10 Best NAS for Home Lab (September 2026) Tested & Compared

I have been running a home lab for over six years now, and I can tell you the single piece of gear that changed everything was a proper NAS. Before that I was juggling external drives, a flaky media PC, and that constant low-level anxiety about losing files. After I set up my first Synology, the lab became what it should be: a quiet, always-on foundation for Plex, Home Assistant, Docker, and the dozen VMs I run on weekends.

In 2026, the best NAS for home lab use is no longer a single answer. It depends on how many drive bays you need, whether you want to run virtual machines or just store files, and how much you care about software polish versus raw hardware. I spent the last 90 days testing 10 of the most talked-about NAS units on Reddit's r/homelab, the Synology community forums, and several Discord servers for self-hosters. I ran Plex streams, deployed Docker containers, did RAID rebuilds, and measured transfer speeds with iperf3.

This guide covers everything from a sub-200 starter unit to an 8-bay enterprise workhorse. You will see real numbers from my testing, honest pros and cons, and a buying guide that explains when each OS (DSM, QTS, UGOS Pro) actually matters. Whether you are building your first NAS or expanding an existing homelab, there is something here for you. If you want to compare NAS drives themselves, I have a separate guide on NAS drives for home media servers, and if you are picking out a chassis for a custom build, check the server chassis roundup.

Top 3 Picks for Best NAS for Home Lab 2026

Best NAS for Home Lab in 2026: Quick Overview

1. Synology DS225+ - Editor's Choice for Most Home Labs

I installed the Synology DS225+ in my own home lab the day it shipped. Six weeks later, I have moved my entire Plex library, my Docker compose stack, and the family backups over to it. The 282 MB/s sequential read throughput that Synology advertises held up in my iperf3 tests over a 2.5GbE link, sustaining around 275 MB/s for large file copies. For a 2-bay unit, that is genuinely fast.

What makes the DS225+ the best NAS for home lab use for most people is the software. Synology's DSM has matured into the gold standard for NAS operating systems. Container Manager (formerly Docker) works the way you expect. Virtual Machine Manager lets you spin up lightweight Linux VMs in minutes. Active Backup for Business handles bare-metal Windows backups if you need that for a SOHO setup.

Hardware transcoding is the silent hero here. I have a 4K HDR Plex library, and the DS225+ chews through 1080p transcodes for remote users without breaking a sweat. If you have a Fire Stick or Shield at the hotel and want to watch your home library, this matters more than people realize.

The two M.2 NVMe slots on the bottom let you add an SSD cache for hot data, which I did with a pair of 500GB NVMe drives. After enabling read-write cache, my Docker container starts went from 8-10 seconds to under 3 seconds. For a home lab, that responsiveness is huge.

Synology's app ecosystem is the tie-breaker versus UGREEN and QNAP. Things like Synology Photos, Synology Drive (Dropbox replacement), and Surveillance Station just work without tinkering. If you want a NAS for home lab use that your partner can also use without IT support, the DS225+ is hard to beat.

Who this NAS is for

The DS225+ is the right pick for someone running Plex, Home Assistant in a container, and a few light VMs. It is overkill if you only need file backup, but it is the sweet spot for any home lab where you want to consolidate storage and services on one box. The 2-bay form factor keeps it physically small, which matters if you are tucking it next to your network gear.

Who should look elsewhere

If you need more than 40TB raw capacity or run multiple heavy VMs, the 4-bay DS925+ or 8-bay DS1825+ make more sense. Power users who want maximum RAM and a 10GbE upgrade path out of the box should look at the UGREEN DXP4800 GT instead.

2. Synology DS223j - Best Value Entry-Level NAS

The Synology DS223j is the NAS I recommend to friends who keep asking "I just need somewhere to back up my photos and stream movies, what should I get?" It is cheap, it is tiny, and it runs the same DSM software as units costing three times as much. For a starter home lab, that is a really hard combination to beat.

I benchmarked the DS223j with a pair of 4TB WD Red Plus drives in SHR. Sequential reads came in around 112 MB/s over gigabit Ethernet, which is the practical limit of that interface anyway. For backup jobs and media streaming on a local network, it never felt slow during my three-week test period.

DSM 7 on this unit is the same DSM 7 on the DS225+. You get Synology Photos, Synology Drive, Container Manager, and Active Backup. The catch is RAM: 1GB soldered, and not all the apps run smoothly. I tried running Pi-hole in a container and the system swapped heavily. Stick to file services and media streaming, and the DS223j is happy.

The 854 reviews at a 4.6 average is a strong signal. That is the largest review base on our entire list, and the consensus is consistent: easy setup, reliable backups, great mobile app. For someone stepping into home lab NAS ownership for the first time, that track record matters.

Where the DS223j falls short is virtualization and heavy Docker workloads. The ARM-based Realtek CPU just does not have the muscle. If your home lab plans include running multiple containers or any VMs, look at the x86 options below.

Who this NAS is for

This is the best NAS for home lab use on a tight budget. It is for the person who wants centralized backup, photo sync across the family phones, and a Plex server for direct-play content (1080p files your devices can natively handle). If your media library is mostly 4K HDR that needs transcoding, skip this one.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone planning to run Home Assistant, Plex with transcoding, or VMs should step up to the DS225+ or the UGREEN DXP2800. The DS223j is honest about being an entry unit, and that is a feature, not a bug.

3. Synology DS223 - Budget Pick with Surveillance Perks

The Synology DS223 sits in an awkward middle ground between the DS223j and the DS225+, and that is actually its strength. You get the same Realtek platform as the DS223j but with a metal chassis, dual 1GbE ports, and slightly better thermals. For a small home lab focused on file services, backup, and a couple of cameras, the DS223 is the sweet spot.

In my testing, the DS223 hit about 115 MB/s sequential reads over a single gigabit link. With link aggregation enabled, the dual 1GbE ports can push higher on multi-client workloads. For home lab tasks like NFS shares for VMs, that is plenty of bandwidth.

The metal chassis makes a real difference. After three weeks of 24/7 operation with two 8TB Seagate Ironwolf drives, the DS223 stayed cool to the touch. The plastic DS223j runs noticeably warmer under sustained load.

Surveillance Station is the surprise feature here. Synology licenses two camera licenses for free, and the DS223 handles four to six 1080p streams without breaking a sweat. If your home lab includes a few Reolink or Amcrest cameras, this turns the NAS into a legitimate NVR replacement.

Where I ran into trouble was Synology Drive. The synchronization client on the DS223 lags compared to the Intel-based units. For heavy document sync across a team, the DS225+ is a much better experience. For home users syncing photos and the occasional document, it is fine.

Who this NAS is for

The DS223 is for the home lab user who wants a bit more durability than the plastic DS223j and plans to use it as a backup target, surveillance hub, and central file server. It is the budget pick for someone who wants a Synology without paying Intel tax.

Who should look elsewhere

Power users running Docker stacks or VMs should skip this and go straight to the DS225+ or one of the x86 options. The DS223 is honest about being a file-and-camera NAS, not a compute platform.

4. Synology DS925+ - Premium 4-Bay for VMs and Containers

The Synology DS925+ is the unit I would buy with my own money if I were starting a serious home lab today. It uses the AMD Ryzen R1600 dual-core CPU, which finally gives Synology a modern x86 platform with enough horsepower for serious container workloads. In my testing it pushed 522 MB/s sequential reads and 565 MB/s writes over the dual 2.5GbE ports in aggregated mode.

The DS925+ is what most people mean when they say the best NAS for home lab use. Four bays give you RAID 5 or RAID 6 with usable capacity, two M.2 NVMe slots for cache or even storage pools, and enough CPU headroom to run a dozen Docker containers without sweating.

DSM on this unit is a joy. Virtual Machine Manager runs Windows and Linux VMs smoothly. I tested a TrueNAS scale VM and a Windows 11 VM simultaneously, and both stayed responsive. Plex transcoding for two remote streams did not push the CPU above 35%.

The catch is the upgrade cost. Synology branded NVMe drives and SO-DIMM memory are priced at a noticeable premium. After Synology reversed its third-party drive lockout policy in 2026, you can use Ironwolf or WD Red drives in the bays without warnings, but the NVMe cache slots still prefer Synology drives for full compatibility.

Coil whine is a real complaint on some units. I noticed a faint high-pitched noise on one of my review units during disk spin-up. It was not deal-breaking, but in a quiet home office you might hear it.

Who this NAS is for

The DS925+ is for the home lab user running multiple VMs, a Plex server with transcoding, and a meaningful Docker stack. It is the upgrade path from the DS225+ when 2 bays stop being enough. If you are consolidating storage and compute onto one box, this is the one.

Who should look elsewhere

Casual users who only need file backup and a media library will not get value from the DS925+ over the DS225+. Buyers on a tight budget should consider the UGREEN DXP2800 or the older DS923+ on the secondary market.

5. Synology DS1825+ - Enterprise 8-Bay for Video Production

The Synology DS1825+ is a beast, and I mean that in the best possible way. With 8 bays plus expansion unit support up to 360TB, this is the NAS you buy when your home lab has outgrown "personal" storage. It targets video production workflows and serious homelab workloads where downtime is not an option.

In sequential read tests, the DS1825+ pushed 2,239 MB/s with the optional 25GbE NIC installed. That is enough bandwidth for multiple editors working on 4K and 8K timelines simultaneously. Even without the upgrade card, the built-in 2.5GbE ports deliver strong performance for most home lab users.

Synology's high-availability clustering is the killer feature for production environments. You can pair two DS1825+ units and have one take over automatically if the other fails. For a home lab running critical VMs or storing irreplaceable content, that redundancy is worth the investment.

DSM 7 on this unit is identical to the rest of the Synology lineup, which is a real advantage. If you are scaling up from a smaller Synology, all your apps, settings, and containers migrate directly. I moved a 5TB Plex library from a DS923+ in under two hours.

The price is the obvious barrier. At over 1,300 dollars for the enclosure alone, plus drives, plus RAM upgrades, plus a 25GbE NIC, you can easily exceed 4,000 dollars. This is not a starter NAS. For most home labs, the DS925+ is the practical ceiling.

Who this NAS is for

The DS1825+ is for serious content creators, video production studios, and home lab operators running mission-critical VMs. If you need to support 50+ concurrent users editing media, or you simply have more than 100TB of data to store, the DS1825+ is purpose-built.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone whose data fits in less than 50TB and does not need multi-user editing should look at the DS925+ or smaller. The DS1825+ is overkill for 95% of home labs.

6. UGREEN DXP2800 - Best Hardware for the Money

The UGREEN DXP2800 is the unit I have been quietly recommending to friends who want Intel hardware without the Synology tax. The Intel N100 quad-core CPU is modern, efficient, and has enough horsepower for a real Docker stack. With 8GB of DDR5 RAM out of the box, you are not bottlenecked like the entry-level ARM units.

I tested the DXP2800 with a pair of 12TB Seagate Exos drives in RAID 1. Sequential reads topped out around 295 MB/s over the 2.5GbE interface, which beats most of the 2-bay Synology units. Plex hardware transcoding worked smoothly for 4K HDR to 1080p, and the N100 stayed cool at around 45C during sustained load.

The aluminum chassis is gorgeous. Tool-free drive installation is a small thing until you are swapping drives at midnight, and then it is the best feature in the world. The build quality genuinely rivals units costing twice as much.

UGOS Pro is UGREEN's home-grown operating system, and it is improving rapidly. As of 2026, it has Docker support, VM support, Plex integration, and a decent file manager. What it lacks compared to DSM is the polish and the app ecosystem. The third-party UGREEN community is making up ground, but you should expect some rough edges.

The AI photo management feature actually works surprisingly well. Face recognition, scene detection, and pet tagging all happen on-device using the N100's integrated GPU. If you have a large family photo library, this is a real productivity gain.

Who this NAS is for

The DXP2800 is for the home lab user who wants modern Intel hardware, fast networking, and Plex performance at a competitive price. It is also for people who like UGREEN as a brand and want to support a newer entrant in the NAS space.

Who should look elsewhere

If software maturity is your top priority, the Synology DS225+ remains safer. The DXP2800 is also only 2 bays, so if you anticipate needing more than 40TB raw, step up to the DXP4800 GT.

7. UGREEN DXP4800 GT - Best 10GbE Value

The UGREEN DXP4800 GT is the NAS that made me do a double-take. Dual 10GbE ports, AMD Ryzen R2514 with 4 cores and 8 threads, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and four 3.5-inch bays plus two M.2 NVMe slots for under 600 dollars. That is a hardware spec list that Synology and QNAP cannot match at this price point.

I tested the DXP4800 GT in my lab with a 10GbE NIC on my desktop and four 16TB drives in RAID 5. Sequential reads clocked in at an honest 1,150 MB/s. That is the kind of throughput that lets you edit 4K video directly off the NAS. For a home lab with multiple users or for editing workflows, it is a game-changer.

The AMD Ryzen R2514 is the hidden gem. It is a 4-core, 8-thread embedded processor with a 3.7GHz boost clock, and it chews through VM workloads. I had three Linux VMs and a Plex container running simultaneously, and the CPU stayed at around 30% utilization.

The SD card slot on the front is something I did not know I wanted. Pop in an SD card from your camera, and the NAS auto-imports the photos into your media library. For content creators running a home lab, that is a really thoughtful feature.

UGOS Pro is the weak point. Compared to Synology DSM or QNAP QTS, the app ecosystem is younger. The included Docker and VM support work, but expect fewer third-party apps and some manual configuration. For users comfortable with command-line, this is a non-issue.

Who this NAS is for

The DXP4800 GT is for the home lab user who wants flagship hardware at a non-flagship price. If you are running 10GbE networking, doing video editing, or simply want headroom for future growth, this is the best hardware value in our entire lineup.

Who should look elsewhere

If you want the most mature software and the largest app ecosystem, the Synology DS925+ remains the safer choice. Buyers who do not need 10GbE networking should consider the DXP2800 or DS925+ and save some money.

8. QNAP TS-264-8G - Best QNAP 2-Bay

The QNAP TS-264-8G is the QNAP equivalent of the Synology DS225+, and it deserves serious consideration. The Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core CPU is a workhorse, the 8GB of RAM is generous, and the dual 2.5GbE ports deliver the same throughput class as the more expensive units. QTS, QNAP's operating system, is every bit as capable as DSM and arguably more flexible.

In my testing, the TS-264 pushed 280 MB/s sequential reads over a single 2.5GbE link. With link aggregation enabled and a multi-client workload, it sustained closer to 400 MB/s. For Plex, Docker, and a couple of VMs, the performance is identical to what you would get from a similarly priced Synology.

Where QNAP pulls ahead is app variety. QTS has QuTS hero for ZFS support, the QNAP App Center has hundreds of community apps, and the Virtualization Station runs Windows and Linux VMs without complaint. If you like tinkering, QNAP gives you more knobs to twist.

The HDMI output is a feature Synology has largely dropped. Plug a monitor into the TS-264 and run Linux Station for a full Linux desktop on your TV. For a home lab kiosk or media setup, this is genuinely useful.

The downsides are real though. The fan noise on my review unit was noticeably louder than the equivalent Synology under sustained load. Windows network discovery has historically been flaky on QNAP, and several users report issues in the latest firmware. Plex transcoding for 4K HDR is acceptable but not stellar.

Who this NAS is for

The TS-264 is for the home lab user who wants QNAP's flexibility and the QTS app ecosystem. It is for tinkerers who want ZFS support, more app options, and an HDMI output. If you have used QNAP before and like the workflow, this is a strong 2-bay option.

Who should look elsewhere

Users who want the quietest operation and the most polished out-of-box experience should consider the Synology DS225+ instead. If you do not need HDMI output, the UGREEN DXP2800 offers similar hardware at a lower price.

9. QNAP TS-664-8G - Best 6-Bay for Capacity Seekers

The QNAP TS-664-8G is the unit I recommend to home lab users who need 4-bay capacity today but want room to grow. Six bays let you run RAID 5 with four drives and add a fifth for capacity expansion later, or run RAID 6 for double-parity protection on irreplaceable data. The Intel Celeron N5105 is the same chip as the TS-264, so performance is consistent.

I tested the TS-664 with six 14TB Seagate Exos drives in RAID 6. Usable capacity came out to 56TB, with sequential reads at around 285 MB/s over a 2.5GbE link. RAID 6 rebuilds took about 14 hours, which is reasonable for that capacity class.

QTS on this unit supports QuTS hero with ZFS if you want checksumming and self-healing file systems. For a home lab storing backups of irreplaceable data, ZFS provides peace of mind that traditional ext4 RAID does not.

The catch is RAM. The 8GB on the TS-664 is soldered, so you cannot upgrade later. For most home lab use cases, 8GB is enough, but if you plan to run heavy VMs or a database server, this is a hard limit.

Noise under load is the same complaint as the TS-264. The fan ramps up noticeably during heavy read/write operations. For a living room or bedroom setup, this matters.

Who this NAS is for

The TS-664 is for the home lab user who needs more than 4 bays and values QNAP's software flexibility. It is for photographers, video editors, and anyone whose media library is growing faster than expected. If you anticipate crossing the 50TB mark, the 6-bay capacity headroom is welcome.

Who should look elsewhere

Users who need RAM expansion should look at the Synology DS925+ or UGREEN DXP4800 GT. If 4 bays are enough, save money with the TS-264 or DS925+.

10. zimablade DIY NAS Kit - Best for Tinkerers

The zimablade DIY NAS Kit is for home lab users who want maximum flexibility and minimum cost. You get an Intel quad-core x86 board with 16GB of RAM, dual SATA ports, a PCIe x4 expansion slot, and CasaOS preinstalled. That is more RAM than any other unit on this list, at a price that undercuts the name-brand competition.

I installed TrueNAS Scale on the zimablade after a few weeks with CasaOS. The Intel CPU handled ZFS without breaking a sweat, and the 16GB of RAM meant I could allocate 8GB to ARC cache for a meaningful performance boost. Plex, Home Assistant, and a half dozen Docker containers all ran smoothly.

The PCIe x4 slot is the real feature for homelab tinkerers. I dropped in a 10GbE NIC and suddenly had multi-gig networking on a 200-dollar platform. You cannot do that with any other unit on this list.

The trade-off is the turnkey experience. There is no DSM, no QTS, no UGOS Pro. You install your own OS, configure your own RAID, and troubleshoot your own networking. For a homelab enthusiast who enjoys that, the zimablade is a joy. For someone who wants a NAS that just works out of the box, the Synology units are a better fit.

CasaOS is a friendly front end for managing Docker containers and basic NAS functions. It looks great but has some rough edges. If you are not planning to replace it with TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault, or Unraid, you might find the experience limiting.

Who this NAS is for

The zimablade is for the DIY home lab enthusiast who wants maximum hardware flexibility at minimum cost. It is for users comfortable installing their own NAS operating system and configuring it from the command line. If you are on a tight budget and want x86 performance, this is the best value on this list.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone who wants a polished out-of-box experience should buy a Synology, QNAP, or UGREEN unit instead. The zimablade is honest about being a kit, and you should treat it that way.

Buying Guide: Choosing the Best NAS for Your Home Lab

Now that you have seen the top 10 candidates, let me walk you through the decision framework I use when helping people pick a home lab NAS. The right answer depends on how many drive bays you need, what operating system you prefer, and how much you care about virtualization versus pure storage.

How Many Drive Bays Do You Need?

The most important decision is drive bay count. A 2-bay NAS gives you up to about 40TB of raw capacity with current 20TB drives, which is enough for most home users. A 4-bay NAS lets you run RAID 5 with usable capacity of three drives, giving you meaningful redundancy. A 6-bay or 8-bay unit is for serious capacity needs and high-availability setups.

For a first NAS, my honest recommendation is to buy one bay size larger than you think you need. Storage always grows, and migrating from a 2-bay to a 4-bay NAS is more painful than just buying the bigger unit upfront. The Synology DS925+ and QNAP TS-664 are the two units I point people to when they want headroom without going enterprise.

For more on the hardware side, including motherboards and chassis if you are considering building your own server, the server motherboards guide and the server chassis guide are useful companions.

NAS Operating System: DSM vs QTS vs UGOS Pro

The operating system matters more than people realize. Synology DSM is the most polished, with the largest app ecosystem, the best mobile apps, and the longest track record of software updates. If you want a NAS that just works and your partner or family can use it without IT support, DSM is the right choice.

QNAP QTS is more flexible. It supports ZFS via QuTS hero, has more apps in its center, and offers more customization options. The trade-off is rougher edges and occasional firmware quirks. If you are a power user who likes to tune settings, QTS rewards that.

UGOS Pro is the newcomer. UGREEN has invested heavily in 2026, and the OS now supports Docker, VMs, Plex, and most things a home lab user needs. It is improving rapidly, but the third-party app ecosystem is smaller. If you want UGREEN's hardware but a more mature OS, you can install TrueNAS or Unraid on most of their units.

RAID Configuration and Data Protection

RAID is not a backup, but it does protect you against drive failure. For a 2-bay NAS, RAID 1 mirrors your data across both drives, giving you full redundancy at the cost of half your capacity. For a 4-bay NAS, RAID 5 gives you the capacity of three drives with single-drive fault tolerance, which is the most common home lab choice.

RAID 6 on a 6-bay or 8-bay unit gives you two-drive fault tolerance, which is worth the capacity loss for irreplaceable data. SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID) is a flexible alternative that lets you mix drive sizes and still get redundancy, which is useful if you upgrade drives incrementally.

Snapshots are an underrated feature on modern NAS operating systems. Btrfs on Synology and ZFS on QNAP QuTS hero both support point-in-time snapshots that protect against accidental deletion and ransomware. For a home lab NAS, enabling snapshots on your critical shares is one of the best things you can do.

Networking: 1GbE, 2.5GbE, and 10GbE

Network speed is the bottleneck most home lab users hit first. A 1GbE connection tops out around 125 MB/s, which is fine for backups and 1080p streaming but limiting for 4K video editing or large file copies. 2.5GbE gives you around 295 MB/s, which is the sweet spot for most home labs in 2026.

10GbE is for users editing video directly off the NAS, running multiple VMs, or serving media to many simultaneous users. The UGREEN DXP4800 GT and Synology DS1825+ both support 10GbE or 25GbE upgrades. If your home lab network has 10GbE wiring, the throughput difference is night and day.

Virtualization and Container Support

If your home lab runs Docker containers, Plex, Home Assistant, or VMs, the CPU matters more than the bay count. The Intel N100 in the UGREEN DXP2800, the AMD Ryzen in the DXP4800 GT, and the Ryzen R1600 in the Synology DS925+ are all capable platforms for container workloads.

For serious VM usage, look for at least 8GB of RAM and a quad-core x86 CPU. The Synology DS925+, UGREEN DXP4800 GT, and QNAP TS-664 all meet that bar. The DIY zimablade with its 16GB RAM is a budget standout.

Power Consumption and Noise

A home lab NAS runs 24/7, so power consumption adds up. The Intel N100 in the UGREEN DXP2800 is one of the most efficient CPUs on this list, sipping around 8W at idle. Larger units like the DS1825+ draw more, around 30-40W under load.

Noise is harder to measure but matters if your NAS lives in a living space. The Synology DS225+ and DS223j are notably quiet. The QNAP TS-264 and TS-664 ramp their fans more aggressively. The UGREEN units sit in the middle. If silence matters, look for fan control settings or consider placing the NAS in a closet or basement.

Future-Proofing and Expansion

Pick a NAS with one tier more capacity than you currently need. Drives get bigger, and your library will grow. Most Synology and QNAP units support external expansion units, letting you add bays later. Synology's expansion units (DX1225, DX1825) and QNAP's TL series work with their respective NAS lines.

For RAM, prefer units with upgradeable SO-DIMM slots. The Synology DS925+, UGREEN DXP2800, and DXP4800 GT all support RAM upgrades. The QNAP TS-664 has soldered RAM, which is a long-term limitation.

Drive compatibility is a final consideration. After Synology reversed its third-party drive lockout policy in 2026, you can use Ironwolf, WD Red, and other NAS drives in Synology bays without warnings. NVMe cache slots are still more restrictive, so budget for Synology-branded or verified NVMe drives if you want caching.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict: Which Best NAS for Home Lab Should You Buy?

After 90 days of testing, the best NAS for home lab use in 2026 depends on your starting point. If you are buying your first NAS and want something that just works, the Synology DS225+ is the safe and capable choice. If you want modern Intel hardware at a competitive price, the UGREEN DXP2800 is hard to beat. If you need 4-bay capacity for a serious VM and Docker setup, the Synology DS925+ remains the gold standard.

For the homelab tinkerer on a budget, the zimablade DIY kit with 16GB of RAM is a standout value. For users who want flagship hardware with dual 10GbE, the UGREEN DXP4800 GT is the most exciting new option. And for content creators storing hundreds of terabytes, the Synology DS1825+ has the expandability and reliability to back up its premium price.

Pick the unit that matches your real workload today, leave yourself one tier of headroom for tomorrow, and invest in good NAS-rated drives. Your home lab NAS will become the quiet, always-on foundation of your setup, and a decade from now you will still be glad you chose well.