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Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Microsoft Azure File Storage comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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 EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Storage (4th), File and Object Storage (8th)
Microsoft Azure File Storage
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Public Cloud Storage Services (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Cloud Services solutions, they serve different purposes. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is designed for Cloud Storage and holds a mindshare of 8.0%, down 9.9% compared to last year.
Microsoft Azure File Storage, on the other hand, focuses on Public Cloud Storage Services, holds 10.8% mindshare, down 13.3% since last year.
Cloud Storage
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Nov 21, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

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.
PrashanthR - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamlessly streamlines document processing with advanced file storage and OCR integration
We need to store data over there. We process documents through Kofax Time is a major benefit, as well as ease of processing. With configuration, it happens quite easily, and we can finish tasks early. File storage is complemented by OCR with Azure Cognitive Service. This enhances the processing…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"I appreciate Amazon's extensive range of services, which makes it a favorable choice."
"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."
"The solution is scalable."
"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."
"The platform is highly scalable."
"We haven't seen any downtime or challenges when using the services."
"We can run code and deploy it whenever we want."
"The tool offers a secure way to access storage. You can also easily share the files securely across Azure."
"It was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server."
"The profile management option is another valuable feature that allows us to manage the profiles and secure them."
"It is very easy to use SSTP and some traditional code to move the data into a database because we can easily use the permissions and we don't have any integration or conversion issues."
"Azure File Storage gives good value for money, so I don't find it expensive."
"General user familiarity with Office 365 products make adopting this solution easy to adopt in production."
"The product can integrate with all platforms. My team also does data visualization, and Power BI can directly connect with those nodes. We can very conveniently connect with multiple tools for our database. The benefit here is that by utilizing the same storage application, my application is linked with their application through the same server. This setup provides real analytics and data for a holistic purpose, which is advantageous."
"The functionality is easy."
 

Cons

"It could be better in connecting with Windows Server instances."
"I don't have notes on improvements."
"The lack of transparency in the costs attached to the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Specifically, when it comes to the file system for the learning system, we encountered performance issues with both Azure and AWS."
"The product's stability has some shortcomings where improvements are required."
"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."
"EFS could be improved by including a one-click setup."
"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."
"They can improve the ability to assign permissions to different groups or users."
"Some of the procedures are a bit more complex in Azure than in other providers."
"The integration of the site storage with SQL was not completely seamless."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage needs more integrations. In the future, I also want to see GRC added to the portal. If you enroll or sign up for Azure services, your country may not have GRC available in the portal, so you may have to choose a strange country, for example, Kenya, to activate credit."
"The initial setup is complex. Unless you have done it a few times it, it is going to be hard."
"There is a limitation on the storage capacity, like four terabytes. It could be improved to accommodate more data."
"The security could always be modernized."
"There is room for improvement in helping customers understand and integrate Azure File Storage into their operations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"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."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"The price is comparable to other competitive solutions."
"The product must improve its price."
"The pricing could be more flexible."
"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."
"The pricing is usually dependent on your storage requirements. Overall, I believe Microsoft Azure File Storage's price is reasonable."
"The price of Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive, we do not know exactly how the price is calculated."
"One needs to pay according to the storage they plan to use in the solution. The payments are to be made yearly. It is usually monthly, but we opted for yearly subscriptions in our company."
"I think the pricing of the product can be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure File Storage?
The price is almost the same as the competition. I would rate it three or three and a half out of ten on the pricing scale.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure File Storage?
Some chunking logics need to be better to address issues with processing bigger files. It should allow better methods for handling large files.
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Azure File Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
Talon, Camden
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage and other solutions. Updated: August 2024.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.