compare

GENERAL NAS FEATURE COMPARISON

NAS	Plex (local 4K)	Plex HD (remote)	Plex 4K (remote)	BACKUP (MS/GOOGLE OFFICE)	BACKUP (BAREBONE)	PHOTOS (OBJECT AI)	VIDEO EDITING (4K)	VIDEO EDITING (8K)	DOCKER	VIRTUAL MACHINES	PC MODE (QVM)	2.5GbE	10GbE	25GbE	Thunderbolt	NVMe	Pcie	Expansion	HDMI	Drive Mixing
TVS-h874T	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓	✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
RS3621xs+	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓			✓			ⓘ	✓	✓

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BEST FOR Virtualisation

BEST FOR MULTIMEDIA

BEST FOR FILE STORAGE

BEST FOR BACKUP

BEST FOR VIDEO EDITING

BEST FOR SURVEILLANCE (CCTV)

BEST FOR SMART HOME/ AI

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AVAILABILITY / RELEASE DATE

Brand	Model	TW	USA	UK	Released
Qnap	TVS-h874T	•	•	•	2023-09
Synology	RS3621xs+	•	•	•	2021-01

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SOFTWARE - 9/10

HARDWARE - 9/10

PERFORMANCE - 9/10

PRICE - 7/10

VALUE - 8/10

8.4

PROS

👍🏻8-Core Xeon Processor
👍🏻Two 10GBe Connections as Standard
👍🏻Two PCIe Gen 3 x8 PCIe Equipped
👍🏻4 Slots that Support DDR4 ECC UDIMM Memory
👍🏻Excellent choice of Apps
👍🏻Redundant PSU as Standard
👍🏻Numerous Backup Software Options
👍🏻Huge Virtualization Support
👍🏻Storage Can be Expanded to 36 SATA Drives
👍🏻5yr Warranty

CONS

👎🏻NVMe SSDs Ports not available, unlike desktop alternatives
👎🏻Very Limited Hard Drives Supported (Largely ONLY Synology HAT5300 series)
👎🏻64GB Memory Maximum Seems Low, given other Enterprise Solutions support 128/256GB

SOFTWARE - 9/10

HARDWARE - 10/10

PERFORMANCE - 10/10

PRICE - 7/10

VALUE - 7/10

8.6

PROS

👍🏻Only brand rolling out i9 Turnkey NAS
👍🏻Only NAS Rolling out Thundebrolt4 NAS (for now!)
👍🏻Upto 20 Cores, 24 Threads and High End Integrated Graphics
👍🏻PCIe Gen 4 x16 Upgrade Slot for 10/25/100GbE Cards and 2x PCIe Gen 4 x4 M.2 NVMe Slots for 7GB SSDs
👍🏻No Obstinant 3rd Party Hardware Limitations on Support or Compatibility
👍🏻Much larger support of 3rd Party Software Services than most other NAS Brands
👍🏻10Gb/s USB Connectivity, in Type A and Type C
👍🏻Upto 64GB of Memory
👍🏻ZFS or EXT 4 File System Choice
👍🏻M.2 NVMe SSD Bays can be used for Storage or Caching
👍🏻Volume Encryption, SED SSD Support and WORM
👍🏻Enhanced AI Surveillance Services, with opt to upgrade with $30 Google TPU
👍🏻AI Photo Management Tool (QuMagie) Includes Thing Recognition and works offline
👍🏻ALL the ZFS Benefits, whilst also the GUI and App benefits of a Linux Software Platform in one

CONS

👎🏻No Smaller 4-Bay Version
👎🏻QVR Elite (not QVR Pro) only has 2 Cam Licences
👎🏻Lack of ECC Memory will annoy some users
👎🏻10Gbe is Missing (so no TB-TO-10GbE Pass-through)
👎🏻Too Many licenses on Enterprise Tools (Drive Analyzer, Face Tiger, etc) with too few free licenses

In terms of these two brands, there is been a long-running theme all the way through that Synology has focused on FIRST-PARTY (i.e. Synology-brand) software and hardware priority, then supporting THIRD-PARTY services/hardware when they haven’t got a viable alternative in-house – to mixed degrees of popularity. Whereas QNAP has been a much more level playing field where they have released their own innovative hardware/software (occasionally a little too quickly) and singing its praises, but also tried to keep customization and flexibility for 3rd parties as open as possible and shouting loud-and-proud about that too – which can be a tad overwhelming for the less tech-savvy. Both brands have done an incredible job evolve their platforms as much as they have to date, especially when Microsoft, Google and Amazon are pouring BILLIONS into the SaaS (and PaaS and IaaS – Platform and Infrastructure as a Service) in order to create entirely streamable ecosystems for businesses, with NAS brands like Synology and QNAP not only integrating with them but also thriving alongside them as a local/bare-metal failsafe. These are all very lofty ideas and ones that most home or small business users will likely have little time for right now (aside from where NAS fits in with their Google/Office 365 office tools like documents, email and spreadsheets at a pinch) and for those users, who the NAS stands on its own two feet is what is going to matter most. Synology is earning its position in the market as the complete 1st party software and hardware package, with a genuinely groundbreaking range of available services, but still managing to make NAS accessible for all in DSM 6.2/7.0/7.1. That said, the trends we are seeing in those sub-enterprise services that are slowly receding in support of popular 3rd party hardware, software and services, making using a Synology NAS alongside your own existing setup in a frictionless way cannot be ignored and leading some to think Synology is shifting their industry position towards something higher.

QNAP NAS on the other hand, although maybe trying to cover too many bases at once, is still trying to cover as much as it can to appear to their audience. Their support of considerably more 3rd party platforms/software/services, even when they have their own software available, is certainly admirable and aside from rather aggressive pricing on their QVR Pro surveillance platform, are still the better choice for those who want a much more adaptable and customizable platform. Its a pretty understandable fact that most people who buy a NAS will be arriving with an existing collection of software in their daily workflow (Office 365 for docs, Gmail for their email, Plex for their media, Chromebook for their commute, Skype/Whatsapp for their communication, TB3 for their editing, etc) and it has to be said that QNAP keeps a more open platform to adapt a NAS into this mix than Synology – occasionally less intuitively and not without a little setup-friction, but certainly to more customizable results. Unsurprisingly, I am going to tell you that both Synology and QNAP NAS are good NAS brands and have earned their place at the top of the industry (whilst both making their own respective moves to integrate into the next tier – ie SaaS providers, Hyperscale environments and Boundless cloud storage), but there is no denying that no one brand has managed to do EVERYTHING to perfection. So, if in double, below is how I would recommend QNAP and Synology NAS to you, for each user case scenario and I hope this guide and my recommendations help you with your next big data storage purchase.

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