AWS Snowball vs HPE Zerto Software comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Cloud Migration category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.9% mindshare in CM, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

AWS Snowball

Read 10 AWS Snowball reviews

3,671 Views
367 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

HPE Zerto Software

Read 357 HPE Zerto Software reviews

22,247 Views
1,780 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

AWS Snowball

HPE Zerto Software

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

HPE Zerto Software and AWS Snowball compete in the data management and recovery space. HPE Zerto Software has an edge in cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness, while AWS Snowball's advanced features and reliability provide value through efficient data handling capabilities.

Features: HPE Zerto Software supports continuous data protection, automated failover, and near-zero RPO, making it ideal for business continuity. AWS Snowball offers scalability, advanced data transfer, and physical security, addressing large-scale transfer and storage needs efficiently.

Room for Improvement: HPE Zerto Software could enhance its analytical monitoring and focus on broader solutions than narrowing down services. AWS Snowball might improve ease of deployment and reduce dependency on extensive setup, especially for initial hardware requirements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE Zerto Software is noted for its seamless integration and responsive customer service, supporting efficient virtual environment setup. AWS Snowball provides reliable dedicated support for complex deployments, although its on-site setup may require more initial time.

Pricing and ROI: HPE Zerto Software offers a lower initial setup cost, providing good ROI for disaster recovery-focused businesses. AWS Snowball's higher setup cost is offset by its efficiency in managing large data volumes, offering significant ROI over time for scalability-focused deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Snowball vs. HPE Zerto Software Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. HPE Zerto Software

June 2026

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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

AWS Snowball

Ranking in Cloud Migration

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Migration Appliances (1st)

HPE Zerto Software

Ranking in Cloud Migration

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

357

Ranking in other categories

Backup and Recovery (2nd), Cloud Backup (2nd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st), Autonomous Operational Resilience (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Cloud Migration category, the mindshare of AWS Snowball is 1.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Zerto Software is 4.7%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Migration Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HPE Zerto Software	4.7%
AWS Snowball	1.9%
Other	93.4%

Cloud Migration

Featured Reviews

Kevin-Davis

Global CTO AWS Business Group at Eviden

Seamless data transfer and efficient migration with customizable storage sizes

I like that I can take data and send it straight to S3 when it loads in. The interface for getting my data onto the Snowball is so streamlined. I don't know if you've ever seen it before. It's really cool. I connect them to the backplane of our existing network. I'm able to address it quickly and move the data quickly inside my customers' data centers. There's a little screen on it, which changes the UPS codes and all that stuff. The label and everything AWS electronic, so I don't have to deal with shipping issues. It makes it super simple and easy to use from end to end.

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reviewer2802231

Dev Ops Engineer at a media company with 201-500 employees

Near-zero downtime has protected critical workloads and now simplifies hybrid cloud recovery

The best features of HPE Zerto Software are mainly very sophisticated and relevant to the current market. The data protection CDP part has real-time replication, unlike other solutions that have snapshot backups. We can set it up hourly, making it ideal for use with workloads. Another attraction is the near-zero RTO, with automated failover within minutes and one-click failover and failback. Currently, we are using a hybrid cloud solution, and HPE Zerto Software supports multi-cloud environments, making it easy to migrate between on-premises and cloud. Regarding the impact of HPE Zerto Software on our RTOs, we have near-zero RTO, meaning the system must be back online within thirty minutes if we measure the time. It is very quick to recover services. With HPE Zerto Software's near-synchronous replication, we have some CDP protection, so we typically write interceptions along with some asynchronous replication. There is almost real-time replication available.

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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

"If you have a large amount of data, it's a perfect way to move it to the cloud."

"The support team's awesome, and they've always been very responsive."

"It's a nice way of shipping a lot of data without using a network."

"AWS helps save time and costs, being a managed cloud provider with evolving services."

"You are able to scale the solution vertically. It's very scalable."

"The way the data is moved is very clever. Also, the interface is very simple and user-friendly."

"The features I like best are the tool's high capacity, scalability, end-to-end encryption for data security, ease of use, durability, and cost-effectiveness. It's particularly cost-effective for transferring large amounts of data compared to high-speed internet transfers."

"The most valuable features of AWS Snowball for me are its security measures and its flexibility."

More AWS Snowball pros

"HPE Zerto Software's continuous data protection or CDP is critical for our organization because it allows us to recover within seconds to minutes, and the journal allows us to pick a point-in-time recovery."

"Zerto improved our organization by giving us flexibility back with migrating VMs, and I look forward to the future when we utilize it more for DR situations."

"The solution's most valuable features are its user interface, ease of implementation, and ease of execution."

"HPE Zerto Software has positively impacted my organization by keeping our data always available and business operations running."

"It is convenient to use because the API allows for seamless integration when performing our day-to-day operations."

"The best feature of Zerto is the fast, automated backup and recovery. The data lift for applications is short, with minimal data loss."

"Zerto does what it says it will do when it comes to providing continuous data protection."

"The file restoration is very helpful. They've improved it over the years to make it a lot more user-friendly and easy to do, which I appreciate. So, we use that quite a bit. The failover process is quite simple and intuitive. Even the configuration and setup are pretty easy to do. It is pretty easy to use. I've done the restoration of servers several times, not as a disaster. When an upgrade on a server goes wrong and it messes things up, I can just fail back to a previous version and try it again. So, that has been really helpful."

More HPE Zerto Software pros

Cons

"It does have room for improvement. The ability to better ingest some of the big data."

"It would be helpful if Snowball provided more kinds of connectivity. That will make it easier to add and move data."

"It's not cheap."

"There's always room for improvement as you use the service more and gain expertise. Some challenges I've faced include the time factor (data transfer can be time-consuming), data validation after the transfer, risks associated with physical handling and shipping of the device, and ensuring data security during transit."

"The costs of services the customer needs also matter, such as storage requirements and whether storage is rational."

"I think AWS Snowball could improve by expanding its availability to more countries."

"24/7 support is more expensive on AWS compared to Azure."

"AWS support could be more responsive."

More AWS Snowball cons

"With the VPG (virtual protected group) it would be nice if you could pick individuals in the grouping instead of having to failover the whole group."

"In general, the solution is pretty good, but because it is geared toward simplicity, sometimes, when things go wrong, the answer is not very detailed so that things can be solved quickly. If things do go wrong, it does require a little bit deeper troubleshooting to resolve the issues. That's the only area where improvement could occur. There should be a little bit more details about if things go wrong, how to remedy them."

"The tech support on my latest issue wasn't so great. I had to figure a lot of stuff out myself. It could be that I had a Level 1 tech who was new or something, but it seemed like the tech was spitballing, which does not help me."

"Zerto needs to improve significantly on the cost factor."

"Some of the cloud instructions around VNets and peering of networks could be clearer with some best-case examples. It is more complicated once you move into the cloud than running it on-premises. Actually doing these things is quite easy in the cloud and with Azure, but understanding how it fits in my environment can be quite a head-scratcher at times."

"If we could integrate our AIOps solutions and incident management capabilities within HPE Zerto Software, that would be beneficial."

"I wish they would...develop their PowerShell module to be more robust. So instead of having to rely on the API to actually include a PowerShell command, it would let you create VPGs, delete VPGs, modify VPGs, etc. This would ease the automation effort of deployment and decommissioning and I'd really appreciate that."

"The challenge we faced occurred during a DR for a database server running on SQL Always On. We experienced a database crash and logged a case with Zerto about a year ago. They said that they do not support Always On."

More HPE Zerto Software cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing depends on the type of Snowball device you choose, the amount of data you need to transfer, and the service fees involved. There’s a standard price for larger data transfers and a flat job fee, which includes the first ten days of on-site usage. Typically, there are no additional data transfer fees."

"It's not a cheap solution, but the price is right for the product."

"I've been told that when they originally got the quote, it was a little bit of a sticker shock. However, now that we've actually been using it for six months, I've been told that the investment was well worth it."

"All of my customers are happy with how this product works and they like it, but unfortunately, in the market that I represent, Zerto is expensive when compared with the competition."

"The pricing is straightforward."

"Zerto is like a Ferrari. It's very fast but not the cheapest solution. You're paying a high price for quality and the assurance that you will have the environment up and steady."

"Pricing is kind of expensive, but for what we get, it is probably worth it. I know they just had a huge price increase due to the VMware stuff getting expensive, which added about a thousand dollars a month to our bill."

"The product's pricing is the one area where it is less competitive."

"Zerto is reasonably price for the product that you're getting. We keep on buying more licenses, so it's a good price."

"Zerto is a little bit expensive [for our budget] but as far as the value that it provides, it is completely justified by all of the savings."

More HPE Zerto Software pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	93
Midsize Enterprise	93
Large Enterprise	204

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Microsoft Azure Data Box or AWS Snowball?

Microsoft Azure Databox is a 45-pound, super rugged, tamper-resistant, human-managed hardware appliance that can transfer up to 100TB of data capacity to copy, store, then send to the Azure cloud. ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Snowball?

Depending of what is your priority; UseAWS Snowball if you are heavily invested in AWS or need edge computing features Choose Azure Data Box for smooth integration with Azure and potentially lower ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Snowball?

It's difficult to make a comparison and it depends on the customer. When analyzing costs, I must see how the customer uses AWS, Azure, or Google. Google is particularly interesting, for example, fo...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zerto?

I believe HPE Zerto Software can be improved by providing more clarity on roadmap features coming.

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Transfer Appliance vs AWS Snowball

Compared 49% of the time

Microsoft Azure Data Box vs AWS Snowball

Compared 13% of the time

Cloudwick Amorphic Data Platform vs AWS Snowball

Compared 10% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs AWS Snowball

Compared 5% of the time

Nasuni vs AWS Snowball

Compared 3% of the time

More AWS Snowball Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 9% of the time

Rubrik vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 4% of the time

VMware Live Recovery vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 4% of the time

Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 4% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 3% of the time

More HPE Zerto Software Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball

June 2026

Download AWS Snowball product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Zerto Software

June 2026

Download HPE Zerto Software product report

Also Known As

Amazon AWS Snowball, Amazon Snowball, Snowball

Zerto Virtual Replication

Overview

AWS Snowball is an efficient tool providing high-speed data transfers, end-to-end encryption, and scalability to organizations in need of reliable data migration and integration with AWS infrastructure.

AWS Snowball offers robust data transfer capabilities, ensuring efficient management of large data volumes. It provides end-to-end encryption and tamper-evident features, enhancing data security. The interface is user-friendly and supports seamless integration within AWS. Its scalability and flexible integration options make it a valuable choice for managing complex data migrations. Despite the need for improved connectivity and broader geographical availability, continuous innovations and managed services optimize resources and time.

What are the key features of AWS Snowball?

High-Speed Data Transfer: Facilitates quick migration of large data volumes.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the process of data management.
End-to-End Encryption: Ensures data security during transfers.
Scalability: Easily integrates with AWS systems.
Edge Computing: Provides on-site processing capabilities.
Physical Durability: Designed for reliable data transport.

What benefits can users expect when implementing AWS Snowball?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses associated with large-scale data transfers.
Time Optimization: Saves time in data migration processes.
Resource Optimization: Managed services enhance resource efficiency.
Seamless Integration: Supports on-premises to cloud migrations.
Security: Protects data with encryption during transfer.

Organizations across various industries utilize AWS Snowball for efficient cloud migrations and disaster recovery. In fields where bandwidth is limited, Snowball provides a solution for large-scale data transfers. Financial institutions use it for ETL processes and integrating analytical layers over current data warehouses. Industries with data validation requirements appreciate its secure data transfer features and the ability to reduce dependency on internet connections. Its edge computing capabilities address diverse environmental needs, ensuring data accuracy during migrations.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

Wazee Digital, Craftsy, Live Nation, Essess

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies

Buyer's Guide

AWS Snowball vs. HPE Zerto Software

June 2026

Free Report: AWS Snowball vs. HPE Zerto Software

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