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Azure NetApp Files vs Google Cloud Storage 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

Azure NetApp Files
Ranking in Cloud Storage
7th
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Migration (3rd)
Google Cloud Storage
Ranking in Cloud Storage
2nd
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Azure NetApp Files is 6.8%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Storage is 10.2%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

We can expand our storage on-the-fly without the need to reprovision
Ease of provisioning: It's very easy to consume the product. We are not doing this manually. We are doing this programmatically, but it's very easy and seamless for us to consume it. It's like any other Azure component. It's very good and well-integrated into the ecosystem of Azure. There is tight integration. We didn't need to learn anything new. It feels like we know everything already, although under the hood, the product is something totally different. However, it seemed very easy for us. It's elastic, so it scales with our demands. We can start small, then with the addition of customer loads, we can expand on-the-fly without the need to reprovision something. The performance is quite good, so it's almost on par with the make of SSD storage. It provides a quick, scalable storage solution. We were looking for a supported solution. We didn't want to experiment. We didn't want to look for open source, though we did look into open source initially before we bumped into NetApp. We figured out that adding yet another unknown into our system was not going to bring us benefit. It would be another problem that we would need to tackle. So, we said, "Okay, let's look for a supported solution," and NetApp was one of them. Then, we turned to NetApp.
Naresh Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers great reliability to users
Protection is an area in the product where improvements are required. If big companies want to use the tool for protection purposes, like security, which is a big thing people are looking for nowadays. Sometimes, the tool's user interface automatically puts all the files in a different place, making it a bit difficult to go deep and figure out in which folder a file is present. I need to search for a file and drill down to be able to find it. There are a few bugs in the tool, as with all content management tools, since the solution is usually used to deal with huge amounts of content. If the flow of the documents is huge, the tool might get slow for the end users, or when the data is being migrated or imported into the tools.

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 features of the solution is replication to another region and the performance. The solution is stable. The solution is scalable. The initial setup is straightforward."
"I think the easiest part is, when you do a comparison, it is the throughput versus the cost. And it's much easier to set up."
"The critical features of this solution are SnapMirror for replication, data protection, and SnapLock."
"We use Azure NetApp Files mainly for backup."
"It's elastic, so it scales with our demands. We can start small, then with the addition of customer loads, we can expand on-the-fly without the need to reprovision something."
"It has saved a lot of time. Because in the older, conventional hardware system, they need to raise a ticket to go to storage engineering, then storage engineering would increased the size. Now, it's dynamic. You don't have to do anything. This improved the time by more than 50 percent."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its flexibility."
"Using NetApp Files got us out of a really difficult situation quickly, effectively, and at a reasonable cost."
"Google Cloud Storage is fast, and it's scalable."
"The solution operates in the background and it is attached to my Gmail account. When I download files to my phone, such as pictures, they automatically go to Google Cloud Storage."
"I find the accessibility from various devices to be the most valuable feature of Google Cloud Storage. I also like that it is integrated with Gmail and Google Groups."
"It’s very stable."
"The solution's customer service and support are helpful since they are responsive...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Storage is the filter option. You can search with some artificial intelligence kinds of features. For example, if I search for a beach, it'll show me all the beach-related pictures, which I took five or ten years before. So this is a cool feature that I've seen. They give as many features as they can to make it better, so I'm happy with this solution."
"The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Storage is that I can link with my PC."
"The solution offers versioning, which lets us work together efficiently on a single document. What I like most about Google Cloud Storage is its ease of use and the integration of all Google services. It's very efficient for work."
 

Cons

"We would like for the files which are coming in that we can version them. So, if a file is accidentally deleted, there should have a recycle bin option where we can go back, and at least once, clean it up."
"The deployment process is somewhat complex compared to other storage solutions."
"I don’t like the solution’s configuration and support."
"We would like to have backup functionality built-in so that we don't run into the issue where the replication process makes a copy of the corrupted data."
"This solution would be improved with more innovation."
"Azure NetApp Files could improve by being more diverse to integrate better with other solutions, such as Splunk and the on-premise version. There are some use cases that are not covered natively by Azure. It is not the best solution because it is not external from the cloud which for me is the best type of solution."
"The pricing definitely needs to be improved."
"I would like to see multi-zone redundancy so that I don't have to worry about it. I just back up my data to that one SMB share and I know that it's replicated to a different region."
"The solution is good, however, it would benefit from increased storage without the additional cost."
"Google Cloud Storage could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The user interface could be more intuitive."
"I'd like the solution to integrate better with other clouds, including the Apple cloud."
"I want the product to be available at a cheaper cost."
"I am not sure about the reliability of the solution."
"I would like the ability to query and filter documents to download them according to specific criteria."
"I do not find any areas needing improvement currently."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"NetApp is a premium offering, so it's not a cheap product, but it is well-priced. It combines a couple of properties which customers like us are willing to pay. Could it be cheaper? Yes, but if you combine fully supported, fully managed, easily provisioned, scalable, and quick all in one product, it's a good selling point. You can ask a lot of money for all these. If you have a use case like we do, it's a perfect match. It's like the Porsche of storage solutions in the cloud. It is totally worth the cost."
"The licensing fees for this solution vary, ranging from a single shelf to a full suite."
"It is expensive in small environments, which could be better. The reason is the four terabyte minimum. A one terabyte minimum would be better."
"This solution is very expensive compared to the alternatives."
"Our pricing has not been determined because we are still waiting on additional features."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The performance has improved by about 30 percent."
"The solution’s combination of the ease of use, simplicity, and reduction in IT management versus the cost has helped a lot. It is very fast to deploy. It's very easy to maintain. You don't have to do a lot in the cloud to maintain this thing, so it gives good performance. It's fast to deploy, easy to maintain, and it gives a better performance. These are the most basic three criteria for any application. This saves cost because the manpower you need to deploy is going down. You're getting better performance and not buying new resources. You have resources available in the cloud. It's just a couple of clicks, then you're good to go."
"I pay a yearly subscription fee."
"The solution is free."
"The product is subscription-based. When you pay, you will get more storage."
"I pay monthly for Google Cloud Storage. It could be cheaper, but for now, it's okay."
"I am paying a yearly subscription fee."
"The price of Google Cloud Storage is reasonable when compared to other similar solutions."
"It's about nearly $10,000 USD to use the services on GCP, however, Google gave us a good deal which is why we originally went with them."
"The solution is free unless you want to increase the GB data allowance. There is a cost if you want to increase the size of storage space which is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
35%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
74%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
Comms Service Provider
2%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Azure NetApp Files compare to NetApp ONTAP?
Azure NetApp Files is a Microsoft Azure file storage service built on NetApp technology. The platform combines the file capabilities of Azure and NetApp to move critical file-based applications to ...
What do you like most about Azure NetApp Files?
The availability is good, meaning downtime or network issues rarely occur. The system also offers flexibility, allowing for increases in data volume, IOPS, and other capabilities without requiring ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure NetApp Files?
The solution's competitors like Oracle or Amazon are not cheap either. I think we're paying two million dollars for Azure NetApp Files. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is exp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Storage?
Depending on your setup, Google Cloud Storage is economical, especially if you do not need high stability and scalability. We use it for backup, so the storage that is not used often is affordable.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Storage?
So far, when it comes to security, it meets our needs and requirements, so I have nothing to say about improvements to their services. I do not find any areas needing improvement currently.
 

Also Known As

NetApp ANF, ANF
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SAP, Restaurant Magic
1. Adobe 2. Airbnb 3. Amazon 4. Apple 5. AT&T 6. Baidu 7. Cisco 8. Coca-Cola 9. Dell 10. eBay 11. Facebook 12. Ford 13. Google 13. HP 14. IBM 15. Intel 16. JPMorgan Chase 17. LinkedIn 18. Lyft 19. Microsoft 20. Netflix 21. Nike 22. Oracle 23. PayPal 24. Pinterest 25. Qualcomm 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Tesla 29. Toyota 30. Twitter 31. Visa 32. Walmart 33. WeWork
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure NetApp Files vs. Google Cloud Storage and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.