sold diskless - you choose your own drives. Pre-populated units from WD My Cloud include drives but limit future upgrades. Diskless gives you flexibility to pick NAS-rated drives like IronWolf or Red Plus.
Gigabit Ethernet caps out at ~120MB/s. Newer Synology and QNAP models offer 2.5GbE (280MB/s) out of the box. If your switch supports it, 2.5GbE is a worthwhile upgrade for large file transfers and Plex streaming.
QNAP models typically support user-upgradable RAM (up to 32GB on some units), enabling VMs and containers. Synology officially limits RAM upgrades but many models accept third-party SO-DIMM modules.
Synology and QNAP maintain official compatibility lists for each NAS model. Generally, any CMR NAS drive (Seagate IronWolf, WD Red Plus/Pro, Toshiba N300) works well. Synology also offers its own HAT5300/HAT5310 drives with firmware-level optimization for DSM. Avoid SMR drives in multi-bay RAID setups.
Synology excels in software polish - DSM is widely regarded as the best NAS OS, with excellent apps like Synology Photos, Drive, and Surveillance Station. QNAP offers more hardware flexibility with PCIe expansion slots, higher default RAM, and HDMI output. Choose Synology for reliability and ecosystem; choose QNAP for raw specs and expandability.
Yes. QNAP's Virtualization Station supports running full VMs (Windows, Linux, Android) on Intel-based models like the TS-464 and TS-664. These models ship with 8GB RAM and support upgrades to 16-32GB. For lightweight containers, both QNAP (Container Station) and Synology (Docker via Container Manager) work well.
WD My Cloud is designed for users who want simple, plug-and-play personal cloud storage without managing drives or RAID. It comes pre-populated with WD Red drives and includes a mobile app for remote access. However, it lacks the app ecosystem, Docker support, and power-user features of Synology and QNAP.