Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Qumulo comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Qumulo 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 Qumulo is ranked #22. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 0.9% mindshare in FaOS, compared to Qumulo’s 4.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Qumulo users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Qumulo and Amazon EFS are competing file systems, with Qumulo excelling in on-premises flexibility and Amazon EFS having a stronger capability in AWS integrations.

Features: Qumulo excels in providing real-time analytics, meaningful insights into data operations, multi-cloud integration options, and superior data protection algorithms. Amazon EFS offers seamless AWS integration, allows for automatic scaling, and is free from size limitations on storage, making it ideal for cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Qumulo could enhance failover capabilities and disaster recovery features. It may improve integration with backup solutions and optimize deployment processes. For Amazon EFS, improvements could focus on offering more flexibility outside AWS ecosystems, reducing potential hidden costs, and simplifying the complexity of setup in diverse IT environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon EFS benefits from its tight AWS integrations, simplifying deployment but limiting flexibility. Its customer service is robust due to AWS's extensive network. Qumulo, offering diverse configuration options and strong multi-cloud support, facilitates ease of use and is noted for excellent customer service, which aids implementation across different environments.

Pricing and ROI: Qumulo's pricing model is transparent, providing clear costs that often lead to a favorable ROI in hybrid setups. Amazon EFS, with a scalable pay-as-you-go model, is cost-effective within AWS, but mismanagement could lead to increased expenses. Qumulo's consistent pricing contrasts with the variability of Amazon EFS in AWS-only deployments.

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

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Qumulo

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 September 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 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qumulo is 4.0%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Pure Storage FlashBlade	5.7%
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)	0.9%
Qumulo	4.0%
Other	89.4%

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.

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.

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VinceVitro

Senior Storage Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Useful data sharing, simple cluster scaling, and excellent support

One aspect of Qumulo that I hoped to see improved was its software upgrade process, which did see significant progress during my usage. Initially, upgrading the software resulted in several minutes of system downtime. However, by the time I departed last summer, the downtime had reduced to mere ten seconds. Although I am unsure if Qumulo has yet achieved a completely outage-free upgrade, I simply performed the upgrades early in the morning before the marketing department began its workday, so any downtime was inconsequential.

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 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 most valuable feature is Safe Mode."

"Speed and ease of use are the two most valuable features."

"The snapshots, replication, and the ability to have immutable blades are the most valuable features. You're putting data snapshots out in those blades, and they cannot be touched. Its performance is great."

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

"The most valuable features include the ease of implementation, ease of use and the speed that you can do backup and recovery on."

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

"The ease of deployment and management has helped us simplify our storage. We also do not have to worry about capacity management as much. A lot of these things are native to Pure Storage."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

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

"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."

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

"The first valuable thing is it is scalable."

"We can run code and deploy it whenever we want."

"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."

"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."

"The solution's technical support is good."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) pros

"The most valuable feature of Qumulo is the ability to share files and reliability."

"The feature that I like most is the analytics part of the file system."

"The data protection algorithm to protect the data between the nodes has been the most valuable feature. The integration with backup platforms such as Veeam and Veritas has also been valuable."

"The most valuable features of Qumulo are the ease of management and special permissions that are quick to enable. The overall performance of the solution is good."

"The ratio of total operational cost to complexity versus feature set is very good."

"The most valuable feature is real-time analytics."

"The most valuable features of Qumulo are its rolling updates and all-day availability."

"It is a very stable product. I never faced any issues."

Cons

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

"I would like to see more VM-Aware features in the next release of this solution."

"It would be beneficial if the layer could support the S3 protocol and be container ready in the next release."

"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."

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

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

"Commvault has mainly driven the Analytics, providing data and reports. However, the product has room for improvement, especially regarding storage analytics. Upgrading firmware has caused issues, requiring feature disabling to revert to traditional backups. The firmware upgrades sometimes affect Commvault backups."

"They need better integration with public clouds along with a better hybrid solution."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

"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."

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

"There are challenges related to AWS, such as ensuring proper security measures with IMS code and encryption."

"When we faced some issues, the support team took a lot of time to resolve them."

"The lack of transparency in the costs attached to the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The user activity needs to be more connected."

"I don't have notes on improvements."

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

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) cons

"One aspect of Qumulo that I hoped to see improved was its software upgrade process, which did see significant progress during my usage. Initially, upgrading the software resulted in several minutes of system downtime. However, by the time I departed last summer, the downtime had reduced to mere ten seconds. Although I am unsure if Qumulo has yet achieved a completely outage-free upgrade, I simply performed the upgrades early in the morning before the marketing department began its workday, so any downtime was inconsequential."

"The support for iMac and protocols should be improved, not all features are available."

"In the future, I would like to see non-disruptive updates."

"The solution could improve availability and improve data protection or data services such as compression of deduplication. In a future release, we'd like to have more cloud API integrations."

"Some anti-theft permissions do not transfer well to Qumulo."

"The price of the software is a bit expensive, so a reduction in cost would make it more competitive."

"Qumulo should continue to expand automation and orchestration capabilities."

"In the next release, I would like to see the ability to have more control at a terminal level of the file system."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a costly solution, but Pure Storage FlashBlade doesn't require additional licenses. All of the software is combined into one bundle."

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

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

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"The price is a little high."

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

"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."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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 price of Qumulo is reasonable."

"The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to others. We look at the price per terabyte."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	20

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

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...

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 ...

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Comparisons

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NetApp StorageGRID vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 70% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP 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

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 5% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 4% of the time

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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Qumulo

Compared 24% of the time

VAST Data vs Qumulo

Compared 12% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs Qumulo

Compared 10% of the time

Scality RING vs Qumulo

Compared 8% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Qumulo

Compared 5% of the time

More Qumulo Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

August 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

September 2025

Download Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) product report

Buyer's Guide

NAS

August 2025

Download Qumulo product report

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)

Qumulo is a data storage and management platform that promotes object-based storage for users, backup archives, and surveillance. Its primary use case is to provide a cost-effective and feature-rich solution for managing large data.

Qumulo's data protection algorithm ensures the safety of node data, while its integration with backup platforms like Veeam and Veritas makes it easy to manage backups. The platform offers a good balance between operational cost and complexity versus feature set, making it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.

Qumulo

Sample Customers

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

Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend

County of Riverside Sheriff Department, Hyundai Mobis Automotive North America, University of Arizona, UCSD - San Diego Supercomputer Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Sinclair Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, Kaiser Permanente, Deluxe Creative, Vexcel Imaging, University of Florida, The Madison Square Garden Company, Arizona State University, Cinesite, San Diego Padres Baseball, Johns Hopkins University - School of Medicine, IHME, EllieMae, Washington State University.

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Qumulo

July 2025

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

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

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