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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
34
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

"The most impressive aspects of Amazon EBS are its scalability and high availability."
"The main advantage is the ability to scale up and scale down easily without any downtime."
"One of the features I appreciate about EBS is its persistent storage nature."
"Overall, I would rate Amazon EBS ten out of ten."
"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."
"The tool has different types of volumes, like SSD and HDD."
"The durability and snapshot capabilities are good."
"One of the features I find most valuable is that EBS can be independent. You can attach and detach it from your server."
"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."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"We haven't seen any downtime or challenges when using the services."
"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is secure as it is used under VPC."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"The solution is scalable."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is not easy."
"It would be better to analyze and find a way to merge both the file systems of Linux and Windows."
"There is a lack of awareness and knowledge about Amazon EBS among potential users, which results in underutilization."
"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 product data encryption feature needs improvement."
"If Amazon could add the auto-scaling feature that exists in RDS to the EBS volumes for EC2 or EKS, it would be beneficial."
"The main challenge with Amazon EBS is cost management, as it is a high-performance volume."
"I am still in the learning process regarding Amazon EBS, so I'm not entirely sure what specific improvements are needed."
"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."
"When we faced some issues, the support team took a lot of time to resolve them."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."
"The user activity needs to be more connected."
"Specifically, when it comes to the file system for the learning system, we encountered performance issues with both Azure and AWS."
"The lack of transparency in the costs attached to the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The product's stability has some shortcomings where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"What I want Amazon to do is lower the price."
"I find the price reasonable for our I environment."
"The cost can vary greatly depending on the use case, ranging from one dollar to over $1200 dollars per month."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"The solution is quite costly."
"The product is low-priced than other solutions."
"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 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."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
47%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
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: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.