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 #11 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 1.5% mindshare in CM, compared to NetApp’s 7.4% 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

2,489 Views
100 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Read 64 NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP reviews

4,695 Views
798 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

December 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

11th

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 (3rd), Cloud Backup (27th), Public Cloud Storage Services (13th), Cloud Software Defined Storage (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of AWS Snowball is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is 7.4%, down from 15.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Migration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP	7.4%
AWS Snowball	1.5%
Other	91.1%

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

"AWS offers managed services which save time and reduce administrative overhead."

"AWS helps save time and costs, being a managed cloud provider with evolving services."

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

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

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

"The solution is elastic."

"The way the data is moved is very clever. Also, the interface is very simple and user-friendly."

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

More AWS Snowball pros

"The fast recovery time objective with the ability to bring the environment back to production in case something happens."

"Its functionality and technical support are adequate to help prevent failure due to errors."

"The main benefit we get from this product is the ability to deploy it anywhere we want, whether that's on-prem, a remote physical location, or in the cloud. It doesn't matter from an operational perspective where it is. The command line and operating system are the same."

"They have very good support team who is very helpful. They will help you with every aspect of getting the deployment done."

"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."

"This solution has made everything easier to do."

"The solution’s Snapshot copies and thin clones in terms of operational recovery are good. Snapshot copies are pretty much the write-in time data backups. Obviously, critical data is snapshotted a lot more frequently, and even clients and end users find it easier to restore whatever they need if it's file-based, statical, etc."

"The solution’s unified file and block-storage access across our infrastructure is invaluable. Without it, we can't do what we do."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP pros

Cons

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

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

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

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

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

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

"It's not cheap."

"Snowball is not interesting and is a pain to deal with."

More AWS Snowball cons

"The solution is not stable when using single nodes. This is a problem. NetApp should work on this solution to make it more stable with HA nodes and resolve this issue."

"I would want more visibility and data analytics where we can see anomalies within the shares within the GUI."

"The data tiering needs improvement. E.g., moving hard data to faster disks."

"Not a perfect ten because it's not very efficient with upgrades and management."

"The integration wizard requires a bit of streamlining. There are small things that misconfigure or repeat the deployment that will create errors, specifically in Azure."

"NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP needs to have customizable pricing options such as 10 TB increments. They seem to have only two options: 10 TB or 250 TB."

"I would like some more performance matrices to know what it is doing. It has some matrices inherent to the Cloud Volumes ONTAP. But inside Cloud Manager, it would also be nice to see. You can have a little Snapshot, then drill down if you go a little deeper."

"I would like to see them improve the perspective of start and search in the panels. This would allow for better visualization of the contents that are captured in the tool."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"It's not a cheap solution, but the price is right for the product."

"It is expensive. There are no costs in addition to their standard licensing fees."

"Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace was good, but it was a test system, not a real purchase."

"It is not a cheap solution because we need to pay for the license and pay for Azure resources as well."

"The solution's pricing is reasonable."

"They have a very good price which keeps our customers happy."

"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."

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

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

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

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 do you like most about NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?

So a lot of these licenses are at the rate that is required for capacity. So they're they're able to reduce the license consumption and also the consumption of the underlying cloud storage.

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

Comparisons

Google Transfer Appliance vs AWS Snowball

Compared 43% of the time

Microsoft Azure Data Box vs AWS Snowball

Compared 31% of the time

Cloudwick Amorphic Data Platform vs AWS Snowball

Compared 10% of the time

AWS Snowball Edge vs AWS Snowball

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Cloud Mass Data Migration vs AWS Snowball

Compared 5% of the time

More AWS Snowball Competitors

Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon S3 vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon FSx vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 6% of the time

Portworx Enterprise vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 4% of the time

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball

January 2026

Download AWS Snowball product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

January 2026

Download NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP product report

Also Known As

Amazon AWS Snowball, Amazon Snowball, Snowball

ONTAP Cloud, CVO, NetApp CVO

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 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

December 2025

Free Report: AWS Snowball vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

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