AWS Snowball vs NetApp Cloud Insights comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NetApp are both solutions in the Cloud Migration category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.2, while NetApp is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.8. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 0.7% mindshare in CM, compared to NetApp’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

AWS Snowball

Read 10 AWS Snowball reviews

36 Views
11 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Insights

Read 13 NetApp Cloud Insights reviews

281 Views
38 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AWS Snowball

NetApp Cloud Insights

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

AWS Snowball and NetApp Cloud Insights are competing products in data transfer and monitoring. AWS Snowball seems to have the upper hand in scalable data transfer capabilities, whereas NetApp Cloud Insights provides comprehensive data visibility and monitoring.

Features: AWS Snowball offers high-speed data transfer through secure, physical storage appliances suitable for large-scale migrations. It integrates storage and compute functions to enhance data handling effectively. With end-to-end encryption for data security, it provides robust features that support data protection. NetApp Cloud Insights provides detailed monitoring and analytics, optimizing IT performance and resource utilization. It offers extensive dashboards and data visualization, enabling proactive problem analysis and resolution. Cloud Insights connects workload movements and offers visibility into multi-vendor environments, boosting operational efficiencies.

Room for Improvement: AWS Snowball could benefit from improved integration with other cloud services and enhanced logging features for better traceability. Updates to its physical device management could streamline logistics even further. Enhancement in user training resources could promote better utilization. NetApp Cloud Insights could refine its pricing model as adding different vendors can increase costs significantly. Expansion in network-side monitoring capabilities would present additional benefits. Similarly, improving its ability to integrate with third-party monitoring tools could enhance its value proposition.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: AWS Snowball ensures straightforward deployments with comprehensive initial and ongoing support, favoring enterprises needing rapid data transfer solutions. It emphasizes logistical efficiency in delivering physical devices. NetApp Cloud Insights offers a cloud-based model facilitating quick deployment and seamless integration into existing setups. Its support effectively manages troubleshooting, offering smooth experiences in complex environments.

Pricing and ROI: AWS Snowball involves costs related to hardware shipment and service usage but delivers substantial ROI through reduced data transfer times and improved security. Its cost-effectiveness is emphasized in large data transfer scenarios. NetApp Cloud Insights follows a subscription-based pricing model, realizing returns through improved resource management and cost optimization in IT operations. It offers significant ROI by providing operational insights over the long term, benefiting large-scale IT infrastructure management.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Insights Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Insights

June 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

AWS Snowball

Ranking in Cloud Migration

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Migration Appliances (1st)

NetApp Cloud Insights

Ranking in Cloud Migration

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (33rd), Cloud Monitoring Software (24th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of AWS Snowball is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Insights is 2.7%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Migration

Featured Reviews

Kevin-Davis

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.

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Scott Lauters

Associate IT Director at Wolters Kluwer

It provides a single pane of glass, giving us visibility into the environment

All our production clusters are in Cloud Insight. It provides a single pane of glass, giving us visibility into the environment, which allows us to understand if any issues are going on across any of our clusters. The main issue we were looking to address was the lack of visibility across all the clusters in one single view. We're using Cloud Insight's Unified Manager. It has improved our ability to support and see the immediate status of the entire environment. If we have a critical incident, we can quickly see these issues and loop in monitoring teams and other teams. For example, if our app team thinks there are issues in the environment, we can quickly see if anything related to storage is part of the problem. It improved our organization by unifying all the various support teams. We all have the same view of what's happening in the environment. The dev team knows what storage is used or not, and we can quickly move on to other activities. Cloud Insights provides a single tool for containers and other cloud-based architectures, but we're not using some of those things, such as Kubernetes. We're primarily leveraging the monitoring and reporting. The solution does a great job of inventorying our resources. It allows us to put the tags on the devices. The process is fast. It also gives you the dependencies. I can dig down into all the related components. Cloud Insight's advanced analytics feature does a good job of highlighting the areas where there might be issues in the future.

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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

"It's a nice way of shipping a lot of data without using a network."

"The solution is elastic."

"I like that I can take data and send it straight to S3 when it loads in."

"You are able to scale the solution vertically. It's very scalable."

"The flexibility of AWS Snowball is valuable. Its security allows for the ability to move and secure data without concern if the device is lost and the option to trace it back to AWS data centers."

"The support team's awesome, and they've always been very responsive."

"The features I like best are the tool's high capacity, scalability, end-to-end encryption for data security, ease of use, durability, and cost-effectiveness. It's particularly cost-effective for transferring large amounts of data compared to high-speed internet transfers."

"The most valuable features of AWS Snowball for me are its security measures and its flexibility."

More AWS Snowball pros

"The visibility and assistance with security vulnerabilities are valuable."

"Among the most valuable features are the queries and reporting that allow us to look at the utilization of resources, at how well the storage is performing, and to report on which resources are being used by which business units. We can track usage across the entire environment, across applications, business units, cost centers, etc."

"It is good for giving an overview of the systems and for tracking long-term trends. It is handy for root cause analysis, e.g. it can eliminate whether storage is the cause of an issue."

"NetApp Cloud Insights helps reduce the time spent on problem resolution by up to 50% for my customers, making their operations significantly more efficient and productive, which is a perfect outcome."

"The solution is easy to deploy."

"Cloud Insights' best features are visibility and the connector to move the workloads."

"All our production clusters are in Cloud Insight. It provides a single pane of glass, giving us visibility into the environment, which allows us to understand if any issues are going on across any of our clusters."

"NetApp Cloud Insights helps with login monitoring and troubleshooting. Previously, if we had performance concerns or needed to interface with other groups and their products, a task that should require only one or two people turned into a six-person job."

More NetApp Cloud Insights pros

Cons

"24/7 support is more expensive on AWS compared to Azure."

"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."

"I think AWS Snowball could improve by expanding its availability to more countries."

"It's not cheap."

"The stability of the solution isn't ideal and should be improved."

"AWS support could be more responsive."

"If AWS Snowball is intercepted, there is a potential risk of unauthorized access to the data."

"The costs of services the customer needs also matter, such as storage requirements and whether storage is rational."

More AWS Snowball cons

"Cloud Insights could offer more detail when we drill down into the Azure environment."

"The IP-based monitoring could be added in a future release."

"In a perfect world we would have something built, right out-of-the-box, that can identify what we call "noise," and reduce the amount of data. You're presented with so much data when you first start the data collectors. For example, it brings back a lot of change rates that happen just because of standard computing, like profile changes and that sort of thing. Being able to identify things like that and categorize them and strip it down—and it probably can do that, I just haven't gotten there yet—would be very beneficial."

"When I did need support because I was having problems with the solution, the first or the second line just didn't understand it. They were providing this only on a software as a service basis. So, they were asking all the wrong questions."

"The visualization needs some improvement because there are occasional delays while the system queries information."

"Their pricing model needs improvement."

"In my opinion, one area where NetApp Cloud Insights could be improved for the next release is the console, which I find a bit complex."

"There is room for improving the creating and managing or modifying of reports. That is still a difficult task to do and requires knowledge beyond the storage itself. I would love to see reporting improved so that we can create reports by dragging and dropping pieces into a report form and publish a report that way."

More NetApp Cloud Insights cons

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."

"The solution's pricing is based on the device you purchase and includes support services."

"The licensing is complex. The calculation depends on what you're ingesting. A terabyte of one product is not a terabyte of another product. Virtual machines don't equate so easily. It's all about the end-use managed units and having an easy place to reference how far those units go."

"Be aware of the capacity licensing and understand how that works, because it is based on capacity. Getting an understanding of that is the biggest thing."

"We are billed based on management units, so we can purchase units based on six months, twelve months, twenty-four months, or thirty-six months upfront or pay as you go depending on our requirements."

"The licensing model could be improved. We love that you can use it for free for looking at NetApp products. You only need licenses to look at non-NetApp products, but as soon as you do that, you start utilizing licenses that actually would have been free in the public. So, there is a bit of an anomaly in the licensing model."

"The solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

33%

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about AWS Snowball?

The most valuable features of AWS Snowball for me are its security measures and its flexibility.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about NetApp Cloud Insights?

NetApp Cloud Insights helps with login monitoring and troubleshooting. Previously, if we had performance concerns or needed to interface with other groups and their products, a task that should req...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp Cloud Insights?

The licensing is complex. The calculation depends on what you're ingesting. A terabyte of one product is not a terabyte of another product. Virtual machines don't equate so easily. It's all about t...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp Cloud Insights?

In my opinion, one area where NetApp Cloud Insights could be improved for the next release is the console, which I find a bit complex. Even though I work with NetApp, it still takes time for me to ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Transfer Appliance vs AWS Snowball

Compared 49% of the time

Microsoft Azure Data Box vs AWS Snowball

Compared 42% of the time

IBM Cloud Mass Data Migration vs AWS Snowball

Compared 5% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs AWS Snowball

Compared 3% of the time

AWS Snowball Edge vs AWS Snowball

Compared 1% of the time

More AWS Snowball Competitors

Dell CloudIQ vs NetApp Cloud Insights

Compared 51% of the time

Datadog vs NetApp Cloud Insights

Compared 24% of the time

IBM Turbonomic vs NetApp Cloud Insights

Compared 24% of the time

More NetApp Cloud Insights Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball

June 2025

Download AWS Snowball product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Cloud Insights

June 2025

Download NetApp Cloud Insights product report

Also Known As

Amazon AWS Snowball, Amazon Snowball, Snowball

No data available

Overview

Snowball is a petabyte-scale data transport solution that uses devices designed to be secure to transfer large amounts of data into and out of the AWS Cloud. Using Snowball addresses common challenges with large-scale data transfers including high network costs, long transfer times, and security concerns. Customers today use Snowball to migrate analytics data, genomics data, video libraries, image repositories, backups, and to archive part of data center shutdowns, tape replacement or application migration projects. Transferring data with Snowball is simple, fast, more secure, and can be as little as one-fifth the cost of transferring data via high-speed Internet.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

NetApp Cloud Insights is an infrastructure monitoring tool that gives you visibility into your complete infrastructure. With Cloud Insights, you can monitor, troubleshoot and optimize all your resources including your public clouds and your private data centers.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Wazee Digital, Craftsy, Live Nation, Essess

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Insights

June 2025

Free Report: AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Insights

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