FreeNAS vs Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform comparison

FreeNAS and Hitachi Vantara are both solutions in the NAS category. FreeNAS is ranked #15, while Hitachi Vantara is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1. FreeNAS holds a 2.7% mindshare in N, compared to Hitachi Vantara’s 5.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of FreeNAS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Hitachi Vantara users who would recommend it.

FreeNAS

Read 9 FreeNAS reviews

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762 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Hitachi Virtual Storage Pla...

Read 55 Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform reviews

5,063 Views
1,721 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

FreeNAS

Hitachi Virtual Storage Pla...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and FreeNAS are competitors in the storage solution category. Hitachi VSP holds the upper hand due to its reliability, scalability, and data availability, despite being more costly.

Features: Hitachi VSP offers non-disruptive migration, Global Active Device enabling site-to-site volume access, and advanced flash capabilities. FreeNAS is highlighted for ease of use, strong Windows and Linux integration, and efficient disk management.

Room for Improvement: Hitachi VSP could simplify its management interface and setup process, and enhance automation and support. FreeNAS could improve clustering capabilities and provide more cohesive documentation to boost scalability and integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hitachi VSP, while supporting hybrid environments, can be complex to set up and often requires professional assistance. FreeNAS is simple to deploy but needs enhanced documentation and broader regional support.

Pricing and ROI: Hitachi VSP is costlier with complex licenses but offers considerable ROI through performance and reliability. FreeNAS, as an open-source platform, minimizes costs besides hardware, appealing to budget-conscious users with its free licensing.

To learn more, read our detailed FreeNAS vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

FreeNAS vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

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

FreeNAS

Ranking in NAS

15th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Hitachi Virtual Storage Pla...

Ranking in NAS

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (3rd), Frame-Based Disk Arrays (1st), All-Flash Storage (8th), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of FreeNAS is 2.7%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is 5.2%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform	5.2%
FreeNAS	2.7%
Other	92.1%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Vincenzo D'Aniello

Software developer at TREXON S.R.L.

Open-source with great disk management and task synchronization

The system itself allows you to add any feature. The only bad thing is that this maybe depends on FreeBSD, and sometimes finding documentation is difficult. For example, we knew that previous versions automatically enabled the Linux kernel, yet with the recent version, this was no longer the case. Now, there was the possibility of being able to create Debian-based jails, and finding the documentation was not easy or fast. That said, in the end, we succeeded. If you find the documentation, it is always incomplete and fragmented.

Read full review

ANAND V

Associate Vice President at Federal Bank Ltd

Reliable and secure storage solution supports core banking operations effectively

The replication technology that Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform uses is quite older, and the replication methodology they employ for data between the data center and the production and standby database shows no significant improvement in that particular field. With respect to storage administration, I'd like to see more clarity on the encryption side; data being stored in an encrypted manner is essential, but the customer or end-user doesn't understand which encryption is being used and doesn't have a direct view stating that their data is encrypted using AES 256 or DES, or whatever standard they follow. This lack of transparency may not be acceptable during audits.

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

"The ease of use of the 'jail', the management of backups, and copies to easily create test and pre-production scenarios have speeded up the development and distribution of business apps."

"The solution has been very stable so far."

"It has the best storage capacity."

"FreeNAS is much simpler and easier to use than other solutions, but we don't have the complete range of features that come with the full version."

"What I like about it is that I can work on it from any computer or any device. The initial setup is very simple. The setup wizard is really helpful."

"It integrates well into either Windows or Linux environments."

"Its stability is the most valuable. It is reliable, and we don't have to worry too much about it."

"It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"This is a good product with high capabilities and high reliability."

"The most valuable feature is that you can use it with all deployment models."

"What I like best about Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is that it's a fast storage solution. It also has reliable models. The sales support is also good for this product. Even the pricing for it is good."

"The solution provides excellent scalability."

"The efficiency ratio is just as high as advertised. It's very high relative to other storage solutions as well. The compression and deduplication capabilities are also very high."

"The deduplication is useful for us because we don't have that much money for our lab infrastructure. Deduplication means we have more storage available. And the IOPS are really fast."

"The Hitachi VSP has significantly improved data storage scalability by addressing various issues. Through their research and development efforts, they've incorporated customer feedback regarding deployment speed and performance requirements."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pros

Cons

"The latest version of the dashboard doesn't work as good as the previous version."

"The one thing that I find difficult to do which is very time-consuming is that I like to have a backup of the important files."

"They can improve the integration with PSA systems. This functionality could be better."

"The support for S3 needs to be improved."

"If you find the documentation, it is always incomplete and fragmented."

"FreeNAS should be better prepared for clustering."

"They should include clustering for the solution."

"The life-cycle of the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is too short. We only had approximately four or five years out of the solution before it was rendered its end of life."

"In the next version I would like to see more intelligence."

"The distributor needs more knowledgeable resources for technical support. It would be better to connect directly to the vendor in case of queries."

"In terms of what could be improved, it could use a better, faster web console and other consoles. It is so boring waiting, waiting and waiting for it to refresh."

"I would like the fan noise to be automatically adjusted based on the drive's current workload."

"The complex setup phase is an area where improvements are needed."

"The pricing is high, but the product is good. Additional features like data duplication might make it even better."

"The deployment could be a bit easier, because it's a bit tricky"

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We use the free version of the program."

"Its licensing cost is based on the hardware capacity."

"Its price is okay. It suits our needs."

"For our configuration, we pay a little bit less than €10,000 ($12,000 USD) per year."

"The price of the solution is reasonable compared to others, such as Dell EMC."

"Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is a very expensive product."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. However, I have not done extensive comparative research on the price. If you want to upgrade the size of the disc you will need to purchase a license that accounts for the size."

"I give the price of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform a nine out of ten."

"The costs were primarily in line with every other vendor at the time."

"The cost price of this product is better than its competitors."

"When you are looking for high-end solutions such as this, price is less important than stability and availability."

More Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

16%

Performing Arts

12%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	28

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform?

The cost of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is reasonable compared to competitors, but it is dependent on the customer; I cannot say for the entire industry, but for us, it's comparable.

See all answers

What do you like most about Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E990?

The product's reliability has been crucial for our company's operations.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E990?

The centralized management console in Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is not very comfortable and user-friendly. However, it works fine. Additional functionality related to data encryption and aut...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FreeNAS

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

January 2026

Download Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform product report

Also Known As

No data available

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series, 5000 Series, E Series, N Series, G Series

Overview

FreeNAS is an operating system that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. FreeNAS is the simplest way to create a centralized and easily accessible place for your data. Use FreeNAS with ZFS to protect, store, backup, all of your data. FreeNAS is used everywhere, for the home, small business, and the enterprise.

FreeNAS

RETHINK YOUR DEFINITION OF SPEED AND PERFORMANCE

With adaptive, guaranteed data reduction and a 100% data-availability guarantee, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F series helps you tackle complicated business challenges. Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) VSP F series delivers up to 4.8M IOPS with sub-millisecond response times.
Featuring legendary Hitachi reliability, VSP F series arrays are backed by the industries only 100% availability guarantee. For these reasons, 80% of the Fortune 500 choose Hitachi all-flash arrays to accelerate the performance of mission-critical applications like Oracle, SAP, Virtualization, Microsoft apps etc. With over 350 patents in flash technology, Hitachi’s innovative mix of flash hardware and software accelerates ROI with enterprise-class reliability and performance.

Hitachi Vantara

Sample Customers

Morroni Technologies Inc., Creative Integrations

Turkcell, Owens Corning, Region Nord, Net Credit Financial Group (NFC Group), Russian Railways

Buyer's Guide

FreeNAS vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform

December 2025

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