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Microsoft Azure File Storage vs NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP 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
2.5
Microsoft Azure File Storage offers effective file sharing and potential cost savings, making it ideal for medium-sized businesses.
Sentiment score
6.7
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP delivers cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved performance, reducing storage, maintenance, and power expenses.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Azure File Storage support quality varies by user status and subscription, with generally positive feedback but some noted delays.
Sentiment score
7.1
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP customer service is praised for expertise and responsiveness, with room for improvement in initial support.
The perspective documentation is good.
Microsoft technical support is very prompt.
As and when we require, they are able to provide solutions or guide us toward solutions.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Azure File Storage is praised for scalable, adaptive infrastructure, supporting various enterprise sizes with efficient, flexible cloud capabilities.
Sentiment score
7.3
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP offers scalable growth, dynamic expansion, and flexibility, though large environments face data size limitations.
We successfully handled a huge transaction during an iPhone launch without any issues.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Azure File Storage is stable and reliable, though occasional VPN disconnects and challenges with large files are noted.
Sentiment score
7.7
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP offers high stability and reliability, with users valuing performance and responsive support despite occasional minor issues.
I rate the stability of Microsoft Azure File Storage as a seven out of ten.
We sometimes encounter glitches with bigger files, but everything else works as expected.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Azure File Storage needs transparency, better usability, and enhancements in migration, performance, security, and predictive tools.
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP users seek improved scalability, integration, ease of use, and features like security, monitoring, and cloud compatibility.
The information is not readily available on the internet, so we have to double-check and understand everything.
There is a limitation on the storage capacity, like four terabytes.
Some chunking logics need to be better to address issues with processing bigger files.
My opinion is that support is generally very good. There are instances where they take longer to respond or resolve issues, especially when customers have urgent needs, but ultimately, resolution is achieved.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Azure File Storage pricing lacks transparency, often higher than competitors, but offers scalability with pay-as-you-go and discounts.
Enterprise users enjoy NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP for its features despite higher costs, with discounts available for extended commitments.
I would rate it three or three and a half out of ten on the pricing scale.
I would rate the pricing of Microsoft Azure File Storage seven or eight, where one is high and ten is low.
The pricing for Microsoft Azure File Storage is five out of ten, not so expensive and not so low.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure File Storage excels in security, scalability, ease of integration, user-friendliness, reliability, cost-effectiveness, and global accessibility.
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP offers reliable, flexible data protection, seamless integration, and optimized storage across diverse cloud environments.
Scalability in Microsoft Azure File Storage is impressive.
File storage is complemented by OCR with Azure Cognitive Service.
It is satisfying our requirements with encryption and security features in place.
 

Categories and Ranking

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
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Migration (2nd), Cloud Storage (1st), Cloud Backup (13th), Cloud Software Defined Storage (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 9.6%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is 7.1%, up from 6.5% 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%
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP7.1%
Other83.3%
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

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…
Punit Waghela - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers advanced features with notable emphasis on innovation
The best features of NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP include deduplication, compaction, and autonomous ransomware technology that native cloud storage solutions in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud do not support. Moreover, NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP allows the use of multiple protocols including NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI, whereas native options may only support NFS and iSCSI. Customers already using on-premises NetApp storage such as FAS, AFF, or ASA can experience the same functionality on the cloud with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, which adds significant value. For data protection, customers can take advantage of the Snapshot technology available with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP. This technology facilitates data recovery by allowing snapshots to be stored either on the same storage or on a disaster recovery (DR) storage. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP helps us to take snapshots and store them on the same storage, with options for migration or replication of those snapshots to different storage, including on-premises DR storage or other cloud storage, providing excellent disaster recovery capabilities.
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869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise53
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?
So a lot of these licenses are at the rate that is required for capacity. So they're they're able to reduce the license consumption and also the consumption of the underlying cloud storage.
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...
What needs improvement with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP?
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP does have a bit of initial complexity for users who are new to the system. Although it isn't overwhelmingly complex, first-time users may find it challenging until they b...
 

Also Known As

MS Azure File Storage
ONTAP Cloud, CVO, NetApp CVO
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Talon, Camden
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure File Storage vs. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.