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Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs NetApp StorageGRID comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NetApp are both solutions in the File and Object Storage category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.9, while NetApp is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 0.9% mindshare in FaOS, compared to NetApp’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
Sponsored
Pure Storage FlashBlade
Read 38 Pure Storage FlashBlade reviews
  • 4,959 Views
  • 3,372 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Read 17 Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) reviews
  • 4,149 Views
  • 332 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
NetApp StorageGRID
Read 17 NetApp StorageGRID reviews
  • 2,871 Views
  • 2,871 Comparison Views
88% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Amazon EFS and NetApp StorageGRID compete in the cloud storage sector, with Amazon EFS having a pricing and ease of deployment advantage while NetApp StorageGRID offers features that justify its investment.

Features: Amazon EFS provides scalable multi-AZ file storage, elastic capacity, and seamless AWS integration. It excels in scalability, allowing integration with multiple servers, and automatic scaling saves storage costs. NetApp StorageGRID shines with advanced data management supporting multiple protocols, efficient data tiering, and excellent manageability through deduplication and security, providing robust data protection and usability.

Room for Improvement: Amazon EFS could benefit from enhanced data management features and support for more diverse use cases, such as complex data operations. It may require better flexibility in configuration options to meet varied enterprise needs. Meanwhile, NetApp StorageGRID's complexity in deployment could be simplified, making it more accessible to smaller businesses. Improvements in user interface elements to streamline tasks could also enhance its usability, along with reducing the learning curve associated with its advanced features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon EFS offers effortless setup within the AWS ecosystem, supporting quick integration with AWS Services and user-friendly deployment via the AWS console. NetApp StorageGRID, while more complex, provides strong technical support tailored to hybrid and multi-cloud environments, ensuring efficient management for intricate infrastructure needs.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon EFS adopts a pay-as-you-go pricing model aligned with usage, lowering upfront expenditures and improving ROI through cost-efficient scalability. NetApp StorageGRID, requiring a higher initial investment, offers significant long-term cost benefits if its full feature set is utilized. It appeals to enterprises prioritizing sophisticated data management capabilities, whereas Amazon EFS remains a budget-friendly option for flexible storage needs.

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To learn more, read our detailed Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID
September 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Pure Storage FlashBlade boosts ROI by reducing costs, enhancing efficiencies, increasing VM density, and saving 20%-85% in time.
Sentiment score
5.1
Amazon EFS offers scalable, cost-effective storage with minimal maintenance, enhancing productivity and benefiting businesses through pay-as-you-go pricing.
Sentiment score
1.0
NetApp StorageGRID lowers costs by eliminating tape libraries and improving efficiency, offering scalability and revenue-generating opportunities for customers.
It does not require much management once you set up correctly, so it saves time, allowing an admin to focus on other work.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Pure Storage FlashBlade support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge but criticized for slower responses and occasional language barriers.
Sentiment score
6.6
Amazon EFS customer service is rated well for responsiveness and effectiveness, with appreciated support plans and documentation.
Sentiment score
7.2
NetApp StorageGRID support is efficient but has mixed reviews due to expertise gaps and reliance on self-support in small markets.
I would rate them an eight out of ten.
The support is done through email and is not that great, making it a very problematic area I've been dealing with for over four years.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
While the time to respond was good, the time to resolve was not optimal, as it took more than a week.
Amazon's support model is consistent across services.
Training and support depend on the plan you have, with centralized support being very helpful in case issues arise.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
When evaluating the technical support of NetApp StorageGRID, I would give it an eight out of ten.
I would rate the support for NetApp StorageGRID as eight out of 10.
That's due to the fact that we haven't implemented all the technical support facilities in NetApp.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
RE
Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
AA
Girish Mukim - PeerSpot reviewerChanchalSingh1 - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
Michael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
JV
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.8
Pure Storage FlashBlade is praised for scalability, ease of expansion, and support, despite some areas needing improvement.
Sentiment score
7.1
Amazon EFS excels in scalability and auto-scaling, supporting large users but may face connection restoration issues.
Sentiment score
7.3
NetApp StorageGRID is commended for seamless, non-disruptive scalability and effective handling of large data volumes in enterprise environments.
Pure Storage FlashBlade is scalable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
Its auto-scaling feature is a crucial point, providing high scalability that I would rate at ten out of ten.
Elastic File Systems allow me to scale up or down easily.
It is very cost-effective, and there's no need for initial charges.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
The scalability of NetApp StorageGRID has been proven as we've expanded twice.
The scalability of NetApp StorageGRID rates an eight or nine out of ten.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewerMuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewerVijay Gawade - PeerSpot reviewerChanchalSingh1 - PeerSpot reviewerMichael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.8
Pure Storage FlashBlade is praised for its impressive stability and reliability, with minimal disruptions and consistent uptime even during upgrades.
Sentiment score
7.1
Amazon EFS is considered stable and reliable by users, with minor issues that are generally resolved quickly.
Sentiment score
8.3
NetApp StorageGRID is valued for its reliable performance, redundancy, and effective support, with stability ratings of eight to nine.
In case there is any issue with any blade, the data is moved to another.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS.
While I experienced an EFS mount dropping, it was related to server issues rather than EFS itself.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
My impression of the stability of NetApp StorageGRID is quite high; from one to ten, I would rate it a nine.
We experienced very little stability issues.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
RE
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewerGirish Mukim - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
Michael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek better cloud integration, enhanced deduplication, improved support, protocol enhancements, simpler configuration, and a more intuitive interface.
Amazon EFS needs setup simplification, enhanced Windows support, speed improvements, better security, and AI-driven ease for nontechnical users.
NetApp StorageGRID's interface is complex, integration and pricing need improvement, and marketing and automated management require enhancement.
Technical support definitely needs significant improvement.
Its configuration should be easier.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
Enabling AI-driven or automatic features would be beneficial for new or nontechnical users.
In my project, there are challenges related to AWS, such as ensuring proper security measures with IMS code and encryption.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
They need to focus on a better upgrade path with easier and more resilient upgrades.
It would be great if it could fix internal issues itself without manual intervention.
In terms of functionality, reliability, and scalability, we are satisfied with NetApp.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
RE
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewerVijay Gawade - PeerSpot reviewerMichael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
GP
JV
 

Setup Cost

Pure Storage FlashBlade offers high performance and features, justifying its cost with no extra software fees and fixed support costs.
Amazon EFS provides flexible pricing based on storage and usage, but monthly costs can be higher than alternatives.
NetApp StorageGRID is expensive yet cost-effective for large-scale storage, with flexible initial investment and negotiable annual licensing.
The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the past, but one benefit is that they have built-in ransomware protection.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
EFS could cost around $30 to $50 per month for similar usage.
Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS.
Elastic File Systems can be expensive due to the nature of data transfer costs.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
I'd rate the pricing eight out of ten.
It would definitely be more on the expensive side, especially if you compare it with open source solutions like Ceph.
From what I understood, it was cheaper than EMC ECS, though this was over seven years ago.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewerMuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewerGirish Mukim - PeerSpot reviewerVijay Gawade - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
JV
Michael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Pure Storage FlashBlade offers fast, scalable, and user-friendly storage with efficient integration, analytics, and versatility for diverse needs.
Amazon EFS provides scalable, flexible storage, seamless EC2 integration, and advanced security, ideal for efficient data processing and cost reduction.
NetApp StorageGRID offers S3 access, rapid backup, deduplication, scalability, management ease, and integration, enhancing usability and data retrieval.
We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte.
The best features of Pure Storage FlashBlade include better throughput and better performance.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
Its ease of integration with other AWS services enhances our infrastructure, while the shared storage access improves reliability and processing continuity for our applications.
They help me process data while maintaining low latency, which is crucial for efficient data processing.
The most valuable feature of Amazon EFS is its auto-scaling capability.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) report
The feature of NetApp StorageGRID that has significantly improved data storage management for my customers is the value of the S3 API because it allows developers who are not infrastructure-oriented to use it and write code against it.
NetApp StorageGRID is a great alternative to AWS S3 buckets.
The scalability is very effective for our customers.
For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp StorageGRID report
RE
Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewerGirish Mukim - PeerSpot reviewerVijay Gawade - PeerSpot reviewerMuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
GP
JV
 

Categories and Ranking

Pure Storage FlashBlade
Sponsored
Ranking in File and Object Storage
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (15th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (8th)
Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Ranking in File and Object Storage
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Storage (11th)
NetApp StorageGRID
Ranking in File and Object Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.7%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.8%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Pure Storage FlashBlade5.7%
NetApp StorageGRID5.8%
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)0.9%
Other87.6%
File and Object Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Parul-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
High performance and throughput enhance IT backup management
The multi-dimensional scale-out design feature of Pure Storage FlashBlade is not in use in our environment. Regarding data reduction technologies, we don't get much deduplication because the data is already deduplicated from our FlashArray before we get to backup, so there is no benefit of deduplication. Regarding the integration with cloud-native ecosystem tools, we are not on cloud; we are strictly an on-premises solution. Pure Storage FlashBlade is not used by any end-user; it's used only for IT backup, with only about four people in our group managing it. I cannot recommend Pure Storage FlashBlade to other users depending upon their financial situation because it's an expensive solution, and the cost is very high, including licensing and renewal every year. I rate Pure Storage FlashBlade an eight out of ten.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Michael Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
Has reduced storage costs and improved snapshot management for large data workloads
The advanced features of NetApp StorageGRID which our upper management wouldn't agree to use, include the S3 feature. We are heavy into AWS, and my thoughts were to develop a small dev environment or even a POC environment on-prem. That's still up in the air as we continue on. Currently, AI has taken over everything with a focus on AI. The upgrades of NetApp StorageGRID present a challenge. It's a rolling upgrade, node by node. At one point, one node would not upgrade. The positive aspect is that it didn't take down the entire environment. The environment remained functional on two different versions. The scalability of NetApp StorageGRID has been proven as we've expanded twice. We started with six or seven nodes and have grown to 15 nodes. It does take time for synchronization to complete. From what I've seen, it took a couple of months for it all to sync up once adding nodes. However, it was transparent. It captured the addition and performed effectively, all happening in the background, steadily and surely.
Read full review
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Computer Software Company
14%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

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 of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the pas...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?
I believe there is not much improvement needed because they have everything we need, but the interface is a little bi...
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)?
We don't need to purchase it; we are just using it and paying Amazon as per the utilization. We make direct payments ...
See all answers
What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?
The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to rest...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?
As an administrator, I was not involved in the pricing of NetApp StorageGRID. From what I understood, it was cheaper ...
See all answers
What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?
The upgrades of NetApp StorageGRID present challenges. It's a rolling upgrade, node by node. At one point, one node w...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 19% of the time
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 10% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 9% of the time
Qumulo vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Qumulo vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 3% of the time
More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors
Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Logo
Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
Compared 76% of the time
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Logo
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
Compared 4% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
Compared 4% of the time
Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Logo
Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
Compared 4% of the time
Azure NetApp Files vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Logo
Azure NetApp Files vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
Compared 3% of the time
More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Competitors
MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID Logo
MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID
Compared 29% of the time
Dell ObjectScale vs NetApp StorageGRID Logo
Dell ObjectScale vs NetApp StorageGRID
Compared 23% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID
Compared 22% of the time
Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID Logo
Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID
Compared 6% of the time
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp StorageGRID Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp StorageGRID
Compared 3% of the time
More NetApp StorageGRID Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashBlade
September 2025
Pure Storage FlashBlade reportDownload Pure Storage FlashBlade product report
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)
October 2025
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) reportDownload Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp StorageGRID
September 2025
NetApp StorageGRID reportDownload NetApp StorageGRID product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Storage GRID
 

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)

Store and manage unstructured data at scale using NetApp StorageGRID for secure, durable object storage. Place content in the right location, at the right time, and on the right storage tier, optimizing workflows and reducing overall costs for globally distributed rich media. 

NetApp
 

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL
Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
ASE, DARZ GmbH
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID
September 2025
Free Report: Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
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