Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NetApp are both solutions in the Cloud Storage category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.9, while NetApp is ranked #41. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 5.0% mindshare in CS, compared to NetApp’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...

Read 17 Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) reviews

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871 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp Cloud Volumes Servic...

Read 1 NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS review

166 Views
105 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...

NetApp Cloud Volumes Servic...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Google, Dropbox and others in Cloud Storage.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Storage Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Storage

September 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

Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...

Ranking in Cloud Storage

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (10th)

NetApp Cloud Volumes Servic...

Ranking in Cloud Storage

41st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (32nd), Public Cloud Storage Services (26th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 5.0%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)	5.0%
NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS	0.4%
Other	94.6%

Cloud Storage

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

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.

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reviewer2039379

Solution Architect at a university with 10,001+ employees

Great migrations, useful integrations, and offers good data replication

The local libraries from NetApp to NetApp are good. This way, we don't have to put the middleman in between to do the transition or conversion. The NetApp Cloud Volume Services for AWS has been helping migrate workloads onto the cloud. We did migrate a couple of native applications into AWS using this, and it was helpful. In terms of the integration with AWS native services, I did not configure it by myself. There was another team who did it. That said, I presume they didn't run into any issues, which is why we are using it. While the solution did not help us reduce the amount of storage, it allowed us to have data replicated across on-premises and in the cloud, so that we have a backup in DR. While it did not reduce the footprint, it helped DR expansion. It increased redundancy. Since deploying the product, we have not been affected by ransomware or other external threats.

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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

"Amazon EFS offers the flexibility of scaling as needed without requiring pre-provisioned storage."

"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."

"The solution's technical support is good."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"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."

"There are huge money savings, as we can save more than half of our costs."

"We are not that big of a cloud user. We just use it for the storage of our bytes. The most valuable aspect is the storage."

"The solution is scalable."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) pros

"The NetApp Cloud Volume Services for AWS has been helping migrate workloads onto the cloud. We did migrate a couple of native applications into AWS using this, and it was helpful."

Cons

"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."

"It could be better in connecting with Windows Server instances."

"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."

"I don't have notes on improvements."

"It should be simplified. There are people who don't have cloud experience. It should be storage that we are able to just connect to."

"When we faced some issues, the support team took a lot of time to resolve them."

"The lack of transparency in the costs attached to the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The initial setup requires prior experience and technical skills."

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) cons

"We'd like the solution to be less expensive and offer lower latency."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."

"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."

"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 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."

"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

No data available

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...

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What do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?

The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?

We don't need to purchase it; we are just using it and paying Amazon as per the utilization. We make direct payments to Amazon based on our usage.

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Comparisons

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 75% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 5% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 4% of the time

Google Cloud Storage vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 4% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

Compared 3% of the time

More Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

September 2025

Download Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Migration

August 2025

NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS report

Download NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cloud Volumes Service for AWS, NetApp CVS for AWS, CVS for AWS

Overview

Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) provides simple, scalable file storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances in the AWS Cloud. Amazon EFS is easy to use and offers a simple interface that allows you to create and configure file systems quickly and easily. With Amazon EFS, storage capacity is elastic, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, so your applications have the storage they need, when they need it.

When mounted to Amazon EC2 instances, an Amazon EFS file system provides a standard file system interface and file system access semantics, allowing you to seamlessly integrate Amazon EFS with your existing applications and tools. Multiple Amazon EC2 instances can access an Amazon EFS file system at the same time, allowing Amazon EFS to provide a common data source for workloads and applications running on more than one Amazon EC2 instance.

It’s designed for high availability and durability, and provides performance for a broad spectrum of workloads and applications, including Big Data and analytics, media processing workflows, content management, web serving, and home directories.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

NetApp Cloud Volume Service for AWS is available in a monthly or annual subscription, and is a fast, secure, simple to consume file service that delivers advanced, enterprise-class management to your cloud applications. Move your applications without re-architecting.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Google, Dropbox and others in Cloud Storage. Updated: September 2025.

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