compare

RELATED REVIEWS

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.

LATEST PRICE LIST

DEAL WATCH - Is It On Offer Right Now? Direct Store Parts DS124 17" Stainless Steel Emitter Plates TRU-Infrared Grill G Amazon UK 8.5 OFF (WAS 88) [LINK] Qnap Qsw-1105-5T, 5 Port 2.5Gbps Auto Negotiation (2.5G/1G/100M), Unmanaged Swit Amazon UK 7.3 OFF (WAS 100) [LINK] Asustor Drivestor 2 Lite AS1102TL, 2 Bay NAS Enclosure Network Storage, 1.7GHz Q Amazon UK 10 OFF (WAS 174) [LINK] Synology RT2600ac Wireless Mesh Router Amazon UK 7.01 OFF (WAS 175) [LINK] Synology RT2600ac – 4x4 dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi router, MU-MIMO, powerful pare Amazon UK 71.66 OFF (WAS 260) [LINK] QNAP 2.5-inch 6Gbps SAS to SATA drive adapter for dual-controller all-flash ES24 Amazon UK 5.49 OFF (WAS 207) [LINK] Asustor Drivestor 2 Pro AS3302T 2 Bay NAS, Quad Core 1.4 GHz CPU, 2GB RAM DDR4, Amazon UK 15 OFF (WAS 230) [LINK] Synology 2-Bay DS224+ (Black) NAS, Metal, Surface Mount, Compatible with Compute Amazon UK 17.51 OFF (WAS 340) [LINK] Synology DiskStation DS423 4 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure Amazon UK 19.59 OFF (WAS 414) [LINK] Synology DS423+ 4 Bay Desktop NAS Storage Server Amazon UK 64.98 OFF (WAS 480) [LINK] Asustor Flashstor 6 FS6706T - 6 Bay All-SSD NAS Storage, Quad Core 2.0GHz, 6 M.2 Amazon UK 24 OFF (WAS 449) [LINK] QXG-25G2SF-E810 Two-Port 25GbE Network Card with FEC for Reliable Enterprise Lev Amazon UK 9.12 OFF (WAS 455) [LINK] Synology 4 bay NAS 1.4Ghz Quadcore CPU - RS422+ Rack Station, Black Amazon UK 10.79 OFF (WAS 605) [LINK] QNAP TS-433eU NAS Rack (1U) Cortex-A Cortex-A55 4 GB 0 TB Turbo System Black Amazon UK 28.43 OFF (WAS 639) [LINK] Synology 5-bay DiskStation DS1522+ (Diskless),Black Amazon UK 6.9 OFF (WAS 759) [LINK] QNAP TS-464-8G-US 4 Bay High-Performance Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Quad-cor Amazon UK 44.21 OFF (WAS 725) [LINK] QNAP TS-932PX-4G 5+4 Bay High-Speed NAS with Two 10GbE and 2.5GbE Ports Amazon UK 6.9 OFF (WAS 748) [LINK] Asustor Flashstor 12 Pro FS6712X - 12 Bay All-SSD NAS, Quad-Core 2.0GHz, 12 M.2 Amazon UK 44 OFF (WAS 789) [LINK] TS-432PXU-2G 1U 4BAY 1.7GHZ QC Amazon UK 9.2 OFF (WAS 821) [LINK] Synology 4-Bay RackStation RS822+ (Diskless) Amazon UK 45.84 OFF (WAS 895) [LINK] ASUSTOR Lockerstor NAS Drive 0TB 8 Bay HDD Storage,AS6508T Amazon UK 75 OFF (WAS 1059) [LINK] Asustor Lockerstor 10 AS6510T 10 Bay NAS Enclosure - Network Attached Storage, Q Amazon UK 25 OFF (WAS 1149) [LINK] QNAP QSW-M5216-1T Ultra-high-speed 25GbE fibre managed switch with 10GbE connect Amazon UK 12.76 OFF (WAS 1232) [LINK] Synology 4-Bay RackStation RS822RP+ (Diskless) Amazon UK 8.09 OFF (WAS 1242) [LINK] QNAP QuCPE-3034-C3758R-16G-US Network Virtualization Premises Equipment with an Amazon UK 16.53 OFF (WAS 1250) [LINK] These Offers are Checked Daily