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Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 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

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block S...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (9th)
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Diverse features and affordability drive effective resource management
Amazon EBS offers diverse features. It can be used for multi-purpose storage, supporting single, multiple, or heavy loads. It has different types for various use cases, allowing me to choose based on my specific requirements. The primary advantage of Amazon EBS is affordability compared to other solutions like EFS or FSX. It acts as a hard drive for servers, making it essential for operation.
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-scaling capabilities enhance file management while reducing downtime
The most valuable feature of Amazon EFS is its auto-scaling capability. It's really easy to configure EFS by just creating it and running a command to directly configure it with my servers. It supports unlimited use, and charges are applied based on the file usage at the end of the month. The solution offers reduced downtime and increased durability through its auto-scaling features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is scalable based on the free tier instances."
"The product’s most valuable feature is IOPS."
"I think everything is great."
"One of the most valuable was snapshots. There were scenarios in which the whole EC2 crashed, or we were unable to use it for some time, but the data on the mounted volumes were crucial to us. So, at that time, snapshots were very helpful."
"The most valuable feature is its scalability. I can easily scale the block from terabytes to gigabytes."
"It also supports encryption by default for added security."
"The tool has different types of volumes, like SSD and HDD."
"When it comes to valuable features, ease of use would be number one."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"We can run code and deploy it whenever we want."
"The first valuable thing is it is scalable."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"Its elasticity and flexible pricing are the most valuable. For Amazon EFS, you are charged based on the storage. It is also very fast and stable with a very simple and intuitive interface."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations."
"I appreciate Amazon's extensive range of services, which makes it a favorable choice."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
 

Cons

"The initial setup process is easy."
"There are limitations in sharing resources across multiple regions and availability zones. I recommend improving EBS by introducing multi-availability zone support to enhance its functionality."
"Amazon EBS could improve by offering immutability of the data."
"It is hard to access EBS volumes in different Availability Zones (AZs) because most EBS volumes are created in a single AZ."
"Amazon EBS is scalable, but not auto-scaling. I have to manually scale it, especially in Windows instances, which requires downtime."
"There is a challenge of intermittent reachability with instances, where the product is sometimes available and other times not, which affects the development environment's stability."
"AWS services could improve by including services in the FreeTier, like Route 53 domains or SSL certificates."
"I am still in the learning process regarding Amazon EBS, so I'm not entirely sure what specific improvements are needed."
"Around 80 percent of the features of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) are available on Linux and not in Windows, making it a major drawback of the product."
"There are challenges related to AWS, such as ensuring proper security measures with IMS code and encryption."
"The user activity needs to be more connected."
"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3."
"It should be simplified. There are people who don't have cloud experience. It should be storage that we are able to just connect to."
"The deployment is definitely not an easy process."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost can vary greatly depending on the use case, ranging from one dollar to over $1200 dollars per month."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"The pricing models may be for general purposes, such as Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS Volume or Amazon EBS Cold HDD Volumes."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high, I rate the price a seven."
"The solution is quite costly."
"You need to pay additional costs for support."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"What I want Amazon to do is lower the price."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3. For one GB or ten GB of data, S3 is much cheaper. EFS could cost around $30 to $50 per month for similar usage."
"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
55%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Educational Organization
19%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...
What do you like most about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The durability and snapshot capabilities are good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The cost of Amazon EBS storage is high. I rate the price as eight out of ten. It is expensive to store a lot yet provides significant cost-efficiency as I pay only for the storage time required.
Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?
Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...
What do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
Elastic File Systems can be expensive due to the nature of data transfer costs, using services like SSTP, and potentially being costly in a rate-shift context.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bazaar Voice, Crowd Strike, Adobe, Gamevil, Hess, CopperEgg, TotalJobs Group, SuperCell, Dropcam, Unilever
Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.