ExaGrid EX Series vs NetApp FAS Series comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ExaGrid and NetApp are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. ExaGrid is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0, while NetApp is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. ExaGrid holds a 5.0% mindshare in DS, compared to NetApp’s 5.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ExaGrid users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

ExaGrid EX Series

Read 7 ExaGrid EX Series reviews

2,262 Views
2,217 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp FAS Series

Read 111 NetApp FAS Series reviews

12,797 Views
1,792 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

ExaGrid EX Series

NetApp FAS Series

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

ExaGrid EX Series and NetApp FAS Series are competing in the storage solutions market. ExaGrid stands out with its deployment flexibility and support services, while NetApp excels in feature-rich offerings providing greater value albeit at a higher cost.

Features: ExaGrid EX Series includes a unique landing zone for rapid backups and restores, a scale-out architecture for consistent backup windows regardless of data growth, and efficient deduplication technologies. NetApp FAS Series offers robust data management features, cloud service integrations, and extensive protocol support including SAN, NAS, and hybrid cloud configurations.

Room for Improvement: ExaGrid EX Series could enhance its feature set by improving integration capabilities, enhancing long-term data retention speeds, and offering more customization options. NetApp FAS Series may benefit from simplifying complex deployment processes, reducing upfront costs, and improving user interfaces for easier management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ExaGrid provides a straightforward deployment process with excellent support services, making it easier and faster to set up. NetApp FAS Series offers more complex deployment with extensive customization, requiring technical expertise but offering significant configuration flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: ExaGrid EX Series is generally more budget-friendly, focusing on reducing total cost of ownership and quick ROI through efficient deduplication. NetApp FAS Series incurs a higher initial cost, justified by comprehensive enterprise-level features, offering substantial ROI for organizations needing advanced data management capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed ExaGrid EX Series vs. NetApp FAS Series Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series vs. NetApp FAS Series

September 2026

Download the complete report

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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

ExaGrid EX Series

Ranking in Deduplication Software

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp FAS Series

Ranking in Deduplication Software

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

NAS (3rd), Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 5.0%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 5.2%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetApp FAS Series	5.2%
ExaGrid EX Series	5.0%
Other	89.8%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Daniel Gillber

Information Technology advisor at Lotus Consulting

Improvements in data storage efficiency and customer support experience

ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly. It was very simple to use. We rarely needed to touch the ExaGrid boxes, except for upgrades. With the systems engineer from ExaGrid, and with our common knowledge of backup software, it was very easy to use. The performance was good, the interface was good, and the GUI was good. When ExaGrid introduced the air gapped feature, it was almost complete. Almost every hardware vendor has an air gapped feature, but they were significantly ahead of other vendors. The air gapped and immutable storage are very nice features. The price compared to other competitors was good with better features. It is not a cheap product, but compared to the features, it is a good competitor.

Read full review

Geetha Mai A G

Analyst at Sutherland Global Services

Unified storage has protected critical data and supports smooth admin work for diverse workloads

In my experience with NetApp FAS Series, I found the CLI commands to be very valuable and easy to understand, unlike other storage products. I can use just the show command to see something, and it helps me narrow down issues quickly, which makes CLI easy for me. I use snapshot technology in NetApp FAS Series. The snapshot technology has helped me in data protection. For example, during an upgrade of our ONTAP version at my workplace, it did not reflect properly despite the upgrade being completed. I had a VMware snapshot from another team, and that was helpful for me to retrieve the data right after the failed upgrade. I use snapshots frequently, maintaining a snapshot policy of 28 days which allows me to help users retrieve files they are unable to access. In maintaining data integrity in my operations with RAID DP, I see that it helps me significantly. If two or more disks fail, it gives me time to work on replacements. If only one disk fails without RAID DP, I would lose data and connection, but with RAID DP, I have that time to act without losing or making data unavailable to users. The data management features of Data ONTAP are highly valuable for my organization in terms of data security and compliance. I have not experienced data loss or unavailability as I have SnapMirror, Snapshot, and SnapVault in place. This helped prevent escalations. While I faced some access issues or slowness, severe data loss has not been an issue, and I resolve issues within one to two hours with the data integrity these tools provide.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the main features is the landing zone, it is a particular space where the information is not duplicated."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use and data deduplication. It's extremely easy to use and does a very good job of data deduplication and compression."

"It is a solid and a quite simple solution, which is a good combination. The customers like the simplicity and its scale-out capacity. They like the support pricing, and even the extension capacity pricing, a fixed price, which the executive is offering in Czech market."

"ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly."

"The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam."

"The equipment is pretty solid."

"The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the process is fast, ensuring smooth backup and recovery operations at high speeds. However, the process becomes slower for long-term backups moved to the retention zone due to fragmentation. So, if the data is older than a few days, the speed may be limited, especially for non-deduplicated data in the landing zone."

"ExaGrid has improved my organization in the way that we get reliable backups with very little administration."

More ExaGrid EX Series pros

"It saves a lot of time and minimizes downtime, which is important because we're a hospital and we can’t afford much downtime."

"Scalability especially in SMB range has been well-received."

"It is great to see that NetApp is ahead of the game with regard to support for Virtual Volumes – it is also nice to see that the 8.3 release can be installed on older versions of hardware allowing FAS customers, who purchased their systems a number of years ago, to take advantage of Virtual Volumes."

"Overall I think NetApp are finally in a good place with cDOT and they can now put the 7-Mode platform behind them and focus on innovating."

"Flexible and reliable storage solution with multiple features such as cloning, replication, and deduplication. Data migration can be done without any performance implications on the production systems."

"The solution is easy to use."

"It’s a Swiss army knife of capabilities, with flexible platform and software features like thin provisioning, compression, and dedupe that help with capacity utilization and still deliver a lot of return even when following best-practices applications."

"End-users like that they can rely on the Snapshot technology so they can do their restores themselves."

More NetApp FAS Series pros

Cons

"The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap."

"The one place where we are sometimes losing the opportunity with ExaGrid is that a few customers still require a fiber channel connectivity, which is not always possible."

"When speaking about a scale-out, you want to have better equipment. You cannot just add a disc to the foreign equipment. You have to buy another one and put it together, like parallel."

"The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue."

"The support is not that fast to deal with our concerns. It is next day support, they could improve on the speed."

"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."

"The product's documentation can be made more precise."

"We can’t afford Insight, and v6.2 seems like it's a purposefully inferior product to make people buy Insight, which is way too expensive."

"They need to improve the go-to-market for all-flash and converged infrastructure."

"Migration from 7-Mode to Clustered Data ONTAP need improvement. It seems NetApp didn't know how to solve the main problem of migrating data from an old OS (7-Mode ) to Clustered."

"There are some technical limitations, but it would be great to have in-line deduplication and in-line compression for the FAS series as well."

"When getting new hardware, always tell the account manager that you are also considering other brands. They will be forced to adjust the price lower."

"One of the issues that we have had with NetApp in upgrading over the years is that migrating data from one system to another is one-way only."

"It could improve by better integrating with other technologies like VMware, as there are some version conflicts."

"We'd like to get more access to level-two engineers. Sometimes its been a difficult time explaining the problem to level-one people."

More NetApp FAS Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The current agreement has 21 terabytes of free space and it cost approximately $35,000."

"The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past."

"I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten."

"In comparison to other solutions, it's affordable. They're all too expensive."

"My company had to pay 1,60,000 EUR for the system we use, and the payment was made just once for the system and five years of full support."

"The pricing of NetApp FAS Series is not cheap, but in comparison to other vendors, NetApp FAS Series is affordable because they also have deduplication, compression, and inline compression. They focus on storage only, which is really good; it works."

"Cost effective storage for all performance levels (including all-flash)."

"We have considered upgrading to an All-Flash solution but when we evaluated the cost-benefit we discovered that we don't have enough money to invest in it. To maintain the same technology with All-Flash would be too expensive for us."

"In general, I find NetApp to be very expensive. That's the main issue I have with them. So it's a drawback in terms of pricing."

"We purchased it for four years, and it wasn't expensive. It was reasonable. Every company has a different agreement with NetApp. We got everything we wanted with all the bells and whistles and all the features and functionalities."

"It is a moderately low-priced platform."

"The price of the NetApp FAS Series is reasonable and it provides value for the money with the feature sets. NetApp FAS Series are competing with Huawei storage which has an office and does aggressive marketing with a discount. However, we found that if our customers do a technology refresh they are happy with the performance of the NetApp FAS Series."

"The price it not low, but comparing features to other vendors, the price can be balanced."

More NetApp FAS Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	38
Large Enterprise	59

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ExaGrid EX Series?

Everything can always be better, so I would give it a nine.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ExaGrid EX Series?

We used ExaGrid EX Series as a landing zone for Veeam software. Initially they did not have immutable storage, but when they released that feature, we implemented it. We used it with Veeam software...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering ExaGrid EX Series?

I was a customer. My overall rating for ExaGrid EX Series is 9 out of 10.

See all answers

Which SAN product would you choose: IBM FlashSystem (FS9500) vs PureFlash Array/X NVMe vs PureFlash Array/XL NVMe?

Have you considered a NetApp FAS Storage for your NAS needs? I am sure it fits very well.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding its pricing, I believe it is high. I utilize both HDD and SSD, where SSDs are more cost-friendly, yet HDDs are higher in cost, making it not very affordable but still useful. For general ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding improvements for NetApp FAS Series, I think everything is generally good. If there is a need to improve something, they can extend their support. Previously, in my company, I only saw Net...

See all answers

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Compared 21% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp FAS Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series

October 2026

Download ExaGrid EX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp FAS Series

September 2026

Download NetApp FAS Series product report

Also Known As

EX Series

No data available

Overview

ExaGrid EX Series provides ease of use, strong data deduplication and compression, and a fast recovery landing zone. It integrates seamlessly with backup environments and is known for competitive pricing, particularly in the Czech market, despite requiring higher investment.

ExaGrid EX Series is highly valued for onsite backup and recovery, often paired with Veeam software, specifically for virtual machine backups. It offers improved backup and recovery speeds, excellent scale-out capacity, and an innovative air-gapped feature that enhances data protection. The system's integration with Veeam, Oracle Storage, and VMware allows efficient data management. Feedback highlights the need for direct cloud integration and better next-day support parts. There's a call for fiber channel connectivity and enhanced documentation. Transitioning to flash drives is a consideration for more modern infrastructure, although the current technology remains effective.

What are the Key Features of ExaGrid EX Series?

Data Deduplication and Compression: Minimizes storage needs and reduces costs.
Fast Recovery Landing Zone: Ensures quick and reliable data retrieval.
Scale-Out Architecture: Facilitates expansion by adding appliances, optimizing capacity.
Seamless Backup Integration: Works effectively with Veeam, Oracle Storage, VMware.
Air-Gapped Feature: Adds an extra layer of protection against data breaches.

What Benefits Should Users Consider in Reviews?

Improved Backup and Recovery Times: Enhances operational efficiency.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing, especially in certain markets.
Reliable Performance: Delivers high-quality data management and protection.
Simplicity of Use: Reduces complexity in data operations.

ExaGrid EX Series excels in sectors requiring robust data protection, such as finance and healthcare. Its compatibility with Veeam and VMware suits organizations with extensive virtual environments. Industries with stringent data integrity requirements benefit from its air-gapped feature and high deduplication efficiency, ensuring secure operations.

ExaGrid

NetApp FAS Series offers high availability and seamless protocol integration. Known for its robust features such as data replication and efficient storage architecture, it finds use in challenging enterprise environments and virtualization.

NetApp FAS Series delivers valuable enterprise storage capabilities with an emphasis on unified storage architectures supporting SAN and NAS functionalities. Features like high availability, robust snapshot technology, and seamless protocol integration cater to diverse workloads. Data replication through SnapMirror and reliable performance under heavy loads are appreciated. Deduplication and compression enhance storage efficiency while scalability, resilience, and strong customer support further its appeal. Improvements are desired in flexibility, documentation, speed, and affordability. Additionally, its monitoring capabilities and cloud integration need attention. Organizations employ FAS Series for enterprise storage, SQL Server LUNs, Exchange LUNs, VMware, and corporate file sharing.

What are the most notable features of NetApp FAS Series?

High Availability: Ensures continuous access and reduces downtime.
Snapshot Technology: Offers point-in-time copies for data recovery.
SnapMirror: Provides efficient data replication for disaster recovery.
Storage Efficiency: Deduplication and compression optimize storage use.
Cloud Integration: Enhances flexibility with cloud environments.

What benefits should be examined in reviews?

Scalability: Supports expanding storage needs without performance loss.
Reliability: Maintains robust performance under heavy workloads.
Strong Support: Access to helpful customer service resources.
Cost Efficiency: Consider value in context of feature set and performance.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, NetApp FAS Series is implemented for centralized data management, supporting complex protocols like NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI. This enables efficient handling of virtualization, databases, unified storage tasks, and backup solutions crucial for maintaining unstructured data and redundancy.

NetApp

Sample Customers

NCI Group, North Attleborough Public School, North Kingstown School Department, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rathbone Brothers PLC, Rio Hondo College, Ruder Finn, Sarah Lawrence College

Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series vs. NetApp FAS Series

September 2026

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