Azure NetApp Files vs Dropbox comparison

Read 89 Dropbox reviews

925 Views
650 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Azure NetApp Files

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

Dropbox and Azure NetApp Files offer robust cloud storage solutions. Dropbox excels in user satisfaction due to its competitive pricing and user-friendliness, while Azure NetApp Files stands out for its advanced features and scalability, justifying its higher cost.

Features: Dropbox offers seamless file synchronization, straightforward sharing capabilities, and effective collaboration tools. Azure NetApp Files provides high-performance storage, seamless cloud integration, and advanced security features.

Room for Improvement: Dropbox should improve its complex folder permissions and limited storage options for free accounts. Azure NetApp Files needs better integration with non-Azure environments and simpler configuration tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dropbox is easy to set up and has responsive customer support. Azure NetApp Files has a more complex deployment but offers strong support and detailed documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Dropbox is cost-effective with clear ROI benefits in productivity. Azure NetApp Files requires higher initial investment but provides significant long-term ROI through advanced features and scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure NetApp Files vs. Dropbox Report (Updated: April 2025).

Azure NetApp Files vs. Dropbox

Download the complete report

Helped 845,564 peers since 2012

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

Azure NetApp Files

Ranking in Cloud Storage

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (2nd), Public Cloud Storage Services (8th)

Dropbox

Ranking in Cloud Storage

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Azure NetApp Files is 9.0%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dropbox is 4.8%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Storage

Featured Reviews

AjayKumar13

Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

Fast, reliable, and helps meet our SLAs

The most valuable feature is that the sixty-terabyte database snapshot can be done in less than two to three minutes. It is faster. It is quicker. It is reliable. You don't need to take the snapshot. Snapshots are compressed. It doesn't take storage from the back end. It takes three minutes to do sixty terabytes of the database. You don't have to go to the tape and store it outside, which takes hours and hours. It also uses a lot less of the storage. It's very easy to restore or copy the snapshots to other locations for disaster recovery. There are a lot of benefits. In terms of the snapshot's rapid restore capability, we were testing the load of performance testing, and we needed to rebuild the DR site. If I need to rebuild the DR for a standby database, it takes sixty terabytes to copy onto the another site, which will take at least a day. Now, the snapshot is easy. We just copy the snapshots, and then we do the cross-region application. The snapshots came along with that, and that's where we were able to build the DR site within a few hours rather than days. All together, instead of a four-day process, instead of a day.

Read full review

Edgar Paez

Measurement Manager at A3E Ingenieros

Work from anywhere and backup easily while being practical

I recommend Dropbox, yet not for all of the features it has. I am a basic user. In a personal mode, we have about 100 employees, and maybe 20 of them use Dropbox as a personal backup system. ShareFile is more secure than Dropbox. Five years ago, ShareFile was qualified as having better security control, access privilege management, and version control recovery, among many features that we were using for private documentation. Overall, I would rate Dropbox an eight out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Using NetApp Files got us out of a really difficult situation quickly, effectively, and at a reasonable cost."

"I think the easiest part is, when you do a comparison, it is the throughput versus the cost. And it's much easier to set up."

"Its security and ease of use are most valuable."

"The availability is good, meaning downtime or network issues rarely occur. The system also offers flexibility, allowing for increases in data volume, IOPS, and other capabilities without requiring downtime, which is a strong point. Based on the money spent, we can get performance improvements and high availability."

"Since we have NetApp's internally, we use the SnapMirror predominantly for this process in the cloud which is beneficial."

"It's elastic, so it scales with our demands. We can start small, then with the addition of customer loads, we can expand on-the-fly without the need to reprovision something."

"It has saved a lot of time. Because in the older, conventional hardware system, they need to raise a ticket to go to storage engineering, then storage engineering would increased the size. Now, it's dynamic. You don't have to do anything. This improved the time by more than 50 percent."

"The most valuable feature is that the sixty-terabyte database snapshot can be done in less than two to three minutes."

More Azure NetApp Files pros

"The performance is good."

"Irrespective of the geographical location that you are present in, and even if you don't have any storage devices, you can access your data and files with the help of Dropbox."

"The way the tool is designed and using the tool itself is quite transparent."

"I can edit my files online, and I like the comments option."

"The solution provides great performance."

"One of the most useful features of Dropbox is its ease of use."

"The primary standout feature for me is the effortless synchronization across various devices."

"The small business version gave us ample capacity."

More Dropbox pros

Cons

"The solution needs to improve it's ABS environment."

"Azure NetApp Files could improve by being more diverse to integrate better with other solutions, such as Splunk and the on-premise version. There are some use cases that are not covered natively by Azure. It is not the best solution because it is not external from the cloud which for me is the best type of solution."

"We would like for the files which are coming in that we can version them. So, if a file is accidentally deleted, there should have a recycle bin option where we can go back, and at least once, clean it up."

"The deployment process is somewhat complex compared to other storage solutions."

"The initial setup was not straightforward. We had help from the NetApp team."

"We would like to see more paired regions for the replication."

"The main area for improvement is in the support ticket system. Since it's a SaaS platform, support tickets are managed by Microsoft or NetApp backend. This can sometimes lead to cross-functional challenges for organizations."

"I have a hunch that storage could be now the most expensive portion of our monthly bill. So I can imagine that, not this year, but next year we will be talking about looking deeper into ways how we can optimize the cost."

More Azure NetApp Files cons

"The solution could be more scalable."

"Dropbox can improve by enhancing the capacity of storage in the free version."

"DropBox is a little more complicated to scale up than OneDrive. It isn't as seamless to scale up storage or change the number of users. We have two or three users in Mumbai, and we don't plan to add more."

"If someone manages a large amount of data, they will need more storage, which they must purchase."

"The pricing could be better and so could the amount of storage space. I feel like for the price, they don't offer very much storage space, especially when compared to competitors like Google."

"While I feel the price being charged to be reasonable, it should either be more cost-effective or account for an increased amount of storage space."

"Considering the solution's shortcomings, I want the product to be more user-friendly and offer more storage capacity."

"I would like to be able to unarchive my files online."

More Dropbox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive in small environments, which could be better. The reason is the four terabyte minimum. A one terabyte minimum would be better."

"The performance has improved by about 30 percent."

"NetApp is a premium offering, so it's not a cheap product, but it is well-priced. It combines a couple of properties which customers like us are willing to pay. Could it be cheaper? Yes, but if you combine fully supported, fully managed, easily provisioned, scalable, and quick all in one product, it's a good selling point. You can ask a lot of money for all these. If you have a use case like we do, it's a perfect match. It's like the Porsche of storage solutions in the cloud. It is totally worth the cost."

"In the cloud, pricing depends on how you manage it. It's not necessarily cheap, but it's all about optimizing charges and showing the cost back. So, it's more about managing the expenses rather than being inherently expensive or cheap."

"The pricing depends on your scaling and consumption."

"The licensing fees for this solution vary, ranging from a single shelf to a full suite."

"The price of Azure NetApp Files could be better."

"We are currently on a pay-as-you-go model with the storage that we use."

More Azure NetApp Files pricing and cost advice

"My company makes monthly payments towards the licensing charges associated with the product. I think it's a reasonably priced product."

"I need to pay towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. The solution is expensive."

"We must pay when we upsize to a larger space."

"While the pricing is comparable, especially for users of Microsoft Office 365, the value proposition might not be as competitive for those seeking primarily storage options."

"Users need to pay to increase the solution's capacity."

"The product is free up to a certain limit."

"A basic version of Dropbox is available for free with a paid subscription from Microsoft."

"We pay for the license yearly."

More Dropbox pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Storage solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,564 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

32%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

65%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does Azure NetApp Files compare to NetApp ONTAP?

Azure NetApp Files is a Microsoft Azure file storage service built on NetApp technology. The platform combines the file capabilities of Azure and NetApp to move critical file-based applications to ...

What do you like most about Azure NetApp Files?

The availability is good, meaning downtime or network issues rarely occur. The system also offers flexibility, allowing for increases in data volume, IOPS, and other capabilities without requiring ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure NetApp Files?

The solution's competitors like Oracle or Amazon are not cheap either. I think we're paying two million dollars for Azure NetApp Files. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is exp...

What do you like most about Dropbox?

For me, the biggest thing is version history. I can easily go back and view older versions.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dropbox?

We are using the free version of Dropbox.

What needs improvement with Dropbox?

I would like to have a document flow. Sharing documents with other people in the same division or department and being able to work without downloading the file would be ideal. Working online would...

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Azure NetApp Files

Comparisons

Compared 37% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 29% of the time

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 8% of the time

Nasuni vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon FSx vs Azure NetApp Files

Compared 7% of the time

More Azure NetApp Files Competitors

ShareFile vs Dropbox

Compared 16% of the time

SharePoint vs Dropbox

Compared 15% of the time

LucidLink vs Dropbox

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive vs Dropbox

Compared 11% of the time

Google Workspace vs Dropbox

Compared 10% of the time

More Dropbox Competitors

Product Reports

Azure NetApp Files

Download Azure NetApp Files product report

Download Dropbox product report

Also Known As

NetApp ANF, ANF

No data available

Overview

Azure NetApp Files is designed for unstructured data, virtualized SAP systems, SQL backups, NFS and CIFS protocols, Azure Virtual Desktop storage, and optimizing file share services. It supports high performance and networking integration in Microsoft Azure.

Azure NetApp Files offers features such as SnapMirror for data protection, rapid provisioning, elastic scaling, and ultra-fast SQL backup and restore. It provides a seamless experience with fast snapshotting, high availability, security, and ease of setup. Users benefit from significant performance improvements and the ability to manage substantial workload migrations effortlessly. This service is ideal for environments like Azure Kubernetes Service and cloud EPM platforms, where speed, flexibility, and performance are crucial.

What are the key features?

Flexibility: Adaptable to diverse storage needs.
Rapid response time: Ensures quick data access and operations.
SnapMirror: Provides replication and data protection.
SEC compliance: SnapLock ensures regulatory adherence.
Ultra-fast SQL backup: Quicker backup and restore operations.
Elastic scaling: Easily adjusts resources based on demand.
Fast snapshotting: Enables quick data snapshots.
High availability: Ensures consistent data access.
Security: Robust measures for data protection.

What are the expected benefits and ROI?

Performance: Notable improvement in processing speeds.
Simplicity of setup: Easy deployment and configuration.
Scalable management: Handles significant workload migrations with ease.
Cost efficiency: Allows comparing throughput versus cost effectively.

Azure NetApp Files is implemented in various industries requiring robust file storage solutions, from educational environments where performance boosts are critical to businesses leveraging Azure Kubernetes Service for containerized applications. It supports high-demand environments, optimizing data management and improving efficiency.

NetApp

Dropbox is utilized for storing and sharing files, synchronizing documents across multiple devices, and ensuring data backups for both personal and professional use.

Users rely on Dropbox for collaborating on projects, managing personal storage, and exchanging files. It is often used for file version control, meeting notes, and as a central storage unit. Dropbox provides seamless data access across desktops, laptops, mobiles, and the cloud. It is valued for its accessibility, synchronization, strong security, user-friendly interface, robust sharing capabilities, Microsoft Office integration, efficient performance, and reliable storage. It supports multiple users, real-time editing, offers backup options, and has free usage tiers. Dropbox manages large files, maintains version history, and allows external sharing without extra costs. However, there are areas for improvement in security and privacy, pricing, storage capacity, and tool integration. Users experience synchronization issues, limited collaboration features, and a need for better real-time editing. Improvements are also desired in mobile access, search functionality, and setup complexity, alongside better performance and scalability.

What are Dropbox's most important features?

Easy accessibility from any device
Seamless synchronization
Strong security
User-friendly interface
Robust sharing capabilities
Integration with Microsoft Office
Efficient performance
Reliable storage
Real-time editing support
Backup options and free usage tiers

What are the benefits or ROI to look for in reviews?

Seamless data access across devices
Enhanced collaboration on projects
Strong security measures
Efficient document management
Real-time editing for teamwork
Cost efficiency with free tiers
Reliability in storage and backups

Dropbox is implemented diversely across industries, including legal, healthcare, and media. Legal firms use it for secure document storage and sharing. Healthcare professionals rely on it for maintaining patient records while ensuring compliance with privacy laws. Media companies utilize Dropbox for collaborative projects and managing large multimedia files efficiently.

Sample Customers

SAP, Restaurant Magic

Vita Coco, BCBGMAXAZRIA Group, Centric Project, Kayak, FourSquare, Asana, Huge Adversting , USA Gymnastics, Appen, Valliant, Radio Lab

Azure NetApp Files vs. Dropbox