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Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block S...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) is 2.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 7.6%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Diverse features and affordability drive effective resource management
Amazon EBS offers diverse features. It can be used for multi-purpose storage, supporting single, multiple, or heavy loads. It has different types for various use cases, allowing me to choose based on my specific requirements. The primary advantage of Amazon EBS is affordability compared to other solutions like EFS or FSX. It acts as a hard drive for servers, making it essential for operation.
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-scaling capabilities enhance file management while reducing downtime
The most valuable feature of Amazon EFS is its auto-scaling capability. It's really easy to configure EFS by just creating it and running a command to directly configure it with my servers. It supports unlimited use, and charges are applied based on the file usage at the end of the month. The solution offers reduced downtime and increased durability through its auto-scaling features.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features of Amazon EBS are the ease of mounting any file system and good for block storage. We can use secondary storage for our difficult instances and it performs well."
"The most important feature is the volume types in those hundred EDS. For example, if you need a volume with high IOPS, you should choose an io2 or io2 Block Express volume type. The default volume type for EBS is GP3, which is a good balance of performance and price for most workloads."
"Amazon EBS is very stable."
"The most impressive aspects of Amazon EBS are its scalability and high availability."
"EBS can handle Apex, which helps us manage many issues. EBS is easy to use and has high performance."
"Amazon EBS is a storage system, and the storage is attached to the servers."
"If EBS is attached to an EC2 instance, it allows secure document storage."
"Amazon EBS is valuable because it allows you to store data permanently."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is secure as it is used under VPC."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"We are not that big of a cloud user. We just use it for the storage of our bytes. The most valuable aspect is the storage."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."
"The platform is highly scalable."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
 

Cons

"I would like EBS to have no limitations, similar to stream-like block storage, which can accommodate an unlimited amount of sales."
"There is room for improvement in AWS support."
"I am still in the learning process regarding Amazon EBS, so I'm not entirely sure what specific improvements are needed."
"The features could be improved."
"It would be good if the solution added a button to increase the size and make the EC2 machine recognize the increased capacity of the EBS."
"It would be better to analyze and find a way to merge both the file systems of Linux and Windows."
"If Amazon could add the auto-scaling feature that exists in RDS to the EBS volumes for EC2 or EKS, it would be beneficial."
"Amazon EBS is scalable, but not auto-scaling. I have to manually scale it, especially in Windows instances, which requires downtime."
"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."
"EFS could be improved by including a one-click setup."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3."
"I don't have notes on improvements."
"The product's stability has some shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The deployment is definitely not an easy process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing models may be for general purposes, such as Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS Volume or Amazon EBS Cold HDD Volumes."
"What I want Amazon to do is lower the price."
"On a scale of one to ten, if one point is a cheap solution and ten points is very expensive, I rate the product price an eight."
"I find the price reasonable for our I environment."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"The product is low-priced than other solutions."
"The solution is quite costly."
"You need to pay additional costs for support."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3. For one GB or ten GB of data, S3 is much cheaper. EFS could cost around $30 to $50 per month for similar usage."
"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...
What do you like most about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The durability and snapshot capabilities are good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The cost of Amazon EBS storage is high. I rate the price as eight out of ten. It is expensive to store a lot yet provides significant cost-efficiency as I pay only for the storage time required.
Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?
Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...
What do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bazaar Voice, Crowd Strike, Adobe, Gamevil, Hess, CopperEgg, TotalJobs Group, SuperCell, Dropcam, Unilever
Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.