AWS Snowball vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NetApp are both solutions in the Cloud Migration category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8, while NetApp is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.6% mindshare in CM, compared to NetApp’s 6.2% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

AWS Snowball

Read 10 AWS Snowball reviews

3,164 Views
253 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Read 64 NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP reviews

7,290 Views
1,312 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

AWS Snowball

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP and AWS Snowball compete in data management and transfer solutions. ONTAP appears to have the upper hand in data reliability and management features, while Snowball excels in physical data migration capabilities.

Features: NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP includes advanced features like SnapMirror, SnapVault, and flexible data management. It is recognized for high availability, ease of management, and cost reduction through compression. AWS Snowball's key features are its physical data transfer capabilities, scalability, and robust security measures, including end-to-end encryption.

Room for Improvement: NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP can improve cloud integration, support services, and licensing flexibility. Users mention challenges with scaling and cloud deployment processes. AWS Snowball could benefit from better connectivity options, improved geographical availability, and enhanced security measures during transit.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP provides hybrid support with flexible deployment across cloud environments but receives mixed reviews on initial support levels. AWS Snowball offers efficient support during deployment but could improve its initial support interactions.

Pricing and ROI: NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is competitively priced, offering substantial cost savings through storage efficiencies and tiering, making it suitable for large-scale data needs. AWS Snowball provides affordable pricing models that cater to diverse migration needs, with both solutions presenting strong ROI through their unique advantages.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

April 2026

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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

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Migration Appliances (1st)

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Ranking in Cloud Migration

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Storage (5th), Cloud Backup (31st), Public Cloud Storage Services (12th), Cloud Software Defined Storage (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of AWS Snowball is 1.6%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is 6.2%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Migration Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP	6.2%
AWS Snowball	1.6%
Other	92.2%

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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Punit Waghela

Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Limited

Offers advanced features with notable emphasis on innovation

The best features of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP include deduplication, compaction, and autonomous ransomware technology that native cloud storage solutions in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud do not support. Moreover, NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP allows the use of multiple protocols including NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI, whereas native options may only support NFS and iSCSI. Customers already using on-premises NetApp storage such as FAS, AFF, or ASA can experience the same functionality on the cloud with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, which adds significant value. For data protection, customers can take advantage of the Snapshot technology available with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP. This technology facilitates data recovery by allowing snapshots to be stored either on the same storage or on a disaster recovery (DR) storage. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP helps us to take snapshots and store them on the same storage, with options for migration or replication of those snapshots to different storage, including on-premises DR storage or other cloud storage, providing excellent disaster recovery capabilities.

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

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

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

"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 solution is elastic."

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

"The interface is great! It's user-friendly."

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

"From our point of view, one of the most important features are the ability to combine, to mesh data together, and the ability to have them compute out of AWS rather than buying our own infrastructure."

More AWS Snowball pros

"The Cloud Manager application that's on the NetApp cloud site is easy to use. You can set up and schedule replications from there, so you don't have to go into the ONTAP system. Another feature we've recently started using is the scheduled power off. We started with one client and have been slowly implementing it with others. We can cut costs by not having the VM run all the time. It's only on when it's doing replication, but it powers off after."

"Lastly, the API and web services are fairly good. That is an important feature too. We write some code to do different things. We have code that runs to make sure that everything is being backed up as we say it is and we try to also detect places where we may have missed a backup."

"I would recommend NetApp any day, at any time, because there's so much hard work in it."

"One thing I have noticed is that it is very simple to move the data where we need to move it, delete it, or archive it if we need to archive it to StorageGRID."

"By implementing Cloud Volumes ONTAP in the Azure portal, we eliminated the cost of additional hardware and everything you have to maintain on-prem in a physical environment and put it up to the cloud."

"Los resultados son sorprendentes en términos de funcionalidad y defensa contra terceros."

"The storage tiering is definitely the most valuable feature... With respect to tiering, the inactive data is pushed to a lower tier where the storage cost is cheap, but the access cost is high."

"We use the mirroring to mirror our volumes to our DR location. We also create snapshots for backups. Snapshots will create a specified snapshot to be able to do a DR test without disrupting our standard mirrors. That means we can create a point-in-time snapshot, then use the ability of FlexClones to make a writeable volume to test with, and then blow it away after the DR test."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP pros

Cons

"It would be helpful if Snowball provided more kinds of connectivity. That will make it easier to add and move data."

"AWS support could be more responsive."

"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."

"It's not an easy product to start using for a beginner, but if you're a professional, it's easy to understand."

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

"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."

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

More AWS Snowball cons

"The key feature, that we'd like to see in that is the ability to sync between regions within the AWS and Azure regions. We could use the cloud sync service, but we'd really like that native functionality within the cloud volume service."

"When it comes to support provided by NetApp, they have room for improvement. Every time we go through their support, we end up answering the same routine questions."

"I would like to see better integration with Active IQ."

"Scale-up and scale-out could be improved. It would be interesting to have multiple HA pairs on one cluster, for example, or to increase the single instances more, from a performance perspective."

"Something we would like to see is the ability to better manage the setup and tie it to our configuration management database. We manage our whole IT infrastructure out of that database."

"I would like to see something from NetApp about backups. I know that NetApp offers some backup for Office 365, but I would like to see something from NetApp for more backup solutions."

"NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP does have a bit of initial complexity for users who are new to the system."

"Cloud Volumes ONTAP's interface could use an overhaul. Sometimes you have to dig around in Cloud Manager a little bit to find certain things. The layout could be more intuitive."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP 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."

"Our licensing costs are folded into the hardware purchases and I have never differentiated between the two."

"In addition to the standard licensing fees, there are fees for Azure, the VMs themselves and for data transfer."

"The cost is quite high."

"Compared to other storage vendors, NetApp, is not always able to compete with their pricing. Yet, we acknowledge the ease of use ONTAP brings with the AWS integration."

"Overall, the pricing of NetApp is aggressive and the pricing becomes more aggressive as the amount of data increases. The cost for a given volume of data that you are storing becomes lower. The greater the volume of data, the cheaper the license."

"For enterprise customers, it's a very cost effective. But in the SMB segment, yeah, pricing is a little bit challenge for your time."

"They allow a special price if you are working closely with them. Since we have a lot of NetApp systems, we got some kind of discount. That's something they do for other customers, not just for us. The price was fair. In addition to the licensing fees, you're paying Amazon for your usage..."

"They give us a good price for CVO licenses. It is one of the reasons that we went with the product."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	53

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 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 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...

See all answers

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

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is actually quite reasonable in price compared to other native cloud storage options. For example, a customer using 100 TB of AWS storage would not benefit from deduplica...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?

It would be nice to see technology supporting the Elastic Fabric Adapter on Amazon AWS, therefore getting RDMA technology for more low-latency connections.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?

I use NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP mostly in customer companies.

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Transfer Appliance vs AWS Snowball

Compared 47% of the time

Microsoft Azure Data Box vs AWS Snowball

Compared 15% of the time

Cloudwick Amorphic Data Platform vs AWS Snowball

Compared 11% of the time

IBM Cloud Mass Data Migration vs AWS Snowball

Compared 6% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs AWS Snowball

Compared 6% of the time

More AWS Snowball Competitors

Amazon S3 vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 8% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon FSx vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 5% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 4% of the time

Everpure Evergreen One vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 4% of the time

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball

May 2026

Download AWS Snowball product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

April 2026

Download NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP product report

Also Known As

Amazon AWS Snowball, Amazon Snowball, Snowball

ONTAP Cloud, CVO, NetApp CVO

Overview

AWS Snowball is an efficient tool providing high-speed data transfers, end-to-end encryption, and scalability to organizations in need of reliable data migration and integration with AWS infrastructure.

AWS Snowball offers robust data transfer capabilities, ensuring efficient management of large data volumes. It provides end-to-end encryption and tamper-evident features, enhancing data security. The interface is user-friendly and supports seamless integration within AWS. Its scalability and flexible integration options make it a valuable choice for managing complex data migrations. Despite the need for improved connectivity and broader geographical availability, continuous innovations and managed services optimize resources and time.

What are the key features of AWS Snowball?

High-Speed Data Transfer: Facilitates quick migration of large data volumes.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the process of data management.
End-to-End Encryption: Ensures data security during transfers.
Scalability: Easily integrates with AWS systems.
Edge Computing: Provides on-site processing capabilities.
Physical Durability: Designed for reliable data transport.

What benefits can users expect when implementing AWS Snowball?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses associated with large-scale data transfers.
Time Optimization: Saves time in data migration processes.
Resource Optimization: Managed services enhance resource efficiency.
Seamless Integration: Supports on-premises to cloud migrations.
Security: Protects data with encryption during transfer.

Organizations across various industries utilize AWS Snowball for efficient cloud migrations and disaster recovery. In fields where bandwidth is limited, Snowball provides a solution for large-scale data transfers. Financial institutions use it for ETL processes and integrating analytical layers over current data warehouses. Industries with data validation requirements appreciate its secure data transfer features and the ability to reduce dependency on internet connections. Its edge computing capabilities address diverse environmental needs, ensuring data accuracy during migrations.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is an efficient storage management solution for managing and storing data in the cloud. It offers seamless integration with cloud providers, advanced data replication capabilities, and high data protection. With reliable performance, it is ideal for industries like healthcare and finance.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Wazee Digital, Craftsy, Live Nation, Essess

1. Accenture 2. Acer 3. Adidas 4. Aetna 5. AIG 6. Apple 7. Bank of America 8. Barclays 9. Bayer 10. Berkshire Hathaway 11. BNP Paribas 12. Cisco 13. Coca-Cola 14. Comcast 15.ConocoPhillips 16. CVS Health 17. Dell 18. Deutsche Bank 19. eBay 20. Eli Lilly 21. FedEx 22. Ford 23. Freescale Semiconductor 24. General Electric 25. Google 26. Honeywell 27. IBM 28. Intel 29. Intuit 30. JPMorgan Chase 31. Kellogg's 32. KeyCorp 33. Liberty Mutual 34. L'Oréal 35. Mastercard

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

April 2026

Free Report: AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

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