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Microsoft Azure Block Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.3
Microsoft Azure Block Storage offers significant cost savings and ease of management, proving valuable for data backup and disaster recovery.
Sentiment score
6.9
Nutanix Unified Storage boosts ROI by cutting costs, enhancing efficiency, improving management, and strengthening data security for users.
For me, the biggest return on investment when using this solution is that we do not have to have much support staff to run it.
The scalability challenge with previous systems is lessened with Nutanix since we can expand by adding new hardware without needing migrations.
We are saving approximately 20% to 25% compared with the competition.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.0
Microsoft Azure Block Storage support is responsive for priority issues, but delays and expertise inconsistencies challenge users.
Sentiment score
7.5
Nutanix Unified Storage support is responsive and knowledgeable, though complex issue resolution can occasionally face delays.
Support quality is good, but the main issue is the delay in handling tickets.
The response time for enterprise support needs improvement.
They come on the call, start troubleshooting immediately, and resolve issues effectively.
They are very knowledgeable, and if they can't solve the problem, they find the answer within a day or so.
I would give the customer service and technical support a ten out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Azure Block Storage offers reliable scalability, supporting auto-scaling and manual scaling to meet diverse enterprise requirements efficiently.
Sentiment score
7.8
Nutanix Unified Storage is highly scalable and flexible, allowing seamless expansion and integration without downtime, despite initial complexity.
The ability to scale is well-supported.
It is a significant advantage of the product.
We are on a premium plan, which should handle scalability automatically.
This means you don't have to buy everything upfront; you can buy what you need and add more as you grow, which is advantageous.
These three components utilize scalability tools, enabling storage addition to nodes and supporting independent, linear performance growth.
I find the scalability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to be excellent, and I would rate it a ten based on my clients' requirements.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Azure Block Storage is generally stable, with high ratings, though some large users report regional reliability concerns.
Sentiment score
8.0
Nutanix Unified Storage is praised for stability, high availability, and minimal disruptions, ensuring dependable performance and quick support resolution.
It isn't as stable as sound storage systems in a premise environment.
Overall, the stability is very good.
None of the other storage vendors have all these features so easily manageable and fast to set up as Block Storage.
We have not experienced these issues with Nutanix, which I attribute to the all-flash technology, the quality of their platform, and the responsiveness of the hyper-converged infrastructure.
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is very stable.
It automatically triggers tasks, causing performance issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs better documentation, UI, support, pricing flexibility, security, third-party integration, and performance improvement.
Nutanix Unified Storage requires enhancements in implementation, analysis, technical support, FTP compatibility, management, integration, security, and usability.
Its compatibility with various platforms could be enhanced to allow for a seamless operation across different cloud environments.
Some alternatives are cheaper and available for long trial periods before the payment.
Enabling SFTP on Microsoft Azure Block Storage didn’t allow us to get the IP address, as Azure doesn’t support it.
The main concern is pricing, which could deter some customers; addressing this would enhance its appeal.
The system should move towards AI-driven optimization and enhance S3 object storage capabilities.
System downtime can disturb the entire ecosystem and impact all applications.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Azure Block Storage offers pay-as-you-go pricing, seen as competitive yet pricey, with discounts available for specific usage.
Nutanix Unified Storage offers competitive pricing, valued for features and ROI, but may be costly for smaller users.
For medium-sized companies, especially when discussing cost and scalability, it can be quite expensive.
The cost for Azure Data Factory, utilized for intensive data migration, was high but expected, as it's a one-time activity.
It is reasonable, however, it can be cheaper.
Compared to buying three or four vendor solutions, it is much cheaper.
The cost has doubled for the same amount of data, which was a challenge when presenting use case justifications for the increased cost.
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has definitely helped reduce our total cost of ownership.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure Block Storage offers scalable, reliable storage with encryption, easy management, and seamless integration, supporting diverse data types and fast access.
Nutanix Unified Storage delivers easy management, high availability, and integration with robust security and flexible storage options.
The tool allows me to download to my device, control access, and manage data with ease.
The ability to increase and scale out is really easy, allowing us to manage a large amount of data with reduced dependency on scalability issues.
I can store data, use the storage account as a queue, and the pricing is also quite economical.
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is appreciated for its fault tolerance and redundancy at the cluster level, which ensures reliable storage of files, folders, and other information accessible on the client side.
The cybersecurity features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) when dealing with unstructured data, such as ransomware threats, provide the ability to detect and back up block-based storage, allowing me to restore repositories or sets of block storage with one button click, which is automatic.
My experience with using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for data-intensive workloads is that we have many SQL Servers and they perform much better than they did when we used hybrid converged previously.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure Block Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (5th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (3rd), File and Object Storage (3rd), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Block Storage is 1.0%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is 2.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

MatsHagberg Olsson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Empowers secure data management with affordable tools and minimal hassle
The most valuable feature is that it's very affordable in comparison to competitors. The absolute best feature is the Azure Storage Explorer tool. The tool allows me to download to my device, control access, and manage data with ease. Additionally, the joint use of Azure portal further facilitates management depending on my location.
Amarnath Charugundla - PeerSpot reviewer
Unified management and cost-effectiveness lead to positive experiences and future savings
Improvement is necessary wherein the memory or storage should not breach 90%, because if breached, it becomes unmanageable. We have to set alerts or CPU triggering for 95% for the first warning. Other activities on nodes or file systems should be properly maintained. We must monitor the dashboard for P1, P2 alerts in the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) file share system including SMB, NFS, objects, and blocks. Attention should be maintained for any alerts such as CPU, memory, and RAM alerts, as exceeding these creates issues within teams. If triggered to 95% and forgotten, it crosses the SLA breach, causing disturbances to application, web, and platform teams. Continuous monitoring on the Nutanix dashboard is essential. Even a highly experienced person in Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cannot provide a 10 rating out of 10 because it is a vast system. I would rate it eight from my perspective.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Healthcare Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
30%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
We use the solution to develop SaaS platforms on Azure. We utilize various Microsoft components like block storage and databases for this purpose.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
Our experience with pricing has been positive. The budget for Microsoft Azure services has been within expectations for the last couple of months. The cost for Azure Data Factory ( /products/azure-...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
Based on my experience, the feature they need to introduce for Microsoft Azure Block Storage is key rotations and asymmetric keys for access. Though we have solutions, it is lacking in these areas.
What do you like most about Nutanix Unified Storage?
Nutanix has excellent product documentation available on their portals, written in simple, easy-to-understand language.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Unified Storage?
I have no idea about the pricing of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) as I'm not the decision authority for pricing. Generally, compared to other products, this has better pricing, but I don't deal wit...
What needs improvement with Nutanix Unified Storage?
While there are good aspects, I would like to see improvements in networking configuration, particularly regarding overlay and underlay, plus enhancements in micro-segmentation, as that would provi...
 

Also Known As

MS Azure Block Storage
Nutanix Files Storage, Nutanix Volumes Block Storage, Nutanix Objects Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mazda, BlinkBox, Rakuten Showtime, Xbox One, Serko, ChronoDrive
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Block Storage vs. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.