This cloud versus NAS cost calculator compares the 5-year total cost of cloud storage subscriptions against owning a NAS with local drives. Enter your storage needs and Australian electricity rates to see the crossover point where NAS becomes cheaper.
Paying $15 a month for cloud storage doesn't sound like much, until you multiply it by five years. That's $900, and if your storage needs grow, you'll be bumped to a more expensive tier long before then.
A NAS costs more upfront, but the ongoing costs are just power and eventual drive replacements. The question is: when does the NAS actually pay for itself?
This calculator models the real total cost of ownership for both options over 1, 3, and 5 years, using Australian cloud pricing, AU electricity rates, and local NAS hardware costs.
Cloud Storage
AU pricing (GST-inclusive). Last verified: March 2026. Cloud prices shown in AUD. If you're outside Australia, adjust to your local pricing.
$0.006/GB/month
$0.01/GB egress (first 1 GB free)
10% per year compounds storage needs and may trigger plan tier jumps.
Self-Hosted NAS
StaticICE AU estimate, edit to override with your price.
Cloud is the right call at your storage volume, but have a backup strategy. Read our 3-2-1 backup guide for a resilient setup.
It’s Close: Here’s How to Decide
The 5-year cost difference is small enough that your decision should come down to what matters most:
Choose NAS if: you want local speed, full control, and no ongoing subscriptions
Choose cloud if: you want zero maintenance, no hardware, and access from anywhere
Choose hybrid: NAS for daily use + cloud backup for disaster recovery
Our Review My Build service ($149 AUD) can help you design the right setup for your situation, whether that’s NAS, cloud, or both.
Not sure if this is right for your specific situation? Get a full review of your planned build, hardware, RAID, drives, and software, from the NTKIT team. $149 AUD.
Researching but not ready to buy?Get our free NAS planning guides , the mistakes first-time buyers make, how to choose drives, and how to avoid overpaying.
Cloud costs are calculated from your selected plan's monthly rate, projected forward. If your storage needs grow beyond your current plan's capacity, the calculator automatically bumps you to the next available tier for that provider and adjusts the cost accordingly.
NAS costs include three components: the upfront hardware investment (NAS unit, drives, optional UPS), ongoing electricity based on your NAS's power draw and your electricity rate, and a drive replacement reserve that spreads the expected cost of replacing drives over their lifespan.
All pricing is in Australian dollars (GST-inclusive). Cloud plan rates reflect AU pricing, not US pricing. Electricity defaults to the national average of 33c/kWh but can be adjusted by state.
What's excluded: Internet costs (you already pay for broadband regardless), labour and time (too subjective to model), and the value of non-financial factors like privacy, LAN-speed access, or app hosting. These matter, they're just not dollar figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on how much you store and for how long. For small amounts (under 1 TB), cloud is often cheaper, the NAS hardware cost is hard to justify. But once you're storing 2 TB or more and plan to keep data for 3+ years, NAS almost always wins on pure cost. The break-even point typically falls between 12 and 30 months for mainstream setups. Use this calculator to see exactly where your crossover falls.
Yes, and this is a critical point. A NAS protects against drive failure (via RAID) and gives you fast local access, but it doesn't protect against theft, fire, or flood. Best practice is NAS for primary storage plus a cloud backup service (like Backblaze B2 at ~$0.006/GB/month) for disaster recovery. See our 3-2-1 backup strategy guide. You can model Backblaze B2 costs in this calculator to see if a hybrid NAS + cloud backup still beats all-cloud storage.
The main ongoing costs are electricity (running 24/7) and drive replacements (typically every 4-6 years). A 4-bay NAS drawing 35W costs roughly $100/year in power at average AU rates. Drive replacement is the bigger factor, budget for replacing all drives once over 5 years. UPS battery replacement (~$50-80 every 3 years) is another minor cost. Use our NAS Power Cost Calculator for a detailed power cost breakdown.
If you're running RAID or Synology's SHR, you can lose one drive (or two with RAID 6/SHR-2) without losing data. You replace the failed drive, the NAS rebuilds the array, and you're back to full redundancy. A replacement NAS-rated drive costs $150-$500 depending on capacity. Without RAID, a failed drive means lost data, which is why this calculator flags RAID-less setups. See our RAID Calculator for usable capacity by configuration.
Absolutely, and many people do. A common hybrid approach: NAS for primary storage (fast access, large capacity, no monthly fee) and a lightweight cloud plan for offsite backup or mobile file sync. This gives you the cost advantage of local storage with the safety net of cloud redundancy. You might pair a 4-bay NAS with a $5/month Backblaze B2 backup rather than paying $15+/month for all-cloud storage.
NAS hardware typically lasts 5-8 years. Synology and QNAP provide software updates for 5+ years on most models. Drives are the wear item, expect to replace them once during the NAS's lifespan. When you eventually replace the NAS unit itself, your drives and data usually migrate to the new unit with minimal hassle (especially within the same brand). For a comparison of brands and longevity, see Synology vs QNAP Australia.
If you're already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for the productivity apps, the included storage (1 TB for M365 Personal, etc.) is essentially a bonus. In that case, the "cloud cost" for storage is effectively $0, and a NAS only makes sense if you need more capacity, faster access, or self-hosted services. This calculator lets you set a custom monthly cost to account for this, enter $0 if you consider the storage "free" with your existing subscription.
You can, but initial uploads are slow. On a typical NBN 50 plan (20 Mbps upload), uploading 4 TB takes roughly 19 days of continuous transfer. After the initial sync, incremental backups are manageable. CGNAT, common on Australian NBN connections, doesn't affect outbound cloud backups but does complicate inbound remote access to your NAS. See our NAS buying guide for recommended models with good remote access support.
