Scality RING vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

Scality and StarWind are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. Scality is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3, while StarWind is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.5. Scality holds a 4.0% mindshare in SDS, compared to StarWind’s 7.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Scality users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of StarWind users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

Scality RING and StarWind Virtual SAN are competing storage solutions designed for modern data management. StarWind Virtual SAN often has the upper hand due to its advanced features leading to higher satisfaction; however, Scality RING frequently scores better in pricing and reliability, offering significant value for investment.

Features: Scality RING provides robust scalability and geo-replication for large-scale, multi-site deployments. It supports multi-cloud environments and ensures data durability and management. StarWind Virtual SAN is known for high-performance storage in virtualized settings, offering speed and integrated support for hyper-converged infrastructures. It is appreciated for simplicity and easy integration with various scenarios, including hybrid cloud.

Room for Improvement: Scality RING can improve its deployment approach by reducing the need for specialized expertise to shorten deployment time. Its customer support could become more responsive to enhance user experience. Additionally, enhancing integration options with diverse software environments may increase its adoption. StarWind Virtual SAN could enhance its cost model to lower initial investment barriers, broaden integration capabilities with other platforms, and potentially simplify its pricing structure for better transparency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Scality RING uses a modular deployment approach, which may require specialized expertise, potentially extending deployment time. Its customer service is robust but can improve in responsiveness. StarWind Virtual SAN is praised for streamlined deployment with faster installations and less complexity. It also receives high marks for proactive and supportive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Scality RING generally offers a predictable pricing model with lower initial costs, providing strong support for diverse workloads leading to high ROI. In contrast, StarWind Virtual SAN, with a higher initial investment, focuses on maximizing performance and reducing long-term costs, offering substantial ROI through improved performance efficiencies.

To learn more, read our detailed Scality RING vs. StarWind Virtual SAN Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Scality RING vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

May 2025

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Helped 856,873 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

8.4

Pure Storage FlashBlade delivers cost savings, efficiency gains, and increased VM density, with returns seen within four years.

Sentiment score

7.5

Scality RING offers low-cost storage with 75% savings, providing predictable costs and enhanced ROI across IT environments.

Sentiment score

7.4

StarWind Virtual SAN offers high ROI by reducing costs, downtime, and using existing servers for efficient deployment.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

I think RING's ability to maintain predictable costs while providing scalable storage solutions impacts our budget by allowing us to pay only for capacity.

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

For instance, while the cost per gig on a block storage platform may be $2, it's $1.50 for NAS, and only $0.50 for object storage, leading to a remarkable 75% reduction in costs by utilizing the Scality platform.

reviewer2713596

Storage Engineering Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Scality RING has reduced our operating costs.

Thierry Diot

Engineer at MinArm

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

We don't sell a lot of redundant servers, so it's not a massive ROI, but the ability to rely on their technical support and the software's ease of setup allows us to reduce labor costs and go to market competitively.

Kyle Buxton

Manager, Field Support at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

The cost benefits, as far as we consider, are much better with a StarWind VSAN solution, and the training requirements with the ease of administration simplify and reduce our administrator and professional services costs.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

8.2

Pure Storage FlashBlade's customer service is praised for expertise but sometimes experiences slower responses due to growth challenges.

Sentiment score

7.4

Scality RING's customer service is praised for responsiveness and helpfulness, despite some needing to re-explain setups.

Sentiment score

8.4

StarWind Virtual SAN excels in customer service with quick, professional support, seamless integration, and clear communication, ensuring satisfaction.

I would rate them an eight out of ten.

Redy ERIYAWAN

IT Field Support Engineer at Unisys

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

I've always received responses within the required timeframe, the answers were technically relevant, and there was follow-up—people called us back to check if everything was okay and if the ticket could be closed.

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Technically, when we have major issues in P1, they are very responsive and we can't say that we don't get a response.

reviewer2702499

Operational Infrastructure Pilot at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

They provide very fast responses and help.

reviewer2703144

Project Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

Even in the instances where my technical team does not have the ability to manage or troubleshoot or resolve an issue, StarWind's technical team supports and resolves on our behalf very quickly.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

When we set it up, they validate our settings and configurations to ensure we don't miss anything.

Kyle Buxton

Manager, Field Support at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

8.9

Pure Storage FlashBlade is praised for its scalability and ease of expansion, satisfying various industries like banking and media.

Sentiment score

6.5

Scality RING offers impressive scalability, adaptable to enterprise needs with easy expansion, improved handling, and cost-effective management.

Sentiment score

7.8

StarWind Virtual SAN offers scalable, flexible storage solutions, easily adapting to infrastructure growth with minimal reconfiguration, despite some licensing limitations.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

Upwards, I think, almost unlimited by what we can imagine.

reviewer2711367

System Engineer - Head of Engineering at a retailer with 11-50 employees

I've never had issues with scalability.

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

We are relatively well informed about their new features, what will be implemented in future versions, and the scalability of the solution.

reviewer2702499

Operational Infrastructure Pilot at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

I believe that scalability should be further improved, especially considering the possibility that environments may grow exponentially.

WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

I have never needed to scale up or add additional nodes with StarWind Virtual SAN, but we have had to expand, and customer support has been excellent.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.8

Pure Storage FlashBlade is highly rated for stability, reliability, and performance, with minimal downtime and swift recovery.

Sentiment score

8.0

Scality RING ensures stable, resilient operations with minimal incidents, maintaining access during maintenance or failures without data loss.

Sentiment score

8.6

StarWind Virtual SAN is highly reliable with minimal maintenance, offering seamless, dependable operations across diverse environments, and earning user trust.

In case there is any issue with any blade, the data is moved to another.

Redy ERIYAWAN

IT Field Support Engineer at Unisys

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

It is a platform that is very stable at the customer level and does not generate incidents or blockages that you might encounter with standard storage solutions, where you can lose data.

reviewer2702499

Operational Infrastructure Pilot at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

I find that Scality RING is very stable because it allows for many maintenance operations without service loss.

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

There are factors that can cause Scality RING to become occasionally unavailable, but due to the system's resilience, it is capable of recovering or degrading gracefully.

reviewer2707281

Senior ICT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

In my experience, StarWind Virtual SAN is very stable, and I have never had a single instability issue.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Room For Improvement

Users want better cloud integration, support, pricing, efficiency, and improvements in analytics, configuration, and backup for FlashBlade.

Scality RING needs improvements in S3 compliance, security, usability, and simplified updates to reduce complexity and enhance user experience.

StarWind Virtual SAN users seek better documentation, management tools, and integration features, while appreciating its affordability and high availability.

Its configuration should be easier.

Redy ERIYAWAN

IT Field Support Engineer at Unisys

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

Encryption and data security need improvement. We don't have a solution for customers who need confidentiality.

reviewer2702499

Operational Infrastructure Pilot at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

They should prioritize quality over timeliness to minimize customer disruptions and not force customers into a cycle of fixes that interfere with daily work.

reviewer2713596

Storage Engineering Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

A technical aspect would be the Operating System part, which today isn't really covered by Scality RING, whereas it is with Artesca.

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

A more intuitive interface or an improved dashboard for monitoring the cluster would also be helpful, as it would facilitate performance tracking and help identify potential issues before they affect services.

WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

There have been cases where not understanding exactly what's failing on the Virtual SAN has been an issue.

Kyle Buxton

Manager, Field Support at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

Limited feedback in the management GUI is the main area where I would like to see StarWind Virtual SAN get better.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Setup Cost

Pure Storage FlashBlade is costlier but valued for performance, ease, and reliability, justifying its comprehensive licensing with included software.

Scality RING suits enterprises needing 10 PB+, but high setup and ongoing costs challenge smaller companies, pay-as-you-grow helps.

StarWind Virtual SAN is cost-effective, easy to set up, offers flexible scalability, and has responsive support with perpetual licenses.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

Fortunately, in terms of the license, we are able to expand the disks without having to adjust the license.

reviewer2711367

System Engineer - Head of Engineering at a retailer with 11-50 employees

In the end, it always depends on how much you pay for it.

reviewer2707281

Senior ICT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

The costs are acceptable and very competitive compared to other hardware-only HCI solutions.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

The pricing can be a bit complex depending on the features you need.

JohnPerez

IT Administrator at Panoptic Services, Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Valuable Features

Pure Storage FlashBlade offers high performance, scalability, and ease of use with excellent data protection and seamless integration for large storage needs.

Scality RING offers scalable, secure data storage with robust features like S3 support, erasure coding, and flexible deployment options.

StarWind Virtual SAN offers robust features, simplicity, and reliability with seamless integration and automation for enhanced data redundancy and resilience.

We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte.

Redy ERIYAWAN

IT Field Support Engineer at Unisys

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report

When a server is lost, the data is still accessible.

reviewer2702499

Operational Infrastructure Pilot at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

It is even better stored when there is only one copy on a system and there is a second copy on an immutability system, which is almost equivalent to backing it up on tape and taking it offline, making it completely inaccessible.

reviewer2711367

System Engineer - Head of Engineering at a retailer with 11-50 employees

Scality RING has influenced our approach to scaling in different dimensions by providing a cost-effective solution for the tremendous amount of data we generate every day for each customer.

reviewer2713596

Storage Engineering Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Scality RING report

Thanks to its seamless integration with Proxmox, the implementation of high availability servers has drastically reduced downtime, which is crucial for our security-focused company.

WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

StarWind Virtual SAN helps us keep customer satisfaction and provides the solutions we need without having to hire many IT specialists.

Kyle Buxton

Manager, Field Support at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

StarWind's storage virtualization and failover capabilities have made a difference for my clusters through uptime improvements, with zero downtime specific to server host maintenance or even maintenance of the StarWind software itself.

Julian Clarke

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report

Categories and Ranking

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 4.2%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Scality RING is 4.0%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 7.0%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Featured Reviews

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

Sebastien Foucou

Infrastructure architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Leverages seamless data access with efficient storage management

I would improve Scality RING by bundling the Operating System with RING and modernizing the graphical interfaces. As for areas for improvement—if I had to summarize—a technical aspect would be the Operating System part, which today isn't really covered by Scality RING, whereas it is with Artesca. It would be a real advantage for customers to have a bundle that includes both the Operating System and Scality RING, with an install and maintenance model handled by Scality. Secondly, perhaps a more cosmetic point—the graphical interfaces could be modernized a bit. There's been work done on Artesca; maybe it should be extended more to RING. I believe that should come with version 10, so I'm not too concerned. I find RING's cyber resilience against ransomware threats somewhat complicated to assess. The product itself offers sufficient protection, and the features provided via S3 allow you to protect against this kind of attack—provided you implement these features, such as object lock with retention and everything that goes with it. If I had to identify an area for improvement, it would be the OS part—but that doesn't necessarily concern RING, unlike Artesca, which comes bundled with an OS. There's been real work done by the Scality teams to secure the system layer in Artesca. It didn't influence us. We know the product and what needs to be implemented to protect data, and it's part of the best practices we also pass on to our clients.

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WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

Seamless integrations, high availability, and offers a free version

Although I am generally satisfied with VSAN and its performance, there are some areas that could be improved to enhance its effectiveness even further. One area that could benefit from improvement is scalability. While the tool works well in its current configuration, allowing for greater ease and flexibility in adding new nodes to the cluster without complications would be very beneficial, especially in growing environments. Additionally, I would like to see additional features in the next version, such as better support for automated resource management. This could include proactive suggestions for optimizing storage and memory usage, as well as preventive alerts about the health status of the servers. A more intuitive interface or an improved dashboard for monitoring the cluster would also be helpful, as it would facilitate performance tracking and help identify potential issues before they affect services.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate. FlashBlade is worth the money due to the experience and per...

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

What do you like most about Scality RING8?

Another feature I like is the life cycle management that helps me with data storage efficiency.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Scality RING8?

I would like to see more possibilities in the UI for managing aspects of the RING as indicated in the roadmap for the...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Scality RING8?

We have a lot of use cases for Scality RING, including backup, archive, binary lake, data applications, multimedia se...

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What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?

It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?

I have had no setup costs and no challenges with setup and installation for StarWind Virtual SAN. The costs are accep...

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What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?

There are times when the feedback in the event of an impending issue or an actual failure can be limited. The remedia...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Supermicro SuperBlade vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 2% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

Dell ECS vs Scality RING

Compared 15% of the time

Cloudian HyperStore vs Scality RING

Compared 15% of the time

MinIO vs Scality RING

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Scality RING

Compared 14% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Scality RING

Compared 3% of the time

More Scality RING Competitors

VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 24% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 16% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 15% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 14% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 10% of the time

More StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

May 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

Scality RING

May 2025

Download Scality RING product report

Buyer's Guide

StarWind Virtual SAN

May 2025

Download StarWind Virtual SAN product report

Also Known As

No data available

Scality RING, RING8

StarWind SAN & NAS

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

Scality RING is the scalable and resilient object storage solution designed for modern workloads, providing seamless data protection against evolving cyber threats.

Scality RING leverages S3 object storage to meet unpredictable demands with a patented MultiScale Architecture that offers limitless scalability across capacity, performance, and more. It delivers end-to-end cyber resilience with CORE5 for ransomware protection, while its cloud-style economics and intuitive management empower enterprises to accelerate AI initiatives and optimize cloud deployments. Its flexibility is ideal for service providers managing extensive data needs.

What are the key features of Scality RING?

S3 and CDMI Support: Ensures compatibility for application needs.
Erasure Coding: Provides cost-efficient, durable storage.
Unified Tiered Infrastructure: Aids billing per IOPS.
Lifecycle Management: Optimizes storage utilization.
Unlimited Scalability: Ideal for large enterprise demands.
Data/Metadata Ring Deployment: Ensures robust performance and tailored SLAs.

What benefits or ROI should users expect?

Economic Value: Offers cost-effective storage solutions.
Effective Support: Enhances collaboration through responsive assistance.
Improved Flexibility: Adaptable deployment models for complex needs.

Scality RING is extensively implemented in backup solutions across industries, supporting platforms like Veeam and CommVault. It aids in storage expansion and management of large data volumes alongside multi-site architectures. While not leading in AI spaces due to performance constraints, there's potential with faster disk support. It's also used in archives, binary lakes, multimedia services, and AI data lakes.

Scality

StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

StarWind

Sample Customers

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

Comcast, TimeWarner Cable, EuroSport, Orange, Deluxe, DailtMotion, SFR, RTL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Telstra

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School

Buyer's Guide

Scality RING vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

May 2025

Free Report: Scality RING vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

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