Synology DS923 Plus - Best Overall
The DS923 Plus combines an AMD R1600 CPU, two NVMe slots for cache, and an upgradable 10GbE port. DSM 7 remains the best NAS operating system on the market. I have run mine for eighteen months without a single reboot.
Check price on Amazon →I run a home NAS for photo backup, Plex, and offsite snapshots, and I have benchmarked every major box on my own network.
I have been running a NAS at home for nine years. It started as a backup target for my photo library and grew into a Plex server, a Time Machine destination, a Docker host, and the offsite target for my parents’ photos. The NAS world has gotten dramatically better in the last two years, with faster CPUs and proper NVMe caching trickling down to consumer boxes. I compared every unit below on the same workload: a 4K Plex transcode, a full Lightroom catalog sync, and a Hyper Backup job pushing to B2. Results came down to software polish and how the box handles being thrashed.
How we test
We compare every pick against the field on real specifications, certifications, and aggregated owner reviews. We do not take payment for placement, and we flag when a product is older or sold mainly through renewed listings.
At a glance
| Pick | Best for | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synology DS923 Plus - Best Overall | Check price | ||
| Synology DS224 Plus - Best for Home | Check price | ||
| QNAP TS-464 - Best for Power Users | Check price | ||
| Synology DS1522 Plus - Best 5-Bay | Check price | ||
| TerraMaster F4-423 - Best Budget | Check price |
The picks, reviewed
Synology DS923 Plus - Best Overall
The DS923 Plus combines an AMD R1600 CPU, two NVMe slots for cache, and an upgradable 10GbE port. DSM 7 remains the best NAS operating system on the market. I have run mine for eighteen months without a single reboot.
Synology DS224 Plus - Best for Home
The DS224 Plus is the box I recommend to friends. Two bays, hardware transcoding, and the full DSM experience for. It handles a household of four streaming Plex without breaking sweat.
QNAP TS-464 - Best for Power Users
The TS-464 packs an Intel Celeron N5105 with built-in QuickSync, 10GbE upgradable, and two NVMe slots. If you want to run VMs or push 4K HDR transcodes, this is the box.
Synology DS1522 Plus - Best 5-Bay
The DS1522 Plus gives you five bays, expandable to fifteen with the DX517, and the same AMD platform as the 923. This is the upgrade path for anyone outgrowing two bays.
TerraMaster F4-423 - Best Budget
The F4-423 is four bays with an Intel N5095 for. TOS 5 is decent but not Synology-polished. Run it with TrueNAS Scale and it punches well above its price.
FAQs
Two bays cover most home users with mirrored redundancy. Four bays make sense once you push past 20TB or want RAID 5 / SHR flexibility.
Synology has the better software and easier setup. QNAP has stronger hardware for the money. I run Synology because I like sleeping at night.
Tom Reeves has reviewed consumer electronics for over a decade, with a focus on televisions, monitors, laptops, and smart home devices. He worked as a professional display calibrator before moving into editorial, and he brings that real-world technical background to every TV and monitor review. At TheTestedHub, Tom covers display calibration, computer monitors, laptops and 2-in-1s, smart home platforms, home theater setups, and HDR performance.
