For the household self-hoster trying to decide between a Raspberry Pi, a small VPS, and a NAS as the home for their privacy stack, the answer often points toward a NAS. A NAS is a Linux box, just packaged in a case with multiple drive bays. It runs at home so there are no monthly hosting fees. It has more horsepower than a Pi for tasks like Nextcloud or media transcoding. It has hot-swappable drive redundancy for data safety.
Synology dominates the consumer and prosumer NAS market. The DS224+ is their current entry-level “+” series device, suitable for hosting Vaultwarden and adjacent self-hosted services for a single user or small family. This is what it is like to actually run a privacy stack on one.
What the DS224+ is
The Synology DS224+ is a two-bay NAS introduced in 2023, replacing the DS220+. Specifications:
| Component | Spec |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Celeron J4125, 4 cores, 2.0 GHz base / 2.7 GHz turbo |
| RAM | 2 GB DDR4 (single channel; expandable to 6 GB total) |
| Drive bays | 2x 3.5" SATA |
| Network | 2x 1 GbE LAN, with Link Aggregation |
| USB | 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 |
| OS | Synology DSM 7.x |
| Power consumption | About 14 W typical with two drives |
| Price (diskless) | About $300 |
Drives are sold separately. For Vaultwarden plus a basic self-hosted stack, two 4 TB to 8 TB drives in RAID 1 mirror is the standard configuration. WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf are the typical choices, around $100 to $180 per drive. Total system cost with two drives: $500 to $660.
What you can host on it
Synology’s app store (Package Center) covers most common self-hosted needs. The native applications include file sync, photo management, backup, media server, and a long list of tools. The interesting capability for privacy-focused users is the Container Manager package, which is Synology’s branded version of Docker. This unlocks the entire universe of self-hostable applications.
Realistic stack for a privacy-focused household:
- Vaultwarden (Docker container, 256 MB RAM)
- Pi-hole or AdGuard Home (Docker container, 512 MB RAM, with the NAS as a network DNS server)
- Tailscale (native package or Docker container, ~50 MB RAM, exit node and subnet router)
- Synology Drive (their built-in file sync, replaces Nextcloud for most use cases, very polished)
- Synology Photos (replaces Google Photos for personal photo backup)
- Hyper Backup (their backup tool, can back up to a second remote NAS, USB drive, or cloud)
Memory budget for the above stack: roughly 1.5 GB out of the 2 GB stock. Tight. Adding the 4 GB RAM upgrade ($60 from third-party suppliers) gives you 6 GB total and comfortable headroom.
Why Synology over a Pi or VPS for Vaultwarden specifically
A Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB RAM costs about $80 plus $15 for the SD card plus $12 for the power supply. Total about $107. The Pi runs Vaultwarden fine. The Pi does not have hot-swappable drive redundancy. SD card failure is the primary failure mode and it is not graceful.
A $5 per month VPS at Hetzner gets you Vaultwarden in the cloud. Annual cost: about $60. Five-year cost: $300. The data lives outside your home, accessible from anywhere, no electricity cost, but you depend on the VPS provider’s uptime and your data is at their physical location.
A Synology DS224+ with two drives costs about $500 to $660 upfront, but lasts 5 to 10 years with no monthly fee, has RAID 1 mirroring against drive failure, runs at home where you have physical control, and has substantial leftover capacity for other services.
For someone hosting only Vaultwarden, the NAS is overkill. For someone hosting Vaultwarden plus 4 to 6 other services on the same hardware, the NAS is the right choice. The marginal cost of additional services on hardware you already own is essentially zero.
What is good about Synology DSM
DSM (DiskStation Manager) is Synology’s web-based operating system. It is genuinely the best NAS UI in the consumer category.
The package center has well-curated first-party applications that handle backup, file sync, photo management, media server, surveillance, and most other common needs without configuration. For non-technical users this is meaningful.
The container manager is Docker with a graphical interface. You can deploy Vaultwarden by pasting a Docker compose file or by configuring the container through the GUI. Either works.
The user management is robust. You can have multiple users with different permission levels. Sharing is granular. SMB, AFP, NFS protocols are all supported for file shares.
Backup tools are extensive. Hyper Backup can back up to: another Synology NAS, a USB drive, an external SFTP server, Backblaze B2, AWS S3, Synology’s own cloud, and various other targets. Versioning is supported.
DSM updates automatically (or you can defer updates if you prefer manual control).
What is less good
Synology’s hardware-software lock-in has tightened in recent years. The 2025 product line introduced restrictions where some advanced features only work with Synology-branded drives (which are more expensive than the generic alternatives). The DS224+ has not been affected as severely as the larger models, but the trend direction is concerning. Buyers should evaluate whether this affects their planned use.
The CPU is dated. The Intel Celeron J4125 was released in 2019 and shows its age in CPU-intensive workloads. Vaultwarden does not need much CPU; Plex transcoding does and would struggle. For media transcoding or AI workloads, the DS224+ is the wrong choice.
The 2 GB stock RAM is tight. The RAM upgrade is essentially mandatory for running multiple containerized services. Not a deal-breaker but adds $60 to the real cost.
Synology’s marketing of the J4125-class machines is being phased out in favor of newer models with marginally better hardware at meaningfully higher prices. The DS224+ may or may not be the current model when you read this.
The web interface is functional but not delightful. DSM 7.x is a clear improvement over earlier versions but still has rough edges. The mobile apps are similarly OK rather than excellent.
Setup process for Vaultwarden on DSM
Roughly:
- Install the NAS, configure RAID 1 across two drives, complete the initial DSM setup.
- Install Container Manager from the package center.
- Create a project in Container Manager with a docker-compose.yml that includes the Vaultwarden image and a Caddy reverse proxy (similar to our standalone Vaultwarden setup guide).
- Configure Tailscale (Synology has a community package, or run the Tailscale container) to make the Vaultwarden instance accessible to your devices via your tailnet.
- Set up automated backup of the vault data via Hyper Backup, sending to a second backup target (Backblaze B2 is cheap and reliable).
Total setup time for someone who has used DSM before: 60 to 90 minutes. For a first-time DSM user: half a day, including learning the platform.
We have a separate detailed guide for the Vaultwarden + Caddy + Tailscale stack on a Linux VPS; the same patterns apply with minor adaptations for Synology’s container management.
When Synology is not the right call
You only need Vaultwarden and nothing else. Buy a Raspberry Pi 5 or use a small VPS. The NAS is overkill.
You need GPU acceleration for Plex/Jellyfin transcoding. The Synology J-series CPUs are too weak. Get a small mini-PC (Beelink or similar with N100 chip) for media use cases.
You want maximum flexibility and minimum vendor lock-in. Build a small home server with TrueNAS or Unraid running on commodity hardware. More work, more flexibility.
You do not have a permanent location for the device (apartment with frequent moves, no stable home). VPS-based self-hosting is more portable.
Your home internet is unreliable. NAS access from outside requires your home connection to be up. If your ISP is unreliable, host elsewhere.
When the DS224+ is the right call
You want a hardware appliance that will run for 5+ years with minimal attention.
You will host multiple services on it (Vaultwarden, Pi-hole, file sync, photo backup, etc.).
You value the polished Synology applications for backup, file sync, and media organization.
You are willing to invest $500 to $700 upfront for a longer-term solution.
You have a stable home with reliable power and internet.
For households fitting this profile, the DS224+ is currently the most reasonable entry point to a serious self-hosted privacy stack.
What to buy alongside it
Two HDDs. WD Red Plus 4 TB or Seagate IronWolf 4 TB are typical. About $100 each.
A RAM upgrade. 4 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM, around $30 to $60 from Crucial or another reputable manufacturer. Synology recommends their own branded RAM but third-party DDR4 SO-DIMM is reliable in our experience.
A small UPS. APC Back-UPS 600VA or similar. About $80. Protects the NAS from brief power outages, which both protect data and prevent OS corruption from sudden shutdowns.
Optional: a quality network cable. The included cable is fine; if you want 2.5 GbE upgrade later (the DS224+ does not support this natively, but newer models do), Cat 6a is the safer choice for the cable run.
Total package: $700 to $900 for a complete 4 TB, redundant, expandable home server with UPS protection.
Related: 13 things I wish someone had told me before self-hosting, Bitwarden setup walkthrough on a five dollar VPS, Self-hosting your password manager