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HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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

HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp FAS Series
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (4th), NAS (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.9%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 19.2%, up from 16.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania - PeerSpot reviewer
Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments
We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.
Paweł Jabłoński - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for VMs with replication a feature, but need upgraded SSDs
We use this solution. I configured and updated it. Of course, I was also a user of applications that store data on that storage. We already have an SSD solution. So, rather than planning to go with an SSD solution, we are focusing on expanding it. If a company wants to deploy something new, it should choose a product with SSD, and NVMe disks. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."
"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."
"The product is very easy to deploy."
"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."
"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."
"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."
"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."
"It is a scalable solution."
"We can manage our applications from a single dashboard."
"Snapshot, deduplication, and compression features are valuable."
"The solution is stable."
"Reliable storage solution with an easy setup. It has high availability and makes single file restoration easy. It also has good stability and scalability."
"It is good to have a unified storage where you can have block and file level protocols."
"Has rock solid reliability and is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is SnapMirror."
 

Cons

"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."
"It should show more options for cloud backup support."
"Synchronized replication is very important for MSA; however, HPE StorageWorks MSA doesn't provide synchronized replication."
"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."
"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."
"The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."
"The biggest issue we face is parts delivery. There's no local warehouse in Myanmar, so if a customer encounters a technical problem like an IMEI issue, they have to wait a long time for replacement parts."
"The user interface could be improved to have better graphics and the performance analyzer could be better."
"Currently, the newest release is not HCI friendly."
"We would like to have further integration with some backup products. They have some of them already, but there could be more."
"We are not able to connect to the support of NetApp from Sudan. We have to go through many agents for support, which makes it difficult."
"We're supposed to have used NetApp FAS Series for replication, but then one of the nodes failed, and then it's taken us some time to bring it up."
"Technical support needs to be improved, as there are no longer partners in our country."
"There is room for improvement in deployment and configuration processes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"It's not cheap, but at the same time, it's also inexpensive. It's somewhere in between."
"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’s difficult for us to get money, so make sure you get everything in order, because there’s no going back and saying “oh, I missed this or that”, so make sure you plan well and well in advance."
"If we want a ransomware solution with the product or other extended features, we need to pay an extra cost."
"it’s not an inexpensive solution and it may not be for the cost-sensitive customer."
"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 only area that could be improved is to lower prices for their All Flash FAS."
"Low-priced product, but pricing could still be made more attractive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
61%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.
What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?
It needs more details on how to integrate with the cloud for backup scenarios. It should show more options for cloud backup support.
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp FAS Series?
Cost is a big factor in our decision-making process. When we're buying storage, the first thing we look at is how much we're paying per gigabyte. Cost has been the driving factor when choosing this...
 

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE MSA vs. NetApp FAS Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.