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? QNAP TS-464-8G-US 4 Bay High-Performance Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Quad-cor Amazon USA 11.57 OFF (WAS 559) [LINK] QNAP TS-264 Single Unit 8GB Memory Amazon USA 104.12 OFF (WAS 828) [LINK] Asustor Flashstor 12 Pro FS6712X - 12 Bay Pure M.2 SSD NAS Network Storage Enclo Amazon USA 80 OFF (WAS 799) [LINK] Synology DS224+ 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Intel Celeron J4125 4-Core 2.0 GHz 2GB DD Amazon USA 30.82 OFF (WAS 780) [LINK] Asustor 12-Bays FS6712X - Celeron N5105 2.0GHz (Quad-Core), 4GB DDR4, 12 x M.2 S Amazon USA 76.41 OFF (WAS 867) [LINK] Synology DS224+ 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Intel Celeron J4125 4-Core 2.0 GHz 2GB DD Amazon USA 52.07 OFF (WAS 986) [LINK] QNAP TS-464-8G/F Memory 8GB Amazon USA 153.99 OFF (WAS 1121) [LINK] Synology Expansion Unit RX1217 12-bay, 2 U, RX1217 (12-bay, 2 U 50Hz to 60Hz, si Amazon USA 22.04 OFF (WAS 1434) [LINK] Asustor Lockerstor 10 Gen3 AS6810T 10-Bay NAS System Amazon USA 268.53 OFF (WAS 2475) [LINK] QNAP TS-h1886XU-RP-R2-D1622-32G-US 18 Bay rackmount NAS with Intel® Xeon® Proc Amazon USA 625.16 OFF (WAS 3861) [LINK] QNAP TBS-h574TX-i5-16G Thunderbolt Compact All-Flash | 5 x E1.S or M.2 SSD Amazon USA 72.26 OFF (WAS 3836) [LINK] Synology 12bay Dual Controller SAS NAS SA3200D (Diskless) Amazon USA 7.69 OFF (WAS 8580) [LINK] Synology 24 Bay FlashStation FS3600 (Diskless), 24-Bay; 16GB DDR4 Amazon USA 676.86 OFF (WAS 10177) [LINK] Direct Store Parts DS124 17" Stainless Steel Emitter Plates TRU-Infrared Grill G Amazon UK 5.05 OFF (WAS 67) [LINK] QNAP TS-133-US 1 Bay Affordable Desktop NAS with ARM Cortex-A55 Quad-core Proces Amazon UK 6 OFF (WAS 129) [LINK] Synology DiskStation DS124 1 Bay Desktop NAS Amazon UK 4.99 OFF (WAS 135) [LINK] Synology RT2600ac Wireless Mesh Router Amazon UK 6.62 OFF (WAS 165) [LINK] Synology RT2600ac – 4x4 dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi router, MU-MIMO, powerful pare Amazon UK 8.6 OFF (WAS 212) [LINK] Synology - DDR4 - module - 8 GB - DIMM 288-pin - 2666 MHz / PC4-21300 - 1.2 V - Amazon UK 19 OFF (WAS 200) [LINK] Synology RT2600AC Wireless Router, 4-Door Switch, GIGE, WAN Doors: 2.802.11A/B/N Amazon UK 4.66 OFF (WAS 216) [LINK] QNAP QXP-3X8PES 2-Port PCIe Gen3 x8 Expansion Card Amazon UK 59.76 OFF (WAS 344) [LINK] Synology - DDR4 - module - 16 GB - DIMM 288-pin - 2666 MHz / PC4-21300 - 1.2 V - Amazon UK 18.49 OFF (WAS 331) [LINK] Synology 2-Bay DS224+ (Black) NAS, Metal, Surface Mount, Compatible with Compute Amazon UK 17.51 OFF (WAS 340) [LINK] Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro Gen2 AS3304T v2, 4 Bay NAS Enclosure Network Storage, 1. Amazon UK 38.19 OFF (WAS 369) [LINK] Synology 16 GB DDR4 memory expansion for DS3622xs+, DS2422+ Amazon UK 31.33 OFF (WAS 368) [LINK] These Offers are Checked Daily