Amazon S3 vs Microsoft Azure File Storage comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Public Cloud Storage Services category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 11.5% mindshare in PCSS, compared to Microsoft’s 10.8% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon S3

Read 81 Amazon S3 reviews

5,148 Views
2,759 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure File Storage

Read 48 Microsoft Azure File Storage reviews

3,050 Views
2,577 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Amazon S3

Microsoft Azure File Storage

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 2024

Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure File Storage are prominent cloud storage solutions offering distinct advantages. Amazon S3 holds the upper hand due to its higher scalability and better integration, while Microsoft Azure File Storage shines in hybrid compatibility and seamless collaboration.

Features: Amazon S3 provides high availability, flexible storage options, and extensive integration with AWS services. Microsoft Azure File Storage supports SMB protocols, achieves easy scalability, and offers robust security features.

Room for Improvement: Amazon S3 users desire enhanced usability, clearer billing structures, and improved cross-platform compatibility. Microsoft Azure File Storage users seek better support, improved performance for large file transfers, and enhanced user interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon S3 is noted for swift deployment and reliable support, despite a steep learning curve. Microsoft Azure File Storage is recognized for straightforward deployment and efficient customer service, with occasional performance issues noted.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon S3 is acknowledged for its cost-effectiveness and significant ROI. Microsoft Azure File Storage is appreciated for competitive pricing but raises concerns about long-term cost efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon S3 vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3 vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage

March 2025

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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

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

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

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 is 11.5%, down from 14.1% 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

Vagner Martins

Information Security Analyst at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Enhanced data security with seamless integration and static website capabilities

S3 is a great service offering numerous possibilities. It allows for storing objects and files of various types. I appreciate its capability to create static websites and integrate with services like CloudFront, EC2, and DynamoDB. Despite being focused on security, I leverage features such as cryptography and integration with CloudTrail.

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PrashanthR

Lead Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

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…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We appreciate that this solution is relatively easy to use, straightforward, and reliable."

"Amazon S3 has multiple types of data detection. You can store data on a monthly basis, yearly basis, and long term basis."

"The solution is good and includes all the features we expect."

"The most valuable features are unlimited storage, scalability, and performance."

"The initial setup is not difficult or overly complex. It's very straightforward and easy to implement."

"It allows for storing objects and files of various types."

"The best thing about S3 is the security."

"An important feature of the Amazon S3's system is that it offers encryption while the files are at rest. This is crucial in ensuring the security of the files being restored and addressing potential security risks. That's what I would emphasize."

More Amazon S3 pros

"The most significant aspect of Microsoft Azure File Storage is its life cycle functionality, which enables us to transfer files to various storage options, such as hot storage, full storage, and archive. This feature is crucial since we can apply a life cycle method to files that have not been in use for an extended period, and then move them to a cheaper cold storage option to save costs. Since the newest files are stored in the hot storage, it met our specific requirements. Consequently, older files can be transferred to archive and cold storage."

"The initial setup is straightforward and takes approximately twenty minutes."

"What I like about Microsoft Azure File Storage is its convenience for customers, cost-effectiveness, and high availability."

"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 security features and the ease of integration are good."

"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."

"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."

"The initial setup is very seamless."

More Microsoft Azure File Storage pros

Cons

"The console could be improved - it's not very user friendly for non-technical guys."

"The installation could be more straightforward for inexperienced users."

"The down side is the web app should be aware of all the features that S3 provides in order to leverage its full potential."

"The tool helps us with data backup storage of payment files and helps us avoid issues with clients when we miss the data. For instance, in the payment file of my Google client, you can find details of one-to-one transactions like the payment information on the file header, payment ID, payment client ID, group headers, etc. We get these details into the file format of ISO which is the accepted format at JP Morgan & Chase. Once we get the file format, we process it through S3."

"In the next release, I think that it would be good to have wizards that would update into specific applications, for example, a one-touch configuration in Pagemaker."

"The query size in Amazon S3 has room for improvement because it's limited. Querying on Amazon S3 is also expensive with Amazon Athena, so that's another area for improvement in the solution."

"Amazon S3 could improve some of the features, such as indexing, or we should have more information about all the data stored in a single place. This way we can see what data resides where instead of going in different buckets, file locations manually, or searching. An index would be nice, allowing us to directly go to a location to use the date."

"Technical support could have a faster response time."

More Amazon S3 cons

"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 transparency of cost should be improved."

"It’s a challenge to find the right support person."

"The product’s pricing could be better."

"Considering the enterprise licensing required for the solution, the cost of the solution is an area where the product needs improvement."

"The tool needs to add more controls and enhance Power BI. For instance, I'm just suggesting the visualization layer. Power BI can increase visualization as much as possible, and the product can add more controls to the data flows."

"The solution should support all the legacy storage systems."

"The security could always be modernized."

More Microsoft Azure File Storage cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the Amazon S3 is low. The license model is based on what you use."

"The license of Amazon S3 is based on volume, capacity, and time. The overall price of the solution could improve. The support has to be added if you want it at an additional cost."

"With S3 Standard, there is not a charge for deletion of objects."

"The cost of Amazon S3 is low. For R & D purposes there is a free option available. There is a license needed to use the solution."

"The cost of Amazon S3 could be better. As the number of data increases, you'll pay more for Amazon S3. It's around $200, which is okay, but my company uses it less often."

"The price of Amazon S3 depends on various variables. However, the price overall is fair."

"The cost varies based on the type of subscription you chose."

"The licensing is pay as you go, and I'm happy with the pricing."

More Amazon S3 pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is usually dependent on your storage requirements. Overall, I believe Microsoft Azure File Storage's price is reasonable."

"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."

"The product's pricing need improvement."

"For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month."

"The price of Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive, we do not know exactly how the price is calculated."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. The pricing model is based on usage."

"The pricing could be more flexible."

"I give the pricing of the solution a seven out of ten."

More Microsoft Azure File Storage pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

77%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon S3?

We can easily connect to the AWS resources.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon S3?

S3 is a pay-as-you-go service. I pay based on the data volume I am using.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon S3?

There is a limitation with the data upload size, such as the five terabytes restriction. I would like to see an increase in the data upload limit, similar to DynamoDB, where there is no data limit.

See all answers

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...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Azure File Storage?

The product is a reliable cloud solution.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

Comparisons

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon S3

Compared 21% of the time

Oracle Cloud Object Storage vs Amazon S3

Compared 16% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon S3

Compared 13% of the time

Rackspace Cloud Files vs Amazon S3

Compared 7% of the time

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Amazon S3

Compared 5% of the time

More Amazon S3 Competitors

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

Compared 48% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 19% of the time

Wasabi vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon S3 Glacier vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 6% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Azure File Storage Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3

March 2025

Download Amazon S3 product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure File Storage

March 2025

Download Microsoft Azure File Storage product report

Also Known As

S3, Simple Storage Service

MS Azure File Storage

Overview

Amazon Simple Storage Service is storage for the Internet. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.

Amazon S3 has a simple web services interface that you can use to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Fully managed file shares that use the standard SMB 3.0 protocol

Key scenarios:

Share data across on-premises and cloud servers
Migrate file share-based applications to the cloud with no code changes
Integrate modern applications with File storage
Simplify hosting for high availability workload data

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Netflix, Airbnb, Thomson Reuters, Zillow, Alert Logic

Talon, Camden

Buyer's Guide

Amazon S3 vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage

March 2025

Free Report: Amazon S3 vs. Microsoft Azure File Storage

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