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Azure Data Lake Storage vs Azure NetApp Files comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

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

Azure Data Lake Storage
Ranking in Cloud Storage
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Azure NetApp Files
Ranking in Cloud Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Migration (8th), Public Cloud Storage Services (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Azure Data Lake Storage is 1.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure NetApp Files is 8.3%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Chetan Jayatheertha - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides valuable features such as access keys, container strings, lifecycle management, audit logs, and the soft delete option
Data Lake Storage provides valuable features such as access keys, container strings, lifecycle management, audit logs, and the soft delete option. These features help in cost-saving and provide an excellent mechanism for backing up data. Furthermore, Data Lake Storage can interact with any other Azure resources, providing seamless integration and connectivity.
AjayKumar13 - PeerSpot reviewer
Fast, reliable, and helps meet our SLAs
The most valuable feature is that the sixty-terabyte database snapshot can be done in less than two to three minutes. It is faster. It is quicker. It is reliable. You don't need to take the snapshot. Snapshots are compressed. It doesn't take storage from the back end. It takes three minutes to do sixty terabytes of the database. You don't have to go to the tape and store it outside, which takes hours and hours. It also uses a lot less of the storage. It's very easy to restore or copy the snapshots to other locations for disaster recovery. There are a lot of benefits. In terms of the snapshot's rapid restore capability, we were testing the load of performance testing, and we needed to rebuild the DR site. If I need to rebuild the DR for a standby database, it takes sixty terabytes to copy onto the another site, which will take at least a day. Now, the snapshot is easy. We just copy the snapshots, and then we do the cross-region application. The snapshots came along with that, and that's where we were able to build the DR site within a few hours rather than days. All together, instead of a four-day process, instead of a day.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"The tool is very safe to use. It is impossible to hack the product."
"I also like its speed. It's basically built on Azure Blob Storage, which was already fast. But Azure Data Lake Storage adds the hierarchical structure for even better performance."
"Azure Data Lake Storage is user-friendly and easy to use."
"The response time and quality offered by the support team are good."
"I would recommend Azure Data Lake Storage because it is straightforward to set up and versatile for various projects, especially AI solutions requiring document storage."
"The tool's most valuable feature is security access policies."
"Microsoft is quite good when it comes to integration. They have multiple connectors available and different ingestion and integration processes available."
"The most valuable features of the solution is replication to another region and the performance. The solution is stable. The solution is scalable. The initial setup is straightforward."
"Using NetApp Files got us out of a really difficult situation quickly, effectively, and at a reasonable cost."
"I think the easiest part is, when you do a comparison, it is the throughput versus the cost. And it's much easier to set up."
"It's elastic, so it scales with our demands. We can start small, then with the addition of customer loads, we can expand on-the-fly without the need to reprovision something."
"Azure NetApp Files has been stable."
"You can change it non-disruptively. You can increase the size and decrease the size online, which is a huge benefit compared to Azure disks. It just works seamlessly. You don't need to stop the instances."
"One aspect of Azure NetApp Files that I truly appreciate is its remarkable performance capabilities."
"This solution definitely makes us more efficient in being able to provide storage quickly to our customers in the Azure Cloud."
 

Cons

"Improvement is needed in the migration process from Lakehouse to Enterprise Data Lake (EDL)."
"Maybe the solution could be a bit more user-friendly."
"Microsoft Fabric costs more since we are charged for all the components."
"If tools like Azure Data Lake Storage are enabled within the tool named Azure Storage Explorer, then it would be of tremendous help, but it can be really tricky."
"I suggest enhancing the connectors for improvement. Some software, like HubSpot and Xero, has connectors, but they're limited to a few fields. That's why we use REST API calls instead. It would be better if the connectors could retrieve all data."
"The solution needs to improve APIs and make them more accessible."
"Microsoft, in general, needs to simplify its licensing model. That's one of the biggest issues with Microsoft. The licensing model is either quite difficult to understand or is constantly evolving."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"I have a hunch that storage could be now the most expensive portion of our monthly bill. So I can imagine that, not this year, but next year we will be talking about looking deeper into ways how we can optimize the cost."
"Azure NetApp Files could improve by being more diverse to integrate better with other solutions, such as Splunk and the on-premise version. There are some use cases that are not covered natively by Azure. It is not the best solution because it is not external from the cloud which for me is the best type of solution."
"Azure NetApp Files is expensive."
"The deployment process is somewhat complex compared to other storage solutions."
"We would like to see more paired regions for the replication."
"This solution would be improved with more innovation."
"Its pricing can be better."
"The solution needs to improve it's ABS environment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to other options we've explored, I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"It costs just a few dollars per terabyte per month."
"The tool's licensing model is pay-as-you-go. Regarding pricing, there's always competition between Azure Data Lake Storage and AWS. They're quite similar, but to attract more customers, Azure Data Lake Storage could consider adjusting its pricing to be more competitive with AWS. This might make Azure Data Lake Storage a more appealing option for users."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The tool is cheap, depending on the services and requirements you need."
"It's a pay-as-you-go model. Your charges are based on the amount of data you store."
"Pricing is tricky because it depends on the solution you're building and the type of Data Lake storage you use—hot or cold."
"One of the most affordable products from the vendor"
"Our pricing has not been determined because we are still waiting on additional features."
"It is expensive in small environments, which could be better. The reason is the four terabyte minimum. A one terabyte minimum would be better."
"The performance has improved by about 30 percent."
"The price of Azure NetApp Files could be better."
"This solution is very expensive compared to the alternatives."
"In the cloud, pricing depends on how you manage it. It's not necessarily cheap, but it's all about optimizing charges and showing the cost back. So, it's more about managing the expenses rather than being inherently expensive or cheap."
"The solution’s combination of the ease of use, simplicity, and reduction in IT management versus the cost has helped a lot. It is very fast to deploy. It's very easy to maintain. You don't have to do a lot in the cloud to maintain this thing, so it gives good performance. It's fast to deploy, easy to maintain, and it gives a better performance. These are the most basic three criteria for any application. This saves cost because the manpower you need to deploy is going down. You're getting better performance and not buying new resources. You have resources available in the cloud. It's just a couple of clicks, then you're good to go."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Data Lake Storage?
The tool's most valuable feature is security access policies.
What needs improvement with Azure Data Lake Storage?
The speed of support response needs to improve, especially for critical, high-priority issues. Having a quick SLA response time is crucial.
How does Azure NetApp Files compare to NetApp ONTAP?
Azure NetApp Files is a Microsoft Azure file storage service built on NetApp technology. The platform combines the file capabilities of Azure and NetApp to move critical file-based applications to ...
What do you like most about Azure NetApp Files?
The availability is good, meaning downtime or network issues rarely occur. The system also offers flexibility, allowing for increases in data volume, IOPS, and other capabilities without requiring ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
NetApp ANF, ANF
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
SAP, Restaurant Magic
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Data Lake Storage vs. Azure NetApp Files and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,484 professionals have used our research since 2012.