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Azure NetApp Files vs HPE Zerto Software comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Azure NetApp Files provides high performance and flexibility, enabling significant cost savings and improved IT management despite initial costs.
Sentiment score
6.9
HPE Zerto Software offers rapid recovery, reduces downtime and costs, and simplifies disaster recovery with significant ROI and efficiency.
Before, it was a huge cost. It was several thousand dollars to do a DR test, whereas now, I click a button.
CTO at Erisa Administrative Services, Inc.
It saves us a lot of time and gives us the ability to perform other DR plans for other systems.
System Engineer at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's not only in the cloud; it's DR as a service, which means that the recovery operations are performed by a dedicated team specializing in this area.
Founder & CEO at Itix Cyber Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft and NetApp provide Azure NetApp Files with varying support quality, appreciated for complex issues despite regional inconsistencies.
Sentiment score
7.5
HPE Zerto Software's support is highly rated for responsiveness, knowledge, though concerns exist post-HP acquisition about initial support levels.
Microsoft has limitations with Azure Files, which do not support disaster recovery, so they approached NetApp for help based on their experience in on-premises and cloud storage.
Cloud Architect at IBM
They have top-notch people.
Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
I have never had an issue that was not resolved, and I have never been in a situation where they did not respond.
Sr. Systems Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would give them a rating of ten because it represents the highest level of support based on the technical knowledge of the support team, response time, and effectiveness of the provided resolutions.
Disaster Recovery Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
When I open a ticket, I usually get a call within an hour or two.
Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Azure NetApp Files offers flexible scaling and cost efficiency for large deployments, despite regional and minimum storage limitations.
Sentiment score
7.5
HPE Zerto Software scales easily across environments, offering adaptability, simple licensing, and robust disaster recovery with minor performance considerations.
Scalability is high. I would say it's probably around nine because it's quite a robust solution that can scale up to maybe even five hundred terabytes of data.
Cloud Architect at IBM
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
Head of IT at TWM SOLICITORS LLP
Customers need to follow good engineering practices for optimal product use.
Tech Lead, Storage and Data Protection at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
By adding more hosts and installing VRAs on each, tasks can be efficiently managed.
Senior Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Azure NetApp Files is highly stable, offering reliable performance, seamless migrations, and no downtime, even under increased loads.
Sentiment score
8.0
HPE Zerto Software is praised for strong stability, minimal issues, and reliability across various environments, including VMware and cloud platforms.
In terms of storage stability, I believe it's robust and stable, with a high level of redundancy in the cloud backend.
Cloud Architect at IBM
I promptly delete the malfunctioning elements and set them up again to resume replication, ensuring stability.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The ease of use was so good with Zerto that they were able to migrate things much quicker.
Inside Sales Representative at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It is very reliable.
Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Azure NetApp Files needs enhanced disaster recovery, cost-effective pricing, improved support, and broader regional availability to boost user adoption.
HPE Zerto Software requires better Hyper-V support, pricing, UI enhancements, integration, documentation, automation, and improved backup and alerting systems.
If they bring the cost a little bit closer to what Azure Files offers, it can be a great product in the market and bring a lot of business to NetApp.
Cloud Architect at IBM
I would like for them to have more compression so that it can avoid using more storage.
Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
If I have 350 objects that I am protecting, I would like Zerto to be able to fire them up in one order, rather than having to manually bring them up in a sequence.
Enterprise data management supervisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If the host has a lot of VMs on it, there may not always be enough time to relocate all of the VMs from a protection group standpoint to other hosts before the replication appliance that Zerto uses to manage that powers itself down.
Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
If HPE Zerto Software has it built-in where we're going to vCenter and you click on it, it will build the VPG and indicate configuration requirements, that would be amazing.
Senior Converged Infrastructure Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Azure NetApp Files is costly with a four-terabyte minimum, but its premium features compete with Oracle and Amazon.
HPE Zerto Software is seen as a worthwhile investment for enterprise needs despite higher costs than some competitors.
It is expensive, especially with NetApp Ultra Storage.
Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
It's highly priced, and there's no cost reservation option available compared to Azure Files.
Cloud Architect at IBM
If you want a good-quality tool that is robust and does a good job for you, you have to pay a higher price to get that, and Zerto is no different.
IT Manager at American Pioneer Federal Credit Union
However, it can become quite expensive when you start looking at the number of workloads you have in the environment and what you would like to do.
Cloud and Infrastructure Services Manager at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Zerto is easier to set up and use, and it's less expensive.
Professional Services Engineer at US Signal
 

Valuable Features

Azure NetApp Files excels in performance, integration, and scalability, providing high redundancy, data protection, and efficient storage solutions.
HPE Zerto Software offers real-time disaster recovery, data protection, and seamless replication, enhancing resilience and reducing downtime significantly.
The most valuable feature is that the sixty-terabyte database snapshot can be done in less than two to three minutes.
Cloud/Data/Database Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
I think the most valuable feature is using the cross-region replication because this feature was not available in Azure Files, and this was the differentiator.
Cloud Architect at IBM
Zerto offers excellent technical support with responsive and helpful experts.
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
If we were attacked, I could revert to a backup from five seconds before the attack, and no one would know we were attacked.
Senior Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The replication time and the minor amount of time it takes to sync a new server outside of any of my huge 40-terabyte boxes is ridiculously quick.
Sr. Systems Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure NetApp Files
Ranking in Cloud Migration
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Storage (12th), Public Cloud Storage Services (13th)
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 Azure NetApp Files is 4.4%, down from 15.5% 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
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Zerto Software4.7%
Azure NetApp Files4.4%
Other90.9%
Cloud Migration
 

Featured Reviews

Rajat Wadhwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Architect at IBM
Cross-region replication has delivered seamless disaster recovery for enterprise storage needs
In terms of improvement, I would say cost reservation; the cost is a bit high. If we compare Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files, I know that customers are using less of Azure NetApp due to the cost. If they bring the cost a little bit closer to what Azure Files offers, it can be a great product in the market and bring a lot of business to NetApp. Backup is quite critical. As of now, Azure NetApp Files requires you to use Azure NetApp Backup solution, which is in public preview at the moment. I would definitely expect NetApp to come up with that solution so that customers can start using it because they do not have confidence in backup as it is still in preview. They are still doing some testing and research on that product, which is not officially released for use by multiple customers.
reviewer2802231 - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Migration solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business93
Midsize Enterprise93
Large Enterprise204
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure NetApp Files?
On pricing, I would rate it around eight. It's highly priced, and there's no cost reservation option available compared to Azure Files. If NetApp could bring that kind of model for customers to sav...
What needs improvement with Azure NetApp Files?
In terms of improvement, I would say cost reservation; the cost is a bit high. If we compare Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files, I know that customers are using less of Azure NetApp due to the cost...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is good.
What needs improvement with Zerto?
I believe HPE Zerto Software can be improved by providing more clarity on roadmap features coming.
 

Also Known As

NetApp ANF, ANF
Zerto Virtual Replication
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SAP, Restaurant Magic
United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure NetApp Files vs. HPE Zerto Software and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.