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Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) 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

Microsoft Azure File Storage
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (5th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (3rd), File and Object Storage (2nd), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 10.0%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Public Cloud Storage Services
 

Featured Reviews

PrashanthR - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamlessly streamlines document processing with advanced file storage and OCR integration
We need to store data over there. We process documents through Kofax Time is a major benefit, as well as ease of processing. With configuration, it happens quite easily, and we can finish tasks early. File storage is complemented by OCR with Azure Cognitive Service. This enhances the processing…
Amarnath Charugundla - PeerSpot reviewer
Unified management and cost-effectiveness lead to positive experiences and future savings
Improvement is necessary wherein the memory or storage should not breach 90%, because if breached, it becomes unmanageable. We have to set alerts or CPU triggering for 95% for the first warning. Other activities on nodes or file systems should be properly maintained. We must monitor the dashboard for P1, P2 alerts in the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) file share system including SMB, NFS, objects, and blocks. Attention should be maintained for any alerts such as CPU, memory, and RAM alerts, as exceeding these creates issues within teams. If triggered to 95% and forgotten, it crosses the SLA breach, causing disturbances to application, web, and platform teams. Continuous monitoring on the Nutanix dashboard is essential. Even a highly experienced person in Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cannot provide a 10 rating out of 10 because it is a vast system. I would rate it eight from my perspective.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My client had zero data loss while using the solution for backups and file security."
"First of all, the solution is very secure. Secondly, the solution is very fast. It is reliable and available all the time."
"This solution supports all file formats."
"It was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server."
"The best part is the accessibility to all the files."
"Azure File Storage gives good value for money, so I don't find it expensive."
"The interface is very good."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Nutanix Unified Storage is a stable solution that provides good storage and efficiency."
"We can utilize mixed storage block-sized objects and combine various databases within a unified interface."
"They have well-documented best practices and the interface is good."
"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the Prism Central centralized management console."
"The interface is quite simple. It is very good. It is easy to configure. It also has a powerful CLI."
"I appreciate its storage licensing model, as it offers flexibility."
"What I appreciate most about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is its user-friendly nature."
 

Cons

"Importing and exporting data needs to have a bit more documentation."
"The product’s pricing could be better."
"There is room for improvement in helping customers understand and integrate Azure File Storage into their operations."
"The transparency of cost should be improved."
"The pricing and technical support could be better."
"It should allow better methods for handling large files."
"There is a limitation on the storage capacity, like four terabytes. It could be improved to accommodate more data."
"It’s a challenge to find the right support person."
"If they can add an integrated DLP feature, it would be great."
"The licensing terms are restrictive, as they go by terabyte cost."
"The interface could be improved."
"The solution should keep adding new features to be competitive in the market."
"There should be more automation."
"The analytics part of Nutanix Unified Storage is too big and should be made smaller and less resource-hungry."
"The integration feature with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) could be improved, maybe into a more stabilized version."
"It is challenging to configure access control settings."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing could be more flexible."
"The pricing is usually dependent on your storage requirements. Overall, I believe Microsoft Azure File Storage's price is reasonable."
"One needs to pay according to the storage they plan to use in the solution. The payments are to be made yearly. It is usually monthly, but we opted for yearly subscriptions in our company."
"There are fewer hidden costs involved compared to other solutions, and when our customer is already a Microsoft partner, they typically have access to more affordable fees."
"The product's pricing need improvement."
"Microsoft Azure File Storage has a reasonable price."
"I think the pricing of the product can be reduced."
"We have Microsoft Azure File Storage's enterprise license."
"Nutanix is very competitive."
"The licensing currently works based on a software license. If we have files, volumes, and other licenses combined, that would be more valuable. I don't want to go for a separate license for files and a separate license for volumes. We have unified storage, so the licensing should also be unified. That would be helpful."
"I assume Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has helped reduce our total cost of ownership."
"Nutanix offers different pricing options, including Ultimate and Ultimate Pro."
"The pricing is a bit too high."
"Nutanix Unified Storage is competitively priced. There aren't any competitors that can do much better for the same price."
"I hope that it will stay the way it is. We have seen the changes in VMware and what happened to them. I have heard that Nutanix will raise the prices, but I hope that they will not do that."
"It is competitive with other vendors, but you get more for your dollars. It is fairly priced, but not cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
32%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?
Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure File Storage?
The pricing for Microsoft Azure File Storage is five out of ten, not so expensive and not so low.
What do you like most about Nutanix Unified Storage?
Nutanix has excellent product documentation available on their portals, written in simple, easy-to-understand language.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Unified Storage?
Nutanix solutions are often perceived as premium-priced, but they deliver substantial ROI in terms of performance, reliability, and ease of use. Organizations should evaluate the TCO holistically, ...
What needs improvement with Nutanix Unified Storage?
In terms of improvement areas for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), pricing is a significant issue, and another aspect is that the export of Nutanix backups does not support CD-ROMs, which is a disadv...
 

Also Known As

MS Azure File Storage
Nutanix Files Storage, Nutanix Volumes Block Storage, Nutanix Objects Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Talon, Camden
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure File Storage vs. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.