NetApp SnapMirror vs NetApp Snapshot comparison

NetApp SnapMirror and NetApp Snapshot are both solutions in the Data Replication category. NetApp SnapMirror is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.0, while NetApp Snapshot is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.0. NetApp SnapMirror holds a 6.9% mindshare in DR, compared to NetApp Snapshot’s 6.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of NetApp SnapMirror users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp Snapshot users who would recommend it.

NetApp SnapMirror

Read 26 NetApp SnapMirror reviews

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1,849 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp Snapshot

Read 26 NetApp Snapshot reviews

1,435 Views
1,335 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapMirror

NetApp Snapshot

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

NetApp SnapMirror and Snapshot are prominent products in the data management space. While both offer unique features, SnapMirror may have an edge due to its robust data replication capabilities.

Features: NetApp SnapMirror is highly valued for its data replication tool, enabling disaster recovery with impressive speed and reliability. It provides block-based replication between primary and recovery systems, mitigating high network latency and ensuring consistent data transfers. Furthermore, SnapMirror's integration with Oracle, SQL, and VMware enhances its disaster recovery value. NetApp Snapshot offers efficient data storage and live snapshots for point-in-time recovery without user access disruption. It is particularly noted for space efficiency, as it doesn't consume additional disk space, and the ability to create numerous snapshots efficiently.

Room for Improvement: SnapMirror users suggest enhancements such as better management of disk utilization during synchronization and expanded replication from Windows file servers. Improvements in data replication performance and simplified licensing are also desired. NetApp Snapshot faces challenges with space consumption during frequent data changes and requires a UI upgrade. Licensing costs and automated space management are identified as potential enhancement areas.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SnapMirror is primarily deployed in on-premises environments, whereas Snapshot supports diverse deployment options, including public clouds. Both have favorable customer service reviews, with NetApp's technical support noted for responsiveness. However, user satisfaction varies depending on regional support levels, with North America reporting higher satisfaction.

Pricing and ROI: SnapMirror is often bundled, presenting cost-effectiveness for some users, though it can be expensive, necessitating pricing improvements. Its adaptable licensing can become costly, influencing budget planning. Snapshot is considered pricey, especially with premium licenses, but its free local snapshots offer cost efficiency. Both solutions deliver solid ROI, particularly in data protection and disaster recovery integration and reliability.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot

December 2025

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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

NetApp SnapMirror

Ranking in Data Replication

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp Snapshot

Ranking in Data Replication

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Replication category, the mindshare of NetApp SnapMirror is 6.9%, down from 19.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Snapshot is 6.6%, down from 22.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Replication Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NetApp Snapshot	6.6%
NetApp SnapMirror	6.9%
Other	86.5%

Data Replication

Featured Reviews

Gabriele P

Storage IT Specialist at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees

Achieves seamless business continuity with robust scalability

The features of NetApp SnapMirror that I have found most valuable include the possibility to stop synchronization in case of high network latency and to limit the bandwidth throttle. This means limiting bandwidth when less connectivity occurs or opening wide the throttling to use the full speed of network connectivity, which we can adjust according to our needs or the needs of our customers. All of this is done without limiting business continuity, so business continuity is always guaranteed. NetApp SnapMirror's data replication feature supports disaster recovery strategies, as it is incorporated into the business continuity feature. SnapMirror is strictly related to snapshot features, a core part of ONTAP, so it's very flexible. It allows us to start with just two snapshots as a simple backup and then use them as a replication point or base for both backup and business continuity. There is no right or wrong answer, it just depends on how it works for specific needs.

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Tanveer Rahman

Chief Technical Office at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees

Snapshots have enabled us to restore critical data quickly and confidently after unexpected changes

The functions or features I have found most valuable in NetApp Snapshot are that it is easy to do and takes very little time. The main benefits that NetApp Snapshot provides for me are that if anything goes wrong, we can go back and restore something. It gives you peace of mind, which saves money, effort, and everything else. I use NetApp's WAFL architecture as it is their way of doing things, how to save the files and everything else. It is built-in. You cannot avoid WAFL when you use NetApp. Regarding the integration of NetApp Snapshot with applications and workloads, we have NetApp Snapshot integrated with our OpenStack platform.

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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

"NetApp SnapMirror's compatibility with NetApp products has helped my storage management efforts immensely, as it is part of ONTAP and all architectures based on ONTAP, including ONTAP 8 and 9."

"NetApp SnapMirror stands out for its ease of management, efficiency, and scalability, which align well with our operational needs."

"NetApp is one of the best products in this field of storage solutions."

"They have a very effective dashboard and good reports."

"Overall, the product is very good. It's an easy to use tool."

"There are a lot of features that are excellent. The data compression during the transfer, for example, is good. The replication is great. The durability of the solution and the speed of the data moving from one site to another is impressive."

"With SnapMirror, the solution is the feature itself that is most valuable. It just replicates the data. It's very difficult to speak about, in the sense that it's similar to the features of a wheel. It is round and it's a part of an automobile."

"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool. There is also a lot of ability for data migration."

More NetApp SnapMirror pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are the snapshot and clone capabilities."

"You never have to worry about protecting your virtual machines."

"One of the best features in the industry is that data snapshots can be synchronise for database consistency."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"This mature product is the leader in the backup industry with unique features and capabilities for users with advanced backup needs."

"It has a user-friendly interface."

"This is a very mature product that does exactly what it needs to in taking temporary pictures of data states."

"The most valuable feature of NetApp Snapshot is its ability to complete a sixty-terabyte database snapshot in less than three minutes."

More NetApp Snapshot pros

Cons

"In the next release, I would like to get an active IP number solution."

"It is not as efficient as it needs to be. It doesn't compress the data really well when it is forwarded to a secondary site. The download performance could be better."

"Compression and deduplication could be improved."

"We must be able to integrate Flash Pool with SnapMirror."

"They could make continued enhancements in integration with diverse platforms for the product."

"The user interface could be simplified. They might want to have fewer options on it, to make it less complicated. There are a lot of options we never use ourselves. They're often very specialized and don't apply to us."

"The price needs to be improved."

"The solution's dashboard and reporting could be improved."

More NetApp SnapMirror cons

"NetApp Snapshot's price could improve to allow them to capture more market shares."

"Although support is good, the global support is lacking depending on location."

"The solution should have a snapshot mode using AI to decide when to create the snapshot, depending on the workload."

"The licensing cost could be improved."

"The information on this panel doesn't always give good information; sometimes, the disk space left gives wrong information, and we have to go in the SSH with the console to control this."

"NetApp needs to take a look at their pricing in comparison to the competition and make the appropriate change to attract more customers and gain in market share."

"NetApp Snapshot usually takes a lot of space on the volume, requiring manual removal. It should be more automated."

"There should be an alarm or notification in the NetApp management console if you're frequently deleting data or using a volume for backups."

More NetApp Snapshot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution has monthly and yearly licensing options."

"It's a highly cost-effective solution"

"It's part of the NetApp Firewall, so it's free."

"The pricing can be improved."

"The product price is reasonable."

"The pricing could be improved."

"The cost is low compared to different vendors."

"SnapMirror is extremely expensive. We had a hard time adjusting to our budget. If rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I would definitely rate it ten out of ten."

"NetApp Snapshot is expensive since you need to buy an additional premium license for it which is an extra cost over the payments made for NetApp...The license works during the entire life cycle of NetApp Snapshot."

"It's not too expensive."

"If there is a way to save more on the number of snapshots, it should be included in the next release."

"As far as their licensing costs, the licensing is paid on a yearly basis. The organization pays for the licensing based on the software and the capacity that they choose."

"Snapshot is free and comes with the NetApp storage software. It's purely free of cost."

"The price of the solution is reasonable but could improve. However, if you are in a country that has a poor currency then the price will be considered expensive."

"The price of NetApp Snapshot depends on the use case. They charge by how much data you need, the capability, and for snap licenses."

"The price of this solution is fair."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp SnapMirror?

The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapMirror?

The product price is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp SnapMirror?

Some areas of NetApp SnapMirror that could be improved or enhanced include synchronous SnapMirror, which needs improvement as it suffers significantly from network latency. In particular, synchrono...

See all answers

What method of data replication does NetApp Snapshot use?

Here's a breakdown of how the data replication by NetApp Snapshot works: it's through the snapshot replication method. What does that mean? Well, in simple words, the software creates copies of dat...

See all answers

What is the storage scale of NetApp Snapshot?

Last time I checked, the NetApp Snapshot data replication software could go up to 255 snapshot copies. I'm not sure how familiar you are with similar software, but that's a pretty good number. It g...

See all answers

Will NetApp Snapshot recover data in an emergency?

Well yes, the snapshots that NetApp Snapshot creates are your backup. But then there's also their feature for advanced backup. This allows you to copy backups to offline locations and also make arc...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 23% of the time

Dell AppSync vs NetApp Snapshot

Compared 13% of the time

DDN DataFlow vs NetApp Snapshot

Compared 10% of the time

Dell RecoverPoint vs NetApp Snapshot

Compared 9% of the time

More NetApp Snapshot Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror

December 2025

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Buyer's Guide

NetApp Snapshot

December 2025

Download NetApp Snapshot product report

Also Known As

SnapMirror

No data available

Overview

NetApp SnapMirror technology provides fast, efficient data replication and disaster recovery (DR) for your critical data. Use a single solution across all NetApp storage arrays and protocols. SnapMirror technology works with any application, in both virtual and traditional environments, and in multiple configurations, including hybrid cloud.

NetApp

NetApp Snapshot is a data replication software that works through snapshot copies, crucial for the recovery of data. These copies are used as safe points for rollback before upgrades or patches. NetApp Snapshot provides prompt data replication which is also highly space-efficient, and provides users with the full management and control of their data and its copies. Through the various solutions the Snapshot technology has introduced, companies receive enhanced stability, functionality, and performance, as well as storage efficiency.

NetApp Snapshot uses two types of snapshot technologies to handle data replication: Copy on Write (COW) and Redirect on Write (ROW). The COW technologies make a copy of the original information and then only after the replication process is completed does the system overwrite the modified data into the original blocks. In contrast, ROW redirects the snapshots to new storage blocks, updating pointers to those blocks, which always point to the original location. When NetApp Snapshot combines the two technologies, it allows customers to save storage efficiency by way of deduplication and compression.

NetApp Snapshot Features

NetApp Snapshot’s valuable features include:

Data replication stability: Every NetApp Snapshot copy is an immutable, static copy, giving organizations the opportunity to create consistent backups from their storage system while applications are running.
Performance impact: The performance of NetApp's systems that store NetApp Snapshot aren’t affected. The actions of creating or deleting a Snapshot copy also don't greatly impact the performance of the systems where they are located. NetApp’s storage can be used for data replication, backup, and archival even if a company is using another storage system.
Storage scale: Another beneficial feature of NetApp is the volume of storage, which supports 255 Snapshot copies. This provides users with the opportunity to perform frequent data replication, thus creating current versions of their data.
File recovery: The above-mentioned features allow for the creation of backup for recovery purposes. They also provide\ the opportunity to copy backups to offline storage as well as to create an archive for them.
Storage utilization: The option for utilization of storage allows NetApp Snapshot users to benefit from storage volumes similar to those of active file systems. The software works through block increment, which limits the interval of time between added blocks of Snapshot copies, thus creating more efficient storage.

NetApp Snapshot Benefits

The benefits of using NetApp Snapshot include:

Ability to create instant data replication while applications run
Up to 255 data replicas available
Various tools for full-package coverage, including SnapManager, SnapProtect, SnapMirror, SnapRestore, and SnapVault

Reviews from Real Users

Gregg N., Manager of Data Center Services at TTi Power Equipment, states that the primary use of NetApp Snapshot by his organization is as a data-protection solution in the cloud and in the data center. He points out that this data duplication software is very user-friendly, extremely stable, and scalable.

Edgar M., Sr. Data Protection Engineer at DataPivot Technologies, uses NetApp Snapshot for its monitoring or clone capabilities, and he agrees that the solution is very stable.

According to George A., CEO at BDPR Technologies Limited, the most valuable features of NetApp Snapshot are the integration with other vendors and customization.

NetApp

Sample Customers

University at Albany, City of Houston, Yahoo Japan, Washington Employment Security Department, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd., AmTrust Financial Services, Sheridan College

Mazda

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot

December 2025

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