Synology or UGREEN - which should a first-time NAS buyer pick?

The consensus across the reviewers we read is that Synology wins on software maturity (DSM, Hyper Backup, Synology Photos, well-documented apps) while UGREEN wins on raw hardware-per-dollar (N100 or Pentium Gold CPUs, 2.5GbE/10GbE, NVMe slots at lower price points). Reviewers warn that UGREEN's UGOS software ecosystem is younger and the third-party app catalog is thinner, while Synology has drawn community criticism over locking certain features to its branded drives on newer Plus models.