Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Amazon FSx comparison

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and Amazon FSx are both solutions in the Cloud Storage category. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while Amazon FSx is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.3. Additionally, 100% of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Amazon FSx users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Amazon EFS and Amazon FSx are cloud storage solutions competing in the AWS ecosystem. FSx seems to have the upper hand due to its flexibility and support for specialized file systems.

Features: Amazon EFS offers a fully managed NFS file system with easy scalability and minimal management. FSx supports Windows File Server, integrates seamlessly with Windows-based environments, and is optimized for high-performance computing tasks with FSx for Lustre. FSx offers tailored functionalities for specific workloads.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon EFS provides straightforward deployment with reliable customer support, emphasizing ease of use. FSx deployment varies by file system, including detailed configuration options that may require more setup. FSx's customer service is recognized for specialized support in complex integrations.

Pricing and ROI: EFS has a pay-as-you-go pricing model with automatic scaling to balance costs and resource consumption. It is favored for low upfront costs and predictable expenses. FSx pricing depends on the selected file system and may be higher due to its specialized nature but offers robust performance for demanding applications.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx

May 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Featured Reviews

Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us

The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.

Read full review

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

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.

Read full review

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

Shared storage capabilities provide enterprise value with good reliability

Amazon FSx is more costly compared to other storage solutions like EBS or EFS. The auto-scaling feature should be improved, as it currently includes downtime. I need to manually increase the storage, which is not ideal. Integrating FSx with Windows Server is challenging; it's a long process involving Active Directory (AD) setup and synchronization.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate Pure Storage FlashBlade a ten out of ten."

"Using this solution has made our backups more reliable."

"The tool's most valuable features are data warehousing, speedy recovery, and analytics. Its latest release is cost-effective."

"The main feature I have found to be product replication."

"It helps simplify our storage, because the user interface is very simple and the installation is easy."

"The most valuable feature is Safe Mode."

"The performance of FlashBlade is excellent. It does not necessarily leverage the SOS API that some of the newer products leverage, but I found its speed pretty much on par and comparable. It is fast, and it does what it is supposed to do."

"The initial setup is pretty easy and simple."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in 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."

"We haven't seen any downtime or challenges when using the services."

"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations."

"I appreciate Amazon's extensive range of services, which makes it a favorable choice."

"The first valuable thing is it is scalable."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) pros

"The shared storage capability is highly valuable."

"I rate the stability of Amazon FSx ten out of ten."

"We used it for disaster recovery perspective behind a number of resources, like batch services and RDS."

"FSx operates as an independent service, not tied to any server, which eliminates dependencies between applications for storage."

"On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Amazon FSx a ten."

Cons

"I would like to see the licensing fees improved as well as the price per terabytes."

"The feature that we're waiting on is better integration with the cell services."

"I want efficiency. FlashBlade doesn't have efficiency now."

"Recently, while upgrading the version code, one of the controllers failed. Replacing the controller took between 14 to 20 days."

"The technical support needs to improve. When we open a case, it is auto assigned to a support tech person. Nine out of ten times, we get an email right back saying that person is off until tomorrow. I cannot handle that. They just did this over the weekend to us, too. I had to call our rep and have them do something about it."

"There is some room for new features related to authentication and integration with Kubernetes, and other solution using S3 Bucket."

"File storage needs a lot of improvement. Mainframe connectivity also needs improvement because it requires additional components to be integrated with Pure Storage FlashBlade. If you want to keep your backup data, then this becomes an even more expensive solution because Pure Storage FlashBlade will not be able to meet your backup needs."

"There could be improvements in public cloud integration."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

"It should be simplified. There are people who don't have cloud experience. It should be storage that we are able to just connect to."

"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."

"EFS could be improved by including a one-click setup."

"Elastic File Systems can be expensive due to the nature of data transfer costs, using services like SSTP, and potentially being costly in a rate-shift context."

"Around 80 percent of the features of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) are available on Linux and not in Windows, making it a major drawback of the product."

"It could be better in connecting with Windows Server instances."

"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3."

"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) cons

"From my experience, there are areas in Amazon FSx where more performance is needed, as they will be looking for higher IOPS."

"Amazon FSx is more costly compared to other storage solutions like EBS or EFS."

"I've been facing a challenge when doing a failover from FSx side. AWS console does not refresh within a half hour."

"A direct FTP feature would be beneficial instead of relying on transmission services."

"Amazon FSx is more costly compared to other storage solutions like EBS or EFS."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution could be made more affordable."

"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."

"The price could be cheaper."

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"Support is a separate line item. Support is a different cost, but whatever your support is now, that's what you're going to pay forever. If your support's $100 today, six years from now it's $100. It doesn't fluctuate unless you upgrade it, or change it, etc."

"The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate."

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."

"The product is very expensive."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

"The solution's price is mid-ranged."

"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."

"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."

"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."

"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."

"The lowest price I have paid is $370 or $380 per month, while the highest can exceed $3,000 per month."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Storage solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Educational Organization

12%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power out...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate. FlashBlade is worth the money due to the experience and per...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

Its configuration should be easier. There should be easier language for the configuration.

See all answers

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 pe...

See all answers

What do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?

The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon FSx?

From my experience, there are areas in Amazon FSx where more performance is needed, as they will be looking for highe...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon FSx?

Our customers mainly use Amazon FSx for high-performance computing. Our customers are mainly in the Life Science and ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Amazon FSx?

There is an ongoing project where my customers are exploring the FSx solution, but not yet for AI-driven projects; th...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 20% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 52% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 10% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon S3 Glacier vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 6% of the time

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Competitors

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon FSx

Compared 23% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs Amazon FSx

Compared 17% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Amazon FSx

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs Amazon FSx

Compared 9% of the time

Nasuni vs Amazon FSx

Compared 7% of the time

More Amazon FSx Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

May 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

June 2025

Download Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Storage

June 2025

Download Amazon FSx product report

Also Known As

No data available

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, Amazon FSx for Lustre

Overview

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) provides simple, scalable file storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances in the AWS Cloud. Amazon EFS is easy to use and offers a simple interface that allows you to create and configure file systems quickly and easily. With Amazon EFS, storage capacity is elastic, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, so your applications have the storage they need, when they need it.

When mounted to Amazon EC2 instances, an Amazon EFS file system provides a standard file system interface and file system access semantics, allowing you to seamlessly integrate Amazon EFS with your existing applications and tools. Multiple Amazon EC2 instances can access an Amazon EFS file system at the same time, allowing Amazon EFS to provide a common data source for workloads and applications running on more than one Amazon EC2 instance.

It’s designed for high availability and durability, and provides performance for a broad spectrum of workloads and applications, including Big Data and analytics, media processing workflows, content management, web serving, and home directories.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon FSx makes it easy and cost effective to launch and run popular file systems. With Amazon FSx, you can leverage the rich feature sets and fast performance of widely-used open source and commercially-licensed file systems, while avoiding time-consuming administrative tasks like hardware provisioning, software configuration, patching, and backups. It provides cost-efficient capacity and high levels of reliability, and it integrates with other AWS services so that you can manage and use the file systems in cloud-native ways.

Amazon FSx provides you with two file systems to choose from: Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for enterprise workloads and Amazon FSx for Lustre for high-performance workloads.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend

Neiman Marcus, T Mobile, Docxellent, Matrix, Lyell

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx

May 2025

Free Report: Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Amazon FSx report.

See our list of best Cloud Storage vendors and best File and Object Storage vendors.

We monitor all Cloud Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.