Hey, you see the same phenomenon with the HC Ultraster disks from WD. I don't know exactly, but our guess is that these disks are simply produced in larger quantities and therefore the prices are lower.

I have an Exos and several HC Ultrasters and would never think of buying another WD Red, let alone an Ironwolf, because you pay more and don't get more.

The disks run great for me!

First of all, you have to distinguish between the two types of disks, which are designed for different markets/applications.
The IronWolf series is designed by the manufacturer for use in standard NAS. Generally (i.e. purely normal use and according to statistics), data is stored on the NAS and then mostly read, and very often the NAS is found directly in the vicinity of the user, which is why the IronWolf (Pro) series has technologies such as QuietStep - which reduces the noise level by up to 50% depending on the situation. At the same time, the Pro version of the IronWolf also has advanced error correction mechanisms, especially in the raid network - data should survive as long as possible, so every unnecessary write process that has to be repeated is a little less wear and tear and thus - again statistically - a little longer MFTB. I think Seagate gives you 2 years extra limited warranty on the IronWorlf compared to the Exos. Of course, the question is: Is your NAS right next to you and would the typical rattling of a Helium disk like the EXOS bother you (the accesses are clearly more audible, but the running noise of the motors is lower) and is that, coupled with the other attributes, worth the price difference to you?

The Exos is aimed at a completely different market and field of application. They are built for use in data centres, data density and write throughput are the be-all and end-all here, no consideration is given to the (additional) error correction mechanisms or reduction of the resulting background noise, nor does it have to be. The point here is to place the data as quickly as possible so that the "input" remains as free as possible - there should be no congestion during ingestion and the data-processing applications should be utilised as much as possible so that no computing power lies idle here. In such processing clusters, you will find far fewer RAID-5 or other variants, but primarily high-performance raid forms such as RAID10, etc. You will also find far fewer vibrators here. - You will also find far fewer vibration reduction measures through technologies in the disks.

The Exos - logically, since they are Enterprise - are also available as SAS variants, but the IronWolfs are not, as far as I know.

I have such an EXOS 18TB in my desktop computer, next to it is an HP DL 360p server whose loud fans emit noise 24/7, you can hear the crackling of the Exos despite the RTX 3090 that's going crazy, the server that's going "I'm a little jet engine" and at the same time the American dad is still singing his "Good morning USA".

For home use, normal IronWolfs (non-Pro) or even normal disks would do (backup is needed anyway, because RAID is not backup). In a nutshell: IronWolf is intended for home & small business NAS, IronWolf Pro is aimed at Creative Pros & businesses with high performance requirements from a NAS server, Exos is aimed at Datacenter (non-archival).