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Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 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

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block S...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 8.0%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Diverse features and affordability drive effective resource management
Amazon EBS offers diverse features. It can be used for multi-purpose storage, supporting single, multiple, or heavy loads. It has different types for various use cases, allowing me to choose based on my specific requirements. The primary advantage of Amazon EBS is affordability compared to other solutions like EFS or FSX. It acts as a hard drive for servers, making it essential for operation.
MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-scaling capabilities enhance file management while reducing downtime
The most valuable feature of Amazon EFS is its auto-scaling capability. It's really easy to configure EFS by just creating it and running a command to directly configure it with my servers. It supports unlimited use, and charges are applied based on the file usage at the end of the month. The solution offers reduced downtime and increased durability through its auto-scaling features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If an instance is terminated abruptly or accidentally, I can reattach the volume to a different instance."
"The durability and snapshot capabilities are good."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy to manage."
"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."
"Amazon EBS is a storage system, and the storage is attached to the servers."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that during the deployment, the tool indirectly provides our company with resources for our core side and cloud-based resources."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) is its scalability."
"The most valuable feature is its scalability. I can easily scale the block from terabytes to gigabytes."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"The solution is scalable."
"I appreciate Amazon's extensive range of services, which makes it a favorable choice."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"Its elasticity and flexible pricing are the most valuable. For Amazon EFS, you are charged based on the storage. It is also very fast and stable with a very simple and intuitive interface."
"The platform is highly scalable."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
 

Cons

"The main challenge with Amazon EBS is cost management, as it is a high-performance volume. Sequencing and IOPS relative to cost are also areas of concern."
"There is a concept called Snapshot, which is a backup of the entire EBS volume, however, the cost is quite high."
"The features could be improved."
"Amazon EBS is scalable, but not auto-scaling. I have to manually scale it, especially in Windows instances, which requires downtime."
"The main challenge with Amazon EBS is cost management, as it is a high-performance volume."
"There is a challenge of intermittent reachability with instances, where the product is sometimes available and other times not, which affects the development environment's stability."
"I see a need for improvement in the scalability of Amazon EBS."
"Amazon EBS performs well but it could improve."
"Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
"The user activity needs to be more connected."
"I don't have notes on improvements."
"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."
"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."
"Around 80 percent of the features of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) are available on Linux and not in Windows, making it a major drawback of the product."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is low-priced than other solutions."
"You need to pay additional costs for support."
"I find the price reasonable for our I environment."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high, I rate the price a seven."
"The cost can vary greatly depending on the use case, ranging from one dollar to over $1200 dollars per month."
"What I want Amazon to do is lower the price."
"The pricing models may be for general purposes, such as Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS Volume or Amazon EBS Cold HDD Volumes."
"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3. For one GB or ten GB of data, S3 is much cheaper. EFS could cost around $30 to $50 per month for similar usage."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Amazon's S3 Glacier or EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon's S3 Glacier or Elastic Block Store data storage software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Amazon's S3 Glacier, whi...
What do you like most about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The durability and snapshot capabilities are good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)?
The cost of Amazon EBS storage is high. I rate the price as eight out of ten. It is expensive to store a lot yet provides significant cost-efficiency as I pay only for the storage time required.
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 do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bazaar Voice, Crowd Strike, Adobe, Gamevil, Hess, CopperEgg, TotalJobs Group, SuperCell, Dropcam, Unilever
Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) vs. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.