NetApp HCI [EOL] vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library comparison

Why PeerSpot?

NetApp and StarWind are both solutions in the HCI category. Additionally, 88% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of StarWind users who would recommend it.

NetApp HCI [EOL]

Read 32 NetApp HCI [EOL] reviews

88% willing to recommend

StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Read 6 StarWind Virtual Tape Library reviews

2,564 Views
1,641 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp HCI [EOL]

StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between NetApp HCI [EOL] and StarWind Virtual Tape Library based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Broadcom, StarWind and others in HCI.

To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCI

October 2026

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Helped 920,574 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

NetApp HCI [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (20th), HCI (24th)

Featured Reviews

Massimiliano Bartolozzi

Chief Information Officer at Lucart S.p.A.

Crashed continuously, complex to deploy, and bad after-sales support - NETAPP FIXED the problems in 2022

Their after-sales support, SLA, and third-parties availability should be improved. NetApp's support is very difficult to engage. We have an SLA of onsite support within 24 hours. but they don't respect the SLA. Its stability was very bad. It has been crashing continuously. In one year, we got three crashes, which is unbelievable for an appliance that is guaranteed for 10 years without any crashes. In 2022, NetApp Italy, driven by the country manager Davide Marini, fixed all our issues and added additional computation power for free. This is a great example of customer care. They could have done it right the first time of course, but admitting the errors and putting in place such a remediation plan has been a very professional behavior.

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reviewer1414572

DevOps Director at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics

Flexible and reliable with helpful support

I am not sure if this is a limitation of my physical hardware or if it is the software itself. However, I would like the throughput to be faster. Who would not like things to be faster? It would be nice if StarWind could come up with a best practice document for configuration. I had to do some playing around in my environment with test runs to get the configuration that really allowed for the maximum amount of throughput that I was going to get with the software. Once I had figured out what worked best, the solution was rather fast for backing up 30+ TB of data

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

"It has automated a lot of workloads. It has automated us from ticketing a large number to a very small number."

"We like SnapMirror and we've been using it for many years. We also like the object storage tools, as well as cloud sync for customers wanting to integrate between the cloud and local."

"In terms of helping us with storage persistence across private and hybrid clouds, we do store data internally and in Azure. It has allowed us to consolidate a number of workloads, across our old NetApp and a number of our older storage arrays, into a single unit and have that unit also working with Azure."

"NetApp HCI's ability to scale on demand is a differentiator in the marketplace."

"This is a strong product and it works very well, and the processes around it continue to grow and mature."

"The initial setup was straightforward; it was easy and fast to deploy, and NetApp Cloud Manager made getting up and running with Cloud ONTAP amazing, easy to use, simple, and it basically did everything."

"The stability is fantastic; in my mind, it's one of the best storage products and the software around it has got to be the best across all different storage environments."

"Because NetApp usually marries capacity, performance, and upgrade planning together, there's not a whole lot that I need to worry about at this point."

More NetApp HCI [EOL] pros

"It is a stable solution."

"StarWind VTL allowed us to back up to virtual tape that was created within Veeam and upload the tape to the cloud."

"We simply replicate our backups from Veeam to the virtual tape library that StarWind implements, while magically transporting those to B2 for our offsite backup requirements."

"The support that they provide is excellent, with 24 hours a day seven days a week support, and all the engineers and the support staff know the solution very well."

"I like the fact that we can simultaneously upload the virtual tapes to different cloud providers, and the settings can be adjusted to speed up the upload times even further."

"The most valuable feature of the StarWind Virtual Tape Library is the archiving to the AWS cloud."

"If you currently have Veeam there is no other solution that is as easy and affordable as StarWind."

"The solution made our backups way more reliable."

Cons

"The fact that it doesn't have all the data points we need and all the historical data that I would like. I find that a lot of the performance analysis is done through support, where they have something that we don't have. It would be nice just to have all that on-prem."

"Its stability is very bad. It has been crashing continuously. In one year, we got three crashes, which is unbelievable for an appliance that is guaranteed for 10 years without any crash."

"There have been some drive type of issues where we have to apply a new code level. Storage nodes kick certain drives until they act as though they have failed when really they haven't. You just have to reinsert them, then they go on about their happy way. It's sort of a bug."

"I would like to see a better upgrade process, like the one that ONTAP has."

"Because of the repeated failure of the motherboard that we experienced, we have doubts about the stability of the solution, but I'm sure that in the near future it will be a great, reliable solution for us."

"The networking needs improvement."

"It would be great if they took something like kernel storage and integrated straight into the NetApp as well."

"I'd like to see some additional graphics capabilities because I'd like to look at some virtual desktop integration for CAD software."

More NetApp HCI [EOL] cons

"I am not sure if this is a limitation of my physical hardware or if it is the software itself. However, I would like the throughput to be faster."

"In practice, it is somewhat technical to deploy and manage, but overall it gets the job done."

"The solution's training process and online documentation could be more thorough."

"The initial installation can be complex and should be simplified."

"The main thing that I felt could be improved was having an estimated time of completion for the virtual tape uploads to the cloud."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is aligned with the market. In addition to the standard licensing fees, there is an integrator cost."

"Its price is comparable to the competitors in the market."

"There are the overall infrastructure costs. Even though the initial costing was higher, we calculated for year-to-year for five years. That brought us into a position where we decided, we have to go for HCI rather than having distributor systems."

"You still have to pay for the licensing for VMware and Red Hat licenses separately. It's not all inclusive at this point."

"The price of the solution is okay but could improve."

"This solution saved our organization time (35 percent) and money. We have a hefty group of developers, and if you multiply that by 30 to 35 percent, that is quite a bit of money."

"Licenses run on a yearly basis, and there aren't any additional fees other than the standard licensing fee."

"All the licenses are included when you buy the program."

More NetApp HCI [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"The initial setup and deployment are also covered in the purchase at no additional cost."

"The pricing of the solution could be more flexible to meet the needs of smaller to mid-market size companies."

"The solution is cost-effective."

"If you currently have Veeam there is no other solution that is as easy and affordable as StarWind."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

19%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	19

No data available

Comparisons

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs NetApp HCI [EOL]

Compared 21% of the time

VxRail vs NetApp HCI [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

VMware vSAN vs NetApp HCI [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs NetApp HCI [EOL]

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs NetApp HCI [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

More NetApp HCI [EOL] Competitors

VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Compared 10% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Compared 6% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Compared 5% of the time

FalconStor FreeStor vs StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Compared 5% of the time

More StarWind Virtual Tape Library Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp HCI [EOL]

October 2026

Download NetApp HCI [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

October 2026

Download StarWind Virtual Tape Library product report

Overview

NetApp HCI is the only true enterprise-scale hyper converged cloud infrastructure. NetApp HCI comes in a 2 RU chassis with 4 node expansion slots.

NetApp

StarWind Virtual Tape Library enables seamless integration with existing backup systems, allowing for efficient data archiving to AWS, Amazon S3, and Wasabi. Supporting Veeam and LTO formats, it reduces storage costs with multiple cloud uploads and offers control over file chunk sizes.

StarWind Virtual Tape Library is a technical platform that provides valuable features for cost-effective data management and quick recovery. Although it can be complex to deploy, it supports cloud storage providers like Amazon and Wasabi, replacing manual tape management with automated processes. Businesses manage approximately 20TB for offsite storage, achieving a high success rate in tape replication. Clear documentation and enhanced user-friendliness could improve the user experience, along with faster throughput and better configuration guides.

What are the most important features of StarWind Virtual Tape Library?

Seamless Integration: Works effectively with Veeam and other backup systems.
Cloud Archiving: Supports AWS, Amazon S3, and Wasabi for data archiving.
LTO Format: Offers air-gapped security and control over file chunk sizes.
Cost Reduction: Reduces storage expenses with simultaneous cloud uploads.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in StarWind Virtual Tape Library?

Enhanced Data Protection: Ransomware protection through automated processes.
Cost Efficiency: Decreased costs with efficient cloud data management.
High Success Rate: Reliable offsite storage with proven tape replication success.
Performance: Strong performance and support resources facilitate ease of setup.

StarWind Virtual Tape Library is used by organizations for seamless data integration with Veeam and Backblaze, facilitating data backups and ransomware protection. By automating physical tape management, it supports cloud storage providers effectively, making it suitable for industries handling significant data volumes.

StarWind

Sample Customers

American Showa, Children's Mercy, Coca-Cola, Consultel Cloud, Evangelische Landeskirche in Wurttemberg, Imperva, Surface Mount Technology

Volvo, Sony, Samsung, Hitachi

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Broadcom, StarWind and others in HCI. Updated: October 2026.

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