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 7.8, while NetApp is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 0.9% mindshare in FaOS, compared to NetApp’s 5.9% 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.

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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.

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

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. NetApp StorageGRID

July 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:

Categories and Ranking

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.9%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage

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.

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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.

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Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Object-based storage and offers intuitive management tools, making it easy to configure and maintain

The only thing missing is flexibility in configuration to cater to specific customer requirements. Another area of improvement is marketing. NetApp's marketing of StorageGRID isn't optimal. They should present it more effectively, especially in regions like Pakistan. Here, I haven't seen any marketing campaigns from NetApp for StorageGRID or the Solid State Platform (SSP). While StorageGRID is a globally recognized product, I haven't seen any marketing efforts from NetApp in Pakistan. Even competitors are promoting object storage solutions here, but NetApp seems less efficient in selling StorageGRID. There might be one or two customers, but even as a NetApp partner, I'm not aware of any major sales. I've been trained on StorageGRID, and it is a good product. I'm unsure why it hasn't gained traction in Pakistan compared to other countries. So, I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan. I'm pretty confident that if we have one example of successful StorageGRID implementation in Pakistan, other customers will follow suit.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was straightforward. If you know how to plug in power and network you're pretty much qualified. They were on site to configure the network, the box to fit into our network architecture. Other than that, we self-managed from there."

"Among its most appealing features are its ease of handling and minimal maintenance requirements."

"We have seen a reduction in the total cost of ownership by around 20%."

"FlashBlade offers low latency, high throughput, and seamless scalability."

"The most valuable features are the Metro clustering, and disaster recovery."

"I like its size. It is smaller than the other competitors. We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte."

"The onboarding and integrated monitoring tools are pretty good."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is user-friendly. It's replication feature is great because it has active replication and active DR. That's the beauty of the product. It's a perfect solution for block storage."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

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

"The platform is highly scalable."

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

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

"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."

"The solution's technical support is good."

"The first valuable thing is it is scalable."

"Its elasticity and flexible pricing are the most valuable. For Amazon EFS, you are charged based on the storage. It is also very fast and stable with a very simple and intuitive interface."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) pros

"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."

"It helps automate our storage infrastructure."

"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."

"The backup features are valuable. I've heard from our backup and data protection people that our clients are very satisfied with the performance in junction with the backup, which they archive on this type of object storage."

"StorageGRID is designed for cloud-based, highly scalable storage. Think big names like service providers like Google who need massive storage volumes with scalability. It also offers cloud-enabled storage capabilities with cloud management functionality. So, if you prioritize scalability and cloud integration, StorageGRID is the way to go. Its object-based storage is built specifically for that purpose."

"The scalability is very effective for our customers."

"It has enabled us to save money on storage costs. We removed our tape library."

"It has awesome scalability. We consume it with storage appliance nodes, then we just plug and play as we need more."

More NetApp StorageGRID pros

Cons

"The Pure Storage Orchestrator is our biggest pain point at the moment. If we can have more say in future developments of feature sets that we will need to support for our use case, that would be pretty beneficial to us."

"The speed could be improved."

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

"I would like to have Snapshots and Snapmail in the next release. People who came from a NetApp background, especially expect these features."

"I would also like to see better support for CIFS workloads."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade should improve on more cloud integration."

"Its configuration should be easier."

"It's on the expensive side, as expected for a niche product."

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."

"Specifically, when it comes to the file system for the learning system, we encountered performance issues with both Azure and AWS."

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

"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."

"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."

"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."

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

"The product's stability has some shortcomings where improvements are required."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) cons

"There was a small amount of confusion when working with StorageGRID and Active Directory for access. We had to do things three to four times resulting in our engineer troubleshooting a couple of things. The location of the menu, along with what is inside the menu: configurations, settings, etc., is not straightforward to users. Most users are Windows-based. So, when make logical changes to the menu which are not similar to Windows, users and administrators get confused."

"I would like to see them integrate more with the monitoring platforms. It is a bit difficult to get automated monitoring of the system."

"They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space."

"Improvements need to be made in the support area."

"I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan."

"If I could change anything in NetApp StorageGRID, that would be pricing."

"The integration with more apps has room for improvement."

"The product's continual innovation and enhancement in integration capabilities with other NetApp solutions could be better."

More NetApp StorageGRID cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid yearly."

"The price could be cheaper."

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"The product is very expensive."

"The pricing is relatively expensive due to the FlashBlade technology. However, for companies needing quick and reliable data access, the cost is justified."

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

"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."

"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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

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

"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."

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

"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."

"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."

"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."

"NetApp is not known for being the cheapest storage option on the market. Almost all of the other storage options we looked at were less expensive than StorageGRID. The price is one thing to criticize, which is what we hear internally and from customers as well. They find the cost of the terabytes in this class of storage a little bit higher than expected."

"We chose NetApp because of price and performance."

"We save money on storage costs from this solution since it allows us to have a source of revenue from customers consuming the service."

"Our licensing is in INR it was around 25 lakhs, which is roughly two million."

"While we have been able to save money on storage costs, it could be better."

"The pricing of StorageGRID falls within the typical range for enterprise-grade solutions and is comparable to other vendors such as Dell, NetApp, and Pure Storage."

"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."

"It is very cost-effective."

More NetApp StorageGRID pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Manufacturing Company

19%

Computer Software Company

14%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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

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

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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 ...

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?

It would definitely be more on the expensive side, especially if you compare it with open source solutions like Ceph.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?

If I could change anything in NetApp StorageGRID, that would be pricing. In terms of functionality, reliability, and ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 19% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Scality RING vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 2% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

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

Compared 67% of the time

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

Compared 7% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 6% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon S3 Glacier vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 5% of the time

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Competitors

MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 26% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 24% of the time

Dell ECS vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 22% of the time

Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 6% of the time

Cloudian HyperStore vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp StorageGRID Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

August 2025

Download Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID

August 2025

Download NetApp StorageGRID product report

Also Known As

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

July 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: July 2025.

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