If you haven't bought a NAS yet and are deciding between Synology and QNAP partly on surveillance capability, here's what actually differs -- not which one is "better," since that depends heavily on what you already own and which cameras you're planning to use.
Synology's Surveillance Station and QNAP's QVR Pro are each platform's own NVR (network video recorder) software for turning a NAS into a camera recording system. Both support a large range of third-party IP cameras in addition to each vendor's own camera lines, both offer live view, motion-triggered and continuous recording, mobile apps, and ONVIF support for cameras without a native driver. Where they meaningfully diverge is licensing, how camera compatibility is delivered, and the size of each platform's own verified camera list.
Both charge per camera channel beyond a small free allotment bundled with the NAS -- see how many camera licenses you need for the full breakdown. As reflected in this site's own NAS reference data, QNAP's mainstream line has generally bundled more free licenses per NAS than Synology's equivalent Plus-series units, though Synology's dedicated DVA-series NVR appliances bundle notably more than its general-purpose DiskStations. If minimizing license spend is a real factor in your decision, compare the specific models you're actually considering on the NAS model database rather than assuming either brand is uniformly cheaper.
Synology delivers camera driver support through periodic "Device Pack" updates that apply across its entire NAS lineup -- see how Device Pack versions work. QNAP's QVR Pro instead lists a minimum QVR Pro firmware version per camera entry, without an equivalent shared "driver pack" concept spanning the whole compatibility list. In practice this mostly affects how you'd check whether a specific camera works with hardware you already own -- both platforms ultimately do support a comparable range of ONVIF-compliant third-party cameras even without a native driver, with some loss of brand-specific features.
This site's own two databases are separately maintained because the underlying vendor data doesn't overlap much: the Synology database currently reflects over 20,000 cameras from Synology's own published Surveillance Station compatibility list, while the QNAP database reflects roughly 7,500 from QNAP's own published QVR Pro list -- with only a minority of camera models appearing on both. That size difference reflects how each vendor's own published list is structured and how long each list has been maintained, not necessarily how many real-world cameras actually work with each platform in practice (ONVIF support extends real compatibility well beyond either vendor's own explicit list). If you already own specific cameras, checking both databases for your exact model is more useful than reading catalog size as a proxy for anything else.
If you don't yet own a NAS and are choosing partly on surveillance grounds, the more useful comparison is usually specific: look up the exact cameras you already own (or are planning to buy) in both databases, compare the license/channel numbers for the specific NAS models you're considering on the NAS database, and weigh that against whatever other NAS features (file sharing, backup, other apps) are driving the decision -- surveillance is rarely the only reason to pick one NAS platform over another.