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NAS, seedbox or cloud: the real cost over three years
A NAS looks cheaper because the price is paid once and forgotten. Put it on three years and the ranking changes.
Updated 2026-09-01 · 4 min read
Every forum thread ends the same way: "just buy a NAS, it pays for itself". Sometimes true. Often not, and the arithmetic is rarely done properly — because the NAS bill is paid once, in a shop, and the rental bill arrives every month where you can see it.
The three-year total
Same library, same usage: a household of four, watching at home and occasionally away. Prices in dollars.
| NAS bought | Seedbox rented | Cloud storage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware | $550 (2-bay + 2×4 TB) | $0 | $0 |
| Subscription, 36 months | $0 | $360 ($10/mo) | $430 ($12/mo for 2 TB) |
| Electricity, 36 months | ~$105 (40 W continuous) | $0 | $0 |
| One disk replaced | ~$90 | $0 | $0 |
| Three-year total | ~$745 | $360 | $430 |
| Usable storage | 4 TB (mirrored) | 0.75 TB | 2 TB |
| Runs Plex / Jellyfin | Yes | Yes | No — storage only |
| Streams outside the home | Limited by your upload | Yes, 1–10 Gb/s | No |
- NAS bought — hardware, electricity and one replacement disk included
- Cloud storage — holds files but serves nothing — no Plex, no Jellyfin
- Seedbox rented — everything included, and it streams from outside the home
Electricity at €0.25/kWh, hardware amortised over 36 months. Prices checked 2026-09-01.
| NAS bought | $745 |
|---|---|
| Cloud storage | $430 |
| Seedbox rented | $360 |
So the NAS is more expensive?
Per month, yes. Per terabyte, no — and that is the honest reversal. The NAS costs roughly twice as much over three years and gives you five times the storage. Past about 3 TB of library, buying wins on price alone.
| Library size | What usually wins | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 TB | Seedbox | No hardware to buy, works away from home immediately |
| 1–3 TB | Either | Depends on whether you watch away from home; if you do, the upload ceiling decides it |
| Over 3 TB | NAS | Storage per euro is unbeatable once amortised |
| Over 3 TB and watched remotely | Both | NAS as the archive, small seedbox as the distribution point |
The cost nobody puts in the spreadsheet
- Your time. A NAS is a machine you administer: updates, a failed disk at the worst moment, a router that stops forwarding after a firmware update. Budget a few hours a year, and one bad evening.
- Noise and heat. Two spinning disks in a living room are audible. Many NAS end up in a cupboard, then overheat in August.
- The upload ceiling. Covered in why Plex is slow outside your home — the single limitation money cannot fix at home.
- Failure. A mirrored NAS survives one dead disk. It does not survive theft, fire, or a power supply that takes the disks with it. A rented box does not solve this either; nothing does except a second copy.
The combination most experienced people end up with
Not one or the other: a NAS at home for the archive, a small seedbox as the front door. The bulky library stays on cheap owned storage; the box holds what is currently being watched and serves it at datacentre speed to whoever is away. About $10 a month on top of hardware you already have.
+Is a NAS good for Plex?
Very, with one caveat that decides most cases: it is excellent at home and limited outside it, because everything it serves leaves through your upload. Also check the model — entry-level NAS CPUs cannot transcode, so the file has to match the device.
+What is the best budget NAS for Plex?
A two-bay unit from a mainstream brand with two 4 TB drives, around $550 all in, is the usual honest starting point. Below that you are buying a CPU that cannot transcode and a case with no room to grow.
+What is the lifespan of a NAS?
The enclosure lasts five to eight years; the drives are the consumable, typically three to five. Budget one replacement disk over three years — it is in the table above, and it is the line most comparisons forget.
+What about an old PC instead of a NAS?
Cheaper to start, and fine for watching at home. It draws more power (a desktop idles around 60–80 W against 15–40 W for a NAS), has no redundancy, and hits exactly the same upload ceiling. Roughly $150 of electricity over three years for hardware with no warranty left.
+Is a Synology worth the premium over building my own?
You are paying for the software and for the years you will not spend maintaining it. A self-built box is 30–40 % cheaper and demands real Linux comfort. If reading this guide was useful, buy the finished product.
+Can I use cloud storage with Plex?
People do mount cloud storage and point Plex at it. It works until it does not: providers throttle sustained reads, and a film that stalls at minute 40 every time is a poor evening. Not a setup to recommend to someone starting out.
