Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Veritas Access Appliance comparison

Microsoft and Veritas are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. Microsoft is ranked #8 with an average rating of 6.5, while Veritas is ranked #24. Microsoft holds a 7.8% mindshare in SDS, compared to Veritas’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Veritas users who would recommend it.
Sponsored
Microsoft Storage Spaces Di...
Read 9 Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct reviews
  • 1,536 Views
  • 1,089 Comparison Views
75% willing to recommend
Veritas Access Appliance
Read 2 Veritas Access Appliance reviews
  • 204 Views
  • 120 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct and Veritas Access Appliance are competing products in the data storage management category for enterprise environments. Veritas Access Appliance appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced features and robust data management capabilities, making it worth the investment over Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct.

Features: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct emphasizes scalable storage, integration with Windows Server, and resilience. Veritas Access Appliance highlights data protection, cross-platform support, and efficient data accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct provides straightforward deployment within Windows environments, leading to smoother integration. Veritas Access Appliance offers a comprehensive deployment model that supports varied environments and includes dedicated customer service for setup assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct often presents a lower initial setup cost with a quicker ROI in Windows-centric infrastructure. Veritas Access Appliance may involve higher upfront costs, balanced by long-term benefits through advanced features and expansive data management.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance
April 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 850,028 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

Pure Storage FlashBlade
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (17th), File and Object Storage (6th)
Microsoft Storage Spaces Di...
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (8th)
Veritas Access Appliance
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (24th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 4.2%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is 7.8%, up from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Veritas Access Appliance is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

Eric Black - PeerSpot reviewer
The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us
The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.
Read full review
Stanislaw Mielicki - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieve cost-effectiveness with superior performance while needing to address cluster support
I am working with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct for applications, SQL, and VRS. I am an integrator for this solution The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct. They introduced the All-Flash array using SSD or NVMe drives without cache drives. It is…
Read full review
MA
Overall functions well, stable, but technical support could improve
Veritas Access Appliance installation is user-friendly. You need network team cooperation for the setup of the cluster configuration. The Veritas Access Appliance initial configuration process is broken into two phases. The first phase requires that you perform each configuration step on each individual node. You should have two terminal windows open during the first phase, each logged into one of the nodes. During the second phase of the initial configuration, you should only perform the steps on one of the nodes. When you start the second phase of the initial configuration, close one of the terminal windows and continue doing the steps on only one of the nodes. When you initiate the cluster configuration, the settings that you configured on the current node are copied over to the second node in a one-time synchronization event.
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

"I would rate this solution an eight plus. It has has good flexibility and stability, it's easy to manage and the response time is good."
"The initial setup is pretty easy and simple."
"The solution is able to handle workloads and is easy to use. It allows us to actually manage the boxes in less time."
"What I like best about Pure Storage FlashBlade is its object storage functionality, plus it has fast underlying hardware. Pure Storage FlashBlade is also very stable. I find its stability one of its valuable features."
"It has absolutely simplified our storage because the dashboards on the consoles show a clear understanding of where you are, and it is also very easy to provision. This been a big help for our teams."
"The most valuable features are the Metro clustering, and disaster recovery."
"The tool's most valuable features are data warehousing, speedy recovery, and analytics. Its latest release is cost-effective."
"The initial setup was straightforward. If you know how to plug in power and network you're pretty much qualified. They were on site to configure the network, the box to fit into our network architecture. Other than that, we self-managed from there."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros
"The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct."
"The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct."
"Its technical support is excellent."
"The flash ability, in terms of tiering and caching, is amazing"
"The most valuable feature are the caching capabilities using the storage class memory."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"It's mainly about the storage expansion, like in hyper-converged solutions."
"The performance, reliability, and affordability has been most valuable."
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct pros
"It is a very stable program."
"Overall the solution works well."
 

Cons

"Its configuration should be easier."
"On our dedupe during our initial buy, we were expecting a number a little higher like 4x. However, we are getting about 3.6. While it is close enough, it doesn't quite hit the numbers. So, this has been a challenge."
"There could be improvements in public cloud integration."
"I would like to see more VM-Aware features in the next release of this solution."
"It would be nice if you could store file-based in the same box with the same technology."
"I would like to see the licensing fees improved as well as the price per terabytes."
"I would like to see more deduplication."
"They need better integration with public clouds along with a better hybrid solution."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade 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."
"Microsoft closed the shared cluster support, which is important for the solution."
"It is scalable, but only beyond two nodes. If I go for two nodes it's not scalable. I need to build a complete cluster from the beginning if I'm going for two nodes."
"The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses."
"Microsoft closed the shared cluster support, which is important for the solution."
"I think the online documentation needs a lot of work and so do the sizing tools."
"More optimization could be done in terms of mirroring."
"It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution."
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct cons
"The Veritas support for Access Appliance could improve. They are a pioneer in the industry, and they provide an enterprise-level solution. However, when comparing the storage, they can't compete with the NetBackup solution."
"I would like to see more platforms added."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very expensive."
"The price could be cheaper."
"It is within reason for what you get. From what we have found comparing it to other vendors, it is in the same range as others. Given the choice, we would definitely redeploy it based on the cost."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
"Our licensing is renewed annually."
"I feel that the price could always be lowered."
"The pricing is relatively expensive due to the FlashBlade technology. However, for companies needing quick and reliable data access, the cost is justified."
"The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice
"The solution is expensive."
"With the data center licensing and everything that is connected to that, this solution is relatively costly."
"Cost-wise the product is one of the more affordable within the category of products."
"The solution is not expensive compared to other storage solutions."
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?
The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power out...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?
The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate. FlashBlade is worth the money due to the experience and per...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?
Its configuration should be easier. There should be easier language for the configuration.
See all answers
How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is bes...
See all answers
What do you like most about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
Its technical support is excellent.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
Pricing is an advantage of Storage Spaces Direct. Licenses can be on a monthly or yearly basis, depending on the addi...
See all answers
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 21% of the time
VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 8% of the time
More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors
VMware vSAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
VMware vSAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 64% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 13% of the time
StarWind Virtual SAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
StarWind Virtual SAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 7% of the time
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 6% of the time
DataCore SANsymphony vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
DataCore SANsymphony vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 5% of the time
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Competitors
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Veritas Access Appliance Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Veritas Access Appliance
Compared 100% of the time
More Veritas Access Appliance Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashBlade
April 2025
Pure Storage FlashBlade reportDownload Pure Storage FlashBlade product report
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
April 2025
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct reportDownload Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct product report
Buyer's Guide
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
April 2025
Veritas Access Appliance reportDownload Veritas Access Appliance product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Storage Spaces Direct
Access 3340 Appliance, Veritas Access 3340 Appliance
 

Overview

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

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.

Microsoft

The Veritas Access Appliance enables a turnkey deployment of Veritas’ software-defined Access scale-out network attached storage - a storage solution optimized for unstructured data use cases. The appliance is cost-optimized and tuned for high-capacity workloads like long-term retention (LTR), tape replacement and backup archiving.

Veritas
 

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL
Acuutech, Quest Technology Management, Bradley, Mead & Hunt
Information Not Available
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance
April 2025
Free Report: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. Veritas Access Appliance 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.