Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs Google Drive Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

CTERA Enterprise File Servi...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
10th
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
12th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (3rd), NAS (9th), Cloud Migration (7th), Cloud Backup (13th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (9th), Cloud Storage Gateways (2nd)
Google Drive Enterprise
Ranking in Cloud Storage
8th
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is 3.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Drive Enterprise is 2.2%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Igal Muginstein - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers flexibility, fast performance, and ransomware protection
The platform is releasing new features at a fast pace, which sometimes leads to version updates every three to six months. Although updates are generally not complex, it is challenging to stop the production environment during these updates, even if the downtime is just a few minutes. This is a common challenge across all NAS providers. From my perspective, the most important area for improvement is developing a method to perform updates without affecting customer production environments. Additionally, there are some cache size limitations that might become problematic for future use cases, though they don’t impact current applications. Collaboration for NFS and SMB protocols could also be enhanced. Although this issue isn't specific to CTERA, it is something we are working on together to improve. The quality of the versions has improved, but occasional issues still arise. All solutions face this challenge, but we hope to see a continued reduction in the number of bugs. That said, we haven't had any major production problems in the last four years, and we appreciate how responsive CTERA is to our issues. We engage in brainstorming sessions together, and we value this relationship.
AshwinMor - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the most simplest and easiest UI to use
I would not like many changes in the tool, but I think the 15 GB space provided by Google Drive Enterprise needs to be increased to around 25 five GB, as it would be really helpful for users. These days, the resolution of pictures and everything else has been increased. If you take a picture from an iPhone, it could easily be of around seven to eight GB. Photos are memories that one would want to keep or store properly. I believe that it is not possible to save a lot of photos in Google Drive Enterprise since it only provides 15 GB to users. The product does not offer a bit more storage space for users, which makes it an area that needs to be considered for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"CTERA has been particularly capable of keeping all of our workstations backed up. That became a critical feature for us during the pandemic when computers were rarely in the office. Everybody went off-site with their computers, and we were accustomed to working with a centralized storage infrastructure where people would come to the office and connect to the server to use, create, and modify files. Everything was done directly to that server."
"The solution provides data eviction, where unused data is evicted from the local file, freeing up space. It also allows data to be rehydrated from the cloud when needed."
"The features I find most valuable are in the gateways themselves. They have done a great job over the years of providing insight into what is happening with our products, with the batches that come through that are scanned. I enjoy that part of it, and it is fairly easy to use from our standpoint once we get to know the product."
"Our main reason for going for this solution was the uncontrollable growth of file data. It was unsustainable on our previous platform or technology. We needed something scalable like CTERA, so it was the scalability that we required."
"CTERA is a very scalable product, allowing us to grow."
"It is a three-in-one solution for us. It is a file-sharing platform, an archiving solution, and also a backup solution."
"The CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is a hybrid solution that supports both on-premises and cloud environments."
"The solution provides substantial flexibility, allowing the separation of workloads across various hardware platforms without vendor lock-in. This flexibility makes it adaptable to future infrastructure changes."
"It is an easily scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Google autosaves your work, which means you won't lose things."
"It's very convenient for me. I used to work in a corporate setting with shared servers and workspaces."
"The solution's most valuable features are its performance and availability."
"Compared to other solutions such as Microsoft, this solution offers faster synchronization."
"It allows multiple users to work simultaneously on a document."
"When we collaborate on a team project, everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the project."
"I like the ease with which you can share files securely with the team. It makes file and information sharing much easier than sending attachments."
 

Cons

"Stability-wise, we just went through one issue that they addressed. We were having cloud sync issues."
"It has a learning curve."
"However, in some cases, they could improve performance."
"One of the bigger things that I would like to see is additional logging. There are logs in there. They provide us with the initial logs on what is happening on our CTERA device. I appreciate that, but they do not give us any further information. I would like to have more information on the logs themselves."
"The new Edge filer that they have comes with a lot more features than what we purchased. It would be better if we are able to add those extra features without having to swap out the hardware. A clear upgrade path for legacy customers would be beneficial."
"I am looking for a process where version upgrades do not impact the customers. There is no downtime."
"One suggested improvement for the CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is the ability to distribute data across multiple active backend storage nodes rather than the current limitation of a single active node."
"It would help to have a global single-pane-of-glass view of all my CTERA devices. We have different regions, and we must log in to each portal to see what's happening with those. It would be nice to have a single portal to see the health of the devices, versions, and firmware upgrades. Sometimes, we want to dive into something more complex, like investigating why CTERA storage usage grew from 2 terabytes to 4 terabytes in a week. That's a little challenging. It's something we would like to see on the road map."
"I had some issues with permissions at first. I have to ask for Drive permissions because I'm a new doctoral student. Sometimes I have to ask for permission because I can't access this kind of document, but recently they fixed that by adding me to their team. Now I can access any document that my department supervisors and staff share on Drive."
"Google Drive Enterprise is expensive. Google Sheets APIs need improvement."
"It's a cloud-based product that is stable and secure, but I would like to see more security features added."
"Improvements could include better editing features within a Word document, similar to the characteristics of on-premises versions, such as more formatting functions. Another improvement could be file transfer from the browser to the desktop, making it as simple as drag and drop."
"A separate interface to give users a summary of how they've shared items on the drive would be useful. You can end up having a lot of stuff and the sheer amount can end up making users feel a little bit lost in terms of knowing who they've actually shared items with."
"I would like to see larger storage capabilities."
"If you have different accounts, you have to log out and log in to access the accounts. This could be improved by removing this requirement. The storage limit could also be increased."
"The solution is relatively new and takes some time to get used to."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is fairly priced. I am not too involved in the pricing of what we used to pay, but it would have reduced the cost of ownership. I cannot give a figure, but the EMC solution was very expensive compared to CTERA."
"I find the pricing reasonable. They offered us deals that helped us. Especially with the upgrade to a bigger unit last year, they were helpful with the deal."
"CTERA's pricing model is competitive compared to other companies that achieve the same thing. Their closest rival is Nasuni, and CTERA is significantly more affordable than Nasuni."
"It is hard to compare the costs if we want to retain the same model of a separate high-performance storage or certain things, but it is one of the cheapest solutions available in Israel."
"So far, pricing seems to be fine."
"CTERA's pricing seems to be on par with some of the other players, such as Nasuni and Azure. They all have benefits, but CTERA is competitive for its features."
"I pay for the additional storage. Otherwise, it's free as a basic plan, 15 GB."
"The product is not expensive."
"The price of Google Drive Enterprise is affordable and is one of its best features. I am on a monthly subscription."
"It has a yearly license."
"I use the free version of the product."
"I use the free version."
"Google Drive Enterprise is free for everyone to use."
"Google Drive's price is lower than competitors. I have two accounts, including one with Apple that I use to manage some pictures and contact. I use Apple Cloud for only this purpose. I use Google Drive for everything else. Compared to Google, the price of Dropbox is high and the solution isn't good."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Storage solutions are best for your needs.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
69%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Educational Organization
4%
University
3%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
12%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
I find the pricing reasonable. They offered us deals that helped us. Especially with the upgrade to a bigger unit last year, they were helpful with the deal.
What needs improvement with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
One of the bigger things that I would like to see is additional logging. There are logs in there. They provide us with the initial logs on what is happening on our CTERA device. I appreciate that, ...
What is your primary use case for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
We use CTERA in almost every site we use. It is the platform for every commercial site that we have in the world. We have around 198 of their devices locally, and we also have CTERA devices in our ...
What do you like most about Google Drive Enterprise?
With Google Drive Enterprise, multiple people can edit a document, and you can open it as Google Docs.
What needs improvement with Google Drive Enterprise?
Google Drive Enterprise is expensive. Google Sheets APIs need improvement.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Drive Enterprise, Google Drive
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McDonald's, WPP, US Navy, Gore, Festo, Stryker, Bezeq, PERI
Journal Communications
Find out what your peers are saying about CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs. Google Drive Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.