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NetApp FAS Series vs Panzura CloudFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 12, 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

NetApp FAS Series
Ranking in NAS
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (4th), Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (1st)
Panzura CloudFS
Ranking in NAS
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (4th), Cloud Storage (13th), Cloud Storage Gateways (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 12.3%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Panzura CloudFS is 3.0%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Andy Knauf - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable file management and disaster recovery with minimal overwrites
For me, it is the stability aspect. It is a lot more stable now than it ever has been, but just keeping that stability is important. Previously, a new update would come out, and there might be something wrong with it, or it may not sync up as well as it should, or it may cause something to lose access to the server. We have had some problems in the past, but in the last couple of years, we have not had any issues like we had early on. There could be a slightly better dashboard or a better pane of glass. When something goes wrong somewhere, there should be a little bit better alerting with issues before they become a big problem.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's an easy product to use that is stable and has good performance."
"The ONTAP tools make managing VMware easier."
"It helps us meet all customer requirements. Customers have been using NetApp for many years. They are very satisfied with NetApp and continue to use NetApp and upgrade to new solutions."
"One important feature for customers is its ease of use and continuity, enabling seamless usage across on-premise and cloud environments."
"Snapshot, deduplication, and compression features are valuable."
"The most valuable features are the NAS features and NetApp's excellent support."
"End-users like that they can rely on the Snapshot technology so they can do their restores themselves."
"The most important features are SnapVault, Snapshots, and SnapMirror."
"The main thing in Panzura is that there are three key components: PanFS, NAS, and collaboration. These are strong features, and a big benefit is that you can access everything from anywhere."
"Its most valuable features are the collaboration, the file snapshots, and the data protection the solution provides."
"It is a very solid product. We keep all of our older files on their system. It is easy to restore if a file gets deleted. We have good disaster recovery. It is very reliable and very quick, and we do not have files that get overwritten because it locks the file."
"The assistance of support has been excellent."
"The core function of Panzura CloudFS, with its synchronizing of files across multiple servers, provides us with a much more efficient workflow for our production staff."
"Panzura has not increased its data storage costs."
"Primarily, it is the way Panzura CloudFS handles the file locks and the way these filers, along with the authoritative copy of all our data, which is about 27 terabytes located in an AWS bucket in the cloud, operate."
"Panzura is a hundred percent better than what we had before."
 

Cons

"The product should include an audit log feature."
"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."
"The high cost of the product is an area of concern, so from an improvement perspective, the tool needs to be made cheaper."
"They should add new features to the product."
"I would like to see less latency and higher IOPS."
"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 solution can improve on the replication features."
"No other area for improvement comes to mind other than its price. Making the price more attractive will help this solution have a bigger market share."
"It would be nice if Panzura offered data in increments instead of 25 terabytes per license."
"There are a few file types that do not work well with Panzura CloudFS."
"It has not reduced the data storage cost."
"There are a few file types that do not work well with Panzura CloudFS. Specifically, the GIS data formats, such as a geo database, have been found better kept outside of Panzura CloudFS."
"Master Snapshot feature is the only exceptional feature, but the rest of the features are similar to other storage solutions."
"There could be a slightly better dashboard or a better pane of glass. When something goes wrong somewhere, there should be a little bit better alerting with issues before they become a big problem."
"Previously, a new update would come out, and there might be something wrong with it, or it may not sync up as well as it should, or it may cause something to lose access to the server."
"It should be easy for people not on the network to connect and access their files."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price, compared to competitors, is quite high."
"NetApp FAS Series is a reasonably high-priced solution, partially because we select the configuration that duplicates the entire system."
"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."
"It is a one-time license charge for NetApp FAS Series to run and we pay annually for upgrades and support."
"The licensing cost is on yearly basis."
"Most storage vendors also have software, or licensing bundles, which may offer the required licenses considerably cheaper, but do also maybe offer licenses, which are not needed."
"NetApp FAS Series' pricing is competitive."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with ten being expensive. We pay a one-time purchase price."
"The solution's pricing is on the expensive side."
"It is not bad. It is like everything else. Pricing has gone up quite over the last couple of years, but everybody's pricing has gone up. For what they deliver, it is right in line with what everybody else has."
"The pricing seems high on certain products and features, such as the audit feature of Panzura Data Services. They should consider more attractive pricing for companies of our size. The renewals are yearly, but the pricing is a little high for us."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
61%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
3%
Computer Software Company
16%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What are the products that Panzura provides?
Panzura offers four main products: CloudFS, data services, smart apps, and global services. They call this "all-in-one solution" and it's for end-to-end cloud data management. Why is it called that...
What kind of industries does Panzura serve?
Hello, I think businesses from all industries that have their data on a cloud can benefit from Panzura. Especially if you have offices in various locations or your employees are working from home a...
Why was Panzura acquired? Is the acquisition going to cause a change?
I think Panzura may change in a positive direction now that it's been bought by Profile Capital. That's a very big investment company for technology businesses and I think it's an opportunity for ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Panzura Freedom
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College
Petrofac, Komatsu, HCA Healthcare, Vanguard, Disney, Pokemon, US Department of Justice, Gensler, Fluor, AFRY, Milwaukee Tool, Navy Federal Credit Union, TechTarget
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp FAS Series vs. Panzura CloudFS and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.