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	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓	✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
TVS-h874	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓		✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓	✓
TVS-675	✓	-	-	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓		✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓	✓
TS-673A	✓	-	-	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓	ⓘ	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓	ⓘ
TVS-672XT	✓	-	-	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	ⓘ	✓	ⓘ	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
TS-h886	✓	-	-	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓
TS-873	✓	-	-	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓		ⓘ	ⓘ	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓	ⓘ
TS-673	✓	-	-	✓		✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓		ⓘ	ⓘ	ⓘ	ⓘ		✓	✓	✓	ⓘ
DS2422+	✓	-	-	✓	✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓			ⓘ			ⓘ	✓	✓		✓
RS2821RP+	✓	-	-	✓	✓	✓	ⓘ	ⓘ	✓	✓			ⓘ			ⓘ	✓	✓		✓

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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

LATEST VIDEOS RELATED

AVAILABILITY / RELEASE DATE

Brand	Model	TW	USA	UK	Released
Qnap	TVS-h874T	•	•	•	2023-09
Qnap	TVS-h874	•	•	•	2022-09
Qnap	TVS-675	•		•	2021-10
Qnap	TS-673A	•	•	•	2021-02
Qnap	TVS-672XT	•	•	•	2020-07
Qnap	TS-h886	•	•	•	2020-07
Qnap	TS-873	•	•	•	2020-07
Qnap	TS-673	•	•	•	2020-07
Synology	DS2422+	•	•	•	2021-10
Synology	RS2821RP+	•	•	•	2021-03

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SOFTWARE - 10/10

HARDWARE - 8/10

PERFORMANCE - 8/10

PRICE - 8/10

VALUE - 8/10

8.4

PROS

👍🏻HUGE Storage Potential
👍🏻Prioritizes Storage, whilst still providing a good CPU+Memory Server combo
👍🏻Full access to the complete DSM Software Packages & Services
👍🏻Lots of upgrade options
👍🏻ECC Memory at this storage scale is appreciated, and 3200Mhz rated
👍🏻Excellent ventilation throughout
👍🏻PCIe slot is Gen 3×8, so plenty of bandwidth to play with
👍🏻Surprisingly compact for 12 Bays of storage

CONS

👎🏻1GbE is feeling rather outdated in 2022 and for those futureproofing, seems shortsighted
👎🏻Ambiguity in how the system operates and support when using 3rd party media
👎🏻Living in the shadow a bit of the enterprise DS3622xs+ NAS

SOFTWARE - 9/10

HARDWARE - 8/10

PERFORMANCE - 8/10

PRICE - 7/10

VALUE - 8/10

8.0

PROS

👍🏻Ryzen Powered Solution
👍🏻Massive Scale Synology System at £3k
👍🏻PCIe Gen 3 x8 PCIe Equipped
👍🏻Great RAID Options (inc SHR)
👍🏻Excellent choice of Apps
👍🏻DDR4 ECC Memory up to 32GB (UDIMM, not SODIMM too)
👍🏻Numerous Backup Software Options
👍🏻Huge Virtualization Support
👍🏻3yr Warranty and Extendable to 5yrs

CONS

👎🏻1Gbe Ports seem a bit limited now
👎🏻4GB Memory by default seems a bit small
👎🏻Synology Hard Drive Exclusivity is still an Opinion Splitter!
👎🏻NVMe SSDs Ports not available, unlike desktop alternatives and requires a PCIe Upgrade Card

SOFTWARE - 8/10

HARDWARE - 10/10

PERFORMANCE - 10/10

PRICE - 8/10

VALUE - 9/10

9.0

PROS

👍🏻First Commercial Intel Core 12th Gen i5, i7 and i9 NAS Drive
👍🏻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 and Potential for 128GB
👍🏻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

👎🏻Available Versions/Configs of the 4/6/8-Bay are confusing
👎🏻QVR Elite (not QVR Pro) only has 2 Cam Licences
👎🏻HDMI Output is 1.4b
👎🏻10Gbe is ONLY included with the most expensive Intel i9 Model
👎🏻Noisy when in operation when fully populated
👎🏻Too Many licenses on Enterprise Tools (Drive Analyzer, Face Tiger, etc) with too few free licenses

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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DEAL WATCH - Is It On Offer Right Now? Synology 16 GB DDR4 memory expansion for DS3622xs+, DS2422+ Amazon UK 6.8 OFF (WAS 388) [LINK] NAS + Switch Bundle Qnap TS-873A + QSW-1105-5T | Upgrade to 2.5GbE Networking, 8 Amazon UK 11.78 OFF (WAS 1406) [LINK] QNAP NAS compatible TS-873AeU-RP-4G 0/8HDD 2U Amazon UK 42.71 OFF (WAS 2046) [LINK] QNAP TS-673A-8G 24TB 6 Bay Desktop NAS Solution | Installed with 6 x 4TB Seagate Amazon UK 154.37 OFF (WAS 2277) [LINK] QNAP TS-673A-8G 48TB 6 Bay Desktop NAS Solution | Installed with 6 x 8TB Seagate Amazon UK 34.22 OFF (WAS 2304) [LINK] QNAP TS-H886-D1622-16G 8 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure - 4 x 2.5 GbE Ports, 6 x 3.5 Amazon UK 167.19 OFF (WAS 2634) [LINK] Synology RackStation RS2821RP+ - NAS server - 16 bays - rack-mountable - SATA 6G Amazon UK 100.16 OFF (WAS 3052) [LINK] Synology RackStation RS2821RP+ 3U 16-Bay Rackmount NAS for SMB Amazon UK 28.06 OFF (WAS 3713) [LINK] QNAP TS-873A-8G 8 Bay High-Performance NAS with 2 x 2.5GbE Ports and Two PCIe Ge Amazon USA 100 OFF (WAS 1049) [LINK] These Offers are Checked Daily