Running out of Google Drive storage? Since Google raised Google One prices in Indonesia in February 2025 (the 2TB plan went from IDR 135,000 to IDR 158,000/month), more people are eyeing a NAS (Network Attached Storage) — pay once, no monthly fees ever.
But is a NAS actually cheaper? I ran the 3-year total cost of ownership numbers myself in Indonesian rupiah, and the result surprised me.
The 3-year cost math
NAS setup (2-bay, ~4TB usable):
- Synology DS223j unit: ~IDR 3,200,000
- 2x WD Red Plus 4TB NAS drives: ~IDR 4,100,000
- Electricity for 3 years (16W, 24/7): ~IDR 619,000
- Total: ~IDR 7,919,237
Google One 2TB: IDR 158,000/month x 36 = IDR 5,688,000
Google One wins by about IDR 2.2 million over 3 years. The break-even point only arrives at month 52 — a NAS starts paying off after 4+ years of use. (Full breakdown with my calculation script: https://www.miftahulrizki.eu.org/2026/10/nas-vs-google-drive-mana-yang-lebih.html.)
Speed: no contest on local network
A home NAS over Gigabit LAN does ~110 MB/s — roughly 44x faster than a typical home internet upload (my reference: ~2.5 MBps on a 100 Mbps plan). Moving a 50GB video file takes ~8 minutes locally vs ~6 hours to the cloud.
Privacy vs convenience
NAS wins privacy: your files live on hardware you own. Google encrypts your files but holds the keys, and its ToS allows file scanning. Google Drive wins convenience by a mile: 5-minute signup, real-time collaboration, instant link sharing.
Risks nobody mentions
NAS risks are physical: drive failure (mitigated by RAID 1), ransomware (mitigated by snapshots), power outages. You're the admin — full power, full responsibility. Drive risks are administrative: Google can lock your account, and it already raised prices unilaterally in 2025.
Verdict
Choose Google One if you need under 2TB, collaborate often, and hate tinkering. Choose NAS if you need 4TB+, care about privacy, move big files daily, or plan to use it 5+ years. Many people end up with both.
I published the full Indonesian version with detailed tables and setup steps here: https://www.miftahulrizki.eu.org/2026/10/nas-vs-google-drive-mana-yang-lebih.html.
Top comments (1)
구매 가격뿐 아니라 3년 전기요금까지 합산한 비교가 유용합니다. 다만 NAS 4TB와 클라우드 2TB는 용량이 다르니 같은 용량 기준 표도 있으면 선택이 더 쉬울 것 같아요. RAID 1은 백업을 대신하지 않으므로 외부 백업 비용과 실제 복원 시간을 별도 항목으로 넣으면 운영 책임까지 비교할 수 있겠습니다.