How Many kWh Does a NAS (Network Attached Storage) Use?
NAS (Network Attached Storage) energy cost calculator — see your exact daily, monthly, and yearly electricity cost.
US national average. Edit for your local rate.
Daily Energy Use
1.20
kWh / day
Monthly Cost
$6.78
Yearly Cost
$82.48
NAS (Network Attached Storage) — Cost Breakdown
| Period | kWh Used | Cost ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Per Hour | 0.0500 | $0.0094 |
| Per Day | 1.20 | $0.23 |
| Per Month (30 days) | 36.00 | $6.78 |
| Per Year (365 days) | 438.00 | $82.48 |
Running a NAS all day uses about the same energy as running a ceiling fan on medium for 16 hours.
3 Ways to Cut Your NAS (Network Attached Storage) Energy Bill
- 🌱
Enable hard drive spin-down after 15 minutes of inactivity — spinning drives account for 60–70% of total NAS power draw.
- 💡
Use SSDs instead of HDDs if possible — SSDs use 2–5W vs. 6–15W per drive during active use.
- ⚡
Schedule backups and media scanning for a specific window rather than allowing them to run randomly throughout the day.
The hard drive motors draw a brief surge during spin-up, and total NAS startup surge can reach 100–150W when all drives spin up simultaneously.