| Model | Bays | M.2 | Max LAN | ECC | Transcode | Idle | RAM Max | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U AMD Ryzen 7 5825U | 4 | 2 | 2.5 GbE | No | Yes | 12 W | 64 GB | $379.00 (MSRP) |
 Minisforum N5 Air AMD Ryzen 7 H 255 | 5 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 26 W | 96 GB | $535.00 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Air AMD Ryzen 7 H 255, 16 GB RAM | 5 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 26 W | 96 GB | $719.00 (MSRP) |
 Minisforum N5 Pro AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 | 5 U.2 capable | 2 | 10 GbE | Yes | Yes | 45 W | 96 GB | $899.00 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Pro AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, 16 GB RAM | 5 U.2 capable | 2 | 10 GbE | Yes | Yes | 45 W | 96 GB | $1,179.00 (MSRP) |
 Synology DiskStation DS925+ AMD Ryzen Embedded V1500B, 4 GB RAM | 4 | 2 | 2.5 GbE | Yes | No | 12.33 W | 32 GB | $639.99 (MSRP) |
 TerraMaster F4-425 Plus Intel N150, 16 GB RAM | 4 | 3 | 5 GbE | No | Yes | 13.3 W | 32 GB | $649.99 (MSRP) |
| TerraMaster F4-425 Plus Intel N95, 8 GB RAM | 4 | 3 | 5 GbE | No | Yes | 13.3 W | 16 GB | $509.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP2800 Intel N100, 8 GB RAM | 2 | 2 | 2.5 GbE | No | Yes | 5.24 W | 16 GB | $389.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP4800 GT AMD Ryzen Embedded R2514, 8 GB RAM | 4 U.2 capable | 2 | 10 GbE | Yes | Yes | 25 W | 64 GB | $559.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus Intel Pentium Gold 8505, 8 GB RAM | 4 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 24.25 W | 64 GB | $656.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP480T Plus Intel Core i5-1235U, 8 GB RAM | — all-flash | 4 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 18 W | 64 GB | $899.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro Intel Core i5-1235U, 8 GB RAM | 6 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 22.4 W | 64 GB | $1,099.99 (MSRP) |
 UGREEN NASync DXP8800 Plus Intel Core i5-1235U, 8 GB RAM | 8 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 28.99 W | 64 GB | $1,369.99 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Air AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS | 5 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 26 W | 96 GB | $495.00 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Air AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS, 16 GB RAM | 5 | 2 | 10 GbE | No | Yes | 26 W | 96 GB | $679.00 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Pro AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, 48 GB RAM | 5 U.2 capable | 2 | 10 GbE | Yes | Yes | 45 W | 96 GB | $1,463.00 (MSRP) |
| Minisforum N5 Pro AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, 96 GB RAM | 5 U.2 capable | 2 | 10 GbE | Yes | Yes | 45 W | 96 GB | $1,759.00 (MSRP) |
How to choose a NAS in 2026
Four bays are the practical starting point for a home NAS, and the software you want should decide the brand before the hardware does.
Product prices and availability are pulled from Amazon, are accurate only as of the date and time shown, and are subject to change. Retailer links appear under each row’s Buying options, in the side-by-side comparison, and on model pages. See our FTC Disclosure.
How to use the NAS comparison chart
Click a column heading to sort by it, and click it again to reverse the order. The chips above the table narrow the list by bay count (2-bay, 4-bay, or 5 or more) and by four features: 10GbE networking, ECC memory, hardware transcoding, and all-flash designs. The feature chips stack, so ticking 10GbE and ECC together shows only models that have both. Tick Compare on two to four rows to see their full specs side by side. Each model name opens its product page, with the full spec sheet, what reviewers found, and current prices.
Some models come in more than one configuration, such as a barebone unit and versions with memory installed. Each configuration gets its own row, and the processor and installed memory show under the model name. Every model in the chart ships without drives, so no price here includes storage. Budget for drives separately; the cost section below shows how quickly they add up.
What each column means
Bays counts the 3.5-inch drive bays, which also take 2.5-inch drives. A model marked all-flash has no hard drive bays and holds only M.2 SSDs. M.2 is the number of M.2 NVMe slots free for your own SSDs. On most models these slots work as an SSD cache or as a separate storage pool. A slot that the maker fills with the system drive does not count.
Max LAN is the fastest built-in Ethernet port. Some models add a second, slower port, and the chart lists only the faster one. Filter for 10GbE if you plan to move large files across a 10GbE network.
ECC reads Yes only when the NAS supports ECC SO-DIMM memory modules. These modules carry extra check bits, so the processor can detect and correct memory errors, whether they happen inside a memory chip or on the way to the processor. DDR5 memory also has on-die ECC, which corrects errors only inside each memory chip, so the chart counts on-die ECC as No.
Transcode reads Yes when the processor has a graphics engine that converts video in hardware. Media servers use it to stream to phones, TVs, and browsers that cannot play the original file. Jellyfin uses it on every model marked Yes; Plex support depends on the chip, as the transcoding section below explains. The Synology DS925+ reads No because its AMD Ryzen V1500B has no graphics engine.
Idle is the power draw in watts with the NAS switched on and doing no work, as measured by the maker or a reviewer. The test conditions vary by source. Some figures have the hard drives spun down, some have no drives installed, and some have drives spinning. Synology measured the DS925+ at 12.33 W with four hard drives in hibernation, while the DXP6800 Pro figure of 22.4 W comes from a unit with no drives at all. Compare idle figures only when the conditions match, and check each product page for the conditions behind its number.
RAM Max is the most memory the unit supports. Price starts as the list price for that configuration, marked MSRP. When a current retailer price is available, the chart shows it instead, with the date and time it was checked, and Buying options lists each store.
Who needs a NAS
A NAS (network-attached storage) is a small computer built to hold hard drives and share them over your home network. Every phone, laptop, TV, and streaming box on the network can reach the same files, and the NAS keeps running when your computers are off. The common jobs are phone photo backup, a backup target for Windows and Mac computers, a shared family drive, and a media library for Plex or Jellyfin. Newer models with faster chips also run Docker containers such as Home Assistant or Pi-hole, and a few virtual machines.
You probably need one if your photos and documents live on a single laptop or a single USB drive, if two or more people need the same files, or if your media library has outgrown what a streaming box can hold. You probably do not need one if everything you care about already fits in a cloud plan you pay for and you have no media library. A NAS is also not the right tool for someone who wants no maintenance at all: every model in the chart needs updates, drive health checks, and a backup of its own.
A NAS, a mini PC home server, or cloud storage
Cloud storage is the simplest option. Google, Apple, and Microsoft keep the copies, handle the hardware, and give you access anywhere. The costs are a monthly fee that grows with your library, a copy of your files on someone else’s servers, and download speeds limited by your internet connection. Cloud storage also works as the off-site second copy for a NAS.
A mini PC can do much of what a NAS does. It runs the same Linux, Docker, and Plex software, and it often has a faster processor for the money. It has little room for drives. A typical mini PC takes one or two M.2 SSDs and no 3.5-inch hard drives, so large libraries end up on USB enclosures. Our guides to using a mini PC as a NAS and building a mini PC home server cover that route.
A NAS sits between the two. It holds two to eight hard drives, usually in hot-swap trays, protects them with RAID, and comes with software that handles sharing, backup, and photo sync without a Linux command line. Hard drives cost far less per terabyte than SSDs, so a NAS is the cheapest way to keep tens of terabytes at home. Several NAS models in the chart also have processors as fast as a mid-range mini PC, so one box can do both jobs.
What a NAS operating system does
The operating system decides more about daily life with a NAS than the hardware does. It sets which RAID types you can use, how backups work, which phone apps you get, and how long the box keeps receiving security fixes. Pick the software you want first, then find hardware that runs it.
DSM, UGOS Pro, TOS, and MinisCloud OS
Synology’s DSM runs only on Synology hardware and is the most complete NAS system in the chart. Its backup apps are the main reason to buy Synology: Hyper Backup makes versioned backups to another NAS, a USB drive, or cloud storage, and Active Backup for Business backs up Windows and Mac computers to the NAS. Synology Photos and Synology Drive cover phone photo backup and file sync. Our UGREEN vs Synology comparison goes through those apps in detail.
UGREEN’s UGOS Pro runs on every NASync model. It is based on Debian and covers file sharing, a photo app with face and object recognition, file sync, Docker, and virtual machines. Its backup tools are thinner than Synology’s. TerraMaster’s TOS 7 includes TRAID (TerraMaster’s flexible RAID), Btrfs snapshots, a photo app, Docker with Portainer, and backup tools, but no built-in media center app. Minisforum’s MinisCloud OS is the newest of the four; ServeTheHome, Jim’s Garage, and Britec09 all called it unfinished in their N5 Pro reviews, and the first setup runs through a desktop or phone app rather than a web page.
The DS925+ and the TerraMaster F4-425 Plus install their systems on the data drives. UGREEN puts UGOS Pro on its own eMMC chip or SSD (32GB of eMMC on the DXP2800, 64GB on the DXP4800 GT, and a 128GB SSD on the larger models), and the Minisforum units ship with a small system SSD in one of their M.2 slots. A separate system drive makes it easier to replace the operating system without touching your data.
Synology’s drive rules
Synology is the only maker in the chart with a drive compatibility list that decides what you can install. When the DS925+ launched in 2025, it would not install DSM on hard drives outside that list. Synology reversed course with DSM 7.3 on October 8, 2025, and 2025 DiskStation Plus models now accept third-party hard drives and 2.5-inch SATA SSDs for new storage pools.
The M.2 slots are still restricted. Synology’s drive compatibility policy lists unlisted M.2 NVMe SSDs in DS Plus models as supported only when migrated from an older Synology system, not for new pools or caches. On a DS925+, that means Synology’s own NVMe SSDs if you want to use the M.2 slots at all. UGREEN, TerraMaster, Minisforum, and AOOSTAR have no drive list you have to follow.
TrueNAS, Unraid, and Proxmox on NAS hardware
Every model in the chart except the DS925+ is an x86 PC with drive bays that accepts a third-party system. TrueNAS Community Edition is free, runs on Debian, and is built on OpenZFS, with Docker apps and virtual machines. Unraid is a paid system that lets you mix drives of different sizes in one array and add drives one at a time. Proxmox is a virtual machine host, and some owners run TrueNAS inside a Proxmox virtual machine; Jim’s Garage set up the Minisforum N5 Pro that way.
UGREEN allows third-party systems and keeps the hardware warranty, though it does not support the software, and on the DXP2800 and DXP8800 Plus you must disable a watchdog timer in the BIOS first. The 64GB eMMC system drive on the DXP4800 GT makes other installs less direct than on the UGREEN models with a system SSD. Minisforum supports Windows 11 and Linux on the N5 Air, and reviewers ran Windows 11, Proxmox, and TrueNAS on the N5 Pro. The AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U ships with no NAS system at all, so you bring your own from the start. The common snag across all of them is fan control: under TrueNAS or Unraid, the fans may run too fast or too slow until you set them up.
A third-party system also protects you against the end of vendor updates. If the maker stops updating a model, TrueNAS or Unraid keeps running on standard x86 hardware. A Synology box runs DSM and nothing else in any supported way.
Apps, Docker, and virtual machines
Docker containers are small, self-contained apps: Home Assistant, Pi-hole, Immich for photos, a password manager, a download client. Every system in the chart runs them, and they need little processor power, but each one takes memory. A handful of containers fits comfortably in 8GB. The DS925+ ships with 4GB, which fills quickly once you add containers.
Virtual machines are full operating systems running inside the NAS, such as a Windows desktop or a Linux test server. They need processor cores and several gigabytes of memory each. The DS925+, with four cores and 4GB installed, suits one small virtual machine at most. The Core i5 UGREEN models (10 cores), the AOOSTAR and the Minisforum N5 Air (6 or 8 cores), and the N5 Pro (12 cores) have room for several.
NAS hardware
Drive bays and capacity
Bays set how much storage the NAS can hold and which RAID types it can use. Two bays give you a mirror: two drives with the same data, so one can fail. Four bays allow RAID 5, where one drive’s worth of space holds parity and the rest holds data, so four 12TB drives give about 36TB of usable space. RAID 6 survives two failed drives at the cost of two drives of space; it needs at least four drives but makes more sense with five or more, since four-drive RAID 6 leaves only half the raw space.
For most homes, four bays are the practical minimum. A two-bay box such as the UGREEN DXP2800 costs less, but a mirror gives you only half the raw capacity, and to grow it you must replace both drives. Four bays let you start with three drives and add a fourth later. The chart has four-bay models from UGREEN, Synology, TerraMaster, and AOOSTAR, five-bay models from Minisforum, and six- and eight-bay models from UGREEN.
Look at hot-swap trays too. Most models in the chart let you pull a failed drive while the NAS is running. The AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U does not, so you must shut it down to change a drive. The UGREEN DXP480T Plus has no drive bays at all: it holds four M.2 SSDs for up to 32TB of flash storage in a box about the size of a Mac mini.
RAID, file systems, and why RAID is not a backup
RAID keeps the NAS running when a drive fails. It does not protect you from deleting a file, from ransomware that encrypts your shares, from a power surge that kills every drive, or from a fire. Synology states it plainly in its knowledge base: “RAID (classic and SHR) is not a backup solution.” The TrueNAS ZFS primer says the same: “RAID and disk redundancy are not substitutes for a reliable backup strategy.” The usual rule is 3-2-1: three copies of your data, on two different media, with one copy off-site. For a NAS, that means a second copy on a USB drive or another NAS, and a third in cloud storage or at another house.
Classic RAID 5 treats every drive as the size of the smallest one. Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) combines drives of different sizes to use more of the space, and needs at least four drives for SHR-2, which survives two failures. TerraMaster’s TRAID works on the same idea. Unraid keeps a separate file system on each data drive and protects them with one or two parity drives, and Unraid’s documentation says the parity drive must be at least as large as the largest data drive. UGOS Pro offers standard RAID levels. MinisCloud OS builds only ZFS pools, so its choices are ZFS layouts: a stripe, a mirror, RAIDZ1 (similar to RAID 5), and RAIDZ2 (similar to RAID 6), which Minisforum lists as RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6.
DSM, UGOS Pro, and TOS offer Btrfs, which supports snapshots: saved versions of a folder that you can roll back to after an accidental deletion or a ransomware attack, as long as the attack does not reach the snapshots themselves. They also offer ext4, which is simpler and has no snapshots. TrueNAS uses ZFS, which checksums every block it writes. When it finds a block that does not match its checksum on a mirrored or RAIDZ pool, it replaces the bad data with a good copy. DSM, UGOS Pro, and TOS do not use ZFS. MinisCloud OS on the Minisforum units uses ZFS only, with no Btrfs or ext4. On the other models you get ZFS by installing TrueNAS or a Linux distribution that supports it.
CMR and SMR hard drives
Buy NAS drives that use CMR (conventional magnetic recording). Some cheaper drives use SMR (shingled magnetic recording), which overlaps data tracks to fit more on a platter and slows down badly during long writes such as a RAID rebuild. Western Digital says on its blog that WD Red Plus is the name for its CMR NAS drives from 1TB to 14TB, while its 2TB to 6TB WD Red drives use device-managed SMR. TrueNAS found that one WD Red SMR model can enter a faulty state under heavy writes, including rebuilds, and recommends CMR drives.
WD Red Plus, WD Red Pro, Seagate IronWolf, and Seagate IronWolf Pro are the common NAS lines, and each maker’s product page states the recording type. Check it before you buy, especially for drives of 6TB or less.
M.2 slots for cache or a storage pool
Most models in the chart have two or more M.2 NVMe slots. As a cache, the SSDs hold copies of files you open often so the NAS can serve them faster than the hard drives. As a separate storage pool, the SSDs become their own fast volume, which suits Docker apps and their databases. With apps on SSDs, the hard drives can spin down when nobody is using them, which saves power and noise.
The lane count on each slot sets its top speed. The TerraMaster F4-425 Plus gives each of its three M.2 slots one PCIe 3.0 lane, so one drive tops out just under 1,000 MB/s. The Minisforum N5 Air and N5 Pro run their free slots at x2 and x1, and the UGREEN DXP4800 GT at PCIe 3.0 x2. The DXP480T Plus runs two of its four slots at PCIe 4.0 x4. On most models the network is the slower link anyway, since a 2.5GbE port moves about 300 MB/s and a 10GbE port about 1,100 MB/s.
Check what the M.2 slots accept before you count on them. On the DS925+, they take only Synology’s SSDs. On the AOOSTAR, which ships barebone, one of the two slots usually holds the operating system drive, which leaves one for data. The DXP480T Plus and DXP4800 Plus have no room for SSDs with their own full-height heatsinks.
U.2 bays
U.2 is a connector for data-center NVMe SSDs, which come in a 2.5-inch drive shape and reach larger capacities than M.2 drives. Two models in the chart accept them. On the UGREEN DXP4800 GT, bays 1 and 2 take a U.2 drive in place of a SATA drive, on a PCIe 3.0 x4 link. The Minisforum N5 Pro takes two U.2 drives through an included adapter in its data M.2 slots, limited to 7mm drives of up to 15TB, and the adapter replaces an internal fan. U.2 drives are enterprise SSDs, so this feature suits homelab owners who already have them.
Processors
The processor sets how many apps, containers, and virtual machines the NAS can run at once. File sharing and backups need very little. PassMark’s CPU Mark, a multi-thread benchmark score, gives a rough scale for the chips in the chart:
| Processor | Cores / threads | CPU Mark | Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen Embedded V1500B | 4 / 8 | about 4,500 | Synology DS925+ |
| Intel N95, N100, N150 | 4 / 4 | about 5,300 to 5,500 | TerraMaster F4-425 Plus, UGREEN DXP2800 |
| AMD Ryzen Embedded R2514 | 4 / 8 | about 6,700 | UGREEN DXP4800 GT |
| Intel Pentium Gold 8505 | 5 / 6 | about 9,000 | UGREEN DXP4800 Plus |
| Intel Core i5-1235U | 10 / 12 | about 12,500 | UGREEN DXP480T Plus, DXP6800 Pro, DXP8800 Plus |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5825U | 8 / 16 | about 18,400 | AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS, Ryzen 7 255 | 6 / 12, 8 / 16 | about 23,100 and 28,700 | Minisforum N5 Air |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 | 12 / 24 | about 33,300 | Minisforum N5 Pro |
The Intel N-series chips (N95, N100, N150) are low-power four-core parts that handle file serving, photo backup, Plex with hardware transcoding, and a handful of containers. The Pentium Gold 8505 and Core i5-1235U are laptop chips with more cores and the same Intel graphics engine. The V1500B in the DS925+ belongs to an AMD embedded family that launched in 2018. The laptop-class Ryzen chips in the AOOSTAR and the Minisforum units are several times faster than the N-series and suit owners who want the NAS to be their main home server.
More processor means more power at full load, but not always at idle. If the NAS will serve files and nothing else, a fast chip is money spent on headroom you will not use. If it will run Plex, a dozen containers, and a Windows virtual machine, the extra cores save you from buying a second computer.
Hardware transcoding for Plex and Jellyfin
When Plex or Jellyfin streams a movie to a device that cannot play its format, or to a phone on a slow connection, the server converts the video on the fly. A chip with a built-in video engine does this with little effort. A chip without one does it on the processor cores, and a four-core embedded chip cannot keep up with a 4K HEVC file. If most of your viewing is on a modern TV that plays your files as they are (direct play), transcoding rarely happens and this matters less.
Every model in the chart except the Synology DS925+ has a video engine. The Intel models use Quick Sync. The AMD models use AMD’s video engine in their Radeon graphics; PCWorld confirmed that the Radeon Vega graphics in the DXP4800 GT transcode H.264 and H.265 in UGREEN’s own video app. Plex’s hardware acceleration article says the feature “requires an active Plex Pass subscription,” and its Linux instructions cover Intel graphics and NVIDIA cards but do not list AMD graphics. Jellyfin is free, and its documentation covers Intel Quick Sync and AMD graphics through VA-API on Linux. Plex on AMD graphics is less certain. Lon.TV tested Plex under Unraid on four AMD mini PCs: hardware transcoding worked on the Zen 2 and Zen 3 chips with Vega graphics, but “hardware tone mapping is not supported on these chips,” so HDR video looked washed out, and on the Zen 4 and Zen 5 chips “hardware transcoding does not work.” The AOOSTAR’s Ryzen 7 5825U and the DXP4800 GT’s R2514 also use Vega graphics; Lon.TV did not test these two chips, but expect the same result, with Plex transcoding and no HDR tone mapping. The Minisforum N5 Air (Zen 4) and N5 Pro (Zen 5) use the same generations that failed; Lon.TV tested a Ryzen AI 365, not these exact chips. Plex runs on those two, but it transcodes on the processor cores. If Plex is the main job, an Intel model is the safer choice; our guide to setting up a Plex server on a mini PC covers Quick Sync in more detail.
Memory and ECC
Memory holds the operating system, the file cache, and every app you run. For a NAS that stores files and backs up phones, 4GB to 8GB is enough. Docker containers and virtual machines each take more, and ZFS uses spare memory as a read cache, so a TrueNAS build does better with more memory. Most models ship with 8GB, the DS925+ ships with 4GB, and the TerraMaster F4-425 Plus N150 model ships with 16GB. The AOOSTAR and the barebone Minisforum configurations ship with none, so add the cost of memory to their prices.
ECC (error-correcting code) memory detects and fixes memory errors before bad data reaches your drives. It needs support from the processor and the motherboard as well as ECC modules. Three models in the chart support it: the Synology DS925+, which ships with a 4GB ECC module; the UGREEN DXP4800 GT, which supports ECC modules but ships with a standard non-ECC module, so you have to buy ECC memory to get the protection; and the Minisforum N5 Pro, which takes ECC or non-ECC DDR5 and sells configurations with 48GB or 96GB of ECC installed.
Spec sheets for many DDR5 models list “on-die ECC” or “ODECC.” Every DDR5 chip has this. It corrects errors inside each memory chip but does not check data on its way between the memory and the processor, which is the part ECC modules protect. The chart counts on-die ECC as No for that reason. ECC is worth having on a box that holds the only copy of irreplaceable files, but it does not replace a backup, and it matters less than drive redundancy and a second copy of your data.
The DXP2800 and the TerraMaster have one memory slot each, which caps the DXP2800 at 16GB and the F4-425 Plus N150 model at 32GB. Models with two slots run in dual channel once both are filled, which gives the processor more memory bandwidth. Synology asks for matched pairs and recommends its own modules for the DS925+.
2.5GbE, 5GbE, and 10GbE networking
A 2.5GbE port carries at most 312 MB/s before network overhead, and a little less in practice. A single large NAS hard drive reads at a similar speed; Seagate rates its 24TB IronWolf Pro at 240 MB/s sustained. A four-drive RAID array reading in parallel, or any NVMe SSD, is faster than 2.5GbE can carry. A 5GbE port raises the limit to 625 MB/s before overhead (NASCompares measured about 470 MB/s reads over one 5GbE link on the TerraMaster F4-425 Plus with an SSD cache), and a 10GbE port to about 1,100 MB/s in practice.
Network speed matters for copying large files: video projects, full-computer backups, and restores. It matters little for streaming video, phone photo backup, or Docker apps, which stay far below 2.5GbE. The DS925+, the AOOSTAR, and the DXP2800 top out at 2.5GbE. The TerraMaster has two 5GbE ports. The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus has one 10GbE and one 2.5GbE port, the DXP480T Plus has one 10GbE port, the DXP4800 GT, DXP6800 Pro, and DXP8800 Plus have two, and the Minisforum N5 Air and N5 Pro pair 10GbE with 5GbE.
A fast port on the NAS helps only if the rest of the path matches. Your router or switch needs a port at the same speed, and the computer on the other end needs a matching network adapter. If the router has only 1GbE ports, a 10GbE NAS behind it moves files at a little over 100 MB/s, and a laptop without an Ethernet port needs a USB or Thunderbolt adapter. You can connect one computer straight to the NAS with a cable and skip the switch. Our article on 10GbE versus 2.5GbE for a home NAS works through when the upgrade pays off.
Two ports at the same speed can also be combined with link aggregation for failover or for more total bandwidth across several computers. Aggregation does not make one file copy to one computer faster.
PCIe slots and expansion units
A PCIe slot lets you add a faster network card, an SFP+ card for fiber or direct-attach cables, or an NVMe adapter. Four models in the chart have one: the UGREEN DXP6800 Pro and DXP8800 Plus (PCIe 4.0 x4, low-profile, and you have to take the case apart to reach it) and the Minisforum N5 Air and N5 Pro (an x16-size slot for low-profile cards, wired at PCIe 4.0 x4). The Minisforum units also have an OCuLink port, which can connect an external graphics card.
The DS925+ has no PCIe slot and no network upgrade slot, so it stays at 2.5GbE for life. It does support Synology’s DX525 expansion unit, which adds five bays over a USB-C link at 5Gbps, for nine bays in total. The drives in the expansion unit share that link. None of the other models in the chart supports an expansion unit, so buy enough bays up front.
Power draw and noise
A NAS runs around the clock, so idle power matters more than peak power. The measured idle figures behind the chart range from about 5 W for the DXP2800 with one drive asleep (UGREEN’s lab figure) to 45 to 49 W for the Minisforum N5 Pro with five 28TB hard drives installed (ServeTheHome’s measurement). The test conditions explain most of that range. Hard drives add a large share: Seagate’s 24TB IronWolf Pro draws 6.7 W at idle and 1.2 W asleep, so four spinning drives add about 27 W on their own. Dong Knows Tech measured about 730 watt-hours a day from the DS925+ with four hard drives, an average of about 30 W.
At 30 W around the clock, a NAS uses about 263 kilowatt-hours a year, which comes to about $45 at 17 cents per kilowatt-hour. Our breakdown of what a server costs to run 24/7 has the math for other rates. To lower the bill, let the drives spin down when idle, put apps on an M.2 pool so the hard drives can sleep, and pick a chip no bigger than your workload.
The drives also make most of the noise. Synology rates the DS925+ at 20.5 dB(A) at idle with its own drives, while NASCompares measured 36 to 37 dB(A) fully idle in its review. Seagate rates the 24TB IronWolf Pro at 28 dB(A) idle and 32 dB(A) while seeking, per drive. Large 7,200 rpm drives click and hum in a quiet room no matter which box they sit in. If the NAS will live in a bedroom or living room, plan for a closet, a basement, or smaller, quieter drives. The all-flash DXP480T Plus runs under 30 dB at idle in Liliputing’s test, but its fans are audible during large copies.
USB, Thunderbolt, and HDMI
Every model has USB ports for backing up to an external drive or importing files from a camera card reader. Most have 10Gbps USB-A or USB-C ports, which are fast enough for an external hard drive or SSD. The DS925+ has two 5Gbps USB-A ports, and its USB-C port connects only to the DX525.
Three UGREEN models have two Thunderbolt 4 ports: the DXP480T Plus, DXP6800 Pro, and DXP8800 Plus. Thunderbolt lets a Mac or PC connect straight to the NAS at up to 40Gb/s without a 10GbE switch, which suits a video editor working from one desk. One DXP6800 Pro owner could not get the Thunderbolt link to work with a Mac, so keep 10GbE as a second fast path. The Minisforum N5 Air and N5 Pro have two USB4 ports each.
Most models also have an HDMI port. On the TerraMaster, HDMI gives only a text terminal. Under a third-party system such as Proxmox or Windows, it works as a normal display output for setup and troubleshooting.
Diskless prices and the cost of drives
Every NAS in the chart ships without drives, and the drives often cost as much as the NAS or more. Before comparing box prices, add the drives you need to reach your target capacity, plus a spare drive or a backup drive. For four-bay models, list prices run from $379 for the barebone AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U to $656.99 for the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus, with the Synology DS925+ at $639.99, the TerraMaster F4-425 Plus N150 model at $649.99, and the UGREEN DXP4800 GT at $559.99. The five-bay Minisforum N5 Air lists from $495 barebone, the N5 Pro from $899 barebone, and the six- and eight-bay UGREEN models at $1,099.99 and $1,369.99. The two-bay DXP2800 lists at $389.99.
Barebone units need more than drives. The AOOSTAR ships with no memory, no system drive, and no NAS software, so add memory and an M.2 SSD for the operating system. The barebone Minisforum configurations include a system SSD but no memory. The TerraMaster F4-425 Plus N150 model ships with 16GB, twice the 8GB in UGREEN’s four-bay models, and its N95 model with 8GB lists at $509.99.
Drive prices change often, so the chart does not include them. Compare drives by price per terabyte, which varies by capacity; the largest size is not always the cheapest per terabyte. Fewer, larger drives leave bays free for later and use less power than a full set of small drives, since each spinning drive adds several watts.
Which NAS fits which buyer
For a home that wants Plex or Jellyfin, Docker apps, and fast file transfers in one box, the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus is the default four-bay pick. It has a 10GbE port, Quick Sync for transcoding, M.2 slots that take any SSD, and a system SSD that makes TrueNAS an easy install later. Its limits are UGOS Pro’s thinner backup tools and no ECC modules. If you want ECC and dual 10GbE in four bays, the DXP4800 GT adds both, plus U.2 support, for a lower list price, but you must buy ECC memory separately.
For backup first, pick the Synology DS925+. DSM’s backup apps, ECC memory, and the DX525 expansion option suit a home or small office that wants the NAS to protect computers and photos with little attention. Accept its limits before you buy: 2.5GbE for life, no hardware transcoding, only 4GB of memory installed, and M.2 slots locked to Synology SSDs. Our UGREEN vs Synology comparison sets these two side by side.
For a first NAS with faster ports than 2.5GbE, the TerraMaster F4-425 Plus pairs four bays with an Intel N150, 16GB of memory, three M.2 slots, and two 5GbE ports, and TOS covers backup, photos, and Docker. Its limits are single-lane M.2 slots, no ECC option, and details such as rubber feet that fall off. The UGREEN DXP2800 suits a small household that needs a mirrored pair and a modest Plex server, as long as it will not outgrow two bays.
For homelab owners who want to install their own system, the choice is about processor and memory. The AOOSTAR WTR PRO 5825U is the lowest-cost route to eight cores and four bays, without hot-swap trays or NAS software. The Minisforum N5 Air adds a fifth bay, 10GbE, a PCIe slot, and a faster Ryzen chip. The Minisforum N5 Pro adds a 12-core chip, ECC support up to 96GB, and U.2, for owners who want one box for storage, virtual machines, and Jellyfin (Plex runs on its CPU cores, not its graphics). Plan on TrueNAS, Unraid, or Proxmox on both Minisforum units, because MinisCloud OS is still immature.
For large libraries and studios, the UGREEN DXP6800 Pro and DXP8800 Plus give six or eight bays, a Core i5, dual 10GbE, Thunderbolt 4, and a PCIe slot. Both are loud enough with full bays that they belong in a closet or office rather than beside a desk. For video and photo editors who want speed more than capacity, the all-flash UGREEN DXP480T Plus holds four M.2 SSDs in a small aluminum case with 10GbE and Thunderbolt 4, at a much higher cost per terabyte than hard drives.
Whichever you pick, set up a second copy of your data on day one, on a USB drive, a second NAS, or cloud storage. The rest of our NAS coverage is on the NAS hub.