Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct and StarWind Virtual SAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. StarWind Virtual SAN Report (Updated: May 2023).
708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The performance, reliability, and affordability has been most valuable.""Its technical support is excellent."

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"Starwind support is excellent. They are very fast and have very good knowledge of Starwind and Hyper-V Cluster software.""In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems.""Training is also easy as it is just one system to learn.""The management and monitoring have been very easy since the solution's dashboard is very simple and user-friendly.""The backup is readily available for use, and the restoration process is easy.""The StarWind VSAN is always up and allows us to move VMS to other nodes for maintenance, without interruption to service.""The main benefit is that StarWind is almost maintenance-free.""Given the high availability of the server cluster, we were able to reduce separate physical servers onto one hyper-converged cluster - this saved in OPEX and CAPEX costs immediately, along with licensing costs of the Windows Server licenses."

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Cons
"The management tool within this solution could be improved. We would also like to be able to access services like Azure when using this solution.""It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution."

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"Perhaps more reporting features on the utilization, usage, and performance of the configured high-availability images and underlying physical disks would be helpful.""We have, in rare cases, received conflicting guidance between different support folks within StarWind.""The setup and documentation for the installation with the free version could definitely be improved.""The management console of StarWind Virtual SAN is pretty complex.""The configuration can a bit cumbersome.""The documentation can be better for the free tier.""I had issues locating the documentation that applied to my version of StarWind vSAN.""The platform needs to improve user management and the web console."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "We found that the pricing was perfect; simple and clear."
  • "For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
  • "If you are looking at a traditional SAN for a small cluster, give StarWind vSAN because you will save thousands without any compromise."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load… more »
    Top Answer:It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution. In comparison, the process is easy for VMware and VSAN.
    Top Answer:I like StarWind's high availability. The failover is almost immediate, so the end users have no idea the guest VM moved at all. We can failover all guest VMs onto a single hypervisor, place it into… more »
    Top Answer:We underestimated how many guest VMs we would have running on these hypervisors after three years, and would have bought more Windows licenses upfront.
    Top Answer:The Command Center, a free guest VM for management and monitoring, leaves something to be desired. It could have more accurate real-time information and better reporting visuals, which seem to be an… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    7,294
    Comparisons
    4,956
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    241
    Rating
    7.0
    Views
    9,562
    Comparisons
    3,150
    Reviews
    91
    Average Words per Review
    589
    Rating
    9.6
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Storage Spaces Direct
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    Overview

    Storage Spaces Direct uses industry-standard servers with local-attached drives to create highly available, highly scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional SAN or NAS arrays. Its converged or hyper-converged architecture radically simplifies procurement and deployment, while features like caching, storage tiers, and erasure coding, together with the latest hardware innovation like RDMA networking and NVMe drives, deliver unrivaled efficiency and performance.

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    Offer
    Learn more about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
    30-days for free

    Try it today

    Sample Customers
    Acuutech, Quest Technology Management, Bradley, Mead & Hunt
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Construction Company9%
    Educational Organization9%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business71%
    Large Enterprise29%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise54%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business63%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise15%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. StarWind Virtual SAN
    May 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
    708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is ranked 11th in Software Defined Storage (SDS) with 2 reviews while StarWind Virtual SAN is ranked 2nd in Software Defined Storage (SDS) with 90 reviews. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is rated 7.0, while StarWind Virtual SAN is rated 9.6. The top reviewer of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct writes "Stable software storage solution that offers performance, reliability, and affordability". On the other hand, the top reviewer of StarWind Virtual SAN writes "Easy to set up and maintain with good performance capabilities". Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is most compared with VMware vSAN, Red Hat Ceph Storage, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), DataCore SANsymphony and NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, whereas StarWind Virtual SAN is most compared with VMware vSAN, Red Hat Ceph Storage, DataCore SANsymphony, StorMagic SvSAN and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). See our Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. StarWind Virtual SAN report.

    See our list of best Software Defined Storage (SDS) vendors.

    We monitor all Software Defined Storage (SDS) 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.