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Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs Microsoft Azure Block Storage comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 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

Google Cloud Storage Nearline
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Block Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Storage Nearline is 9.4%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Block Storage is 0.9%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

AmitKumar36 - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, seamless, and scalable document storage with AI and analytics integration, providing reliable support
The solution is very flexible in terms of scalability. It is an online service, so we can scale it anytime with some pre-planning. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. As for the users using this solution in our organization, that varies according to what time of the day and what day it is, but it goes around 2,000 to 3,000 users. The maximum is about 3,000. On average, it stays somewhere between 2,000 and 1,800.
MatsHagberg Olsson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Empowers secure data management with affordable tools and minimal hassle
The most valuable feature is that it's very affordable in comparison to competitors. The absolute best feature is the Azure Storage Explorer tool. The tool allows me to download to my device, control access, and manage data with ease. Additionally, the joint use of Azure portal further facilitates management depending on my location.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The capacity and space on offer are excellent."
"I find the flexibility in storing documents or data and the ease of retrieval valuable with this solution."
"Nearline is highly stable."
"The data structure and the types of data that are supported are very good."
"Google is always introducing new features and tends to have a new release every month."
"The most valuable feature of Nearline is the access. It's helpful to move data that is generated once a month, such as salary information, to Nearline."
"It can isolate files and stop them from corrupting other files."
"It provides the necessary support and flexibility to manage data storage effectively, especially during times of variable data flow."
"This is a very robust and flexible solution."
"Microsoft Azure Block Storage has high-security features and is very reliable. Its maintenance is done through the cloud, which reduces costs."
"The ability to increase and scale out is really easy, allowing us to manage a large amount of data with reduced dependency on scalability issues."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"RBAC, access control, soft delete, hard delete, and cool and hot storage tiers are some of the features I have found valuable in Azure Block storage."
"It has capabilities such as versioning and, from a security point of view, you can also back it up."
"The solution has introduced cool-tier storage that allows us to store and save data."
"The product’s security features are valuable."
 

Cons

"The solution needs to offer better System Information and Event Management (SEIM). I'd like to discover how we could implement something like that within Google's cloud."
"The UI could be a little bit more effective."
"They should provide more options or flexibility in terms of pricing."
"The suggestion for improvement primarily revolves around cost efficiency."
"The interface for managing file storage in the buckets could be improved."
"Nearline security could be better. The solution could integrate better with SEIM tools."
"They need a better, more visual, user interface for folders and files."
"The pricing is quite high."
"The scalability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"There are capacity limitations that could be expanded."
"Microsoft Azure Block Storage can improve the configuration to be more user-friendly."
"I find the user interface of newer versions, particularly, the flows, not user-friendly. The UI of Azure’s initial version was very comfortable. I didn’t have to remember floor menus. I knew where I had to go to see the logs or grab configuration parameters."
"The platform's technical support services could be enhanced. They could provide better resolution and improve the response time."
"Maybe considerations on security regulations and hardware vendor information might be useful."
"There is a drawback or limitation to the GRS storage feature because depending on the amount of data, it could take a lot of time."
"I want to see my region added to the data center. I'm in Africa, and if a data center is specifically added under Central Africa, that will reduce data latency when accessing data."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Google Cloud Storage Nearline is very inexpensive. It costs us less than $50 a month to store our files. We use approximately 10 terabytes. Overall, I would rate the product a five out of five for affordability."
"Right now, for the number of servers and the storage that I have, I would say I'm charged between $125 and $150 per month."
"The price of scaling the solution is not expensive."
"The storage part costs us $223. That's on a monthly basis for 20TB of data storage."
"The product is costlier than Amazon S3."
"In terms of pricing, Azure is quite cheaper than AWS. However, I have recently read that Oracle Cloud Generation 2 storage is quite cheaper than Azure. I haven't used it yet. We need to look at a customer's requirements, and, based on that, we can suggest the storage. You can save at least 20% with Azure as compared to AWS, which is quite costly."
"The price of Microsoft Azure Block Storage has a fair price. However, the price could be lower."
"I would rate Azure a three out of ten for pricing."
"We pay around $300 to $400 a month for some scenarios where consumption is limited. However, going forward, we're seeing the likelihood of the cost coming to around $2,000 as consumption rises."
"The price of Microsoft Azure Block Storage could be less expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
The most valuable feature of Nearline is the access. It's helpful to move data that is generated once a month, such as salary information, to Nearline.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
The pricing of the different storage classes is hard to compare. The higher the zone, the higher the price. The advantage is that you can access the data frequently, and the speed of the response i...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Storage Nearline?
The UI could be a little bit more effective. Now, the UI is just a white background, but it's really helpful if there are options to change the theme. I prefer that.
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
We use the solution to develop SaaS platforms on Azure. We utilize various Microsoft components like block storage and databases for this purpose.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
Pricing could be rated as eight out of ten. It is reasonable, however, it can be cheaper.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Block Storage?
At the moment, I do not have anything specific in mind for improvements. The most important thing for me is accessibility and easy provisioning to multiple servers with different vendors.
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Azure Block Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Mazda, BlinkBox, Rakuten Showtime, Xbox One, Serko, ChronoDrive
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Storage Nearline vs. Microsoft Azure Block Storage and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.