NetApp StorageGRID vs Pure Storage FlashBlade comparison

NetApp and Pure Storage are both solutions in the File and Object Storage category. NetApp is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while Pure Storage is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8. NetApp holds a 5.9% mindshare in FaOS, compared to Pure Storage’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

NetApp StorageGRID

Read 16 NetApp StorageGRID reviews

3,010 Views
3,010 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Read 38 Pure Storage FlashBlade reviews

5,410 Views
3,679 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

NetApp StorageGRID

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID compete in the storage solutions category. FlashBlade appears to have the upper hand in speed and performance, whereas StorageGRID is favored for its effective storage management and cost-efficiency in larger deployments.

Features: Pure Storage FlashBlade is known for its high throughput, low latency, and easy scalability, making it suitable for environments demanding rapid data access. Customers appreciate its replication features and simple management interface. In contrast, NetApp StorageGRID is recognized for deduplication, compression, and robust data security. Customers value its storage management capabilities and object storage solutions.

Room for Improvement: Pure Storage FlashBlade could enhance its cloud integration and deduplication capabilities. Users recommend improvements in API support and lowering licensing costs. Additionally, there's a call for quicker resolution of issues by support teams. For NetApp StorageGRID, users highlight integration difficulties with Active Directory and suggest better pricing and marketing strategies. Improved metadata management and visibility are also suggested.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID offer on-premises and private cloud deployment options. FlashBlade stands out for proactive support but has noted a decline in support quality. Meanwhile, StorageGRID provides consistent customer satisfaction with quick support response times.

Pricing and ROI: Pure Storage FlashBlade is considered expensive but delivers excellent ROI due to performance and simplicity in storage management. It is viewed as a valuable investment for its powerful features. NetApp StorageGRID is competitively priced within its market but is seen as mid-range to high in cost. While it achieves effective cost reductions, only some users note significant ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

June 2025

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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 StorageGRID

Ranking in File and Object Storage

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Ranking in File and Object Storage

8th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (16th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.9%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage

Featured Reviews

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Object-based storage and offers intuitive management tools, making it easy to configure and maintain

The only thing missing is flexibility in configuration to cater to specific customer requirements. Another area of improvement is marketing. NetApp's marketing of StorageGRID isn't optimal. They should present it more effectively, especially in regions like Pakistan. Here, I haven't seen any marketing campaigns from NetApp for StorageGRID or the Solid State Platform (SSP). While StorageGRID is a globally recognized product, I haven't seen any marketing efforts from NetApp in Pakistan. Even competitors are promoting object storage solutions here, but NetApp seems less efficient in selling StorageGRID. There might be one or two customers, but even as a NetApp partner, I'm not aware of any major sales. I've been trained on StorageGRID, and it is a good product. I'm unsure why it hasn't gained traction in Pakistan compared to other countries. So, I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan. I'm pretty confident that if we have one example of successful StorageGRID implementation in Pakistan, other customers will follow suit.

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Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us

The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Right now, we have an older StorageGRID. I like that we can grow it."

"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."

"The technical support team is reliable and responsive."

"StorageGRID is designed for cloud-based, highly scalable storage. Think big names like service providers like Google who need massive storage volumes with scalability. It also offers cloud-enabled storage capabilities with cloud management functionality. So, if you prioritize scalability and cloud integration, StorageGRID is the way to go. Its object-based storage is built specifically for that purpose."

"It has improved our operational efficiency through time consumption and logistics by 40 to 50 percent. Everything that had to do with our legacy tape solution has been improved and is now more efficient."

"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."

"Cost-effective and easy to deploy."

"The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods."

More NetApp StorageGRID pros

"I would rate this solution an eight plus. It has has good flexibility and stability, it's easy to manage and the response time is good."

"What I like best about Pure Storage FlashBlade is its object storage functionality, plus it has fast underlying hardware. Pure Storage FlashBlade is also very stable. I find its stability one of its valuable features."

"The most valuable feature is Safe Mode."

"Approximately 40% to 50% of my time is saved using Pure Storage FlashBlade compared to different products."

"The solution provides many controllers."

"The most valuable features are the Metro clustering, and disaster recovery."

"The initial setup was straightforward. If you know how to plug in power and network you're pretty much qualified. They were on site to configure the network, the box to fit into our network architecture. Other than that, we self-managed from there."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is user-friendly. It's replication feature is great because it has active replication and active DR. That's the beauty of the product. It's a perfect solution for block storage."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

Cons

"Beyond the initial setup, this product is a little bit difficult to configure."

"It has its quirks here and there, but it is an older NetApp system."

"One key improvement I'd like to see in StorageGRID is enhanced visibility for management purposes."

"I would like to see them integrate more with the monitoring platforms. It is a bit difficult to get automated monitoring of the system."

"They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space. It's not at the same level as the NetApp filer or the real NetApp cluster that runs itself on its architecture, as StorageGRID is a software solution that emulates a RAID level."

"The redundancy and reliability are great, but I also see room for improvement there. I would like to see more efficiency in the storage and dedupe/compression solutions."

"The user interface of NetApp StorageGRID might need some tweaks, and configuration is maybe a little bit confusing for those who are not so experienced."

"It's quite complex, which is a disadvantage; it's enterprise-level, it's complicated to set up, and you need external support."

More NetApp StorageGRID cons

"In terms of scalability, it doesn't expand out quite as robustly as some of the others, but it covers 90% of the market in what it does."

"The documentational aspect of FlashBlade needs improvement."

"In terms of technical support, the experience has been mixed. The support is done through email and is not that great, making it a very problematic area I've been dealing with for over four years."

"Compared to, for example, Hitachi NAS, the solution is not mature at all. It's just in its infancy as far as technology goes."

"I would like to see better integration."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade should improve on more cloud integration."

"The solution is expensive."

"The feature that we're waiting on is better integration with the cell services."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"NetApp is not known for being the cheapest storage option on the market. Almost all of the other storage options we looked at were less expensive than StorageGRID. The price is one thing to criticize, which is what we hear internally and from customers as well. They find the cost of the terabytes in this class of storage a little bit higher than expected."

"We chose NetApp because of price and performance."

"Our licensing is in INR it was around 25 lakhs, which is roughly two million."

"The licensing that the S3 service provides them from a FabricPool standpoint is more attractive than the licensing from AWS or Azure."

"Buying the solution is expensive, but it saves you money down the line when you factor in the logistics of not having to buy tapes."

"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."

"It is very cost-effective."

"While we have been able to save money on storage costs, it could be better."

More NetApp StorageGRID pricing and cost advice

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."

"Support is a separate line item. Support is a different cost, but whatever your support is now, that's what you're going to pay forever. If your support's $100 today, six years from now it's $100. It doesn't fluctuate unless you upgrade it, or change it, etc."

"I understand that it is competitively priced compared to other brands."

"Licensing fees are paid yearly."

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."

"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."

"In my opinion, we have paid the right price for the product. I don't think that it is too much or too little."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

18%

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?

The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?

It would definitely be more on the expensive side, especially if you compare it with open source solutions like Ceph.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?

If I could change anything in NetApp StorageGRID, that would be pricing. In terms of functionality, reliability, and scalability, we are satisfied with NetApp. It's quite complex, which is a disadv...

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What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power outages when we need to quickly move data between different data centers. It ensure...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the past, but one benefit is that they have built-in ransomware protection. Approximate...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

I believe there is not much improvement needed because they have everything we need, but the interface is a little bit complex to understand. You have to understand it more deeply because it's hard...

See all answers

Comparisons

MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 27% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 24% of the time

Dell ECS vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 22% of the time

Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 6% of the time

VAST Data vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp StorageGRID Competitors

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 20% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

Supermicro SuperBlade vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 2% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID

June 2025

Download NetApp StorageGRID product report

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

June 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Also Known As

Storage GRID

No data available

Overview

Store and manage unstructured data at scale using NetApp StorageGRID for secure, durable object storage. Place content in the right location, at the right time, and on the right storage tier, optimizing workflows and reducing overall costs for globally distributed rich media.

NetApp

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

Sample Customers

ASE, DARZ GmbH

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

June 2025

Free Report: NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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