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AWS Outposts vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 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

AWS Outposts
Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...
Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
197
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (3rd), HCI (3rd), Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category, the mindshare of AWS Outposts is 15.4%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 6.0%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

PraveenS - PeerSpot reviewer
Has the ability to provide interfaces for events and allows you to work both offline and online
Providing online support has proven to be quite valuable. However, it's important to note that this isn't so much an improvement, but rather a standard practice for solutions like Azure Stack or AWS Outpost. Typically, the respective companies send their engineers for installation at the customer's premises, ensuring on-site support. I recall a similar instance when we requested on-site support for one of our locations in Hyderabad, and Amazon agreed to send their engineers to set up the solution in our office environment. That said, in terms of potential improvements, it would be beneficial to have the option for capacity expansion. When customers opt for a solution like Outpost, they receive a fixed set of capacities in terms of storage, network, and hardware. As design engineers, it's crucial to consider use cases and plan for scalability and sustainability. Having the flexibility to extend these capacities could be valuable. Some engineers may not be aware of future needs, and if there's an opportunity to expand capacity without the need for additional functionality, it would be a helpful feature. This way, we can cater to various needs and ensure the solution remains adaptable in the long run.
MahendraPanchotiya - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a unified platform, reduces downtime, and simple updates
Nutanix offers a unified platform for managing databases, virtual machines, and applications. This simplifies management by consolidating everything into a single interface. While Nutanix may have a higher upfront cost compared to other hypervisors, it can significantly reduce the resources needed for infrastructure management. With our previous hypervisor, we needed nearly ten IT personnel. Nutanix has allowed us to streamline our team to just three members. We use a combination of database technologies, including SQL databases and web servers such as IIS, BHP, and NGINX. Nutanix features helped our organization reduce downtime. I don't recall the last time we had downtime related to Nutanix because it is such a stable product. Nutanix, a reliable product, helps us streamline our processes, which in turn improves company revenue. We began to see the benefits after two years, with a 40 percent reduction in operational costs. We migrated 200 servers from AWS to Nutanix. Nutanix may not consolidate applications, but it helps us run them more efficiently on its platform. Updating is simple with one click. I would rate the updating processes 10 out of 10. Adding compute and storage on demand is not difficult. However, we need to factor in the existing and new firmware and software requirements.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable aspect is that it comes in a rack form factor which makes it incredibly easy to use and deploy various AWS services."
"With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications."
"AWS Outposts brings native AWS services, infrastructure, and API to our on-premises data center or co-location facilities."
"AWS can manage services when deployed on customer sites due to Outposts' capability of being installed in on-premises environments."
"The most valuable aspect is its ability to provide interfaces for events."
"I think the keys to success for the solution is the easy-to-use user interface and the fact that the development team really likes the platform."
"Outposts allows you to isolate your private environment from the public cloud provider while enabling almost all the features that are available on public cloud services. That is the beauty of this service. It's an infrastructure that you can put in your data center and seamlessly connect to the public cloud."
"If you compare with the full bundle of these services, you can see the difference. This is enough for these locations in private data centers. Because the main reasons why the customers want to have it on their side are for the low latency and the security of their critical data."
"We are suggesting Nutanix to the management because of scalability and time efficiency."
"The maintenance software is straightforward because you do not need to do any configuration."
"The hyperconvergence service, as well as the DR solution, are game-changers for Nutanix."
"In terms of scalability, adding a number of nodes, I find that it will not be any issues."
"The most valuable feature is the integration of all parts in Prism Element, the browser-based management tool."
"Nutanix Acropolis AOS is easy to use, integrates with other hardware configurations, and is simple to manage."
"It's easy to use and has a very smooth onboarding process."
"The most valuable feature is the one-click to update the firmware and software."
 

Cons

"Also, it would be beneficial if AWS allowed for more granular and customizable pricing options."
"It would be great if it could support Glue services."
"The platform needs to spend more time investing in strengthening its governance and information tools and consider the real needs of its customers."
"The pricing model needs improvement because right now it's very expensive. All of these solutions are very expensive and it prevents other customers or owners of data centers from buying it."
"Outposts supports elastic coordinator services, but not elastic container services, which is the native service for containers in AWS. That is something missing in this product."
"It would be beneficial to have the option for capacity expansion."
"The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle logistically."
"Depending on the installation process, we have found some bugs and issues with the solution when the same platform is not used."
"We ran into an issue as a managed service provider because Acropolis isn't designed to be used the way we are running it. For example, if we want to deploy a Kubernetes service, the customer networks need to reach our protected cluster network. We have isolated our customers in separate VLANs. However, our customers' networks must access our cluster network to get features like iSCSI or Kubernetes to run. It's challenging."
"This solution offers excellent functionality but could use a stronger interface."
"If they can simplify the software slightly for the installation, that would make all the difference."
"Nutanix needs to improve network features like Passthrough – SR-IOV. It could be improved by supporting SR-IOV, if they had that support, I would not have needed to implement the VMWare vSAN."
"The product needs improvement in the areas of SAN attachment for high capacity and high I/O profile workloads."
"The licenses for Nutanix are very complicated."
"The reporting feature isn't very good."
"In terms of what I would like to see improved, I would say the life cycle management. I don't know if it is because they changed to an LCM from the previous way of upgrading the hardware or software but sometimes it feels that it needs a wizard that says, "Check this, check this," telling you your options. The only thing that's a bit frustrating for me is the life cycle management interface. That's the only thing on the entire system that frustrates me."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers should consider the high cost, which can range from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands depending on the components."
"While the longer-term pricing is suitable for enterprise contracts, it can be on the higher side, especially when organizations don't utilize all the services included in the bundles."
"The pricing of Outposts needs to be evaluated from the standpoint of what's cost-effective at your company: How are you going to use it? How much money will it save for your products or applications? Is it worth it? I would say it's probably too expensive for small or medium-sized companies. However, big companies might find it to be highly cost-effective depending on their respective cloud strategies."
"AWS Outposts is a cheap solution."
"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's core licensing needs to have an upper limit since processors are coming out with incredible numbers of cores on them."
"They should lower the price. If they did they would fall into a more competitive market because the price does scare a lot of potential customers away when they get the quote."
"The solution could be a little less expensive."
"The cost of Nutanix Acropolis AOS is reasonable."
"Able to grow with smaller, more linear increments of investment"
"This product is less expensive than some of the competing HCI solutions."
"Pricing for Nutanix Acropolis AOS is higher. This is one of the reasons why we were looking into other options."
"In terms of the solution's licensing, it's quite comprehensive."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
37%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Outposts?
With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications.
What needs improvement with AWS Outposts?
Outposts is not a simple solution to implement as it needs to be shipped from the US and involves high delivery costs and running costs. The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle ...
What advice do you have for others considering AWS Outposts?
I rate AWS Outposts a nine out of ten, indicating room for some improvement.
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...
How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?
Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from core to edge and multi-cloud environments. It helps IT and OT teams deploy hyper...
Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Philips, Morningstar
St. Lukes Health System, the City of Seattle, Yahoo! Japan, Sligro, Empire Life, Hyundai AUS, and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Outposts vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.