NetApp AFF C-Series vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays comparison

NetApp AFF C-Series vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

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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

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Everpure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp AFF C-Series is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.6%
NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays	1.0%
NetApp AFF C-Series	0.6%
Other	96.8%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

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Shailendra Choudhary

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Reliable flash storage has delivered strong data reduction and secured sensitive information

There is still some room for improvement when it comes to scalability, mainly in the interoperability and integration aspects. Every storage vendor has certain limitations, and this is not limited to NetApp; it applies to everyone in the industry. I do not see any other significant areas for improvement with NetApp AFF C-Series at this time. NetApp is working on their roadmap, which is solid, and they are developing certain features that are yet to be released.

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Tayo Olubanke

Managing Director at GCET

Offers flexibility and top-notch technology

You can go to bed peacefully if you have a NetApp. If you have NetApp within your data center, you get to know about power failure if you are using it. Your NetApp will still come alive. Even if it does not come alive, I can say that it is not like other tools when it comes to dealing with power failure. The tool is affordable, and the technology is top-notch. It is the only technology that has software for what we call inline compression and deduplication. All the products under NetApp are aiming to use AI. I know that you can achieve whatever you want to do with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Pure Storage has signature security technology, which cannot be deleted, even if you are an administrator."

"The administration and the stability are very good."

"What we've seen on the Xs, and the Pures in general, is that we can scale way beyond what we need to without any degradation in performance."

"The tool's valuable features are speed, security, data compression, and reliability. Its data compression feature is the best that we have ever seen. It helps us to save money and resources."

"The best features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe include the volume snapshot capabilities, which allow us to save most of the storage space by volume snapshots periodically."

"Everything works well, and it is very fast."

"FlashArray has some fresh efficiency features. I've never seen a storage solution with a compression rating this high before. It's at least 4-to-1 on Oracle databases. It's the best flash storage for Oracle."

"One of the best features is the support, which is excellent."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"NetApp offers a cost-effective solution with very robust hardware."

"NetApp AFF C-Series is a good product for entry-level flash storage, the system is competitive in terms of pricing, and the value proposition is strong."

"Its performance is most valuable. This solution is much faster than other as well as older storage solutions. The performance of the system is very good. We are getting 50 times better experience than the older storages. We are using AFF 300. It also has native cloud integration and most of the features."

"The end-user experience has improved the organization as a whole; the customers that the DBAs serve."

"I would have to say performance at this point, because the application it is based on is so diverse."

"Being able to partition different virtual volumes of storage is really valuable for us."

"This storage solution is both stable and scalable, and it works for our needs."

"If I were advising a colleague at another company who is researching this kind of solution, I would say take a good look at it because we haven't had any issues."

"Having the option of such high-speed storage in the data center is what makes it valuable."

"NetApp maintains the very high performance that we want to have."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pros

Cons

"The solution should improve its logon requirements."

"I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert."

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

"In the next release, I would like to see real-time analytics for further insight into consumption models."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"The only area I wish to see improve, I believe is coming, is in the FlashBlade product."

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"We faced one bug that impacted our NetApp last month, and it took some time to identify the underlying issue."

"As far as the manageability, being able to port between the two and have to do less training in-house from a customer point of view, that would be the part to improve."

"Here in Egypt, we do not have an official office or central point of support."

"Its pricing should be better. Its price is competitive, but they need to improve the pricing. They have different licensing models, which they need to improve. My expectation was cloud integration, which they have, but it is a different license. Therefore, people cannot enjoy it. If I want to use it, I need to pay extra. There is a cost involved for everything, but it should reach everyone. It is similar to having a Rolls-Royce, but you need to pay extra for the key. If you want the key, you need to pay."

"The EF-Series is not the most scalable solution."

"I’d like to see bigger, faster, better hardware, of course. I think that is the way the hardware is trending anyway; bigger, faster CPU, better software, fewer bugs, all that stuff. T"

"This solution has limited storage."

"From a manageability perspective, I like the look and the feel of the FAS series better than the EF. I think it's more straightforward and simplistic."

"For us, in our country, the solution is a bit expensive."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe’s pricing is cheaper than other products."

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"Adding more capacity will increase the cost."

"The pricing of this solution is competitive with other vendors here in Egypt."

"It's a way to get relatively low-cost, very high-performance, low-latency block storage as a point solution."

"They provide licenses upon purchase, so there's no need for additional licenses. Regarding additional expenses apart from the standard licensing fees, such as for support or maintenance, there aren't any. Updates take around twenty to thirty minutes, including rebooting the systems, and we haven't faced any problems with the NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. We utilize various other storages like Fujitsu, IBM, and Dalian SIP, but the NetApp EF-Series stands out as we've had no issues throughout the entire year of usage."

"They need to improve its pricing. The storage market is dying. So, they need to improve the price because it should reach all people. NetApp is one of the top ones, and they are charging a little bit of royalty as compared to other storage solutions."

"Most of my customers pay for the license on a yearly basis. It can be expensive depending on the capacity number."

"The cost of our license is approximately $200,000 over three years for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. There can be additional costs for storage. For example, if you want to have eight terabytes."

"This solution is not available to many users because the cost is very expensive."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

11%

University

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	18

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

What needs improvement with NetApp AFF C-Series?

There is still some room for improvement when it comes to scalability, mainly in the interoperability and integration...

What is your primary use case for NetApp AFF C-Series?

I would recommend NetApp AFF C-Series for various types of companies depending on the use case. A small company, an e...

What advice do you have for others considering NetApp AFF C-Series?

I recommend Dell PowerStore to some of my customers, but usually the differences are taken care of. I focus primarily...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

One has to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model for one year or three years. After three years, you need to rene...

What needs improvement with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

The support of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required. I want NetApp's supp...

What is your primary use case for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

There are so many things to talk about around the use cases associated with the tool. There are so many reasons why I...

Dell PowerStore vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

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TrueNAS R-Series vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 7% of the time

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NetApp AFF A-Series vs NetApp AFF C-Series

Compared 22% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs NetApp AFF C-Series

Compared 15% of the time

NetApp AFF vs NetApp AFF C-Series

Compared 13% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs NetApp AFF C-Series

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NetApp NVMe AFF A800 vs NetApp AFF C-Series

Compared 12% of the time

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NetApp AFF vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 12% of the time

Dell XtremIO vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 8% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Download Everpure FlashArray X NVMe product report

All-Flash Storage

Download NetApp AFF C-Series product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Download NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X, Pure FlashArray X NVMe

No data available

NetApp EF540, NetApp EF-Series

Overview

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe delivers high performance, reliability, and low latency, making it ideal for block storage in private cloud infrastructures and mission-critical applications.

Boasting robust data reduction, high availability, and seamless scalability, Everpure FlashArray X NVMe supports databases, VMware environments, and machine learning analytics. Known for its intuitive interface, superior support, volume snapshots, and AI-powered analytics, it efficiently manages storage needs, often deployed to replace outdated systems. Users highlight its simplistic management and easy configuration, although opportunities exist to enhance pricing, replication features, VNC integration, and storage capabilities.

What are the key features?

Data Reduction: Effective compression and deduplication improve storage efficiency.
Seamless Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing demands without downtime.
Volume Snapshots: Quickly create snapshots for data protection and recovery.
VMware Compatibility: Integrates smoothly with VMware environments for optimal performance.
AI-Powered Analytics: Provides insights for enhanced storage management and efficiency.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Low Latency and High Availability: Ensures rapid data access and uninterrupted service.
Easy Management: Intuitive interface simplifies configuration and monitoring.
Evergreen Model: Continuous upgrades without disruptive migrations.
Enhanced Support: Reliable service and support for critical applications.

Organizations in industries such as finance and healthcare implement Everpure FlashArray X NVMe to bolster data performance and reliability. They leverage its integration capabilities with Oracle databases and SQL workloads, supporting machine learning and virtualization. It's often chosen to upgrade legacy storage systems, ensuring high availability and speed for demanding environments.

Everpure (formerly Pure Storage)

NetApp AFF C-Series enhances data storage efficiency and performance, seamlessly handling high workloads and data management tasks. It is leveraged for high-speed data accessibility, optimization, supporting critical applications, and delivering reliable performance in dynamic environments.

NetApp AFF C-Series is appreciated for its high performance, flexibility, and efficient data management. It offers seamless integration with cloud services, snapshot technology, and scalability. Users value its ease of setup, strong support, robust automation capabilities, reliable data protection, and fast response times. However, areas for improvement include better initial setup documentation, system stability during high I/O operations, more seamless integration with third-party cloud services, improved customer support response times, enhanced data analytics capabilities, and a more intuitive management dashboard.

What are the most important features of NetApp AFF C-Series?

High performance: Ideal for handling high workloads and ensuring swift data accessibility.
Flexibility: Seamless integration with cloud services.
Efficient data management: Advanced snapshot technology and scalability.
Ease of setup: Straightforward installation process.
Strong support: Robust customer support when needed.
Automation: Efficient automation capabilities for streamlined processes.
Data protection: Reliable safeguards for critical data.
Fast response times: Quick reaction to data requests and operations.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Data storage efficiency: Reduction in storage costs due to high efficiency.
Performance: Improved productivity with high-speed data access.
Reliability: Consistent performance in dynamic environments.
Support for critical applications: Ensures critical business applications run smoothly.
Cloud integration: Enhanced flexibility with seamless cloud service integration.
Scalability: Future-proofing storage needs with scalable solutions.

NetApp AFF C-Series is implemented across industries where data storage efficiency and performance are critical. In finance, it supports high-speed transactions, while in healthcare, it ensures reliable management of sensitive medical records. In the technology sector, it offers robust support for dynamic, data-intensive applications, enhancing overall business performance.

NetApp

The NetApp EF560 all-flash array is an all-SSD storage system for applications that demand extremely high levels of performance and reliability. Requiring just 2U of rack space, the EF560 all-flash array combines extreme IOPS, microsecond response times, and up to 12GBps of bandwidth with leading, enterprise-proven availability features.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

RP Data, Western Oregon University, Toei Animation

NetApp AFF C-Series vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays