Can a NAS replace Google Drive for a 5-person remote team? (2026)
Updated 2026-11-08
Short answer. Files yes, Docs no: a NAS can replace Google Drive for a 5-person remote team's shared files, versions and links, not Docs co-editing, Gmail or Calendar. If the team has an admin, buy the UGREEN NASync DXP2800 ($389.99; buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800), $389.99 diskless on 2026-11-03, and run Nextcloud in Docker; a non-technical team gets the polished route from Synology Drive plus Office; a truly remote team should keep Workspace Standard ($2,520 for five over three years), because the host's home upload (20–50 Mbps, 3–7 minutes a gigabyte) is the price of any NAS.
What to know: Workspace Starter ($7, 30 GB a user) cannot hold a 1 TB working set, so Standard (2 TB pooled per user) is the comparison, $2,520 over three years at list; a NAS with two 4 TB drives and Backblaze B2 for the off-site copy ($6.95 per TB a month, about $250 for 1 TB over three years) lands near that once drives are counted, so the saving is small. Synology Drive keeps up to 32 versions per file with on-demand sync on Mac and Windows, Synology Office co-edits docx/xlsx/pptx in real time, and the DS225+ (about $340–365, 2 GB RAM, rated for about 10 Drive users) has immutable snapshots on supported models. On UGOS the sync client does two-way or one-way sync with deletions propagated, snapshots are folder-level Btrfs with no documented immutability, 2FA does not cover SMB logins, UGREENlink relays through UGREEN's servers at an unpublished speed, and Nextcloud (with Collabora for web editing) is a Portainer, DDNS and reverse-proxy build from a third-party guide. Hosted Nextcloud on Hetzner Storage Share is €4.29 a month for 1 TB (about €154 over three years), unlimited users, but Hetzner reportedly cannot run the built-in Collabora, so document editing needs a separate server.
- UGREEN NASync DXP2800, $389.99. Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800
- UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus, $619.99. Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp4800-plus
Published 2026-11-03 · prices checked 2026-11-03.
| Model | Files, versions, sync | Document editing | Remote access for 5 homes | Ransomware protection | 3-year cost (my arithmetic) | Price | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UGREEN NASync DXP2800 Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp2800 | Per-user shared folders; sync client (two-way/one-way, no on-demand files documented); Btrfs snapshots (folder rollback; single-file restore not documented) | Nextcloud + Collabora in Docker (third-party guide; Collabora wants 2 cores + 1 GB on top) | UGREENlink relay (speed unpublished) or Tailscale in Docker on every laptop | Snapshots, not immutable; 2FA per user, not on SMB | $390 + 2× 4 TB + B2 about $250: roughly $900–1,100 | $389.99 | No discount code applies. |
| UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus Buy: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp4800-plus | Same, four bays, 10GbE | Same, more headroom for Collabora | Same | Same | $620 + drives + B2 | $619.99 | No discount code applies. |
| Synology DS225+ with Synology Drive + Office | 32 versions per file, Intelliversioning, on-demand sync (Win 10 1809+, macOS 12.3+), ShareSync between two NAS; rated for about 10 Drive users | Synology Office: real-time co-editing of Docs/Sheets/Slides, free | QuickConnect (Synology itself lists the relay as a Drive bottleneck; use DDNS/direct) or Tailscale package | Snapshot Replication with immutable snapshots on supported models; 2FA, auto-block | about $340–365 + drives + B2: roughly $900–1,100 | $364.99 (B&H/Newegg snippets, undated); $310 after an Amazon coupon | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| Google Workspace Business Standard, 5 seats | 2 TB pooled per user, versions, sharing with outside clients | Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Calendar, Meet | It is the cloud | Google's; no admin work | $2,520 at annual list ($14 per user a month); about $2,100 with the first-year 50 % offer | $14 per user a month, annual | Not sold through Dealectric; listed for comparison. |
| Hetzner Storage Share NX11 (hosted Nextcloud, 1 TB) | Nextcloud: versions, expiring links, mobile apps, unlimited users, 50 connections | Built-in Collabora reportedly unsupported; external server needed | Hosted in Germany; no home upload bottleneck | Hetzner patches Nextcloud; versions and trash | about €154 (€4.29 a month) | €4.29 a month ex-VAT | 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 (Google, Hetzner, Synology) 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 the team keeps and what it gives up
A NAS gives the team a shared file tree with per-user permissions, sync clients on each laptop, file versions and share links, and a 4 TB mirror for the price of one year of Workspace Standard. It does not give real-time Docs and Sheets editing (Synology Office and Nextcloud with Collabora are the substitutes, and neither is Google Docs), a bundled Gmail and Calendar on the company domain, effortless sharing with outside clients, Vault, or Google's uptime and zero-admin updates. Most teams that move end up on a hybrid: Workspace Starter for mail and Docs, the NAS for the files that fill the quota.
The remote-work penalty
The NAS lives in one person's home, and every colleague's download rides that home's upload link: at 20 Mbps a 1 GB file takes about seven minutes, at 40 Mbps about three, on 500 Mbps fibre about 16 seconds. Vendor relays (QuickConnect, UGREENlink) add their own cap, which is why Synology's own guidance tells Drive users to use DDNS or a direct connection and why Tailscale on every laptop is the usual fix. If no one on the team has fast upload, the NAS is the wrong tool for a distributed team however good the box.
Security is now your job
Turn on 2FA for every account (on UGOS it does not cover SMB), auto-block, and snapshots on a schedule; keep an off-site copy because sync clients propagate deletions and encrypted files to the NAS. Synology's immutable snapshots (DSM 7.2, model-dependent) survive a stolen admin login; UGOS's do not claim to. Someone has to apply firmware updates and replace a failed drive; with Workspace or Hetzner that is the vendor's job.
Sources
- UGREEN NASync DXP2800 — ai.ugreen.com
- Google Workspace pricing — workspace.google.com
- UGREEN support: shared folder permissions (article 216) — support.ugnas.com
- UGREEN support: Snapshot app (article 654) — support.ugnas.com
- UGREEN: file sync client — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN support: UGREENlink vs DDNS (article 373) — support.ugnas.com
- UGREEN: remote access (Tailscale in Docker) — ai.ugreen.com
- UGREEN support: two-factor authentication (article 597) — support.ugnas.com
- Marius Hosting: Nextcloud on a UGREEN NAS — mariushosting.com
- Nextcloud forum: Collabora Online system requirements — help.nextcloud.com
- Synology DSM 7.4: Synology Drive specification — www.synology.com
- Synology Office — www.synology.com
- Synology KB: how to increase Drive speed (QuickConnect relay) — www.synology.com
- Synology DS225+ (Drive user figures) — www.synology.com
- Synology DSM 7.2 (immutable snapshots) — www.synology.com
- Hetzner Storage Share — www.hetzner.com
- Nextcloud forum: Collabora on Hetzner Storage Share — help.nextcloud.com
- Backblaze B2 pricing — www.backblaze.com
- Light Reading: Ookla US city upload medians — www.lightreading.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.