Budget
€0–€250
Published category bar
NAS (home, 2–4 bays, diskless)
This is the exact versioned market bar used by the deterministic engine. It defines what is mandatory, typical and above-class for each European price class.
- Version
- 2026.07-4
- Status
- Active
- Price classes
- 4
European price classes
Mid-range
€250–€450
Upper mid-range
€450–€700
Premium
€700+
The lowest documented European price selects the class. Within ±10% of a boundary, both neighbouring classes are calculated and the better result counts.
Mandatory category features
CE marking and EU declaration of conformity for the device
Vendor operating system with regular security updates
Data redundancy supported: RAID 1 mirroring, on 4-bay units alternatively RAID 5 or equivalent (e.g. SHR)
Full local network file access via standard protocols (SMB or NFS), usable without a vendor subscription
Expected features by price class
Budget
- At least 1× Gigabit LAN
- Automatic photo/file backup from smartphone via vendor app
- USB port for backup to an external drive
- Basic media server function (DLNA / Plex or Jellyfin direct play)
- Remote access via vendor relay service at no extra cost (QuickConnect-style)
Mid-range
- x86 processor with approx. 4 cores (Intel N-series/Celeron class or comparable)
- Approx. 4 GB RAM out of the box
- At least 1× 2.5 Gigabit LAN
- Docker/container support in the vendor OS
- Snapshot support (Btrfs/ZFS or equivalent)
- Photo management with on-device face/object recognition
Upper mid-range
- 4 drive bays
- M.2 NVMe slots (cache or SSD storage), typically 2
- Approx. 8 GB RAM or upgradeable to at least 16 GB
- Two LAN ports, at least 1× 2.5GbE (link aggregation/failover)
- Virtual machines in addition to containers
Premium
- 10 Gigabit LAN onboard out of the box, or a free PCIe slot for a 10GbE upgrade
- CPU clearly above Intel N-series (e.g. Intel Core i3/i5, Pentium Gold, AMD Ryzen Embedded)
- At least approx. 8 GB RAM (DDR5 or DDR4 with ECC), upgradeable to 32 GB or more
- NVMe SSDs usable as standalone storage pools (not just cache)
- Hardware transcoding (iGPU/NPU) and/or HDMI output for media/AI features
Above-class bonus features
- Equipment clearly above class expectation (e.g. 2.5GbE/M.2 in budget, 10GbE below premium)+4
- Full setup and use incl. updates possible without a vendor cloud account+4
- Free choice of hard drives without compatibility lock / forced vendor drives+3
- Vendor states a binding software support period of approx. 5 years or more+3
- ECC RAM (supported or factory-fitted)+3
- Third-party OS (TrueNAS/Unraid) officially possible without voiding warranty+3
- Local AI/NPU photo recognition (faces, objects or text search) without cloud+3
- Data sheet states low standby draw — HDD hibernation approx. 15 W or below, or diskless idle approx. under 10 W — plus HDD hibernation+3
- Web interface and vendor apps (iOS/Android, available in EU app stores) also in German+2
- Spare and wear parts (fan, drive trays, power supply) can be bought individually from the vendor shop or EU retailers+2
- HDMI output for direct playback on TV (Kodi/media player)+2
- Tool-less drive trays with hot-swap during operation+2
- Comprehensive backup suite included (PC/Mac backup, cloud sync, Time Machine) without extra licenses+2
Negative characteristics
- Repeatedly documented severe security vulnerabilities/ransomware waves without timely patches-8
- Setup or core functions only possible with a vendor cloud account, and the privacy policy names neither an EU server location nor a GDPR basis-6
- Model still on sale is excluded from the current major OS version with security maintenance, or appears on the vendor's end-of-support list-6
- Artificial hard drive compatibility lock (only vendor drives fully usable)-5
- Subscription or extra license required for core functions beyond local file access (remote access, photo app, backup software, camera channels)-5
- Repeatedly documented severe hardware/app defects (fan failures, data loss bugs, unstable app)-4