Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Insights comparison

Azure NetApp Files and NetApp Cloud Insights are both solutions in the Cloud Migration category. Azure NetApp Files is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.3, while NetApp Cloud Insights is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.8. Azure NetApp Files holds a 14.6% mindshare in CM, compared to NetApp Cloud Insights’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Azure NetApp Files users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp Cloud Insights users who would recommend it.

Azure NetApp Files

Read 17 Azure NetApp Files reviews

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66 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Insights

Read 13 NetApp Cloud Insights reviews

265 Views
36 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure NetApp Files

NetApp Cloud Insights

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Azure NetApp Files and NetApp Cloud Insights both compete in cloud storage and analytics, offering unique features tailored to enterprise needs. Azure NetApp Files often stands out for its speed and ease of integration with the Azure ecosystem, while NetApp Cloud Insights gains an edge with advanced analytics and visibility capabilities in multi-vendor environments.

Features: Azure NetApp Files provides ultra-fast SQL backups and restores, seamless integration with the Azure ecosystem, and SnapMirror for enhanced data replication and protection. Its ease of provisioning further simplifies its deployment for enterprises. NetApp Cloud Insights excels in resource utilization visibility, advanced analytics for identifying multi-tiered issues, and efficient inventory of resources, offering valuable insights into infrastructure performance.

Room for Improvement: Azure NetApp Files could improve its backup functionalities and customer support, enhance cost-effectiveness, and simplify deployment processes. Users seek more paired regions for data replication and reduced configuration complexities. NetApp Cloud Insights can advance its reporting features and user guidance, especially for complex datasets, and provide more intuitive solutions directly out-of-the-box.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure NetApp Files benefits from robust deployment within the Azure ecosystem, offering high-quality technical support through Microsoft and NetApp. NetApp Cloud Insights, supporting diverse hybrid and on-premises solutions, also provides excellent customer service despite its complexity requiring strategic navigation through support channels.

Pricing and ROI: Azure NetApp Files is considered a premium offering, with higher costs justified by performance scalability and potential cost savings through operational efficiency. It appeals to dynamic businesses with flexible storage requirements. NetApp Cloud Insights is seen as affordable compared to other cloud solutions, despite a complex licensing model. It enables cost savings through optimal infrastructure use and provides significant ROI by easing deployment and minimizing downtime.

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

Buyer's Guide

Azure NetApp Files 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

Azure NetApp Files

Ranking in Cloud Migration

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Storage (8th), Public Cloud Storage Services (10th)

NetApp Cloud Insights

Ranking in Cloud Migration

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (34th), Cloud Monitoring Software (24th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of Azure NetApp Files is 14.6%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Insights is 2.7%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Migration

Featured Reviews

AjayKumar13

Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

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.

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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

"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."

"The most valuable feature is that the sixty-terabyte database snapshot can be done in less than two to three minutes."

"It has saved a lot of time. Because in the older, conventional hardware system, they need to raise a ticket to go to storage engineering, then storage engineering would increased the size. Now, it's dynamic. You don't have to do anything. This improved the time by more than 50 percent."

"Using NetApp Files got us out of a really difficult situation quickly, effectively, and at a reasonable cost."

"I like the SnapMirror feature in Azure NetApp Files. It helps me create backups with snapshots and makes data recovery and compression."

"Since we have NetApp's internally, we use the SnapMirror predominantly for this process in the cloud which is beneficial."

"The critical features of this solution are SnapMirror for replication, data protection, and SnapLock."

"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."

More Azure NetApp Files pros

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

"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."

"Its ability to quickly inventory our resources, figure out interdependencies across them, and assemble a topology of your environment is brilliant. There is a price associated with it. Whenever you target a NetApp environment, it is included in the price but whenever you want to add different vendors, like VMware and Cisco, the price greatly spikes. Inventorization helps us a lot to visualize the environment."

"Cloud Secure is definitely the most valuable feature and being able to see file level activity. It gives real-time alerting on possible ransomware attacks and provides file security review. It helps us to see if something abnormal is happening on the system before it's too late."

"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."

"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."

"One feature we appreciate the most is its ability to take snapshots, which adds an extra layer of security and allows us to protect our data effectively."

More NetApp Cloud Insights pros

Cons

"Its pricing can be better."

"The deployment process is somewhat complex compared to other storage solutions."

"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."

"We were looking for a clustered solution that has over-complicated things because we had it in AWS, which is Amazon. There was a solution for clustered NetApp. That meant there would be two NetApps that were not clustered because there was no solution for a cluster. We would like there to be an HA cluster solution."

"The pricing definitely needs to be improved."

"We would like to have backup functionality built-in so that we don't run into the issue where the replication process makes a copy of the corrupted data."

"The solution needs to improve it's ABS environment."

"I would like to see multi-zone redundancy so that I don't have to worry about it. I just back up my data to that one SMB share and I know that it's replicated to a different region."

More Azure NetApp Files cons

"The first level of NetApp's technical support could be improved."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"The support is not very quick."

"Even though I work with NetApp, it still takes time for me to navigate and find components, so new customers might require considerable hands-on experience to efficiently use the console, indicating that it could be more user-friendly."

"Most of the time, I initially connect with entry-level support, and then I need to request a higher-tier support level, which can result in delays."

More NetApp Cloud Insights cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing depends on your scaling and consumption."

"Its price is double the price of the premium disks, which is the main reason why customers don't go for this solution in the end."

"NetApp is a premium offering, so it's not a cheap product, but it is well-priced. It combines a couple of properties which customers like us are willing to pay. Could it be cheaper? Yes, but if you combine fully supported, fully managed, easily provisioned, scalable, and quick all in one product, it's a good selling point. You can ask a lot of money for all these. If you have a use case like we do, it's a perfect match. It's like the Porsche of storage solutions in the cloud. It is totally worth the cost."

"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."

"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 licensing fees for this solution vary, ranging from a single shelf to a full suite."

"It is expensive, especially with NetApp Ultra Storage."

"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."

More Azure NetApp Files pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

33%

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 ...

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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 ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure NetApp Files?

It is expensive, especially with NetApp Ultra Storage.

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

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 36% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 30% of the time

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 8% of the time

Nasuni vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon FSx vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 7% of the time

More Azure NetApp Files Competitors

Dell CloudIQ vs NetApp Cloud Insights

Compared 69% of the time

Datadog vs NetApp Cloud Insights

Compared 31% of the time

More NetApp Cloud Insights Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure NetApp Files

June 2025

Download Azure NetApp Files product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Cloud Insights

June 2025

Download NetApp Cloud Insights product report

Also Known As

NetApp ANF, ANF

No data available

Overview

Azure NetApp Files is designed for unstructured data, virtualized SAP systems, SQL backups, NFS and CIFS protocols, Azure Virtual Desktop storage, and optimizing file share services. It supports high performance and networking integration in Microsoft Azure.

Azure NetApp Files offers features such as SnapMirror for data protection, rapid provisioning, elastic scaling, and ultra-fast SQL backup and restore. It provides a seamless experience with fast snapshotting, high availability, security, and ease of setup. Users benefit from significant performance improvements and the ability to manage substantial workload migrations effortlessly. This service is ideal for environments like Azure Kubernetes Service and cloud EPM platforms, where speed, flexibility, and performance are crucial.

What are the key features?

Flexibility: Adaptable to diverse storage needs.
Rapid response time: Ensures quick data access and operations.
SnapMirror: Provides replication and data protection.
SEC compliance: SnapLock ensures regulatory adherence.
Ultra-fast SQL backup: Quicker backup and restore operations.
Elastic scaling: Easily adjusts resources based on demand.
Fast snapshotting: Enables quick data snapshots.
High availability: Ensures consistent data access.
Security: Robust measures for data protection.

What are the expected benefits and ROI?

Performance: Notable improvement in processing speeds.
Simplicity of setup: Easy deployment and configuration.
Scalable management: Handles significant workload migrations with ease.
Cost efficiency: Allows comparing throughput versus cost effectively.

Azure NetApp Files is implemented in various industries requiring robust file storage solutions, from educational environments where performance boosts are critical to businesses leveraging Azure Kubernetes Service for containerized applications. It supports high-demand environments, optimizing data management and improving efficiency.

NetApp

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

SAP, Restaurant Magic

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Azure NetApp Files vs. NetApp Cloud Insights

June 2025

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