For a very long time, Synology was once the NAS logo. If anyone requested what NAS to shop for, you’d say Synology and transfer on. Their {hardware} was once at all times respectable however DiskStation Supervisor was once really outstanding—not anything else within the client area got here with regards to the instrument revel in. You have been paying a top rate, however it made sense.
Then again, in 2026, that’s not true. The {hardware} has fallen in the back of, the contest has stuck up on instrument, and the new debacle round Synology-branded garage units has left a foul style in lots of customers’ mouths. In consequence, in case you are searching for a NAS at this time, Synology will have to now not be your default selection.
Now could be formally the worst time to shop for a NAS—here is what I am doing as an alternative
Why an affordable used place of work PC destroys any funds NAS you’ll be able to purchase at this time
Synology has been getting worse—and the NAS neighborhood spotted
They’d a excellent run—till they alienated their fanbase
Synology’s {hardware} was once by no means nice price. At maximum value issues, it ships ageing Intel Celeron or low-end AMD chips, modest RAM, and same old 1GbE networking. In the meantime, competition on the similar value be offering Twelfth-gen Intel N-series chips, DDR5 reminiscence, and a couple of.5GbE as a baseline. If you end up spending $500–600 on a NAS, that hole issues—particularly when the software is predicted to remaining 7–10 years.
That stated, Synology enthusiasts have been nonetheless prepared to pay the top rate. However the corporate driven issues too a long way, saying that its new Plus-series fashions will require Synology-branded drives to get right of entry to key options like well being tracking and deduplication. 3rd-party drives from manufacturers like Seagate or Western Virtual—the drives most of the people in fact use—would lose get right of entry to to these options. The worst phase is that Synology doesn’t even manufacture its personal garage units—it’s necessarily rebranding drives from firms like Seagate or Toshiba at upper markups.
Quiz
Fascinating and distinctive NAS use circumstances
Trivialities problem
Past fundamental backups — how smartly have you learnt the unexpected issues a NAS can do?
MediaHouse LabBackupNetworkingAutomation
Which fashionable open-source media server instrument is frequently self-hosted on a NAS to movement non-public video libraries to any software?
Right kind! Plex is among the hottest apps for turning a NAS into a private Netflix-style streaming server. It organizes your media with paintings and metadata and will transcode video at the fly for various units and connections.
No longer fairly — the solution is Plex. Whilst Kodi and VLC are nice media avid gamers, Plex is particularly designed as a client-server platform that allows you to movement your NAS library to telephones, good TVs, and browsers from any place on the planet.
What’s the title of the commonly advisable information coverage technique that comes to preserving 3 copies of knowledge, on two other media sorts, with one replica offsite?
Right kind! The three-2-1 backup rule is a cornerstone of knowledge coverage technique. A NAS performs a central function through appearing as the second one on-site replica, whilst cloud sync or an offsite force satisfies the 3rd replica requirement.
No longer fairly — the solution is the 3-2-1 backup rule. RAID is continuously incorrect for a backup, however it simplest protects in opposition to force failure, now not unintentional deletion or ransomware. The three-2-1 rule is the gold same old exactly as it covers a couple of failure situations.
A NAS operating a hypervisor or container platform like Docker can host a Pi-hole example. What does Pi-hole essentially do?
Right kind! Pi-hole acts as a DNS sinkhole, blockading recognized ad-serving and monitoring domain names ahead of they ever succeed in your units. Website hosting it on a NAS by means of Docker manner it runs 24/7 while not having a devoted Raspberry Pi.
No longer fairly — the solution is that Pi-hole blocks advertisements on the DNS stage. Somewhat than putting in an advert blocker on each unmarried software, Pi-hole protects your whole community, together with good TVs and telephones, through intercepting advert area requests ahead of any information is loaded.
Many NAS producers be offering devoted surveillance instrument programs. What’s the number one serve as of those programs?
Right kind! Synology Surveillance Station and QNAP’s QVR Professional are examples of NAS-based NVR (Community Video Recorder) answers. They will let you organize a couple of IP cameras, set motion-triggered recording, and overview photos with out paying for a cloud subscription.
No longer fairly — the solution is managing and recording IP digital camera photos. A NAS can change a devoted NVR equipment fully, storing days or even weeks of photos in the neighborhood. It is a compelling use case because it avoids ongoing cloud garage charges whilst preserving photos on {hardware} you keep an eye on.
Which self-hosted utility, frequently run on a NAS, routinely downloads TV display episodes and films through integrating with torrent or Usenet indexers?
Right kind! Radarr handles films and Sonarr handles TV displays — in combination they shape the spine of a self-hosted media automation stack. They track unlock teams, clutch new episodes routinely, and go recordsdata immediately on your Plex or Jellyfin library.
No longer fairly — the solution is Radarr and Sonarr. Whilst Bazarr handles subtitles and Prowlarr manages indexers, Radarr and Sonarr are the core apps for automating film and TV downloads respectively. They combine along with your NAS obtain Jstomer and media server for a unbroken pipeline.
A NAS may also be configured as a VPN server in order that faraway customers can securely get right of entry to the native community. Which VPN protocol, recognized for being fashionable and very speedy, is supported through more recent NAS working techniques like Synology DSM?
Right kind! WireGuard is a contemporary VPN protocol praised for its lean codebase, excessive speeds, and powerful encryption. Synology added WireGuard give a boost to to DSM, making it more straightforward than ever to soundly tunnel into your own home community from any place with out exposing your NAS immediately to the web.
No longer fairly — the solution is WireGuard. PPTP is out of date and thought to be insecure, whilst OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec are dependable however extra resource-intensive. WireGuard achieves higher throughput with much less overhead, which issues at the modest CPUs discovered in lots of NAS units.
Nextcloud is a self-hosted platform steadily deployed on a NAS. Which primary industrial cloud provider does it maximum immediately goal to switch?
Right kind! Nextcloud supplies record sync, record enhancing, calendar, contacts, and video calls — an immediate choice to Google Power and Google Workspace. Operating it on a NAS manner your information by no means leaves your individual {hardware}, which is a significant privateness and price merit.
No longer fairly — the solution is Google Power and Google Workspace. Nextcloud replicates the total productiveness suite revel in: shared folders, collaborative record enhancing, and cellular sync. When paired with a NAS, it turns into an impressive non-public cloud that competitors Google’s providing with none subscription charges.
Some photographers and videographers use a NAS because the central hub for a collaborative enhancing workflow. Which protocol, natively supported on macOS and optimized for high-bandwidth record get right of entry to, makes a NAS behave like a quick native force for video enhancing?
Right kind! For video enhancing workflows, SMB Multichannel (or traditionally AFP on older Macs) lets in a NAS to ship the type of sustained throughput had to scrub via high-bitrate photos with out copying recordsdata in the neighborhood first. Pair this with a 2.5GbE or 10GbE community and a NAS can rival a devoted SAN for small inventive groups.
No longer fairly — the solution is SMB with Multichannel (or AFP on legacy Macs). FTP and WebDAV are too sluggish and latency-prone for real-time enhancing. SMB Multichannel bonds a couple of community connections to spice up throughput, which is why NAS distributors like Synology particularly marketplace this selection to inventive pros enhancing 4K and 6K photos.
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The backlash was once speedy and loud. Synology ultimately backtracked with DSM 7.3, including broader force compatibility, however the harm was once already achieved. For plenty of customers, it was once a warning sign. After years of defaulting to Synology, other folks began critically making an allowance for possible choices—and the ones possible choices all at once appeared very interesting.
The contest gives higher price for the cash
The NAS marketplace after all has genuine pageant
Ugreen entered the NAS area a few years in the past with its NASync line and straight away made Synology’s {hardware} a more difficult promote. For comparability, believe the DXP4800 Plus from Ugreen and the DS423+ from Synology. Each are 4-bay devices priced round $600–620. To start with look, they give the impression of being an identical—however in apply, they’re now not.
The DXP4800 Plus ships with a 5-core Intel Pentium Gold 8505, 8GB of DDR5 reminiscence, a integrated 10GbE port, and 4K HDMI output. The DS423+ runs a quad-core Intel Celeron processor, paired with simply 2 GB of RAM and 1GbE LAN ports. For kind of the similar value, Ugreen gives extra cores, quicker reminiscence, and a lot better networking.
And it’s now not simply Ugreen. QNAP has lengthy been a powerful, hardware-focused choice to Synology, usually providing higher specifications at similar costs. The NAS marketplace has genuine choices now, and the {hardware} tier Synology occupies not justifies its logo top rate. The important thing level is that NAS {hardware} determines how helpful the software will probably be 5 years from now. Quicker networking, a succesful processor, and expandable reminiscence are options you wish to have in-built from the beginning.
DSM is not particular sufficient to justify the top rate
Open-source NAS OSes at the moment are excellent sufficient to switch DSM
Synology’s genuine merit was once at all times DSM (DiskStation Supervisor). It’s polished, dependable, simple to arrange for non-technical customers, and its app ecosystem is really helpful. It is advisable to justify the mediocre {hardware} as a result of DSM made the entire revel in clean.
Then again, as of as of late, open-source NAS working techniques like TrueNAS SCALE and Unraid have closed the space considerably—and each are unfastened.
Unraid is amazingly versatile. It means that you can combine force sizes with out conventional RAID constraints, handles Docker boxes smartly, and has been the homelab neighborhood’s go-to for years for excellent reason why. Certain, it’s now not as plug-and-play as DSM, however it’s now not tough to arrange both—and it provides you with way more keep an eye on.
Then there’s TrueNAS SCALE, a extra tough and enterprise-leaning choice. It makes use of the ZFS record machine, which promises sturdy information integrity. You’ll be able to additionally be expecting mature give a boost to for digital machines and boxes.
Then again, the most important merit is that either one of those OSes run on same old x86 {hardware}. Your Ugreen NAS, your QNAP, an outdated PC, or a mini server—it doesn’t topic—those NAS working techniques will run on they all. At this level, the NAS OS is successfully a commodity. It is not sensible to issue “staying inside of DSM” into your acquire choice—particularly whilst you’re paying a top rate.
Right here’s Why I Constructed My Personal NAS With Unraid and an eBay Server As a substitute of Purchasing a Synology
What homelab is entire with out some retired venture equipment?
If you wish to have the most productive price, construct your individual
An outdated PC and a unfastened NAS OS are all you in fact want
A NAS doesn’t wish to be that tough. So, essentially the most cost-efficient NAS you’ll be able to have is one you construct your self the usage of {hardware} you already personal or should buy secondhand. This manner you keep an eye on each element—RAM, networking, garage bays, and CPU—and not anything is soldered down or vendor-locked. Even the instrument revel in is fully underneath your keep an eye on. You’ll be able to set up a specialised NAS OS like those mentioned above, or pass with a full-blown desktop OS like Ubuntu and repurpose it to your NAS wishes.
I constructed my very own DIY NAS through repurposing an 8-year-old gadget with a Ryzen 3 2200G, 16GB of RAM, and 8TB of garage. For the OS, I put in ZimaOS—it’s intuitive and provides a elegant, fashionable interface. It handles record serving around the community with out problems, runs Jellyfin as a media server, and hosts a Linux Mint VM, so the gadget doubles as a spare pc when wanted. The most efficient phase is that all the setup charge me not anything additional since the {hardware} was once already sitting round.
Sure, putting in a DIY NAS does require some convenience with fundamental networking, force configuration, and OS set up—however it’s now not rocket science. In case you’ve ever constructed a PC your self and put in Linux on it, that is going to really feel very acquainted.
7 units you’ll be able to repurpose right into a NAS server (sure, even a Wii U)
Do not throw that outdated Wii U out simply but.
So, the place does that go away Synology?
The Synology top rate was once justified when DSM was once obviously forward of the whole lot else. That hole is now long gone. The {hardware} was once at all times mediocre, and the 2025 force lock-in strive made it transparent that Synology’s technique isn’t about giving customers extra—it’s about tightening its ecosystem over the years.
With all of that during thoughts, opting for Synology as your subsequent NAS doesn’t make a lot sense. A better choice is to seek out an outdated PC or computer and repurpose it as a NAS. Simply you should definitely use NAS-certified HDDs—same old desktop drives aren’t designed for that more or less workload.
