Synology vs QNAP vs Asustor: Which NAS Brand to Choose

All three brands make reliable NAS units. They differ in what they put first: Synology the software, QNAP the hardware options, Asustor the value.

Synology

Synology's DSM is widely regarded as the easiest NAS system to live with, and its backup tools are included without a licence fee on supported models. Hardware is conservative for the price: processors and network ports are often a step behind competitors, and some recent models are validated mainly with Synology's own drives.

Choose Synology when ease of management and the backup suite matter most.

QNAP

QNAP offers the widest range and more hardware at each price: 2.5GbE as standard on most business models, PCIe slots, HDMI and many all-flash options. QuTS hero brings ZFS to a broad range. The software does a great deal, which also means there is more to configure and keep updated.

Choose QNAP when you want to match the hardware closely to the job, or need ZFS, 10GbE or all-flash at a moderate price.

Asustor

Asustor has a smaller, simpler range. Its recent models offer strong hardware for the money, including Ryzen processors with ECC memory, 10GbE and USB4 on the Lockerstor Gen3, and all-NVMe Flashstor units. ADM is clean and capable, with a smaller app catalogue than the other two.

Choose Asustor when hardware value and speed matter more than the breadth of add-on apps.

What they have in common

• RAID 1, 5, 6 and 10, with snapshots on Btrfs or ZFS models
• Backup to another NAS, to a remote site and to cloud storage
• Scheduled backup of Windows PCs to the NAS
• Mobile apps and remote access without opening router ports

How we help you decide

We supply all three, so we have no reason to push one. We start from your data, your applications and your budget, and recommend the model that fits, whichever badge is on it.

Common questions