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Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs VMware Software Defined Storage comparison

Nutanix and Broadcom are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. Nutanix is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Broadcom is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.3. Nutanix holds a 4.1% mindshare in SDS, compared to Broadcom’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Nutanix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.
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Pure Storage FlashBlade
Read 39 Pure Storage FlashBlade reviews
  • 5,227 Views
  • 732 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Read 114 Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) reviews
  • 6,125 Views
  • 1,715 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
VMware Software Defined Sto...
Read 7 VMware Software Defined Storage reviews
  • 459 Views
  • 404 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

VMware Software Defined Storage and Nutanix Unified Storage compete in the enterprise storage market. Nutanix has the upper hand due to its integrated approach combining storage, computing, and networking, well-suited for modern enterprise needs.

Features: Nutanix Unified Storage offers a hyper-converged infrastructure providing a streamlined solution that simplifies management and optimizes performance. It unifies storage across different machines, increasing flexibility and scalability. Nutanix also ensures high availability and makes data management user-friendly with its self-service capabilities. VMware Software Defined Storage provides scalability and integrates well with existing infrastructures. Its redundancy protects against data corruption while ensuring flexibility during scaling, offering a comprehensive approach to infrastructure integration.

Room for Improvement: Nutanix can improve its data protection features, ensuring more efficient responses to security threats and refining its configuration options. Additionally, better integration with other platforms could enhance its versatility. Cost-effective scaling options should also be considered. VMware SDS could work on improving initial setup simplicity and configuration processes. Enhancing compatibility with a broader range of hardware might offer users more adaptability and ease of use. Pricing model transparency is another area for potential enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware supports flexible deployment allowing customization to specific requirements, which is advantageous for businesses with unique needs. Nutanix focuses on simplicity and quick deployment and is praised for its strong customer support. Its straightforward setup ensures a faster time-to-value, appealing to businesses prioritizing efficiency.

Pricing and ROI: VMware SDS offers a flexible pricing structure suitable for varying budgets, though initial setup may be costly. This flexibility may accommodate different business sizes and financial plans. Nutanix Unified Storage potentially involves a larger upfront investment but provides long-term ROI benefits via reduced operational complexity. The comprehensive nature of Nutanix’s solution often leads to greater long-term value, attributing higher returns on the investment.

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To learn more, read our detailed Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs. VMware Software Defined Storage Report (Updated: December 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs. VMware Software Defined Storage
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

Pure Storage FlashBlade
Sponsored
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (12th), File and Object Storage (8th)
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
114
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (6th), Public Cloud Storage Services (5th), File and Object Storage (3rd), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (4th)
VMware Software Defined Sto...
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
16th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 3.3%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is 4.1%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Software Defined Storage is 1.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)4.1%
Pure Storage FlashBlade3.3%
VMware Software Defined Storage1.9%
Other90.7%
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

MikaelHellström - PeerSpot reviewer
MikaelHellström
IT Manager at Regin Dalarna
Has handled backup storage needs reliably and supports seamless upgrades
In environments requiring high throughput and low latency, Pure Storage FlashBlade provides high throughput and normal latency, but we do not have any application that requires low latency right now, so the latency of three to five milliseconds is considered kind of high. Pure Storage FlashBlade's ability to integrate with enterprise applications is not important for us, as we only want to present an S3 bucket for our backup, which we have done, and it works very fast. We use the Purity software's data reduction techniques; we have a backup software that compresses everything before sending it to the S3 bucket, achieving a data reduction of 1.1 to one. I would recommend Pure Storage FlashBlade to other companies because it's a very fast and scalable solution for anyone who needs it. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution an 8.
Read full review
Amarnath Charugundla - PeerSpot reviewer
Amarnath Charugundla
System Engineer at Tata Consultancy
Unified management and cost-effectiveness lead to positive experiences and future savings
Improvement is necessary wherein the memory or storage should not breach 90%, because if breached, it becomes unmanageable. We have to set alerts or CPU triggering for 95% for the first warning. Other activities on nodes or file systems should be properly maintained. We must monitor the dashboard for P1, P2 alerts in the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) file share system including SMB, NFS, objects, and blocks. Attention should be maintained for any alerts such as CPU, memory, and RAM alerts, as exceeding these creates issues within teams. If triggered to 95% and forgotten, it crosses the SLA breach, causing disturbances to application, web, and platform teams. Continuous monitoring on the Nutanix dashboard is essential. Even a highly experienced person in Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cannot provide a 10 rating out of 10 because it is a vast system. I would rate it eight from my perspective.
Read full review
MohammadJundiah - PeerSpot reviewer
MohammadJundiah
Solutions Architect at Logicom Sales Inc
Data security and performance excel but integration and licensing need improvement
I used Nutanix for its hyper-converged infrastructure capabilities and VMware Site Recovery for disaster recovery.  Additionally, I worked with VMware Software Defined Storage both internally and with partners to consolidate servers into one solution The most valuable features of VMware Software…
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

"Approximately 40% to 50% of my time is saved using Pure Storage FlashBlade compared to different products."
"FlashBlade offers low latency, high throughput, and seamless scalability."
"It has also helped to simplify storage for us in the way that it's easy to manage. Their automatic monitoring really helps when things break or are about to break. They see a problem coming and alert us even before our own system does."
"It performs well and it is also very fast."
"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 ensures efficient replication and helps maintain our data centers' uptime."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is performance."
"The main feature I have found to be product replication."
"The initial setup is pretty easy and simple."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros
"It is very scalable."
"What I appreciate most about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is its user-friendly nature."
"One of the best features of the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that I find everything, all the solutions, in one single box; if you look into Nutanix, the HCI plus whatever storage is required as part of the requirements, such as if applications are hosted on Kubernetes or container platforms requiring S3, NFS, or any other protocol, we can access everything from a single system, eliminating the need to manage multiple systems and different storage in the data center, as one system from one OEM provides everything."
"My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that compared to other vendors, Nutanix is very reasonable."
"We had three racks full of storage and now it is just half a rack."
"The capacity is very good. They use fewer nodes than before. Each node is isolated with the CPU with the performance. It is a cluster node but works separately, so the performance will be tripled."
"The most valuable features of the solution are high availability and synchronization to another location."
"It is unified. This is the best thing that Nutanix gave to the world. You can do everything from one point."
More Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) pros
"The solution is simple to configure and provides good performance and less footprint."
"This is an easy-to-use product for adding flexibility to your storage solution."
"The most valuable features of VMware Software Defined Storage are scalability, high availability, and performance."
"VMware Software Defined Storage gives higher availability against data corruption."
"The single management panel is the main feature that is wonderful for the customer."
"The best part of the solution is that you can actually scale up to a large number of operating systems without additional hardware."
"The most valuable features of VMware Software Defined Storage are scalability, high availability, and performance."
"The most valuable features of the solution are that it is easy to deploy and the support is really good."
 

Cons

"The documentational aspect of FlashBlade needs improvement."
"I would like to have Snapshots and Snapmail in the next release. People who came from a NetApp background, especially expect these features."
"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."
"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."
"File storage needs a lot of improvement. Mainframe connectivity also needs improvement because it requires additional components to be integrated with Pure Storage FlashBlade. If you want to keep your backup data, then this becomes an even more expensive solution because Pure Storage FlashBlade will not be able to meet your backup needs."
"The feature that we're waiting on is better integration with the cell services."
"They need better integration with public clouds along with a better hybrid solution."
"Its configuration should be easier."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons
"Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) can be improved in the area of big data workloads, as we still need to improve performance there."
"A centralized file share permissions console might be useful for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). Getting in and directly managing permissions instead of using the snap-in from Windows itself might be something to consider, but that's a small thing."
"The problem is that we need to invest a lot of money to get AI, and therefore, we are not going to purchase AI right now."
"The solution's monitoring and security features could be improved."
"From the speed perspective of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), it could enhance some features to make it the best storage solution in the market."
"Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) needs improvement, particularly for firmware upgrades, as sometimes updates take a whole day and it can be unclear whether the issue is with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) or the hardware, requiring us to reconfigure everything, which is a main point we want consolidated into one solution."
"I would like Nutanix to provide a solution for virtual disks. This is the main problem for which we want a solution."
"The biggest thing for me, which is a pet peeve of mine, is the integration with the hardware platforms."
More Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cons
"It doesn't have the ability to be deployed on any kind of hardware and network connectors."
"There is room for more integrations and plugins into more storages."
"VMware Software Defined Storage should include a shared database on a standard version."
"The license model of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The performance is not as good as some competing products and reporting can be improved."
"The solution has some limitations in terms of replication to remote sites or cloud infrastructure, which need improvement."
"Simplifying the licensing model and making it cheaper would improve the solution."
"I'd like to see improved hardware compatibility"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."
"Our licensing is renewed annually."
"In my opinion, we have paid the right price for the product. I don't think that it is too much or too little."
"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."
"Support is a separate line item. Support is a different cost, but whatever your support is now, that's what you're going to pay forever. If your support's $100 today, six years from now it's $100. It doesn't fluctuate unless you upgrade it, or change it, etc."
"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."
"We used a reseller for the purchase."
"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."
More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice
"Nutanix offers different pricing options, including Ultimate and Ultimate Pro."
"If we compare the cost of Nutanix Objects Storage to other solutions such as VMware licenses, our current choice is Nutanix Objects Storage. This solution is more cost-effective. However, adding VMware to Nutanix would not be a cost-efficient decision, which is why we do not use it anymore."
"Nutanix Unified Storage is competitively priced. There aren't any competitors that can do much better for the same price."
"For clients running Nutanix, the licensing cost for Files is a small add-on cost."
"It is very good. It is much more competitive than a dedicated storage platform."
"It's definitely a lot cheaper than buying a new EMC array. We bought a five-year commitment on all the hardware and software. I don't know what the cost was back then, but I do remember it was cheaper."
"Nutanix is priced a bit higher than some of its competitors. A lot of Chinese companies like Huawei are entering the Saudi Arabian market trying to provide similar solutions for a lower price. It offers a good value, especially the support. Nutanix has a highly competent team. The after-sales support is excellent."
"In the manufacturing industry, we operate under very lean principles where costs are heavily scrutinized. There was some initial hesitation, but the performance we've experienced since switching to the Nutanix platform, along with the peace of mind from having confidence in our platform to not give us issues that keep us up at night, has smoothed over much of that scrutiny."
More Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) pricing and cost advice
"The product is quite expensive and is among the most expensive for this type of solution."
"The solution is very expensive."
"VMware Software Defined Storage is a slightly expensive solution."
"A single socket costs you around US $6,000 for three years. At a minimum, you have a three load cluster for a medium or enterprise-scale company. It can get quite expensive because you're likely to need four to six sockets on the other side. It comes to around $30,000."
"I believe there is a yearly licensing fee of around $2000 - $5000. I don't think there are additional costs above that but it depends on the type of infrastructure you're booting."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
24%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Educational Organization
5%
University
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise63
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

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 out...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?
Regarding pricing, it is okay; we needed exactly this in size, and the price was a lot lower than competitors, making...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?
In my opinion, one way Pure Storage FlashBlade can be improved is by having more compatibility between the FlashArray...
See all answers
What do you like most about Nutanix Unified Storage?
Nutanix has excellent product documentation available on their portals, written in simple, easy-to-understand language.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Unified Storage?
It is very cost-effective compared to the traditional environment. With new hardware, it's a long-term investment but...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Nutanix Unified Storage?
To improve Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), cost is always an issue for every company, especially when we talk about la...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Software Defined Storage?
The price of VMware Software Defined Storage is on the pricey side, rated four out of five in cost. There is room for...
See all answers
What needs improvement with VMware Software Defined Storage?
There is room for more integrations and plugins into more storages. More automation, such as using Playbook on Ansibl...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for VMware Software Defined Storage?
I used Nutanix for its hyper-converged infrastructure capabilities and VMware Site Recovery for disaster recovery. Ad...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 17% of the time
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 10% of the time
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 10% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 7% of the time
Scality RING vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Scality RING vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 2% of the time
More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Compared 10% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Compared 9% of the time
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Logo
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Compared 8% of the time
Amazon S3 vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Logo
Amazon S3 vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Compared 6% of the time
Qumulo vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Logo
Qumulo vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Compared 4% of the time
More Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Competitors
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware Software Defined Storage Logo
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware Software Defined Storage
Compared 42% of the time
IBM Spectrum Scale vs VMware Software Defined Storage Logo
IBM Spectrum Scale vs VMware Software Defined Storage
Compared 31% of the time
DataCore SANsymphony vs VMware Software Defined Storage Logo
DataCore SANsymphony vs VMware Software Defined Storage
Compared 28% of the time
More VMware Software Defined Storage Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashBlade
December 2025
Pure Storage FlashBlade reportDownload Pure Storage FlashBlade product report
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
December 2025
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) reportDownload Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware Software Defined Storage
December 2025
VMware Software Defined Storage reportDownload VMware Software Defined Storage product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Nutanix Files Storage, Nutanix Volumes Block Storage, Nutanix Objects Storage
VMware SDS
 

Overview

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

Nutanix Unified Storage offers seamless scalability and high availability with a user-friendly interface, supporting multi-protocol operations while integrating effortlessly with cloud platforms. It enhances performance and security with features like ransomware protection and advanced data management.

Nutanix Unified Storage streamlines storage management by consolidating infrastructure and optimizing virtualization. It reduces operational complexity and enhances performance across diverse workloads. Despite feedback on integration challenges and suggestions for improving pricing, API capabilities, and security, it remains a key choice for dependable storage solutions. Calls for streamlined implementation and enhanced AI capabilities reflect its potential to better support evolving organizational strategies, driving cost efficiency and data accessibility.

What are the key features of Nutanix Unified Storage?
  • Intuitive Interface: Simplifies management with easy navigation.
  • High Availability: Ensures minimal downtime and reliable performance.
  • Seamless Scalability: Adapts to increasing data requirements effortlessly.
  • Multi-Protocol Support: Facilitates comprehensive operations across different systems.
  • Advanced Security: Offers ransomware protection and secure data backup.
  • Cloud Integration: Allows smooth interaction with cloud platforms.
What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?
  • Operational Efficiency: Reduced complexity through streamlined management.
  • Cost Optimization: Achieved via data compression and consolidation.
  • Enhanced Data Visibility: Improved insights with advanced data lens.
  • Performance Improvement: Significant uplift in workload handling and database performance.
  • Scalable Infrastructure: Enables growth and adaptation to changing demands.

In industries, Nutanix Unified Storage is deployed to centralize storage needs, improve database efficiency, and enhance file sharing and security. Organizations use it to consolidate infrastructure, support virtualization, optimize costs, and facilitate virtual machine hosting. It's instrumental in scalable object storage, ransomware protection, integrating legacy systems, and catering to critical applications.

Nutanix

VMware software-defined storage is a simple, yet intelligent, storage data center architecture that aligns with business and application demands—eliminating static, purpose-built and inefficient hardware with dynamic, agile and automated solutions.

Broadcom
 

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco
Helse Nord, Sky
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs. VMware Software Defined Storage
December 2025
Free Report: Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs. VMware Software Defined Storage
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