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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 March 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.2%, up from 17.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 18.5%, up from 15.7% 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

"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."
"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."
"The product is very easy to deploy."
"It has notably provided scalability benefits."
"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."
"The simple configuration feature is great. It is very simple, allowing you to set up MSA very easily."
"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
"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."
"​NAS stability"
"The new FAS series is a good fit for some customers. We have good performance and capacity, even though it is full flash."
"It is good to have a unified storage where you can have block and file level protocols."
"It allows our Windows and Unix teams to have a centralized point to share data between the two."
"Adaptive balancing is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable features are compression and dedupe."
"The tool's most valuable features are ease of use, ease of access, expandability, availability, and performance. NVMe drives have improved their performance."
"The most valuable feature of the NetApp FAS Series is the snapshot and the FlexClone for Oracle and Microsoft SQL environments. Additionally, the integration can be done with most all on-premise and cloud providers."
 

Cons

"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."
"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."
"The solution requires hardware."
"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."
"It should show more options for cloud backup support."
"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."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."
"The AutoSupport could be improved to be more proactive in certain cases."
"The adoption of the cloud in Argentina is very slow. Customers do not move most of their applications to the cloud. Moving applications is a simple task, but the cost is a concern in Argentina. There is an opportunity there for NetApp with Cloud Volumes ONTAP."
"I would like to see NetApp add incident support."
"With scalability, we feel the system is limited."
"It lacks automatic tiering, When you use data, some of it goes cold. It is not hot data, so the system should automatically move that data to the SATA, while the hot data is kept on tier-one, the SaaS or SSD drives."
"NetApp could improve costs while making the solution more straightforward to use and deploy."
"We have some experience with older equipment end-of-life. For example, when warranty support stops or updates stop – it can be frustrating. Not all clients can buy a new filer every year or two, and NetApp ending support a bit quickly can be a concern."
"They should add new features to the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is 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."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"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."
"I've sold arrays for as little $20,000 USD and as high as $300,000 USD."
"There are products available in market with comparatively lower costs."
"NetApp FAS Series is a reasonably high-priced solution, partially because we select the configuration that duplicates the entire system."
"The pricing of NetApp FAS Series is reasonable for its performance."
"The licensing cost is on yearly basis."
"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."
"I don't recall the price, but in general, pricing can always be better."
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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.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.