NetApp StorageGRID vs Pure Storage FlashBlade comparison

NetApp and Pure Storage are both solutions in the File and Object Storage category. NetApp is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0, while Pure Storage is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0. NetApp holds a 5.8% mindshare in FaOS, compared to Pure Storage’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

NetApp StorageGRID

Read 16 NetApp StorageGRID reviews

3,081 Views
1,675 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Read 37 Pure Storage FlashBlade reviews

3,949 Views
966 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

NetApp StorageGRID

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID compete in the storage solutions category. FlashBlade appears to have the upper hand in speed and performance, whereas StorageGRID is favored for its effective storage management and cost-efficiency in larger deployments.

Features: Pure Storage FlashBlade is known for its high throughput, low latency, and easy scalability, making it suitable for environments demanding rapid data access. Customers appreciate its replication features and simple management interface. In contrast, NetApp StorageGRID is recognized for deduplication, compression, and robust data security. Customers value its storage management capabilities and object storage solutions.

Room for Improvement: Pure Storage FlashBlade could enhance its cloud integration and deduplication capabilities. Users recommend improvements in API support and lowering licensing costs. Additionally, there's a call for quicker resolution of issues by support teams. For NetApp StorageGRID, users highlight integration difficulties with Active Directory and suggest better pricing and marketing strategies. Improved metadata management and visibility are also suggested.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID offer on-premises and private cloud deployment options. FlashBlade stands out for proactive support but has noted a decline in support quality. Meanwhile, StorageGRID provides consistent customer satisfaction with quick support response times.

Pricing and ROI: Pure Storage FlashBlade is considered expensive but delivers excellent ROI due to performance and simplicity in storage management. It is viewed as a valuable investment for its powerful features. NetApp StorageGRID is competitively priced within its market but is seen as mid-range to high in cost. While it achieves effective cost reductions, only some users note significant ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

June 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 StorageGRID

Ranking in File and Object Storage

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Ranking in File and Object Storage

6th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (16th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.8%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage

Featured Reviews

Werner Broekhuizen

Presales Consultant at KPN IT Solutions - Trusted Services

Provides seamless data integration and has a reliable technical support team

The platform is highly scalable, allowing easy addition of enclosures and drives, making it non-disruptive and straightforward to expand as needed. It was originally hardware-agnostic, and its integration into NetApp has maintained this scalable nature, allowing for growth without compromising existing infrastructure. Its scalability is around an eight out of ten. It can handle large-scale and unstructured data needs. Its ability to manage significant volumes of data effectively makes it suitable for enterprises requiring robust storage solutions.

Read full review

Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

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

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."

"NetApp StorageGRID is a great alternative to AWS S3 buckets."

"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."

"The ability to get to the StorageGRID from anywhere on my network. The solution is remote. You don't have to be at a physical location."

"It has enabled us to save money on storage costs. We removed our tape library."

"The technical support team is reliable and responsive."

"NetApp StorageGRID is a great alternative to AWS S3 buckets. Erasure coding is very valuable."

"The features or capabilities of NetApp StorageGRID that I have found the most valuable include scalability, interoperability, and integration options."

More NetApp StorageGRID pros

"It uses the same platform for connectivity so integration is seamless."

"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."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the rewrite speed and the nonstop services."

"Speed and ease of use are the two most valuable features."

"We have integrated it with VMware. The integration process is pretty good. Especially with VMware, it helps with the capacity of it."

"The snapshots, replication, and the ability to have immutable blades are the most valuable features. You're putting data snapshots out in those blades, and they cannot be touched. Its performance is great."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is user-friendly. It's replication feature is great because it has active replication and active DR. That's the beauty of the product. It's a perfect solution for block storage."

"FlashBlade offers low latency, high throughput, and seamless scalability."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

Cons

"The only real issue that we have run into is, when we are cloning, we cannot do a thin provision clone, it has to be a full clone."

"Improvements need to be made in the support area."

"They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space. It's not at the same level as the NetApp filer or the real NetApp cluster that runs itself on its architecture, as StorageGRID is a software solution that emulates a RAID level."

"I would like to see them integrate more with the monitoring platforms. It is a bit difficult to get automated monitoring of the system."

"I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan."

"The processes around installation and upgrade need improvement."

"There was a small amount of confusion when working with StorageGRID and Active Directory for access. We had to do things three to four times resulting in our engineer troubleshooting a couple of things. The location of the menu, along with what is inside the menu: configurations, settings, etc., is not straightforward to users. Most users are Windows-based. So, when make logical changes to the menu which are not similar to Windows, users and administrators get confused."

"Data retrieval speed could be better."

More NetApp StorageGRID cons

"It's on the expensive side, as expected for a niche product."

"I would like to see more VM-Aware features in the next release of this solution."

"The feature that we're waiting on is better integration with the cell services."

"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."

"The technical support needs to improve. When we open a case, it is auto assigned to a support tech person. Nine out of ten times, we get an email right back saying that person is off until tomorrow. I cannot handle that. They just did this over the weekend to us, too. I had to call our rep and have them do something about it."

"I would like to see more monitoring capability included in the next release of this solution."

"There could be improvements in public cloud integration."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The price is attractive."

"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 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."

"While we have been able to save money on storage costs, it could be better."

"I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances."

"NetApp is not known for being the cheapest storage option on the market. Almost all of the other storage options we looked at were less expensive than StorageGRID. The price is one thing to criticize, which is what we hear internally and from customers as well. They find the cost of the terabytes in this class of storage a little bit higher than expected."

"Our licensing is in INR it was around 25 lakhs, which is roughly two million."

More NetApp StorageGRID pricing and cost advice

"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."

"In my opinion, we have paid the right price for the product. I don't think that it is too much or too little."

"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."

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"The product is very expensive."

"Licensing fees are paid yearly."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

19%

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

Educational Organization

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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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...

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 performance it delivers, including quick response times.

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

Comparisons

MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 25% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 25% of the time

Dell ECS vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 23% of the time

Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 7% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 2% of the time

More NetApp StorageGRID Competitors

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 20% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 2% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID

May 2025

Download NetApp StorageGRID product report

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

May 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Also Known As

Storage GRID

No data available

Overview

Store and manage unstructured data at scale using NetApp StorageGRID for secure, durable object storage. Place content in the right location, at the right time, and on the right storage tier, optimizing workflows and reducing overall costs for globally distributed rich media.

NetApp

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

Sample Customers

ASE, DARZ GmbH

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

June 2025

Free Report: NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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