Written 22 Aug 2026. Specs from the maker pages linked below. Prices from those stores. I haven't used these. Confirm the diskless SKU before you click: Amazon is full of drive bundles.
DS224+ vs DS423+: 2-bay or 4-bay Synology Plus
Pick two bays or four when overnight backups on Synology DSM is the job. Four bays cost about $200 more for extra empty slots, not a faster network. Skip four bays if two drives is the whole house.
This is not Synology vs UGREEN. If you want 10G and Docker, the existing first-NAS guide already made that pick. Stay here only if DSM is the decision and the question is two bays or four.
| Box | DS224+ | DS423+ |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | J4125 4C/4T, 2.0 / 2.7 GHz | Same |
| RAM official | 2 GB + 1 slot, max 6 GB | 2 GB + 1 slot, max 6 GB |
| NIC | 2× 1GbE, MTU 1500 | 2× 1GbE, MTU 1500 |
| Bays | 2× 3.5" / 2.5" SATA | 4× SATA + 2× M.2 2280 NVMe |
| RAID | SHR, Basic, JBOD, 0, 1 | Those plus 5 / 6 / 10 |
| Fans | 1× 92 mm | 2× 92 mm |
| Maker power / noise | 14.69 W / 4.41 W, 22 dB(A) | 28.30 W / 8.45 W, 19.8 dB(A) |
| Brick | 60 W | 90 W |
| Warranty | 2 years (to 4 with EW Plus, NA/EU) | 3 years (to 5 with EW201 / EW Plus) |
| Street, found | ~$300 class MSRP; Amazon B0C6927XPX (confirm diskless) | B&H $499.99 diskless; Amazon B0BXMS9GFF was unavailable 22 Aug 2026 |
SHR on two identical disks is enough when the job is laptop backup, Photos, and Hyper Backup. Empty bays matter more than a faster NIC the day you know the third disk is coming, because neither of these boxes gets a NIC upgrade. M.2 on the DS423+ is the only place a VM or app volume has a chance; 5400 / 5640 RPM HDD in either chassis is not an iSCSI datastore. SHR vs RAID 1. CMR drives.
Buy the DS224+ if the box lives in a bedroom and two disks is the plan. Buy the DS423+ if you already want four bays or NVMe cache and you are staying in DSM. Don't buy four bays “for later” if later is actually 2.5G, you will still be on gigabit.
Skip
Skip using this comparison to justify a used DS918+. Skip either Plus if 2.5G is the actual bottleneck; look at DXP2800 or AS5402T. Skip SMR in SHR. Skip drive bundles on Amazon.
Sources
DS224+ product page + spec PDF (17 Jun 2026). DS423+ spec PDF (23 Apr 2025). B&H 1781611-REG and 1757288-REG. Amazon B0C6927XPX / B0BXMS9GFF. WunderTech SHR calculator.