Best NAS for home labs, self-hosting and backups

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The NAS units sold without drives in the catalogue Argusic tracks, in one table you can filter by what the box has to run: containers and self-hosted services in a home lab, backups, a media server, or fast transfers over the network. Filter by bays, processor, memory, the fastest network port, M.2 slots and price, then read the buying guide below the table for what each choice changes.

Nothing here was tested hands-on. Specs are what the seller states, and the Use for rules are Argusic's, printed beside the filter. Drives are not included in these prices.

Right now: 153 NAS units, each with a price read in the store's window, 137 in stock. Latest price read 10/19/2026 05:22 PDT.

Top picks

Three popular picks from the table below, one per brand, refreshed with the prices; commissions never change the order.

  1. UGREEN NAS DXP2800 2-Bay for Advanced Home Users

    A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit

    389.99 USD (as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

    View on Amazon

  2. Yxk Zero1 Pro 4-Bay NAS for Private Cloud & Home Media Server

    A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit

    299.99 USD (as of 10/19/2026 05:22 PDT - Details)

    View on Amazon

  3. QNAP TS-264-8G-US 2 Bay Desktop NAS

    A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit

    469.00 USD (as of 10/19/2026 05:20 PDT - Details)

    View on Amazon

Listing 153 NAS units priced from $150. Colours of one product share a row.

Use for
The rules
  • Home lab & Docker: An Intel or AMD (x86) processor stated, and either Docker (or Container Station, Container Manager) named or 8 GB of memory or more stated. An ARM processor, or less than 4 GB of memory, is left out. A listing that states neither the processor nor enough to decide is not judged.
  • Backups (2+ bays): Two or more drive bays, so the drives can mirror each other (RAID 1 or better) and one failed drive loses nothing. A one-bay NAS is left out. The bay count has to be stated.
  • Media server: The listing names Plex, Jellyfin or Emby, a media server, or transcoding. A listing that names none of them is not judged.
  • Multi-gig network: A wired port faster than gigabit stated: 2.5GbE, 5GbE or 10GbE. A NAS whose fastest stated port is 1GbE is left out. A port the box needs a card for is not counted.
  • A NAS whose listing does not state what a rule needs is not counted as meeting it. Ticking two uses shows NAS units that meet both.
20 shown of 153 matching

Recommended: $800 to $1,500 first, popular first, one brand at a time; rows priced at another store take every third place while any are left. This is Argusic's editorial default, not a quality ranking. Commissions never change the order.

NAS

UGREEN NAS DXP6800 Plus 6-Bay Desktop NAS

UGREEN

Bays: 6CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 8Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: yesMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • M.2 slots for SSD cache or fast storage
  • Docker named by the seller
  • Sold by a third-party seller (UGREEN GROUP LIMITED), not by the store itself

939.15 USDsold by UGREEN GROUP LIMITEDin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

6-Bay Desktop NAS

ZIMA CUBE

Bays: 6CPU: IntelFastest port: 2.5GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: yesMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit
  • Docker named by the seller
  • 6 drive bays
  • Sold by a third-party seller (IceWhale Technology Limited), not by the store itself

899.00 USDsold by IceWhale Technology Limitedin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:19 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

6-Bay Desktop NAS

ZIMA CUBE

Bays: 6CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 16Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: yesMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • Docker named by the seller
  • 16 GB of memory
  • Sold by a third-party seller (IceWhale Technology Limited), not by the store itself

1,424.05 USDsold by IceWhale Technology Limitedin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:19 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

UGREEN NAS DXP8800 Plus 8-Bay for Business

UGREEN

Bays: 8CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 8Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: yesMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • M.2 slots for SSD cache or fast storage
  • Docker named by the seller
  • Sold by a third-party seller (UGREEN GROUP LIMITED), not by the store itself

1,369.99 USDsold by UGREEN GROUP LIMITEDin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:22 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

6-Bay Desktop NAS

ZIMA CUBE

Bays: 6CPU: IntelFastest port: 2.5GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: yesMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit
  • Docker named by the seller
  • 6 drive bays
  • Sold by a third-party seller (IceWhale Technology Limited), not by the store itself

899.90 USDsold by IceWhale Technology Limitedin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:19 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

UGREEN DXP4800 Pro & US3000

UGREEN

Bays: 4CPU: IntelFastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • Docker named by the seller
  • 4 drive bays
  • Sold by a third-party seller (UGREEN GROUP LIMITED), not by the store itself

887.98 USDsold by UGREEN GROUP LIMITEDin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

Asustor Lockerstor 8 AS6508T 8 Bay NAS

Asustor

Bays: 8CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 8Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • 8 GB of memory
  • 8 drive bays
  • Sold by a third-party seller (Platinum Micro, Inc.), not by the store itself

1,069.99 USDsold by Platinum Micro, Inc.in stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:19 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

Ubiquiti UniFi UNAS Pro 8 Rackmount NAS with 8 HDD Bays

Ubiquiti Networks

CPU: ARMFastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: noBackups (2+ bays): not statedMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • M.2 slots for SSD cache or fast storage
  • Sold by a third-party seller (Morgan Ingland LLC), not by the store itself

960.00 USDsold by Morgan Ingland LLCin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

Thdeukoty Desktop NAS 8-Bay

Thdeukoty

Bays: 8Memory (GB): 32Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: not statedBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • M.2 slots for SSD cache or fast storage
  • 32 GB of memory
  • Sold by a third-party seller (Thdeukoty Official Store), not by the store itself

1,499.00 USDsold by Thdeukoty Official Storein stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

QNAP TS-832PXU-4G 8 Bay Rackmount NAS

QNAP

Bays: 8CPU: ARMFastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: noBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • 8 drive bays
  • Sold by the store itself

1,149.00 USDsold by Amazonin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:20 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

QNAP TS-453D-4G 4 Bay NAS for Professionals

QNAP

Bays: 4CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 4Fastest port: 2.5GbE

Home lab & Docker: not statedBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit
  • 4 drive bays
  • Sold by a third-party seller (Apex Choice Japan), not by the store itself

1,383.77 USDsold by Apex Choice Japan(as of 10/19/2026 05:20 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

UGREEN NAS DXP6800 Ultra 6-Bay for Teams

UGREEN

Bays: 6CPU: IntelMemory (GB): 8Fastest port: 10GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 10GbE port
  • M.2 slots for SSD cache or fast storage
  • Docker named by the seller
  • Sold by a third-party seller (UGREEN GROUP LIMITED), not by the store itself

1,449.99 USDsold by UGREEN GROUP LIMITEDin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

QNAP TS-431K 4 Bay Home NAS with Two 1GbE Ports

QNAP

Bays: 4CPU: ARMMemory (GB): 1Fastest port: 1GbE

Home lab & Docker: noBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: no

  • 4 drive bays
  • Gigabit only: the fastest stated port is 1GbE
  • Sold by a third-party seller (Apex Choice Japan), not by the store itself

841.95 USDsold by Apex Choice Japan(as of 10/19/2026 05:20 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

QNAP TS-873A-8G 8 Bay NAS | High-performance

QNAP

Bays: 8CPU: AMDMemory (GB): 8Fastest port: 2.5GbE

Home lab & Docker: yesBackups (2+ bays): yesMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: yes

  • A 2.5GbE port, faster than gigabit
  • 8 GB of memory
  • 8 drive bays

1,419.99 USDsold by Amazonin stock(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

Synology DS220j

Synology

CPU: ARM

Home lab & Docker: noBackups (2+ bays): not statedMedia server: not statedMulti-gig network: not stated

  • Sold by a third-party seller (Apex Choice Japan), not by the store itself

1,204.63 USDsold by Apex Choice Japan(as of 10/19/2026 05:21 PDT - Details)

View on Amazon

Best NAS for a home lab and Docker

A NAS in a home lab is a small always-on server: it holds your repositories, backups and media, and it runs the services you self-host beside them. Docker describes itself as an open platform for developing, shipping and running applications; on a NAS it is how most self-hosted services are installed. Two things decide how much a box can run: the processor family and the memory.

61 NAS units of the 153 in this table meet the Home lab & Docker rule printed beside the filter, from $219.90 to $22,165.00 at the last price check. 66 NAS units do not state enough to judge and are never counted as meeting it.

Processor: Intel, AMD or ARM

Some container images are built for Intel and AMD (x86) processors only, and a virtual machine of an x86 system needs one. The Home lab rule leaves ARM boxes out because it asks for the widest choice of software; an ARM NAS still shares files and keeps backups.

Stated processors in this table: Intel, 70; AMD, 18; ARM, 24. 41 NAS units do not state one.

Memory

Every container and virtual machine takes its share of memory, and so does the file system cache. The memory a listing states is what is installed, not the most the box takes.

59 NAS units in this table state 8 GB of memory or more. The most stated is 64 GB. 57 NAS units do not state its memory.

M.2 slots: SSD cache and fast storage

M.2 slots take NVMe SSDs beside the hard drives, as a cache or as a fast pool for containers and databases, so the hard drives do not slow down the services.

60 NAS units in this table state M.2 slots. 40 NAS units in this table state Docker by name.

NAS for backups

With two or more drives, one can mirror the other (RAID 1, or a mirror in ZFS or Btrfs), so a failed drive loses nothing. A mirror is not a backup on its own: a file deleted by mistake is deleted on both drives, so keep a second copy somewhere else.

133 NAS units of the 153 in this table meet the Backups rule printed beside the filter, from $185.99 to $22,165.00 at the last price check. 18 NAS units do not state enough to judge and are never counted as meeting it.

133 NAS units in this table state two or more bays. The most stated is 30. 18 NAS units do not state a bay count.

NAS for a media server

A media server streams your own films, music and photos to TVs and phones. When a device cannot play a file as it is, the server converts it on the fly (transcoding), which takes far more work than serving the file as it is. This table marks a NAS for media only where the listing names Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, a media server or transcoding.

52 NAS units of the 153 in this table meet the Media server rule printed beside the filter, from $219.90 to $3,200.00 at the last price check. 101 NAS units do not state enough to judge and are never counted as meeting it.

52 NAS units in this table state a media server or transcoding.

Multi-gig and 10GbE NAS

A gigabit port caps every copy to and from the NAS, whatever the drives can do. A 2.5GbE, 5GbE or 10GbE port lifts that cap, but only as far as the switch and the computer on the other end allow. A port the box can take with an add-on card is not counted here.

106 NAS units of the 153 in this table meet the Multi-gig network rule printed beside the filter, from $185.99 to $21,000.00 at the last price check. 38 NAS units do not state enough to judge and are never counted as meeting it.

Fastest stated ports in this table: 10GbE, 53; 5GbE, 10; 2.5GbE, 43; 1GbE, 9. 38 NAS units do not state a network port.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What NAS is best for a home lab?

One with an Intel or AMD processor and either Docker named or 8 GB of memory or more: that is the Home lab & Docker rule printed beside the filter. 40 NAS units in this table state Docker by name.

What is Docker on a NAS?

Docker describes itself as an open platform for developing, shipping and running applications. On a NAS it runs self-hosted services in containers beside your files. Source: Docker

Are drives included in these prices?

No. This table lists NAS units sold without drives, so the price is for the box. Listings sold with drives in the box are left out, because their price is mostly the drives.

Do I need 2.5GbE or 10GbE?

Only if the switch and the computers on the other end are faster than gigabit too; otherwise the gigabit link is the limit either way. Fastest stated ports here: 10GbE, 53; 5GbE, 10; 2.5GbE, 43; 1GbE, 9.

Can I use ZFS on a NAS?

Yes, on a NAS whose system uses ZFS or on an x86 box you install a ZFS system on. The OpenZFS documentation says it is best to give ZFS the drives directly through an HBA rather than a RAID controller. Source: the OpenZFS documentation

Is RAID a backup?

No. A mirror keeps working when a drive fails, but a deleted or encrypted file is gone on every drive at once. Keep a second copy on another device or off site. 133 NAS units in this table state two or more bays.

How this page is built

Prices come from the stores Argusic tracks. An Amazon price counts when it was read in the last 24 hours, another store's price when it was read in the last 48 hours, because those feeds arrive once a day. Each price shows the store and the time it was read. NAS units priced under $150 are not listed, and neither are listings sold with drives, drives on their own, parts, SAN arrays and direct-attached boxes. 153 NAS units are listed now.

Specs are what each seller states on its listing title and bullets; Argusic has not tested these units hands-on and measured no speed. The Use for rules are Argusic's and printed beside the filter, and a NAS whose listing does not state what a rule needs is never counted as meeting it.

The default order, Recommended, puts a middle price band first, then the bands on either side, then the rest; within each band popular models come first and brands take turns. The Top picks block shows one model per brand. The order is an editorial default, not a quality ranking, and commissions never change the order or any number.

This build: 2026-10-19 18:08 UTC.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Comments never affect rankings or any number on this page.

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Best NAS for home labs: Docker, 10GbE, M.2 | Argusic