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Amazon S3 Glacier vs Microsoft Azure File Storage comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 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 S3 Glacier
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure File Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Amazon S3 Glacier is 17.7%, up from 15.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 10.8%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

ArunDhwaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile data storage improves security and supports increasing data volumes
Amazon S3 Glacier offers robust security features and practically infinite storage, where we can store all kinds of media swiftly. It supports various data types, including semi-structured and raw formats. These features facilitate log management and data dumping since the service is versatile enough to handle large volumes of data and provide necessary security.
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 S3 Glacier is a very cheap storage, where we store infrequently used data."
"AWS Lambda is the most valuable part of the solution because it gives you a code interface for everything."
"AWS does support the ability for user controlled movement of data between regions for business continuance (BC), high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR)."
"Amazon S3 Glacier offers robust security features and practically infinite storage, where we can store all kinds of media swiftly."
"We get free credits from Amazon, and we like the overall stability. We haven't had to rely heavily on their customer success teams, which is a good sign."
"Its auto-scaling capabilities allow us to add data continuously without needing to pre-provision storage."
"The pricing is low, and it's dedicated to archiving is valuable to us."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The functionality is easy."
"I like that Microsoft Azure File Storage works fine and is quick to deploy. It's also easy to connect to it, particularly when connecting it with my on-premise file servers."
"Integration with the entire Azure platform."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure File Storage is the cloud file storage capability."
"It's a stable product."
"It was easy to set up."
"Azure File Storage gives good value for money, so I don't find it expensive."
"My client had zero data loss while using the solution for backups and file security."
 

Cons

"The product needs to improve cloud security."
"However, improvement is needed in pricing and support systems."
"The product takes more time to secure data when the bandwidth is low."
"Amazon S3 Glacier's data retrieval time is slow compared to other AWS storage services and should be improved."
"The pricing is a bit expensive. There is room for improvement in costs."
"The learning curve is very high."
"The solution's cloud storage is very expensive, and users may not be able to afford cloud storage."
"The tool could be made cheaper."
"I have used the file storage explorer in multiple systems, and it seems a bit cumbersome and not very efficient, particularly with authentication. It can be tricky to set it up."
"Considering the enterprise licensing required for the solution, the cost of the solution is an area where the product needs improvement."
"The transparency of cost should be improved."
"Microsoft's technical support could be improved. Their response time is usually high, and it takes considerable time to get a response."
"Lacks integration with other platforms."
"The initial setup is complex. Unless you have done it a few times it, it is going to be hard."
"Some of the procedures are a bit more complex in Azure than in other providers."
"It would be good if they added some features that make the solution easier to access for everyone."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon S3 Glacier is much cheaper than competing products."
"There is no license, you pay for what you use."
"Amazon S3 Glacier has good pricing."
"The product is cheap."
"I've operated with Amazon S3 Glacier in two modes. Firstly, there's the trial mode, where I experimented with the platform, learned its functionalities, and applied it to my work. Secondly, there's the corporate account mode, where my team handles the operations, and I receive billing reports."
"Amazon S3 Glacier is a little expensive solution."
"The price point at which the product is available is pretty good."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive."
"The product must improve its price."
"For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month."
"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."
"The price of Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive, we do not know exactly how the price is calculated."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage has a reasonable price."
"I think the pricing of the product can be reduced."
"We pay for both yearly and monthly licenses. The yearly one is cheaper than the monthly one."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
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 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 S3 Glacier?
I like creating buckets where data can be segregated at a high level and then routing the appropriate data to each designated bucket. In terms of value, I would say that the tool gets the job done ...
What needs improvement with Amazon S3 Glacier?
The cost of retrieval in Glacier is quite high. It would be excellent if Amazon could work on reducing retrieval costs. Another improvement is making Glacier available in all regions.
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 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.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Glacier
MS Azure File Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

King Cpunty, Illumina, Backupify, Nearmap.com, Scribd, Baylor College of Medicine, SoundCloud
Talon, Camden
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon S3 Glacier vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.