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NetApp StorageGRID vs Pure Storage FlashBlade comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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 StorageGRID
Ranking in File and Object Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Pure Storage FlashBlade
Ranking in File and Object Storage
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (16th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.9%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Object-based storage and offers intuitive management tools, making it easy to configure and maintain
The only thing missing is flexibility in configuration to cater to specific customer requirements. Another area of improvement is marketing. NetApp's marketing of StorageGRID isn't optimal. They should present it more effectively, especially in regions like Pakistan. Here, I haven't seen any marketing campaigns from NetApp for StorageGRID or the Solid State Platform (SSP). While StorageGRID is a globally recognized product, I haven't seen any marketing efforts from NetApp in Pakistan. Even competitors are promoting object storage solutions here, but NetApp seems less efficient in selling StorageGRID. There might be one or two customers, but even as a NetApp partner, I'm not aware of any major sales. I've been trained on StorageGRID, and it is a good product. I'm unsure why it hasn't gained traction in Pakistan compared to other countries. So, I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan. I'm pretty confident that if we have one example of successful StorageGRID implementation in Pakistan, other customers will follow suit.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cost-effective and easy to deploy."
"The feature of NetApp StorageGRID that has significantly improved data storage management for my customers is the value of the S3 API because it allows developers who are not infrastructure-oriented to use it and write code against it."
"Duplication, interface and the manageability is good and simple."
"It has awesome scalability. We consume it with storage appliance nodes, then we just plug and play as we need more."
"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."
"The most valuable feature is tiering."
"The technical support is good."
"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."
"The ease of deployment and management has helped us simplify our storage. We also do not have to worry about capacity management as much. A lot of these things are native to Pure Storage."
"I like its size. It is smaller than the other competitors. We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte."
"The solution provides many controllers."
"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."
"The initial setup is pretty quick."
"It uses the same platform for connectivity so integration is seamless."
"It helps simplify our storage, because the user interface is very simple and the installation is easy."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is performance."
 

Cons

"It's quite complex, which is a disadvantage; it's enterprise-level, it's complicated to set up, and you need external support."
"It has its quirks here and there, but it is an older NetApp system."
"The user interface of NetApp StorageGRID might need some tweaks, and configuration is maybe a little bit confusing for those who are not so experienced."
"The processes around installation and upgrade need improvement."
"The user interface of NetApp StorageGRID might need some tweaks, and configuration is maybe a little bit confusing for those who are not so experienced."
"They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space."
"Data retrieval speed could be better."
"One key improvement I'd like to see in StorageGRID is enhanced visibility for management purposes."
"Pure Storage FlashBlade should improve on more cloud integration."
"In the realm of micro-services, I think that Pure Storage can do well if they start getting in there and making their arrays more micro-services ready."
"I would like to see better integration."
"An area for improvement in Pure Storage FlashBlade is its price. It could be reduced. The technical support for Pure Storage FlashBlade also needs improvement. It used to be good, with more experienced engineers. Nowadays, it isn't, and it takes longer for support to solve problems."
"I would like to see more monitoring capability included in the next release of this solution."
"We haven't been able to use much of the cloud area of Pure Storage. We have a storage server and it would be better if it could integrate with other cloud features of this solution."
"It's on the expensive side, as expected for a niche product."
"Commvault has mainly driven the Analytics, providing data and reports. However, the product has room for improvement, especially regarding storage analytics. Upgrading firmware has caused issues, requiring feature disabling to revert to traditional backups. The firmware upgrades sometimes affect Commvault backups."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We save money on storage costs from this solution since it allows us to have a source of revenue from customers consuming the service."
"The licensing that the S3 service provides them from a FabricPool standpoint is more attractive than the licensing from AWS or Azure."
"I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances."
"The price is attractive."
"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."
"The pricing of StorageGRID falls within the typical range for enterprise-grade solutions and is comparable to other vendors such as Dell, NetApp, and Pure Storage."
"Buying the solution is expensive, but it saves you money down the line when you factor in the logistics of not having to buy tapes."
"We chose NetApp because of price and performance."
"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."
"Our licensing is renewed annually."
"The price could be cheaper."
"Licensing fees are paid yearly."
"I feel that the price could always be lowered."
"The product is very expensive."
"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."
"Pure Storage FlashBlade is a hardware appliance, and it's very expensive if you compare its price with other solutions. You can get the same features and benefits from its competitor, VAST Data, but for half the price of Pure Storage FlashBlade."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?
The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?
It would definitely be more on the expensive side, especially if you compare it with open source solutions like Ceph.
What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?
If I could change anything in NetApp StorageGRID, that would be pricing. In terms of functionality, reliability, and scalability, we are satisfied with NetApp. It's quite complex, which is a disadv...
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 outages when we need to quickly move data between different data centers. It ensure...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?
The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the past, but one benefit is that they have built-in ransomware protection. Approximate...
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?
I believe there is not much improvement needed because they have everything we need, but the interface is a little bit complex to understand. You have to understand it more deeply because it's hard...
 

Also Known As

Storage GRID
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ASE, DARZ GmbH
ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.