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Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs Microsoft Azure File Storage comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 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

Google Cloud Storage Nearline
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure File Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 8.3%, up from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 6.1%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Cloud Storage Nearline8.3%
Microsoft Azure File Storage6.1%
Other85.6%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

Seamless integration with cloud services improves workflows but documentation needs enhancement
One area that needs improvement is the documentation, which I find to be disorganized and not user-friendly. The lack of comprehensive walkthrough guides for specific use cases makes it difficult to follow. To enhance the experience, more detailed examples, guides, and tutorials from start to finish would be beneficial. Additionally, the cost compared to other providers like Amazon could be regarded as a downside.
Mohammad-Huda - PeerSpot reviewer
Data & Analytics Practitioner (BI Dw, Big Data) at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Centralizes data for analytics and reporting but has raised cost and support concerns
The main benefit of Microsoft Azure File Storage is that we have a lot of solutions from Microsoft. That was one of the reasons why we chose the Azure cloud because we have a lot of Microsoft stack and those can be integrated well within Azure. That is one of the architectural considerations we took into account when deciding to stay with Microsoft instead of going for GCP or AWS. The key benefit from Microsoft Azure File Storage is that we work in one Azure environment. We have Power BI and other Microsoft tools that are already well integrated within Azure, and since we purchased a lot of licenses, we get a discount along with various other architectural constraints. Existing tools might not integrate well, which might cause challenges if we go for another vendor. I really appreciate Microsoft Azure File Storage mostly because it is cheap to store the data. That is one of the reasons.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability is excellent; I can't think of a better service that's provided in South America, and the infrastructure overall is very stable and reliable."
"I find the flexibility in storing documents or data and the ease of retrieval valuable with this solution."
"The API integration with the storage packet is the solution's most valuable feature."
"The most valuable aspect of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is its integration with the wider Google Cloud ecosystem."
"Nearline is highly stable."
"Google is always introducing new features and tends to have a new release every month."
"The best part of Nearline storage is the ability to take backups at optimal costs and its availability across multiple regions."
"The most valuable feature of Nearline is the access. It's helpful to move data that is generated once a month, such as salary information, to Nearline."
"Overall, I think Microsoft Azure File Storage is workable, but you really need to make a design to make it redundant."
"The initial setup is straightforward and takes approximately twenty minutes."
"The functionality is easy."
"The initial setup is very seamless."
"First of all, the solution is very secure. Secondly, the solution is very fast. It is reliable and available all the time."
"I recommend Microsoft Azure File Storage for medium and above-sized companies."
"It helps us with geo-redundancy."
"The beauty of the solution is that we can mount the file storage into a critical server as well as an external drive."
 

Cons

"The solution needs to offer better System Information and Event Management (SEIM). I'd like to discover how we could implement something like that within Google's cloud."
"The pricing could be improved. It's completely non-competitive at this time."
"The interface for managing file storage in the buckets could be improved."
"Documentation is an area for improvement in Google Cloud Storage Nearline."
"The suggestion for improvement primarily revolves around cost efficiency."
"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."
"From a storage standpoint, it would be beneficial if the retrieval cost could be optimized, as it is comparatively higher than storage costs in Nearline."
"The UI could be a little bit more effective."
"Based on our use case, I think maybe that cost is actually more. That's the main challenge; when going to Microsoft, that cost tends to be greater."
"The product’s pricing could be better."
"I have had issues migrating my data to another subscription."
"The pricing could be improved. They need to make the costs more transparent so users know what they will be charged and why ahead of time."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage is not that easy to use."
"The product must provide better security functions."
"One thing that Azure File Storage could help us with is some kind of impact assessment."
"They can improve the ability to assign permissions to different groups or users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Right now, for the number of servers and the storage that I have, I would say I'm charged between $125 and $150 per month."
"Google Cloud Storage Nearline is very inexpensive. It costs us less than $50 a month to store our files. We use approximately 10 terabytes. Overall, I would rate the product a five out of five for affordability."
"One needs to pay according to the storage they plan to use in the solution. The payments are to be made yearly. It is usually monthly, but we opted for yearly subscriptions in our company."
"The price is comparable to other competitive solutions."
"For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month."
"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. The pricing model is based on usage."
"The product must improve its price."
"The licensing cost for Microsoft Azure File Storage comes with an agreement from Microsoft."
"The product's pricing need improvement."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
My experience with the licensing and cost of Google Cloud Storage Nearline has been positive.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
Documentation is an area for improvement in Google Cloud Storage Nearline. Documentation might cause some issues during deployment in future updates of Google Cloud Storage Nearline. Other than tha...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
I have integrated Google Cloud Storage Nearline with BigQuery for analytics.
Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?
Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure File Storage?
The cost of Microsoft Azure File Storage depends on the storage account, whether it is premium or standard; there is a cost difference, with the cost being higher for premium and lower for standard...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure File Storage?
In my opinion, Microsoft can improve Microsoft Azure File Storage by closing the open questions that a lot of customers have raised. There were previously some issues that I cannot recall exactly. ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Azure File Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Talon, Camden
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.