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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
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 8.7%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

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 comes with multiple central port installations like gp2 and gp3."
"If an instance is terminated abruptly or accidentally, I can reattach the volume to a different instance."
"EBS is a cost-effective solution, where I pay as I go, making it a favorable option."
"EBS is a very crucial tool as it acts like a hard disk on cloud, providing cost savings compared to physical hard disks, and only incurring costs based on actual usage."
"Overall, I would rate Amazon EBS ten out of ten."
"I would recommend Amazon EBS to other people."
"I don't need to delete or remove everything from an EBS when terminating an instance."
"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"The solution is scalable."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"The first valuable thing is it is scalable."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
 

Cons

"If Amazon could add the auto-scaling feature that exists in RDS to the EBS volumes for EC2 or EKS, it would be beneficial."
"Amazon EBS is scalable, but not auto-scaling. I have to manually scale it, especially in Windows instances, which requires downtime."
"There is a lack of awareness and knowledge about Amazon EBS among potential users, which results in underutilization."
"I think performance can be improved."
"In Amazon EBS, it is difficult to reduce the space chosen by the customer. The cost increases the moment the size of the storage increases, and I will have to pay for two TB of the tool instead of one TB."
"The initial setup is not easy."
"One of the major issues in the tool arises whenever it handles a large amount of traffic in the system, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The main challenge with Amazon EBS is cost management, as it is a high-performance volume. Sequencing and IOPS relative to cost are also areas of concern."
"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."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
"I don't have notes on improvements."
"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."
"The deployment is definitely not an easy process."
"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is low-priced than other solutions."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"The cost can vary greatly depending on the use case, ranging from one dollar to over $1200 dollars per month."
"What I want Amazon to do is lower the price."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high, I rate the price a seven."
"You need to pay additional costs for support."
"The solution is quite costly."
"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"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."
"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's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
55%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Educational Organization
19%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
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)?
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.
 

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.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.