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NetApp ONTAP pros and cons

Vendor: NetApp
4.3 out of 5
Badge Ranked 1
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Pros & Cons summary

NetApp ONTAP is recognized for its stability, providing reliable operations with scalable storage expansion. Efficient data replication is enabled through SnapMirror and SnapVault, while deduplication reduces costs. Collaborations with Microsoft, VMware, and Oracle add flexibility. However, improvements are needed in cloud integration, technical support, and API support. Limitations exist in block-based storage scalability, and backup capabilities require enhancement to lessen dependence on external solutions.

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

NetApp ONTAP is known for its exceptional data protection features, like SnapMirror and SnapVault, which enable seamless data replication and disaster recovery.
The scalability of NetApp ONTAP is impressive, allowing users to add nodes effortlessly and enhance storage capabilities without replacing the entire system.
Users praise the ability of NetApp ONTAP to significantly reduce storage costs through effective deduplication and compression, enhancing storage efficiency and saving space.
The high performance and stability of NetApp ONTAP are notable, offering dependable data access and operations with minimal outages and delays.
NetApp ONTAP provides robust support for data management and transfer across multiple data centers or cloud, reinforcing business continuity and operational flexibility.

CONS

NetApp ONTAP's cloud integration needs improvement, particularly in terms of public cloud storage options and seamless integration with other platforms.
The current support structure for NetApp ONTAP has faced criticism for slow responses and insufficient problem resolution, particularly with Level 1 support.
Scalability limitations exist, especially when dealing with block-based storage and the constraints related to maximum volumes and clients per cluster.
Security and encryption enhancements are needed, including protection against malware and advanced encryption options.
Initial setup complexity and the need for simplified deployment processes are frequent concerns among users.
 

NetApp ONTAP Pros review quotes

reviewer1801533 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 10, 2022
From a storage standpoint, NetApp is the number one partner and the number one equipment manufacturer.
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AT
Apr 25, 2025
The ability to do online upgrades in a clustered setup is absolutely crucial, and I extensively use new features such as replication and backups for certain cloud features in the enterprise.
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AS
Oct 23, 2018
Efficiencies such as Flash Cache and Flash Pool allow us to make better use of slower, cheaper storage and have some faster storage sitting up front taking a lot of the caching and the reading. The way that has been optimized for the NetApp platform is better than the competitors. It has reduced our cost of storage because we're buying cheaper storage for the bulk capacity, which is really effective.
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NetApp ONTAP
October 2025
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PB
Dec 19, 2018
We over-allocate our aggregates and it still works, it's great, it's fun. We dedupe everywhere, we get huge savings. We went back and deduped the whole thing again, we could get more, so that's what we do. We go back and look to see if there's an option we can set and do it from the beginning, but still 13 terabytes, that's a lot of dedupe savings. Sometimes we get 50% or more in our savings, so we love dedupe.
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HK
Apr 24, 2025
For our product requirement and our users' requirements, it is one of the perfect network storage solutions we are using. It's reliable, synchronous, and we are not losing any data when using it.
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BP
Apr 26, 2025
NetApp ONTAP has absolutely been a game changer for our organization. We support and use different storage services, but this is the first time we have a service and storage that supports multiple protocols, such as SMB, NFS.
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SystemsE2ad9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 28, 2018
We have been using it for our entire environment, so we use it in file shares and in our VDI environment, at least for user data. That has reduced our user login times by about 50 percent.
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reviewer1223520 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 5, 2019
The product allowsfor the centralization of large environments.
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DB
Dec 19, 2018
I would rate this solution a ten because of what NetApp provides us from a quality layout. The partnership that they provide us and their assistance is very important and the work that they communicate with us on a regular basis is outstanding.
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reviewer2706069 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 15, 2025
The fact that NetApp ONTAP supports NVMe over TCP is a significant advantage.
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NetApp ONTAP Cons review quotes

reviewer1801533 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 10, 2022
They need centralized controls.
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AT
Apr 25, 2025
NetApp ONTAP has several limitations that we encounter, primarily related to large enterprise clients. They do not affect small clients that NetApp may have. While these limitations are clearly described, some issues require us to develop workarounds.
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AS
Oct 23, 2018
I would like to see more in the public cloud space around things like object storage. A bit more granularity around how that gets deployed would be nice, but other than that I think they've got it nailed.
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Buyer's Guide
NetApp ONTAP
October 2025
Free Report: NetApp ONTAP Reviews and More
Learn what your peers think about NetApp ONTAP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
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871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PB
Dec 19, 2018
We're at 9.3 so when we go to 9.5 we would like the synchronous SnapMirror because our users would like that, especially the ones that do the conveyor belt of data. We'd like that.
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HK
Apr 24, 2025
In the future, we are going to migrate to Windows-based platforms. I want to see if we can achieve similar control and implementation with Windows, basically installing NetApp ONTAP onto a Windows machine and not just onto the Linux machine.
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BP
Apr 26, 2025
They could focus on making it more user-friendly. Currently, many users need a certain level of NetApp knowledge to operate it effectively, often relying on command-line interfaces that demand IT or technology skills. While there is a GUI available through Systems Manager, a lot of management still occurs at the command line, so enhancing the GUI for better usability could be a key focus area.
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SystemsE2ad9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 28, 2018
Going forward, I want to see a simplified deployment and more straightforward recommendations on what is required for it.
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reviewer1223520 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 5, 2019
Technical support is good but they can take some time on critical problems.
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DB
Dec 19, 2018
There is a lot a lot of functional integration that we look forward to for improvements. I'm learning where they're going and I'm very interested to see those improvements and how they can help us.
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reviewer2706069 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 15, 2025
They could expand what is possible to do with automation as there are gaps in the Ansible module coverage they have.
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