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AWS Snowball vs HPE Zerto Software comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

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

AWS Snowball
Ranking in Cloud Migration
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Data Migration Appliances (1st)
HPE Zerto Software
Ranking in Cloud Migration
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
359
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (2nd), Cloud Backup (2nd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st), Autonomous Operational Resilience (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of AWS Snowball is 2.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Zerto Software is 4.5%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Migration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Zerto Software4.5%
AWS Snowball2.0%
Other93.5%
Cloud Migration
 

Featured Reviews

Kevin-Davis - PeerSpot reviewer
Global CTO AWS Business Group at Eviden
Seamless data transfer and efficient migration with customizable storage sizes
I like that I can take data and send it straight to S3 when it loads in. The interface for getting my data onto the Snowball is so streamlined. I don't know if you've ever seen it before. It's really cool. I connect them to the backplane of our existing network. I'm able to address it quickly and move the data quickly inside my customers' data centers. There's a little screen on it, which changes the UPS codes and all that stuff. The label and everything AWS electronic, so I don't have to deal with shipping issues. It makes it super simple and easy to use from end to end.
reviewer2802231 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dev Ops Engineer at a media company with 201-500 employees
Near-zero downtime has protected critical workloads and now simplifies hybrid cloud recovery
The best features of HPE Zerto Software are mainly very sophisticated and relevant to the current market. The data protection CDP part has real-time replication, unlike other solutions that have snapshot backups. We can set it up hourly, making it ideal for use with workloads. Another attraction is the near-zero RTO, with automated failover within minutes and one-click failover and failback. Currently, we are using a hybrid cloud solution, and HPE Zerto Software supports multi-cloud environments, making it easy to migrate between on-premises and cloud. Regarding the impact of HPE Zerto Software on our RTOs, we have near-zero RTO, meaning the system must be back online within thirty minutes if we measure the time. It is very quick to recover services. With HPE Zerto Software's near-synchronous replication, we have some CDP protection, so we typically write interceptions along with some asynchronous replication. There is almost real-time replication available.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is elastic."
"The support team's awesome, and they've always been very responsive."
"AWS helps save time and costs, being a managed cloud provider with evolving services."
"The way the data is moved is very clever. Also, the interface is very simple and user-friendly."
"It's a nice way of shipping a lot of data without using a network."
"AWS offers managed services which save time and reduce administrative overhead."
"I like that I can take data and send it straight to S3 when it loads in."
"The most valuable features of AWS Snowball for me are its security measures and its flexibility."
"Zerto is the simplest disaster recovery and data recovery solution I've ever deployed, and I've been doing this for 30-plus years."
"I love the product and their support."
"Since we are at a bank, there are certain protocols in place where we need to have RPO and RTO times of two hours or less. Zerto does a great job of setting those times and alerting us if those can't be met. We have our help desk actively monitoring that. It is extremely helpful that Zerto lists what is falling out of compliance in regards to RPO and RTO. It has been great in that regard."
"Amazing ROI considering I don't have to buy a second set of hardware for my DR site."
"The live test failover is the most valuable feature because it allows me to validate that my data is protected in the event of a failure."
"It reduced the backup recovery time of our main backup solution by several hours. It's reduced our time because before we have to build a system and restore the data, we install the application and restore the data that took us at least a good 24 hours to do that. And now it's really minutes for us to recover our backup solution."
"Bottom line, its a great product that brings standardization and simplicity to DR/BC."
"Continuous protection is Zerto's most valuable aspect."
 

Cons

"There's always room for improvement as you use the service more and gain expertise. Some challenges I've faced include the time factor (data transfer can be time-consuming), data validation after the transfer, risks associated with physical handling and shipping of the device, and ensuring data security during transit."
"AWS support could be more responsive."
"It does have room for improvement. The ability to better ingest some of the big data."
"The stability of the solution isn't ideal and should be improved."
"It's not an easy product to start using for a beginner, but If you're a professional, it's easy to understand."
"I think AWS Snowball could improve by expanding its availability to more countries."
"It would be helpful if Snowball provided more kinds of connectivity. That will make it easier to add and move data."
"The costs of services the customer needs also matter, such as storage requirements and whether storage is rational."
"The full site recovery is not up to SRM standards."
"There are quite a few elements in the long-term retention areas that I wish were better."
"There are a couple of areas in the interface that are not very intuitive. Most of them are pretty easy, but there are a few areas in the journal and replication that, unless you've done it before, you really have no idea what to do."
"I had a couple of questions after deployment, but nothing major, about a couple of ways I could tweak it."
"Its pricing could be better. Also, Zerto needs to improve its reporting capabilities and provide better dashboards."
"Zerto could improve the product by lowering the cost."
"I would like to see improvement on the Zerto Virtual Replication appliances, so that they are a little bit more streamlined as opposed to now where they just span multiple ZVR appliances like there were gremlins... as this thing grows it just spawns unlimited numbers of additional ZVR appliances and you end up with a bunch so that you can't really tell which is which."
"The limitation with Zerto is that you're required to have one Zerto Manager per virtual center, and this means that you're only able to replicate one way. Technical support for this product was fantastic, before they were acquired by HP. You're now able to tell that the company is becoming too big, in terms of the support they provide."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's not a cheap solution, but the price is right for the product."
"The tool's pricing depends on the type of Snowball device you choose, the amount of data you need to transfer, and the service fees involved. There’s a standard price for larger data transfers and a flat job fee, which includes the first ten days of on-site usage. Typically, there are no additional data transfer fees."
"I think everything can be cheaper. Pricing limited our ability to use Zerto as much as we'd like, but that's not why we haven't adopted it as our primary backup solution."
"It is not the cheapest product; it is not the most expensive product, but it works. It is a mid-range product, and it is justified in terms of being pretty quick and easy."
"It is an enterprise-grade product. When you buy enterprise-grade tools, you have to expect to pay a higher price. It goes back to the idea of you get what you pay for."
"Zerto's pricing model is cost-prohibitive for small—to medium-sized businesses."
"I wouldn't say I like the licensing pricing structure. Every year, it increases exponentially, which bothers me a little. It's worth it in terms of the value, but I worry the price will increase even more often after the Zerto merger. I still think it's worth it and that the solution is cheaper than the others."
"I do not like the current pricing model because the product has been divided into different components and they are charging for them individually."
"There may be less expensive solutions on the market but with Zerto, you get what you pay for."
"Zerto's pricing structure could be more competitive to better suit the needs of a wider range of businesses."
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Nov 9, 2014
VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto
Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business94
Midsize Enterprise93
Large Enterprise206
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Microsoft Azure Data Box or AWS Snowball?
Microsoft Azure Databox is a 45-pound, super rugged, tamper-resistant, human-managed hardware appliance that can transfer up to 100TB of data capacity to copy, store, then send to the Azure cloud. ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Snowball?
Depending of what is your priority; UseAWS Snowball if you are heavily invested in AWS or need edge computing features Choose Azure Data Box for smooth integration with Azure and potentially lower ...
What needs improvement with AWS Snowball?
It's difficult to make a comparison and it depends on the customer. When analyzing costs, I must see how the customer uses AWS, Azure, or Google. Google is particularly interesting, for example, fo...
What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?
Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is good.
What needs improvement with Zerto?
HPE Zerto Software's GUI needs modernization to match the flexibility and user experience of other HPE software solutions, as there is still room for improvement in software-level flexibility and t...
 

Also Known As

Amazon AWS Snowball, Amazon Snowball, Snowball
Zerto Virtual Replication
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Wazee Digital, Craftsy, Live Nation, Essess
United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Snowball vs. HPE Zerto Software and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,647 professionals have used our research since 2012.