No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs Microsoft 365 Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

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
5.6
CTERA platform boosts ROI with automation, cutting infrastructure costs by 40%, reducing storage expenses, and improving file access efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.6
Organizations benefit from Microsoft 365 Business through cost savings, improved scalability, security, flexibility, and enhanced collaboration, especially with remote work.
It reduced the amount of time IT spent maintaining multiple systems, which let the team focus on higher-value projects.
Member Technical at ADP
Adding SSD storage to Windows file servers is expensive, and we no longer need to back up those devices.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I am positive that CTERA has helped reduce the total cost of ownership by eliminating the need for manual storage management and reducing storage service processes.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a performing arts with 501-1,000 employees
It also provides good security and the ability for normal users to create simple applications without needing developers.
Project Manager at Protonmail
I have seen a return on investment, especially in reducing security incidents and improved team collaboration.
Manager at Cyvogenix
The pricing of Microsoft 365 Business is good; the amount we pay yields a good return on investment.
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
CTERA's support is praised for prompt engineer assistance, though some find phone support less effective than the ticket system.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft 365 Business support receives mixed reviews due to varying response times and effectiveness across regions and licensing.
They swiftly address concerns and take ownership of the call, providing a very satisfactory support experience.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a performing arts with 501-1,000 employees
The quality and speed of support for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is some of the best in the industry.
Senior Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
For critical issues, we receive a call within 10 to 15 minutes of creating a request.
Senior Associate at Iron Mountain Incorporated
It would be beneficial if Microsoft had more expert customer support staff.
Project Manager at Protonmail
We have had good support from Microsoft, with responsive and well-trained staff who are very polite.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
Microsoft customer support for Microsoft 365 Business is very useful.
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform offers scalable growth, resource flexibility, and efficient capacity management for diverse organizational needs.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft 365 Business offers scalable cloud solutions, enabling easy expansion for organizations of any size, though costs may increase.
If we need to upgrade CPU and memory, we should be able to do that without a license upgrade.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The licensing supports various data sizes, such as EV16 supporting up to 16 terabytes, and if you exceed that, you move to EV32.
Senior Associate at Iron Mountain Incorporated
CTERA is a very scalable product, allowing us to grow.
Senior Manager of Global Support at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft 365 Business is widely used by all organizations.
Tech Engine Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is stable and reliable with minimal disruptions, often related to user setup issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft 365 Business is generally stable and reliable, despite occasional lags and connectivity or setup issues impacting user experience.
It has been pretty stable since then.
System Administrator at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
We had things deployed for years, and we were suddenly getting cloud sync issues that were crashing our sites.
Senior Manager of Global Support at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It is very stable and reliable.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a performing arts with 501-1,000 employees
The stability of Microsoft 365 Business is rated nine out of ten.
Project Manager at Protonmail
The file-sharing feature in Microsoft 365, specifically using OneDrive, is unreliable.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
It works properly, and I have never needed to contact support.
IT Manager at R K Khanna and Associates
 

Room For Improvement

Users call for interface simplification, better documentation, and enhancements in stability, performance, AI integration, and portal management efficiency.
Microsoft 365 users seek improved communication, integration, and usability with enhanced security, reduced costs, and refined support features.
AI and automation features could enhance the platform, such as AI-powered search, predictive storage analytics, and intelligent alerts for proactive monitoring.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a performing arts with 501-1,000 employees
The main problem is that if two people are working on the same file, for example, one in the U.S. and one in Israel, they can overwrite each other’s work without any notification.
CEO at rtt.co
Better visibility into what's happening behind the scenes, cleaner reporting, and simpler policy management would make it feel more effortless at scale.
Member Technical at ADP
Providing Power BI for a lower package, such as e3, would be beneficial.
Project Manager at Protonmail
Microsoft has very poor security, and Defender is ineffective.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
The comprehensive nature of the solution justifies the cost.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
 

Setup Cost

CTERA offers cost-effective, flexible pricing and integration with HP GreenLake, making it more affordable than Nasuni.
Microsoft 365 Business pricing is seen as reasonable yet complex, with calls for simpler licensing and more affordability options.
Unlike other solutions that require hardware purchases, CTERA offers software licensing with flexibility across multiple infrastructure providers.
Business Development Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
CTERA’s pricing should be more proportional and accessible so that cost is not the factor preventing customers from purchasing.
CEO at rtt.co
From what I heard from my seniors, a 50 TB capacity license would be around 55 to 60 lakhs in Indian rupees.
Graduate Engineering Trainee at HCLSoftware
Microsoft 365 is cost-intensive, and alternate options like OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Google Workspace are not as expensive.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
The solution might be considered pricey for some, however, the comprehensiveness of the suite justifies its cost.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
It could be more affordable.
Project Manager at Protonmail
 

Valuable Features

CTERA's platform provides scalable, secure file services with centralized management, supporting both cloud and on-premises environments to enhance productivity.
Microsoft 365 Business excels in collaboration, integration, security, flexibility, and intuitive multi-device access, boosting productivity and performance.
As soon as something is written to the device, CTERA copies it to the cloud, where it's versioned with snapshots so we can recover it.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
A vital advantage of this platform is its instantaneous recovery capability, allowing seamless access to a secondary gateway if the primary one fails.
Business Development Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
When it comes to data protection in CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform, we have encryption methodologies and we also have ransomware protection, which is a wide variety of features offered along with the CTERA appliance and application.
Senior Associate at Iron Mountain Incorporated
Using Teams helps our team's productivity because rather than having to make a proper chart again, if I am reviewing someone else's work and I find a mistake, I'll just do it in Excel and it automatically gets updated in the PPT.
asc at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Mobile access to SharePoint in Microsoft 365 Business saves a lot of time because it does not require physical presence, enabling everyone from various distances to access, save, and read all the manuals, which greatly increases efficiency in our business.
Owner at Nexus Auto system
Conditional Access policies have made the biggest difference for my organization because they help us control access based on risk, location, and device, which is very useful in preventing unauthorized access.
Manager at Cyvogenix
 

Categories and Ranking

CTERA Enterprise File Servi...
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (1st), NAS (4th), Cloud Migration (4th), Cloud Storage (2nd), Cloud Backup (7th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (5th), Cloud Storage Gateways (1st), AI Legal & Compliance (2nd)
Microsoft 365 Business
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
252
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is 2.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 2.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft 365 Business2.8%
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform2.8%
Other94.4%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Tim M. - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Supports global file recovery and rapid data versioning across 80 nodes
When we implemented CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform early on, and we've been on the platform for three years, we have three different cloud portals. We have an EU portal, we have an Americas portal, and we have an APAC portal. It would be nice if we could combine that into one portal just for that global single pane of glass look. We've talked with them about that and they say it's challenging just because of some of the structure, but that would be something nice if we could get that. I integrated with Varonis, and because CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform didn't have initially a working relationship with that vendor, it would have been nice had that pre-existed us saying we need this. But that wasn't totally CTERA's fault. There was a lot of challenge working with the vendor to build out that interface. A single pane of glass for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform would be beneficial. Everything else works fairly well. We've never had a point where we couldn't get to something that caused us to have a serious outage, and that to me is the mark of a good software package. It's never really caused us serious issues. We have our issues, that's true, and every software package does. However, we've always been able to meet the needs of the business, and we drive hard on security, stability, and scalability. From the scalability standpoint, that's one of the most important things to us. We're on their capacity-based licensing, so if I need to ramp up another CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform NAS, if we have an M&A, I can easily and quickly spin up another NAS and start doing that data transition fairly quickly. The biggest maintenance issue with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is firmware upgrades. We've done a lot of transition from hardware solution to virtualized infrastructure in order to minimize that hardware lifecycle portion of it. We have to upgrade the firmware and sometimes that can be challenging in the nature of business of our size with 80 CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform nodes around the globe. The issue we've had with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform happened recently in a firmware upgrade where there was a major database back-end upgrade and that took some time. For our smaller sites, it would be an hour or two, and I can build that into a fairly easy change window. But in our larger sites where we may have hundreds of terabytes of data, that database update process took maybe a day or a day and a half. That becomes more challenging, especially in a manufacturing environment where people are wanting to access configuration files. We had to pin the data locally because the data would be available on the local edge filer, but the cloud sync, while it was updating the database, the cloud files weren't available. That would be the other thing I'd like to see an improvement on: some way to do those database upgrades either in a more segmented fashion or in some type of offline environment. I understand the logistics behind that sounds easy, but I'm sure it's not.
Jitender Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle Consultant at Akaal Cyber Solutions
Comprehensive cloud tools have unified identity security and device management for my clients
I would suggest a lower cost for my clients because Microsoft 365 has many other licenses that provide different types of features. Microsoft 365 Business covers most of their requirements, and for the other parts, they use other third-party tools for cybersecurity. Although Microsoft 365 Business offers some cybersecurity features, it does not offer everything, such as endpoint detection response and mitigation. For those, clients need to buy a higher version of a license, such as Enterprise E1 or E5. I think Microsoft 365 Business can be improved if it adds more features such as endpoint detection or more features from Microsoft Defender, including cloud app security. With cloud app security, the application status or application logs can be monitored. Currently, cloud app security is not part of Microsoft 365 Business. You have to purchase a standalone license for that. If that can be added, it can increase the volume of purchases for Microsoft 365 Business.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Content Collaboration Platforms solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
41%
Outsourcing Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Construction Company
4%
Construction Company
19%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business115
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise104
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
Pricing for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is subscription-based, and licensing appears flexible and environment-dependent. It can be licensed for hosted data services or private deploymen...
What needs improvement with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
A few improvements would be more granular reporting, a simpler initial setup, and a smoother admin experience for edge cases. It would also help if troubleshooting and policy management were a litt...
What is your primary use case for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
My main use case for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is replacing or modernizing legacy file storage and giving remote teams secure access to shared files across locations. I am using it to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that pricing is reasonable, but it depends on the plan, as some advanced security features require higher-tier licenses.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
I have one concern regarding Microsoft 365 in Outlook; if I am using the new Outlook version and I have sent an email to someone using the Classic Outlook, I am not able to recall it, as to recall ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Business?
Since I joined my organization, I have been using Microsoft 365 Business for almost two years. Microsoft 365 Business is used for applications like Teams, Outlook, Excel, and Word, which are common...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McDonald's, WPP, US Navy, Gore, Festo, Stryker, Bezeq, PERI
Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Find out what your peers are saying about CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs. Microsoft 365 Business and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.