IBM Cloud Object Storage vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP comparison

Why PeerSpot?

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Cloud Software Defined Storage category. Additionally, 87% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

IBM Cloud Object Storage

Read 8 IBM Cloud Object Storage reviews

2,511 Views
1,933 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Read 64 NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP reviews

11,286 Views
564 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Object Storage

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Cloud Object Storage and NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, NetApp, Everpure (formerly Pure Storage) and others in Cloud Software Defined Storage.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Software Defined Storage Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Software Defined Storage

August 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 915,287 peers since 2012

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

IBM Cloud Object Storage

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (15th)

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (2nd), Cloud Storage (7th), Cloud Backup (25th), Public Cloud Storage Services (11th), Cloud Software Defined Storage (2nd)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2384904

Sales Engineer For Channel Organisation at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Enables seamless data replication and supports comprehensive data analytics workflows

The capability to replicate data in different locations is valuable since it enables customers to have a cluster over various sites. Also, important is the capability to provide RESTful APIs for custom connectors. In terms of security, I advise customers to rotate access keys to enhance protection. Additionally, scalability is effortless as you can add nodes or expand the license.

Read full review

reviewer5948293

Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Offers performance control and cloud integration while supporting data management with granular flexibility

The scalability of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is interesting. We have thought about it, but we haven't used it. I think the scalability is something you scale up rather than respond to peak demand. It wouldn't help with outages either; the scaling is manual, and there are no processes we've used to automate that for unexpected scenarios. We like the scalability; it's enough for what we're planning to use, but we haven't used any advanced features. The standard platform is NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, which is their cloud service. In fact, that's probably the most experience I have with NetApp. I've experienced it on-premise, but kind of secondhand.

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 standout feature of IBM Cloud Object Storage is its top-notch security, making it ideal for sensitive applications like mobile financial transactions."

"The capability to replicate data in different locations is valuable since it enables customers to have a cluster over various sites."

"The most valuable feature I like is when you connect it via CLI plug-in...It is a stable solution."

"IBM has the most number of additional services, this is the main advantage."

"Overall, I rate IBM Cloud Object Storage a ten out of ten."

"The integration itself is pretty easy. The access appliances create the connection between both environments."

"One of Cloud Object Storage's best features is infinite capacity."

"IBM Cloud Object Storage integrates well."

More IBM Cloud Object Storage pros

"One of the most valuable features is its similarity to the physical app, which makes it familiar. It's almost identical to a real NetApp, which means you can run all of the associated NetApp processes and services with it. Otherwise, we would definitely have to deploy some hardware on a site somewhere, which could be a challenge in terms of CapEx."

"It makes sure we have control of the data and that we know what it's being used for. The main thing for us is that we need to know what applications are consuming it and responsible for it. The solution helps us do that."

"It offers ease of use and a comprehensive suite of applications, including features like SnapMirror, SnapVault, and unified snapshot management, all bundled into a single product."

"This solution has made everything easier to do."

"It is much easier to control data since we can run queries across all our platforms with just one solution. Not only that, we can also monitor all the platforms with Active IQ, where we can see all the alerts, messages, and space consumption through a single application. This is regardless if the data is on-prem or AWS. It is much more efficient."

"If your organization is looking for cost savings, NetApp is the way to go."

"For example, it saves my clients between 50 and 60 percent."

"The Cloud Manager application that's on the NetApp cloud site is easy to use. You can set up and schedule replications from there, so you don't have to go into the ONTAP system. Another feature we've recently started using is the scheduled power off. We started with one client and have been slowly implementing it with others. We can cut costs by not having the VM run all the time. It's only on when it's doing replication, but it powers off after."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP pros

Cons

"The performance could be better. It isn't bad, but everything is network-based, so you have a performance penalty on the network. You can never achieve the same performance as hardware. That's the disadvantage of cloud storage solutions in general. Cloud performance is one of the main issues clients have."

"If I had to choose one area, it would be making the consoles more intuitive would be helpful. Sometimes, they can be a little complicated if you're not familiar with them."

"IBM has limited cloud storage."

"One improvement could be incorporating a feature similar to Dropbox's version history. This would allow users to track modifications made to files over time, which is particularly important for maintaining a record of changes. While the free version might not include this feature, it could be included in the paid version to provide added value to clients. Additionally, having a version history feature that allows users to access modifications made to files over the past three months could be beneficial."

"One area where IBM Cloud Object Storage could potentially improve is in modernizing its underlying codebase."

"IBM Cloud storage is not cheap, but it could be."

"Room for improvement depends on customer needs. Some customers prefer pure Object Storage using the S3 protocol, while others use a gateway in front of the storage grid to enable CIFS or NFS."

"Sometimes technical support lacks a comprehensive understanding of the entire solution, only focusing on the product they support."

More IBM Cloud Object Storage cons

"I would want more visibility and data analytics where we can see anomalies within the shares within the GUI."

"I would like some more performance matrices to know what it is doing. It has some matrices inherent to the Cloud Volumes ONTAP. But inside Cloud Manager, it would also be nice to see. You can have a little Snapshot, then drill down if you go a little deeper."

"I would like to see them improve the perspective of start and search in the panels. This would allow for better visualization of the contents that are captured in the tool."

"I have used technical support and it's mediocre."

"One difficulty is that it has no SAP HANA certification. The asset performance restrictions create challenges with the infrastructure underneath: The disks and stuff like that often have lower latencies than SAP HANA itself has to have."

"Multipathing for iSCSI LUNs is difficult to deal with from the client-side and I'd love to see a single entry point that can be moved around within the cluster to simplify the client configuration."

"There is room for improvement with the capacity. There's a very hard limit to how many disks you can have and how much space you can have. That is something they should work to fix, because it's limiting. Right now, the limit is about 360 terabytes or 36 disks."

"We would like to have support for high availability in multi-regions."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is not cheap."

"Like most cloud providers, IBM likely charges based on storage capacity, typically per gigabyte or terabyte. Their pricing is competitive when compared to AWS or Microsoft."

"You have the option of a monthly or yearly license. Most customers choose the monthly option. I understand what you would like to say. IBM also lets you choose among four types of Cloud Object Storage. The difference is usage, performance, etc. Of course, high-performance storage is more expensive, while low-performance storage is for cold data, and it's really cheap."

"IBM Cloud is cheaper than AWS. If you want to scale your cloud infrastructure, it can be bought at almost the same price."

"It is not a cheap solution because we need to pay for the license and pay for Azure resources as well."

"We find the pricing to be favorable due to the educational sector we belong to."

"For enterprise customers, it's a very cost effective. But in the SMB segment, yeah, pricing is a little bit challenge for your time."

"The pricing of this solution is definitely higher than what the typical Azure Files and AWS solutions charge, but given the features and the stability NetApp has provided, we are okay with it. We are not complaining about the pricing."

"The standard pricing is online. Pricing depends. If you're using the PayGo model, then it's just the normal costs on the Microsoft page. If you're using Bring Your Own License, which is what we're doing, then you get with your sales contact at NetApp and start figuring out what price is the best, in the end, for your company."

"Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace was good, but it was a test system, not a real purchase."

"Cost is a big factor, because a lot of companies can't afford enterprise grade equipment all the time. They skimp where they can. I would recommend that they improve the cost."

"Some flexibility around the licensing model would help. The product is licensed based on capacity. Basically, the largest capacity license that you can buy is 368 terabytes. At this point, NetApp is addressing some people's concerns around this."

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Software Defined Storage solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	53

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Object Storage?

In general, Object Storage should be a cheaper solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Object Storage?

The interface can feel clunky and outdated compared to AWS S3 or Azure Blob Storage. While scalable, latency can be an issue for high-throughput applications, especially during peak load times. I...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Object Storage?

I do not use IBM Cloud Object Storage directly, but I was part of a consultancy company that managed it. During my professional career, I have worked for vendors like NetApp, Dell, and EMC, as well...

See all answers

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

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is actually quite reasonable in price compared to other native cloud storage options. For example, a customer using 100 TB of AWS storage would not benefit from deduplica...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?

It would be nice to see technology supporting the Elastic Fabric Adapter on Amazon AWS, therefore getting RDMA technology for more low-latency connections.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?

I use NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP mostly in customer companies.

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSAN vs IBM Cloud Object Storage

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp StorageGRID vs IBM Cloud Object Storage

Compared 10% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs IBM Cloud Object Storage

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs IBM Cloud Object Storage

Compared 8% of the time

Hitachi Content Platform vs IBM Cloud Object Storage

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Cloud Object Storage Competitors

Amazon S3 vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 6% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 5% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 4% of the time

Amazon FSx vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 3% of the time

CTERA Intelligent Data Platform vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Object Storage

September 2026

Download IBM Cloud Object Storage product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

September 2026

Download NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP product report

Also Known As

Cleversafe

ONTAP Cloud, CVO, NetApp CVO

Overview

IBM Cloud Object Storage delivers vast capacity and reliable protection with seamless cloud integration and robust security features. It supports scalable deployment and provides versatile integration options, addressing key storage and data management needs.

IBM Cloud Object Storage is designed for flexible and secure data storage, supporting both on-premises and cloud solutions. It offers crucial security protocols against hacking and enables easy data replication across multiple sites. The offering integrates with IBM's IAM for enhanced data protection and uses RESTful APIs for customization. While it facilitates easy file management through compatibility with IBM Aspera and Watson Supply Chain, users indicate that improvements in network operation performance and interface intuitiveness could enhance user experience. Usability can be improved with more intuitive console design and modern framework compatibility. Employment in diverse use cases such as data lakes for IoT, cloud deployments, and OS tasks makes it an attractive choice, although some desire greater geographic data center presence.

What are the key features of IBM Cloud Object Storage?

Infinite Capacity: Provides unlimited storage capabilities, allowing for extensive data scalability.
Data Protection: Offers write-once-read-many protection and strong security measures.
Seamless Data Transfer: Facilitates data movement between on-premises and cloud locations.
Data Replication: Replicates data across various sites to ensure reliability and redundancy.
RESTful APIs: Enhances customization and integration with other applications.
IBM IAM Integration: Ensures data protection through access management solutions.

What benefits or ROI should organizations look for in IBM Cloud Object Storage?

Cost-effectiveness: Recognized for providing storage solutions with attractive pricing.
Scalability: Easily accommodates growing data storage needs.
Security: Protects against cyber threats with robust security features.
Versatility: Integrates well with IBM's cloud tools, enhancing operational efficiency.

In the automotive and IoT sectors, IBM Cloud Object Storage supports data lake initiatives and enhances AI analyses through integration with Watson's Supply Chain Insight. It serves as a backend storage solution for backups using Spectrum Protect Server, with many adopting it for cloud deployments to store on-premises data.

IBM

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is an efficient storage management solution for managing and storing data in the cloud. It offers seamless integration with cloud providers, advanced data replication capabilities, and high data protection. With reliable performance, it is ideal for industries like healthcare and finance.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Bitly, Dreamstime, Prime Research

1. Accenture 2. Acer 3. Adidas 4. Aetna 5. AIG 6. Apple 7. Bank of America 8. Barclays 9. Bayer 10. Berkshire Hathaway 11. BNP Paribas 12. Cisco 13. Coca-Cola 14. Comcast 15.ConocoPhillips 16. CVS Health 17. Dell 18. Deutsche Bank 19. eBay 20. Eli Lilly 21. FedEx 22. Ford 23. Freescale Semiconductor 24. General Electric 25. Google 26. Honeywell 27. IBM 28. Intel 29. Intuit 30. JPMorgan Chase 31. Kellogg's 32. KeyCorp 33. Liberty Mutual 34. L'Oréal 35. Mastercard

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Software Defined Storage

August 2026

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, NetApp, Everpure (formerly Pure Storage) and others in Cloud Software Defined Storage. Updated: August 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Cloud Software Defined Storage vendors.

We monitor all Cloud Software Defined Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.