Six months later, UGREEN's DH4300 Plus is still the best starter NAS

I tested a lot of NAS servers over the years, and while I prefer using the powerful 8-bay DiskStation DS1823xs+ as my main server, I'm increasingly switching to UGREEN's products in this category. There's a good reason for that, as the brand is consistently rolling out class-leading NAS servers.

This is particularly true in the budget category; the introduction of the 2-bay DH2300 and the 4-bay DH4300 Plus allowed UGREEN to meaningfully counter just about every other brand in the sub-$400 category. Even after six months of availability, the DH4300 is the best overall NAS you can buy if you're just getting started, and with the server now available for $399, it is the best time to get your hands on it.

I set up the DH4300 Plus at the end of 2025, and I like that UGREEN went with a vertical design; it makes the NAS stand out a little bit, and it's much more convenient to install the HDDs. Build quality is quite good, and you get good ventilation — the vertical design makes that a little more effective than traditional NAS servers. I like the look of the DH4300 Plus, and I haven't had any issues with the NAS as such in the six months I used it. I like that there's NFC on the NAS that lets you download the mobile app, and it just makes setting it up that much easier.

The internals are just as enticing, with the DH4300 Plus coming with an Arm-based platform with Cortex A76 and A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. It has 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, which by itself is good to see, and while it's soldered, it isn't a big deal — the onboard memory is more than adequate to handle anything you throw at it.

There's a 32GB eMMC drive that houses the software, and the solitary 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port is a welcome addition. You also get USB-A and USB-C connectivity alongside HDMI, and the basics are handled well.

The 4-bay NAS accommodates 128TB of data in total, with each bay holding a 32TB drive. It's another matter entirely that a single 32TB Exos drive costs a lot more than the NAS itself at $1,099, but as I had a few 30TB IronWolf drives on hand, I tested the NAS with those. There's no M.2 storage, and while that's annoying, it isn't a dealbreaker — the DH4300 Plus is aimed at buyers just getting started with local storage servers.

Obviously, the biggest selling point of the DH4300 Plus is that it acts as a local alternative to Google Drive and other public storage services, and it does a good job in that context. UGREEN's UGOS Pro software was limited when it made its debut, but it has plenty of useful features now. The software has a clean interface, comes with photo and file management essentials, and lets you access your data anywhere.

The software may not have quite the same level of polish as the DiskStation DS925+, but you'll find all the utilities you need, and that's what matters at the end of the day. Installing Plex is about as easy as it gets, and while the DH4300 Plus doesn't have hardware transcoding, it isn't a huge issue — you'll be able to stream content on most modern devices without issues.

Like every other brand, UGREEN is leaning into AI, and while the NAS isn't anywhere as powerful as the iDX6011 Pro that just launched (which I'm testing next), you get a few decent machine learning extras when it comes to photo and album management that make a difference.

Outside of that, there isn't much to talk about. The DH4300 Plus is a great choice if you're just interested in setting up a home server to store your documents and photos, or if you want a dedicated media server. It doesn't have some of the extras like Plex hardware transcoding or M.2 SSD storage, but as a starter NAS, there really isn't anything better right now.