Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP comparison

The compared Azure NetApp Files and NetApp ONTAP solutions aren't in the same category. Azure NetApp Files is ranked #9 in CM , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 4.4% mindshare in the category. NetApp ONTAP is ranked #1 in SS , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 20.0% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Azure NetApp Files users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of NetApp ONTAP users who would recommend it.

Azure NetApp Files

Read 18 Azure NetApp Files reviews

3,718 Views
1,301 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

NetApp ONTAP

Read 93 NetApp ONTAP reviews

3,312 Views
2,716 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Azure NetApp Files

NetApp ONTAP

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure NetApp Files and NetApp ONTAP based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp, IBM and others in Cloud Migration.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Migration Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Migration

June 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.4

Azure NetApp Files provides high performance and flexibility, enabling significant cost savings and improved IT management despite initial costs.

Sentiment score

7.5

NetApp ONTAP reduces storage costs and improves performance, manageability, and data protection, offering notable financial and operational benefits.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

In the long run, we can see a 10% to 20% return on investment.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

This needs to be evaluated by the business, especially considering that NetApp phases out technology after some years and introduces newer technology.

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft and NetApp provide Azure NetApp Files with varying support quality, appreciated for complex issues despite regional inconsistencies.

Sentiment score

5.9

NetApp ONTAP support is praised for effectiveness but criticized for initial response times and regional inconsistencies.

Microsoft has limitations with Azure Files, which do not support disaster recovery, so they approached NetApp for help based on their experience in on-premises and cloud storage.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

They have top-notch people.

AjayKumar13

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

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

This includes disk replacement, firmware upgrades, and NetApp ONTAP upgrades, which we handle locally in Nigeria.

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

For technical support, I would rate NetApp ONTAP a nine out of ten.

Elanchezhian Adhieksavan

Manager, System at a media company with 10,001+ employees

The support is top-notch.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

Azure NetApp Files offers flexible scaling and cost efficiency for large deployments, despite regional and minimum storage limitations.

Sentiment score

7.5

NetApp ONTAP is praised for scalability and cluster expansion, despite some legacy system limitations and performance concerns.

Scalability is high. I would say it's probably around nine because it's quite a robust solution that can scale up to maybe even five hundred terabytes of data.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.4

Azure NetApp Files is highly stable, offering reliable performance, seamless migrations, and no downtime, even under increased loads.

Sentiment score

8.1

NetApp ONTAP is a stable, reliable storage platform with strong performance, effective failover, and appreciated ongoing improvements.

In terms of storage stability, I believe it's robust and stable, with a high level of redundancy in the cloud backend.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

In terms of stability, I would rate NetApp ONTAP a ten out of ten because I have experienced nearly zero downtime over the complete year.

Elanchezhian Adhieksavan

Manager, System at a media company with 10,001+ employees

Both stability and scalability are a 10 out of 10.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sometimes there are system panics, but we have overcome that issue in the latest NetApp ONTAP version.

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Room For Improvement

Azure NetApp Files needs enhanced disaster recovery, cost-effective pricing, improved support, and broader regional availability to boost user adoption.

NetApp ONTAP needs improved cloud integration, storage efficiency, automation, performance, and user interface, alongside enhanced support and pricing simplification.

I would definitely expect NetApp to come up with that solution so that customers can start using it because they do not have confidence in backup as it is still in preview.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

I would like for them to have more compression so that it can avoid using more storage.

AjayKumar13

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

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

NetApp ONTAP provides volume level restore, but file level restore is somewhat difficult to execute.

Elanchezhian Adhieksavan

Manager, System at a media company with 10,001+ employees

The support response needs improvement, especially for P1 cases. When critical cases are raised, they should ensure they call the customer and follow up properly.

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

The interface is very intuitive, and the solution is robust.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Setup Cost

Azure NetApp Files is costly with a four-terabyte minimum, but its premium features compete with Oracle and Amazon.

NetApp ONTAP offers high initial costs but is valued for cost-effectiveness and flexible enterprise discounts in the long term.

It is expensive, especially with NetApp Ultra Storage.

AjayKumar13

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

It's highly priced, and there's no cost reservation option available compared to Azure Files.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

It is cost-effective for the benefits you get.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Valuable Features

Azure NetApp Files excels in performance, integration, and scalability, providing high redundancy, data protection, and efficient storage solutions.

NetApp ONTAP offers robust disaster recovery, storage efficiency, scalability, and integration, with automation, security, and performance optimization.

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

AjayKumar13

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

I think the most valuable feature is using the cross-region replication because this feature was not available in Azure Files, and this was the differentiator.

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure NetApp Files report

It lets you know if you have issues early enough so that you can plan around resolving and mitigating future issues.

Allan Otonglo

Systems and Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

NetApp ONTAP has improved our organization through speed, efficiency, and data availability, which ensures business continuity.

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

Without the encryption key, data cannot be accessed, which provides strong data protection.

Elanchezhian Adhieksavan

Manager, System at a media company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp ONTAP report

Categories and Ranking

Azure NetApp Files

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (9th), Cloud Storage (12th), Public Cloud Storage Services (13th)

NetApp ONTAP

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Storage Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

Azure NetApp Files and NetApp ONTAP aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Azure NetApp Files is designed for Cloud Migration and holds a mindshare of 4.4%, down 15.5% compared to last year.
NetApp ONTAP, on the other hand, focuses on Storage Software, holds 20.0% mindshare, down 41.8% since last year.

Cloud Migration Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Azure NetApp Files	4.4%
IBM Turbonomic	6.3%
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP	6.1%
Other	83.2%

Cloud Migration

Storage Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetApp ONTAP	20.0%
DataCore SANsymphony	22.2%
Dell PowerPath	14.8%
Other	43.0%

Storage Software

Q&A Highlights

Netanya Carmi

Content Manager at PeerSpot

Nov 01, 2021

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 the cloud. Azure NetApp Files provides high-performance computing at high-speed and is SAP and HIPAA certified. Azure NetApp Files helps for cloud-based workloads that need low latency and high performance. When you need to access a large volume of data, other features we like are its elasticity and the support for multiple protocols. One downside of Azure NetApp Files is that it is not available in the Azure Free tier. Also, it is relatively more expensive than other Azure options like file storage. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is an enterprise-level storage management solution. NetApp gives you not only storage management but data protection too. NetApp ONTAP supports multiple use cases, like block-level storage serving NAS and SAN, backup, archive, DevOps, databases, and disaster recovery. We like having the same consistent storage experience on Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. Other features we like from ONTAP are the dynamic mapping of storage devices and the central management of storage components. The solution provides compression and deduplication. NetApp Cloud Volumes enables our administrators to design, configure, and deploy storage in a hybrid cloud environment. You can also scale the issues easily. Integration with third-party tools is limited, though. Migrating storage workloads between cloud service providers can also be a hassle. From the three major providers, its integration with AWS is the best. The documentation is a bit poor. You can not manage storage across hybrid and multiple cloud environments. ONTAP is more suited for organizations with large storage volumes or that need high performance for their cloud environment. Conclusions It will depend on the use case. Cloud Volumes ONTAP is specifically designed to manage large storage volumes. If you can afford the extra cost, Azure NetApp Files can provide a more comprehensive solution for smaller organizations.

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Featured Reviews

Rajat Wadhwa

Cloud Architect at IBM

Cross-region replication has delivered seamless disaster recovery for enterprise storage needs

In terms of improvement, I would say cost reservation; the cost is a bit high. If we compare Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files, I know that customers are using less of Azure NetApp due to the cost. If they bring the cost a little bit closer to what Azure Files offers, it can be a great product in the market and bring a lot of business to NetApp. Backup is quite critical. As of now, Azure NetApp Files requires you to use Azure NetApp Backup solution, which is in public preview at the moment. I would definitely expect NetApp to come up with that solution so that customers can start using it because they do not have confidence in backup as it is still in preview. They are still doing some testing and research on that product, which is not officially released for use by multiple customers.

Read full review

Best Kifi

Senior Storage Engineer at Shell

Data management and availability improve operations, but cost and support need attention

For snapshots, there should be something similar to a recycle bin. When someone mistakenly deletes a snapshot, it should be stored for about two days before disappearing from the system. Regarding storage optimization, when purchasing a 10 terabyte disk, after formatting, you can only use approximately 8 terabytes. They should improve this so users can utilize 90% instead of 80% of the disk space. The support response needs improvement, especially for P1 cases. When critical cases are raised, they should ensure they call the customer and follow up properly. Comparing NetApp ONTAP to other solutions such as EMC, the cost of contract renewals and warranties is relatively expensive. They should extend their renewal window beyond the current six months to one year options. A longer warranty period of two years for new systems, controllers, or filers would be beneficial. Overall, they should reduce subscription costs for businesses.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	68

Questions from the Community

How does Azure NetApp Files compare to NetApp ONTAP?

See all answers

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

On pricing, I would rate it around eight. It's highly priced, and there's no cost reservation option available compared to Azure Files. If NetApp could bring that kind of model for customers to sav...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure NetApp Files?

See all answers

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

It is cost-effective for the benefits you get.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp ONTAP?

File level restoration could be improved. Currently, NetApp ONTAP provides volume level restore, but file level restore is somewhat difficult to execute. If NetApp were to provide an option for fil...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetApp ONTAP?

I use NetApp ONTAP for most of our production systems, including NFS mount points, FC and iSCSI protocols, and shared drives across our organization.

See all answers

Comparisons

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon S3 vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 8% of the time

Nasuni vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 5% of the time

More Azure NetApp Files Competitors

DataCore SANsymphony vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 25% of the time

QoreStor vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerPath vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 17% of the time

Kodjin FHIR Server vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 14% of the time

Cloudian HyperStore vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 7% of the time

More NetApp ONTAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure NetApp Files

June 2026

Download Azure NetApp Files product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp ONTAP

May 2026

Download NetApp ONTAP product report

Also Known As

NetApp ANF, ANF

No data available

Overview

Azure NetApp Files offers flexibility, speed, and tight Active Directory integration, making it versatile. Its scalability, rapid response time, and replication capabilities like SnapMirror enhance its value, along with SEC compliance through SnapLock and efficient database management.

Azure NetApp Files is a robust service for unstructured data storage within Microsoft Azure and on-premises environments. It supports NFS and CIFS protocol testing, SQL backups, SAP virtualization, Azure Virtual Desktop, and event collection. This service facilitates seamless provisioning, non-disruptive resizing, and fast snapshots for disaster recovery. Known for high availability and cost-effective throughput, its ease of use and security make it preferred by users. Issues with high pricing and support highlight areas for enhancement, alongside desires for expanded regional availability, better security, and integration with diverse solutions.

What are the key features of Azure NetApp Files?

Flexibility: Supports diverse applications with robust Active Directory integration.
Scalability: Easily adjusts to increased performance demands.
Fast Snapshotting: Enhances disaster recovery capabilities.
SnapMirror: Provides effective replication features.
SnapLock: Ensures SEC compliance.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

High Availability: Delivers reliable performance.
Cost-effective Throughput: Balances performance with expenditure.
Ease of Use: Simplifies data management tasks.
Non-disruptive Resizing: Facilitates seamless storage adjustments.
Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive data effectively.

In educational contexts, Azure NetApp Files shines by offering seamless data handling and high IOPS performance, supporting high-demand environments like research facilities. For enterprises, it aids legacy system migrations and optimizes virtual environments while enhancing data protection and file share performance.

NetApp

NetApp ONTAP offers robust data management solutions featuring seamless integration, high performance, and efficient scalability. It empowers organizations with stable, easy-to-use data replication and protection tools.

NetApp ONTAP is designed to efficiently manage storage appliances and offers data management capabilities across on-premise and cloud environments. Its support for NFS, CIFS, iSCSI, and integration with virtualization platforms makes it a popular choice for VMware and database applications. The solution provides high availability, disaster recovery, and compliance support, while critical business operations benefit from automated provisioning, quick cloning, and effective data management across environments.

What are the key features of NetApp ONTAP?

Snapshots: Provides point-in-time copies of data for easy recovery.
SnapMirror: Enables fast and efficient data replication across environments.
SnapVault: Offers data protection and long-term storage solutions.
Scalability: Allows for seamless growth alongside business needs.
High Performance: Delivers robust data processing capabilities.
Encryption: Ensures data remains secure during storage and transit.
Deduplication: Reduces storage space requirements significantly.
Protocol Support: Includes NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI support for comprehensive data integration.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Ease of Use: Simplifies data management across varied systems.
Integration: Works effectively with current and new systems.
Automation: Enhances operational efficiency and reduces manual tasks.
Support: Provides reliable technical support and detailed documentation.
Cost Efficiency: Offers a balance of price and functionality.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and education, ONTAP supports complex data management needs and compliance requirements. It manages high I/O workloads, aids backup and disaster recovery, and supports virtualization, helping businesses maintain operations with minimal disruption.

NetApp

Sample Customers

SAP, Restaurant Magic

1&1 IONOS, Acıbadem Healthcare Group, Adder Technologies, Aero Vodochody Aerospace

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp, IBM and others in Cloud Migration. Updated: June 2026.

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