The best NAS devices for your home after months of testing

Whether you want To back up all your precious files, facilitate sharing and collaboration, or create your own entertainment cloud, network attached storage (NAS) devices are the way to go. These versatile servers can boost your home network and help you offload tasks from your computer and other devices.

I’ve spent the past few months testing NAS devices from some of the top brands with a focus on families looking to create backups and perhaps run an entertainment server to reduce streaming subscriptions. These are the NAS devices I recommend.

You may want to check out our related guides too, like how to set up a NAS server, how to back up your digital life, and the best external hard drives.

NAS servers that I highly recommend

Although no longer undisputed, Synology is still the heavyweight champion in the NAS market, and its dual-slot NAS is ideal for the average home. It’s extremely fast, either topping the charts or coming close in my tests, consistently hitting around 300MB/s read and 250MB/s write, though that drops to just over 100MB/s if your network is limited to 1Gbps anywhere (router, port, cable, or switch). It has a wide array of ports (2.5Gbps and 1Gbps Ethernet ports and USB ports on the front and back). Premium hardware includes a fast Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM that can be upgraded to 6GB, and space for two drives (up to 40TB). It’s compact and relatively quiet, with only some minor fan noise when it’s busy. The screwless tray design makes it easy to insert drives.

Setup and configuration are simple and accessible. Synology’s software, with its web interface and mobile apps, is the most polished and user-friendly I’ve tested, and Synology offers the largest selection of apps (both its own polished offerings and third-party apps like Plex and Jellyfin). The NAS offers plenty of flexibility for backup, works great as a media server, and offers plenty of extras, including a VPN server and security camera support.

On the downside, Synology devices are relatively expensive. Remember that, as with most NAS devices, you must provide your own drives. Synology also briefly shut down its NAS lineup on Synology drives, citing third-party drives as incompatible. Although they backed off on this after some protest, so you can use third-party drives now, it’s a bit of a red flag. There’s also no HDMI port here, which you might need to connect a TV. If you think you need more space, the Synology DiskStation DS425+ ($520) adds two additional slots.

For people looking for a simple network backup that doesn’t require a lot of thought or configuration, I also tested the all-in-one Synology BeeStation Plus, which comes with built-in storage (prices are currently inflated due to the lack of AI), but no additional apps or features. It’s fast and easy to set up, works well with automatic backups, and has a decent photo app that can recognize faces, but performance is average.

The regular Synology BeeStation ($365) is a bit less expensive, but has only half the space of 4TB. For a straightforward backup solution, BeeStation is very handy, but you get more for your money.

Synology offers a very wide range of NAS devices, including powerful systems for large enterprises. It also makes good routers that can be paired to form a network and security cameras, which I haven’t tested yet.