Best NAS Under £300 UK 2026: Top Budget Picks
What under £300 actually buys, ranked, with UK prices
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The best NAS under £300 is the QNAP TS-216G, around £249.00 at last check. It pairs a genuine quad-core CPU with 4GB RAM and a 2.5GbE port, so it feels responsive for file transfers and basic app use in a way the cheapest ARM boxes do not. It will not do hardware-transcoded 4K streaming, but for backup, file sharing and Plex direct-play from modern devices it is the most capable all-rounder actually available under £300 device-only. If you want proper transcoding, you need to look above this budget.
Best NAS under £300, by priority
Three sensible ways to spend under £300 on a NAS enclosure, depending on what you value most.
Which should you pick
Choose the QNAP TS-233 if
- You want the lowest realistic entry price for a proper 2-bay NAS from a known brand
- Your use case is simple backup and file storage, not streaming or heavy multitasking
- You are happy with 1GbE networking and modest ARM performance for basic tasks
- You are watching every pound and can live with 2GB of soldered RAM
Choose the QNAP TS-216G if
- You want a faster network link at 2.5GbE for quicker backups and file copying
- You would like more RAM headroom (4GB) for running a couple of light NAS apps
- You are still under £300 but want the best all-round balance of speed and price
- You are not relying on hardware transcoding but want snappier day-to-day performance
What £300 actually buys you in 2026
Under £300 for the enclosure alone, you are almost always looking at a 2-bay NAS with either an ARM chip or a modest low-power Intel or quad-core processor, 1GbE to 2.5GbE networking, and little to no M.2 NVMe expansion. None of the three picks above offer hardware video transcoding you can rely on for 4K streaming to older or underpowered client devices, so if that is a hard requirement, this budget tier is the wrong place to shop. Every model here uses open-market drives, which keeps your drive costs down and your choices flexible.
Stepping up from the cheapest ARM options like the UGREEN NASync DH2300 or QNAP TS-233 to something with a proper quad-core Intel chip and 2.5GbE, such as the QNAP TS-216G, makes a genuine day-to-day difference in responsiveness, even though neither does hardware transcoding under typical NAS operating systems. If you can stretch another £50 to £100 beyond this budget, models like the UGREEN NASync DXP2800 or TerraMaster F2-425 Plus bring proper Intel N100/N150 transcoding and NVMe caching into play, which is a meaningfully different tier of capability.
Be honest about what you are giving up
At this price, you are buying a capable backup and file-serving box, not a media server. If 4K transcoding, multiple simultaneous streams, or heavy virtualisation matter to you, spending £320 to £400 on an Intel N100 or N150 based NAS will save you frustration later. Buying under £300 and hoping to add transcoding via an app later on an ARM chip will not work; the hardware simply is not there.
NAS under £300, UK prices
Prices are indicative — last checked 24 July 2026, from Amazon.co.uk. They are not live; check the current price on Amazon before buying. Best £/TB is the lowest at last check.
Frequently asked questions
Can any NAS under £300 do 4K transcoding?
Not reliably. None of the models genuinely available under £300 as an enclosure (QNAP TS-233, TS-216G, or the Asustor Drivestor 2 Pro Gen2) offer dependable hardware transcoding for 4K content. For that, you need an Intel N100 or N150 based NAS such as the UGREEN NASync DXP2800 or TerraMaster F2-425 Plus, which sit just above this budget once you account for typical retail pricing.
Is 2GB of RAM enough for a NAS in 2026?
For basic file storage, backup, and light use with one or two users, 2GB is workable but tight. If you plan to run several NAS apps at once, or want smoother multitasking, the QNAP TS-216G's 4GB RAM is a noticeably better experience for a modest price difference.
Should I buy a 2-bay or wait and save for a 4-bay under £300?
Under £300, 4-bay options are scarce and generally weaker per bay than the 2-bay models here. If you need four bays for capacity or redundancy, it is worth saving toward something like the TerraMaster F4-424 or UGREEN NASync DXP4800, both of which land above this budget but offer far better value per bay.
Does ARM versus Intel matter if I am just using a NAS for backup?
For pure backup and file storage, the difference is smaller than you might think, and the QNAP TS-233's ARM chip will handle it fine. Where Intel pulls ahead is in running additional apps, faster network throughput at higher bit rates, and general responsiveness under load.
Is 1GbE a problem in 2026?
For a single user backing up a laptop or a couple of devices, 1GbE (around 110MB/s in practice) is still adequate. If you regularly move large files or want faster restore times, the 2.5GbE on the QNAP TS-216G roughly doubles that ceiling for a modest price increase.
Why is the UGREEN NASync DH2300 not the top pick here despite being cheap?
The DH2300 uses a Rockchip ARM chip with no hardware transcoding and only 1GbE networking on some listings, which puts it behind the QNAP TS-216G's combination of quad-core performance and 2.5GbE for a similar or lower price at last check. It is a reasonable budget choice, but not the best all-rounder under £300.