NAS Power Consumption: Watts and Yearly Cost by Model
Spec-sheet and wall-meter numbers for the NAS units on my price tracker, with what each costs to run. Every row links to its source.
By Brandon Sheley · Updated
Short answer: by the makers' own figures, a 2-bay NAS draws about 12-16W with its drives active, a 4-bay about 35-42W, and 5- to 8-bay units about 43-54W. With the drives spun down, those drop to roughly 4-8W, 11-22W and 17-26W. At the U.S. average rate, a 4-bay running 24/7 with its drives awake costs about $57-69 a year.
The drives are most of the bill, not the CPU: Synology's own numbers work out to about 5-7W for each spinning 3.5-inch drive.
NAS Power Draw by Model (Manufacturer Figures)
Each maker tests with its own drives and settings, so compare models from the same brand more confidently than across brands. "Per year" assumes the drives stay active around the clock at 18.6¢/kWh, which is the worst case.
| Model | Bays | Drives spun down | Drives active | Per year (active 24/7) | Live price | CPU | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synology DS224+ | 2 | 4.41W | 14.69W | $24 | None today | Intel Celeron J4125 | Synology spec sheet |
| QNAP TS-253D | 2 | 8.2W | 12.45W | $20 | None today | Intel Celeron J4125 | QNAP specs |
| UGREEN DXP2800 | 2 | 5.24W | 16.38W | $27 | from $350 | Intel N100 | UGREEN specs |
| Synology DS923+ | 4 | 11.52W | 35.51W | $58 | from $650 | AMD Ryzen R1600 | Synology spec sheet |
| QNAP TS-464 | 4 | 21.62W | 40.54W | $66 | from $500 | Intel Celeron N5095 | QNAP specs |
| ASUSTOR AS6704T | 4 | 17.3W | 35W | $57 | from $682 | Intel Celeron N5105 | ASUSTOR comparison sheet |
| UGREEN DXP4800 Plus | 4 | 18.12W | 42.36W | $69 | from $540 | Intel Pentium Gold 8505 | UGREEN specs |
| Synology DS1522+ | 5 | 16.71W | 52.06W | $85 | from $725 | AMD Ryzen R1600 | Synology spec sheet |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Pro | 6 | 24.91W | 43.07W | $70 | None today | Intel Core i5-1235U | UGREEN specs |
| Synology RS1221+ | 8 | 22.64W | 49.89W | $81 | from $1,500 | AMD Ryzen V1500B | Synology specs |
| QNAP TS-873A | 8 | 25.67W | 54.07W | $88 | from $1,314 | AMD Ryzen V1500B | QNAP specs |
"Drives spun down" is the maker's hibernation or disk standby figure; "drives active" is its access or typical operating figure. QNAP says its operating figures were taken with every bay filled, and UGREEN says it tested the DXP2800 and DXP4800 Plus with Seagate 2TB drives. Synology's and ASUSTOR's sheets don't name the drives. Live prices are the lowest current working listing on my NAS price tracker as of Oct 30, 2026, and some include drives.
Measured at the Wall by Reviewers
Spec sheets are useful for comparing models, but a wall meter shows what a box really pulls. These are published measurements from named reviewers, with the drives they used.
| Model | Drives installed | Drives asleep | Idle | Busy | Measured by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synology DS1522+ | 5× WD Ultrastar 10TB, RAID 5 | Not tested | ~23W (24-hour average) | ~47W (24-hour average, 2 cameras recording plus a small VM) | NASCompares |
| TerraMaster F4-423 | Hard drives (models not listed) | 10.2W | 24.6W | 33.1W (writing) | ComputerBase |
| Synology DS920+ | Hard drives (same test as the F4-423) | 5.4W | 26.1W | 33.8W (writing) | ComputerBase |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Pro | None / 4× Seagate IronWolf 4TB | Not tested | Up to 22.4W with no drives; 36.6-41.9W with four drives | Not reported | Notebookcheck |
| UGREEN DXP2800 | One NVMe SSD, no hard drives | 5.6W (standby) | Not reported | 14.5W (transferring data) | Igor's Lab |
ComputerBase, Igor's Lab and Notebookcheck are German publications and measured on 230V; NASCompares used a smart plug. Differences of a watt or two between reviews are noise. The DS1522+ result is a useful reality check: real idle with five drives spinning (about 23W) sits between Synology's hibernation figure (16.7W) and its access figure (52.1W).
What the Numbers Say
- Drives, not the CPU, set the bill. Synology's access-minus-hibernation figures work out to about 5W per drive on the DS224+, 6W on the DS923+ and 7W on the DS1522+. Notebookcheck saw the same thing on the DXP6800 Pro: four 4TB IronWolf drives added roughly 14-20W at idle.
- Bay count matters more than brand. Every 4-bay unit in the table lists 35-42W with its drives active; the 2-bays list 12-16W and the 5- to 8-bays 43-54W.
- Fewer, bigger drives are cheaper to run. Two 20TB drives instead of four 10TB drives means two fewer motors spinning for the same raw capacity. Current per-TB prices by size are on the cost per TB page.
- In dollars, the gap is real but modest. At the U.S. average of about 18.6¢/kWh, a 4-bay with drives always active is about $57-69 a year, a 2-bay about $20-27, and a mini PC idling at 13W about $21.
How to Lower Your NAS Power Draw
- Turn on drive hibernation, then confirm it works. Docker containers, media servers that scan libraries, surveillance recording and indexing services can all keep drives awake.
- Put always-on apps on an SSD. If containers and databases live on an SSD volume, the hard drives only need to wake for file access.
- Use a power schedule if nobody needs the NAS overnight. Synology, QNAP and ASUSTOR all have scheduled shutdown and startup, and ASUSTOR also lists a sleep mode under 1W.
- Consolidate drives. Replacing several small drives with one or two large ones cuts power and frees bays.
- Measure your own. A plug-in meter or an energy-monitoring smart plug shows your real average over a day, with your drives and your apps.
Then put your number into the power cost calculator to see what it costs a year at your rate.
Related Resources
NAS Price Tracker
Live used and new prices for the models in the first table, ranked by cost per bay.
Power Cost Calculator
Turn any wattage into a yearly cost at your electricity rate.
Storage Cost per TB
Drives vs cloud, and how long a NAS takes to pay for itself.
Disk & SSD Price Tracker
Fill the bays: live hard drive and SSD prices by $/TB.
Mini PC Idle Power
Measured watts for N100, OptiPlex, EliteDesk and ThinkCentre minis.
TrueNAS SCALE Setup
Building your own NAS instead of buying one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much power does a NAS use?
Maker spec sheets put a 2-bay NAS at about 4-8 watts with its drives spun down and 12-16 watts with the drives active, a 4-bay at 11-22 watts spun down and 35-42 watts active, and 5- to 8-bay units at 17-26 watts spun down and 43-54 watts active. The hard drives are most of the difference: Synology lists its DS923+ at 11.5W with the drives spun down and 35.5W while they are being accessed.
How much does it cost to run a NAS 24/7?
At the U.S. average residential rate of about 18.6 cents per kWh, a 4-bay NAS drawing 35-42W around the clock costs about $57-69 a year, and a 2-bay drawing 12-16W costs about $20-27. Multiply the watts by 8.76 to get kWh per year, then multiply by your rate.
How much power does a hard drive add to a NAS?
Roughly 5 to 7 watts per spinning 3.5-inch drive. Synology's own access and hibernation figures work out to about 5W per drive on the DS224+, 6W on the DS923+ and 7W on the DS1522+. Notebookcheck measured a UGREEN DXP6800 Pro at up to 22.4W idle with no drives and 36.6-41.9W idle with four 4TB IronWolf drives. Fewer, larger drives use less power for the same capacity.
Does drive hibernation save much power?
Yes, when the drives actually sleep. Synology lists the DS224+ at 14.7W with its drives active and 4.4W with them spun down, a difference of about $17 a year at the U.S. average rate. Apps that touch the disks, such as Docker containers, media servers and surveillance recording, often keep drives awake, so check that yours really spin down before counting on it.