Best NAS to replace Google Photos for a family's photo library (2026)
Updated 2026-11-08
Short answer. Buy the UGREEN NASync DXP2800 ($389.99; buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800), the best NAS to replace Google Photos for a family's photo library in 2026, $389.99 diskless on 2026-11-03: UGOS Photos groups people by face recognition, tags scenes, objects, pets and text, shows a map and timeline, backs up phones automatically and makes shared albums; its Intel N100 and 8 GB also run Immich in Docker. Google Takeout import is a manual folder copy on every brand.
What to know: UGREEN restricts some Photos AI features to the DXP series, so the cheaper DH2300 ($239.99; buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dh2300) ($239.99, ARM, 4 GB) gets basic tagging per reviewers and cannot run Immich with machine learning; Synology's DS225+ and DS425+ ship with 2 GB, which reviewers say is too little for Synology Photos' object recognition without an upgrade; Google Takeout import is a manual folder copy on every brand (a 7-day download link, albums duplicating files); and a NAS mirror is one copy, so budget an off-site backup (Backblaze B2 at $6.95 per TB a month, about $7 for 1 TB).
- UGREEN NASync DXP2800, $389.99. Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800
- UGREEN NASync DH2300, $239.99. Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dh2300
Published 2026-11-03 · prices checked 2026-11-03.
| Model | CPU / RAM | Photo app | Face / scene recognition | Phone backup, sharing | Warranty | Price | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UGREEN NASync DXP2800 Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800 | Intel N100, 8 GB DDR5 (16 GB) | UGOS Photos; Immich in Docker | Face, scene, object, pet and text recognition (DXP series) | iOS/Android auto backup (background, off-peak or cellular), shared albums, share and request links, duplicate finder, map | 2 years | $389.99 | No discount code applies. |
| UGREEN NASync DH2300 Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dh2300 | Rockchip 8-core ARM, 4 GB | UGOS Photos (no Docker) | Basic tagging per reviewers; custom classification, pet and sensitive-content detection not on DH models (UGREEN) | Same mobile backup and sharing | 2 years | $239.99 | No discount code applies. |
| UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus | Rockchip 8-core ARM, 8 GB | UGOS Photos; Docker (no VMs) | As DH2300 | Same | 2 years | $399.99 (UGREEN NAS store, 2026-11-03) | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| Synology DS225+ | Intel Celeron J4125, 2 GB (6 GB) | Synology Photos | Face recognition on this model (reported); object recognition said to need 4 GB | iOS/Android backup, Shared Space, Places map | 3 years | $339.99 (Newegg) | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| Synology DS925+ | AMD Ryzen V1500B, 4 GB ECC (32 GB) | Synology Photos; Immich in Container Manager | Face and object recognition | Same Synology Photos features | 3 years | $639.99 list; $511.99 Prime Day | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| QNAP TS-264 | Intel Celeron N5095, 8 GB | QuMagie; Immich in Container Station | Face, object, scene; phrase search on x86 with 8 GB | Qphoto backup, guest links | 3 years | $489 (tracker, June 2026) | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| TerraMaster F2-425 Plus / F4-425 Plus | Intel N150, 8 GB / 16 GB | Terra Photos 3.0; Docker | Local face recognition (vendor claims up to 80%), scenes, pets; x86 only | TNAS Mobile backup | 2 years | $399 / $569 launch; $599.99 / $779.99 on TerraMaster's store | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| Asustor Nimbustor 2 Gen2 (AS5402T) | Intel Celeron N5105, 4 GB (16 GB) | Photo Gallery 4 (beta face recognition, ADM 5.1.1+); Docker | Local face recognition in beta | AiFoto backup | 3 years | $392–461 (resellers) | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
Rows marked with a code and buy link are products Dealectric lists: the price was verified on the brand's own US store on 2026-11-07 and the code is tested daily in that brand's cart; the date shown is its last pass (last check 2026-11-13). The other rows (Asustor, QNAP, Synology, TerraMaster, UGREEN) are included so the comparison is complete; their figures and prices were read from the makers' own US pages on 2026-11-03 and are not re-checked daily. The buy links are affiliate links: they open the brand's official US store at no cost to the shopper, and the commission pays for the testing; see the disclosure.
What UGOS Photos does (UGREEN's own description)
- Recognition: people grouped by face with matches you confirm before merging; scenes, objects and pets after the AI models are downloaded and enabled; text in photos searchable (OCR) and "semantic" descriptions. UGREEN's support notes say some Photos features are DXP-only and list custom classification, pet recognition and sensitive-content detection as unsupported on DH Plus models.
- Library: timeline and folder views without moving files, map view from GPS data, albums (standard, conditional, baby, personal, shared), exact and similar-duplicate finder, RAW previews (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, RW2, DNG), HEIC and Live Photos (both halves must upload).
- Phones: the UGREEN mobile app backs up new photos in the background, off-peak or over cellular by choice; iCloud "optimize storage" phones upload the smaller local versions.
- Sharing: share links and photo-request links for guests (requests can convert HEIC to JPEG and drop the Live Photo video).
- Maturity: TechPowerUp, ITPro and Cult of Mac call UGOS rougher than Apple or Google Photos; face recognition is praised, the map and mobile app called basic.
Immich on the same box
Immich runs in Docker on the DXP2800 (UGREEN publishes a setup guide) and adds the strongest open-source feature set: face recognition, CLIP "sunset at the beach" search, a map, shared and partner albums, duplicate detection, Live and Motion Photos, and a Google Takeout importer (immich-go). It wants 6 GB minimum and 8 GB recommended with 4 cores, its database on an SSD, and the first machine-learning pass over a large library takes hours to days on an N100 (turn ML off for the initial import). The DH2300's 4 GB and ARM chip rule it out.
Moving out of Google Photos
Export with Google Takeout (links expire in about seven days; each album duplicates its files), copy the folders onto the NAS and add them to the photo app's library; metadata sidecars need a tool to restore dates on Synology, and immich-go handles the ZIPs directly. Keep the phones backing up to the NAS afterward, since Takeout is one-time. Size: a 100,000-photo HEIC library is roughly 300–500 GB, 1–2 TB with videos, plus 10–20% for thumbnails and transcodes; two 4 TB drives in RAID 1 cover it, and the off-site copy is the part the NAS does not provide.
Sources
- UGREEN NASync DXP2800 — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN NASync DH2300 — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN: the Photos app (knowledge article) — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN: back up iPhone photos to a UGREEN NAS — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN support: Photos features by model — support.ugnas.com
- needtoknowit: AI photo search on Synology, QNAP and UGREEN compared — needtoknowit.com.au
- Cult of Mac: UGREEN DH2300 and DH4300 Plus review — www.cultofmac.com
- Synology Photos specifications (DSM 7.4) — www.synology.com
- QNAP QuMagie — www.qnap.com
- TerraMaster: AI photo management (Terra Photos) — www.terra-master.com
- ASUSTOR newsletter: Photo Gallery 4 face recognition — marketing.asustor.com
- Immich features — immich.app
- Immich: requirements — docs.immich.app
- immich-go: Google Takeout importer — github.com
- Backblaze B2 pricing — www.backblaze.com
Published 2026-11-03; figures for other brands read on 2026-11-03; our prices verified 2026-11-07. Corrections welcome at [email protected] or /feedback.