A NAS, or Network-Attached Storage device, lets you centralize storage and services for your devices. It is a worthy addition to any computing setup. NASs are designed to be fairly easy to use and can handle many different computing needs. Depending on which subscription services you're using, that means having a NAS could save you money and enable you to self-host instead.

Before we go further, I want to point out the one thing a NAS won't help you save money on. That's a proper backup plan, following the 3-2-1 backup rule, which means 3 data copies, 2 storage devices, and 1 off-site backup. That's something having on-site storage helps with, but it won't help you save on that crucial off-site backup.

4 Reduce your cloud storage reliance

If you've got tons of digital files and photos, a NAS can save you a bundle

We all create tons of digital files every day, whether that's photos taken on our smartphones, emails sent, or documents created for work and home. Normally, these automatically get backed up to the cloud storage service on those devices, whether that's iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, or third-party services. With how convenient the device manufacturers make it (and how difficult they make it to remove files), the cost of your cloud storage subscription usually climbs up over time.

But with a NAS and a little bit of setup time, you could reduce the need for cloud storage and centralize your data for easy retrieval. Setting up Nextcloud on your NAS gives you your own personal cloud, and running apps like PhotoPrism on top of that gives you a replacement for Google Photos or other cloud-based photo storage services.

Plus, you'll be able to save so much more data. Most cloud storage plans offer up to 2TB of storage space, and while other providers can offer more, the monthly costs soon become prohibitive. Even a small NAS can offer several times that capacity, and be added to over time as your storage needs increase.

3 Self-host apps

Storage isn't the only thing that comes with a subscription you can cut

While storage costs are one thing we can't fully get away from as offsite backups for personal data are important, that's only one thing carrying a subscription. How many apps do you use on a daily basis that have a monthly subscription cost or have a one-time fee for using them? The chances are you can probably replace these apps with a self-hosted version that will run on your NAS and fulfill the same needs.

Whether that's for a bookmarking solution, your password manager, a fitness tracker, or almost anything you can think of, self-hosting comes with a wealth of benefits. You get control over your own data, so it's not being scraped for training AI models. You get knowledge and skills through learning how to self-host and connect to those apps. And you get a lighter load on your wallet, as you can stop paying for monthly subscription fees.

This can also be extended to self-hosting your own DNS servers, so that your ISP cannot use your data for advertising. That doesn't exactly save you money, but it does save your privacy, which is more valuable.

2 Cut cable and streaming costs

Have enough DVDs to start your own streaming service? Why not create one

Streaming media has become the norm for many users, but the monthly costs ramp up considerably when you consider how many different services you might be subscribed to. If you have physical media at home that you could rip into digital form, you might be able to reduce your costs by setting up your own personal media streaming server.

We usually recommend Plex or Jellyfin as the main media server backend to check out, but there are a few others, so look around to find the one that fits your needs. This gives you a central place to put your digital media, and you can then stream them to any device that has a compatible player. Plus, it works even if your internet is down, which is never a bad thing.

You might find that you prefer having local copies of your media, and cut down on streaming subscriptions completely. Or you might realize that you can't live without one or two of your streaming services and keep those as a supplementary service. That's fine, too; you're still saving some money by reducing your subscriptions.

1 Store your Steam library

If your ISP has a data cap, keeping your Steam library local is awesome

Not everyone is blessed with an internet plan that has unlimited usage, and that can be a problem for power users that move lots of cloud storage around, or for those with large game libraries. Steam has changed how we buy and use games, and almost everything on the PC is digital-only at this point, making downloading those games an issue for anyone with a data cap. With how these contracts are structured, any data use over the cap is charged at huge fees, and you don't want to be paying those at all.

But even with a data cap, you can download your Steam library in chunks to a NAS. You can do this near the end of the month when you know how much of your cap you have left, so to not get additional fees for overages. That lets you install games from your local network instead of having to always pull from Steam's servers, saving your data cap for other uses.

A NAS is one of the most important parts of the modern home

Whether it's reducing reliance on cloud storage subscriptions or backing up your important files, having a NAS at home will save you money over time. They're also pretty economical on power costs, assuming you buy a prebuilt enclosure, which is generally designed with low-power efficient processors.

That said, you also need to consider the unseen costs of self-hosting and self-storing data and services. Using your NAS for storage is fine, until something goes wrong with it or something catastrophic like a house fire happens, and no amount of saved subscription fees can recover it. You still need to have a proper backup solution with your data in multiple locations, including one that isn't your home. You'd need this even if you were relying on cloud storage, but some providers are more affordable than others.