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IBM SoftLayer vs Microsoft Azure File Storage comparison

 

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

IBM SoftLayer
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
23rd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure File Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of IBM SoftLayer is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 9.6%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure File Storage9.6%
IBM SoftLayer0.6%
Other89.8%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1032702 - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable with excellent speed and agility
The most valuable aspect of the solution is simply to have the ability to host in a cloud form and out of the data center - the IBM big iron solution. It's the speed and the agility that really sell SoftLayer. The ELT versus ETL extract, transform and load versus extract, load, and then transform, the ELT method is what really sells SoftLayer. The ability to extract act from your current location, load into your future location, with limited change, and then be able to take the transfer actions slowly and methodically after you're in your new location is the part that really makes this awesome. The stability and scalability are quite good.
PrashanthR - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamlessly streamlines document processing with advanced file storage and OCR integration
We need to store data over there. We process documents through Kofax Time is a major benefit, as well as ease of processing. With configuration, it happens quite easily, and we can finish tasks early. File storage is complemented by OCR with Azure Cognitive Service. This enhances the processing…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ELT versus ETL extract, transform and load versus extract, load, and then transform, the ELT method is what really sells SoftLayer."
"The stability is the solution's most valuable aspect for our organization."
"The initial setup is very seamless."
"It helps us with geo-redundancy."
"Azure File Storage gives us easy access to cloud solutions at the storage level."
"The security features and the ease of integration are good."
"This solution supports all file formats."
"I like that we can copy and download data using Azure. It's not just for file storage; we can also use it for large data sets or to host static web applications."
"The initial setup is straightforward and takes approximately twenty minutes."
"Scalability in Microsoft Azure File Storage is impressive; we recently handled a huge transaction during an iPhone launch without any problems."
 

Cons

"The interface is hard to use for us. It should be simplified."
"For us, the versioning was an issue."
"If the file is large, there may be a delay in download time."
"The way retention policies are applied could be more optimized."
"The product must provide better security functions."
"Some of the procedures are a bit more complex in Azure than in other providers."
"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."
"Microsoft's technical support could be improved. Their response time is usually high, and it takes considerable time to get a response."
"I have had issues migrating my data to another subscription."
"There is room for improvement in helping customers understand and integrate Azure File Storage into their operations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. The pricing model is based on usage."
"I give the pricing of the solution a seven out of ten."
"The price is comparable to other competitive solutions."
"The product must improve its price."
"For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month."
"We pay for both yearly and monthly licenses. The yearly one is cheaper than the monthly one."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

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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 pricing for Microsoft Azure File Storage is five out of ten, not so expensive and not so low.
 

Also Known As

CloudLayer
MS Azure File Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Whogohost Ltd., Skypicker, Infinity Computers and Communications Company, Grace Co. Ltd., Keyword, Uvionics Tech, Tennis Australia, immixGroup, Salesbox, Cxense ASA, Avnet Inc., Komsomolskaya Pravda, Seekr
Talon, Camden
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SoftLayer vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.