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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 April 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 8.0%, down from 9.9% 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

"Amazon EBS is valuable because it allows you to store data permanently."
"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 tool has different types of volumes, like SSD and HDD."
"Amazon EBS is a cost-effective solution, where I pay as I go, making it a favorable option."
"Amazon EBS is perfectly serving its purpose, and I absolutely recommend it to others."
"The integration of Amazon EBS with EC2, S3, and Amazon Glacier is seamless and easy, creating a comprehensive cloud environment."
"When it comes to valuable features, ease of use would be number one."
"The most valuable feature is its scalability. I can easily scale the block from terabytes to gigabytes."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"I appreciate Amazon's extensive range of services, which makes it a favorable choice."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"We are not that big of a cloud user. We just use it for the storage of our bytes. The most valuable aspect is the storage."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"We can run code and deploy it whenever we want."
 

Cons

"The cost of using EBS is high compared to other cloud vendors such as Tencent Cloud or CARI Cloud. Some costs are generated immediately and some are likely to increase."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in AWS support."
"There is room for improvement in terms of file storage. Recently, we had a scenario in which, in a file share, we had increased the IOPS capacity; this was for the production environment."
"Amazon EBS is scalable, but not auto-scaling. I have to manually scale it, especially in Windows instances, which requires downtime."
"AWS services could improve by including services in the FreeTier, like Route 53 domains or SSL certificates."
"I see a need for improvement in the scalability of Amazon EBS."
"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."
"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 product's stability has some shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The deployment is definitely not an easy process."
"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."
"When we faced some issues, the support team took a lot of time to resolve them."
"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You need to pay additional costs for support."
"The pricing models may be for general purposes, such as Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS Volume or Amazon EBS Cold HDD Volumes."
"The cost can vary greatly depending on the use case, ranging from one dollar to over $1200 dollars per month."
"I find the price reasonable for our I environment."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"The product is low-priced than other solutions."
"On a scale of one to ten, if one point is a cheap solution and ten points is very expensive, I rate the product price an eight."
"The solution is quite costly."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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)?
Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS.
 

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: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.