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DataCore SANsymphony vs NetApp ONTAP comparison

DataCore and NetApp are both solutions in the Storage Software category. DataCore is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.4, while NetApp is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. DataCore holds a 30.9% mindshare in SS, compared to NetApp’s 42.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of DataCore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
DataCore SANsymphony
Read 56 DataCore SANsymphony reviews
  • 300 Views
  • 161 Comparison Views
97% willing to recommend
NetApp ONTAP
Read 78 NetApp ONTAP reviews
  • 809 Views
  • 238 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between DataCore SANsymphony and NetApp ONTAP based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Storage Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP
March 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

DataCore SANsymphony
Ranking in Storage Software
2nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (5th), HCI (7th), Storage Performance (2nd)
NetApp ONTAP
Ranking in Storage Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Storage Software category, the mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 30.9%, up from 26.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp ONTAP is 42.4%, up from 42.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Storage Software
 

Featured Reviews

TempreviewerD - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust with good replication and access protection
The solution is constantly evolving. Recently, deduplication and compression have been further improved to meet customer needs, and updates are easily implemented without stopping production. The update assistant checks the state of health before using good practices, during checks that the data is still presented for service continuity, and afterward, if the actions carried out are indeed active. Technical support is truly available even without a production incident. This is really essential right now.
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Christopher Cagayan - PeerSpot reviewer
A solution that comes with several valuable features and excellent SAN storage
NetApp ONTAP is scalable. They have two types of scalability, "scale up" and "scale out." With "scale up," you can get up to petabytes of data if you have the money to buy those servers and add them to the system. And "scale out" also, you can buy additional controllers, up to 12 nodes, which is pretty good when you are a big company. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. NetApp is one of our organization's main storage systems. Every application is scattered on all of our NetApp devices. Applications won't run without it because they need to pull data from NetApp ONTAP.
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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

"The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress)."
"Mirroring is the most valuable feature because I can provide a high-level of service and optimize the use of obsolete storage."
"DataCore's ability to seamlessly move virtual volume data between storage pools as well as their synchronous mirroring has made maintenance and disaster recovery planning achievable."
"The DataCore system has been rock solid since we have been using it - from 2007 on."
"Oracle OLTP benchmark to test how it improves the performance while using flash drive NVMe."
"The documentation repository is really useful and kept updated."
"The features I have found most valuable are the active-active, or so-called grid technology, and the integration into our VMware-vCenter."
"The support is excellent."
More DataCore SANsymphony pros
"The most valuable feature is the very high IOPS rating which you can achieve with it."
"ONTAP allows us to scale and grow as needed and also be flexible in the way we operate."
"Our organization is short-staffed, and ONTAP's ease of storage management is well-suited to our small team."
"We are able to minimize the storage hardware. The compression and deduplication have helped reduce our overall cost of storage."
"ONTAP has improved my organization by lowering budget costs. Deduplication, compression, compaction, SnapMirror, SnapWall, the transaction happens from one to the other. It's serving our needs just as expected."
"It's easy to failover and failback"
"It's much easier and faster to deploy our storage with ONTAP than some of the other solutions that we have."
"The product allowsfor the centralization of large environments."
More NetApp ONTAP pros
 

Cons

"There is no way of quickly matching the exact size of a vDisk to a disk pool."
"One limitation of this solution is that it's Windows-based, e.g. one requirement to install DataCore SANsymphony SDS is putting it on a Windows server machine. It relies on Windows and that is a limitation because there are some customers who are looking for non Windows systems."
"One area where the solution could improve is its software platform. Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction with the software running on Microsoft Windows."
"Having an enterprise "Storage Dashboard" that can show capacity, usage, performance, and any issues would be very beneficial."
"Management could be improved. The management console sometimes reacts very slowly."
"I would like to see SMPA (Shared Multi-Port Array) technology developed with the aim of allowing a configuration identical to other storage arrays."
"The cloud reporting interface is quite poor compared to other vendors."
"For customers or technicians who don't speak and understand English, it would be great to have other language support, all the more so given the number of countries in which SanSymphony is used."
More DataCore SANsymphony cons
"Technical support has gone down in my perspective. When getting to the root cause of issues, they need to respond faster."
"I would like the ability to perform backups in the cloud. That way you don't have to worry about building the data center. Everything's already in the cloud."
"I would like to see more integration of the features with the CIFS and SMB Protocols. We also want integration with iSCSI."
"You really need OnCommand to do a lot of cool stuff with NetApp, and they make it hard to get."
"I would like to see more in the public cloud space around things like object storage. A bit more granularity around how that gets deployed would be nice, but other than that I think they've got it nailed."
"Especially with the all-flash arrays, we would like to see better storage efficiency and deduplication. In terms of manageability, it would be great if NetApp would add more native reporting tools into the dashboard so that we don't need to use the third-party tool for analyzing our environments or to generate any reports. This would be especially helpful for companies that need to generate some chargeback for the customers."
"The vendor diagnostics, which allows for movement from one vendor to another vendor using the application technology that is available. It should be able to talk to any vendor, not just NetApp to NetApp. We should be able to replicate the data, so the next feature should not be vendor specific."
"It should be easier to put in tech support cases. They should streamline the online support and chat."
More NetApp ONTAP cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing."
"In my case, the licensing per terabytes is very high and it must be licensed for each extra functionality."
"The solution is cost effective."
"Pricing has improved but it is still expensive."
"This solution allows the use of off-the-shelf hardware and charges by the TB of storage."
"We have licensing costs on a yearly basis. They charge per terabyte, so in terms of cost, it can be very costly. They have three different features, and you have to pay extra for those."
"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."
"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."
More DataCore SANsymphony pricing and cost advice
"It's not an all inclusive model. You have the option to purchase modules to make the entire ecosystem coherent. I would like the option to pay one price and get everything all inclusive, like OnCommand."
"Because of the dedupe technologies and Data ONTAP servers, we have saved 20% on hardware. This is a lot of money for us."
"NetApp ONTAP is a pricey product, but you pay for what you get. I rate NetApp ONTAP a five out of ten for its pricing."
"Additional costs exist if you want a license for a feature like SnapMirror."
"There are specific workloads where some vendors provide better value, but in general, NetApp has done a far better on price than other vendors."
"Depending on the licensing you choose the price varies. For our company and our needs, the cost is very fair."
"ONTAP is expensive, but most storage systems are now-a-days and everything is included with the license - there are no additional fees."
"NetApp provided the features required within our cost limit."
More NetApp ONTAP pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
The cost changed from a perpetual license to a subscription model, and it seems reasonable. I am technical personnel and not deeply involved in sales, but the pricing appears fine.
See all answers
What do you like most about DataCore SANsymphony?
The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress).
See all answers
What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony?
In my opinion, there should be improvements in how to get and filter logs. However, this is not a frequent need because they have great support that offers quick and knowledgeable assistance. Other...
See all answers
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 ...
See all answers
What do you like most about NetApp ONTAP?
We do not face any glitches or downtime.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp ONTAP?
NetApp provided the features required within our cost limit.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time
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HPE SimpliVity vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 10% of the time
StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony Logo
StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 10% of the time
StarWind Virtual SAN vs DataCore SANsymphony Logo
StarWind Virtual SAN vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 8% of the time
More DataCore SANsymphony Competitors
Dell PowerPath vs NetApp ONTAP Logo
Dell PowerPath vs NetApp ONTAP
Compared 26% of the time
Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP Logo
Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP
Compared 19% of the time
More NetApp ONTAP Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony
March 2025
DataCore SANsymphony reportDownload DataCore SANsymphony product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp ONTAP
March 2025
NetApp ONTAP reportDownload NetApp ONTAP product report
 

Also Known As

DataCore Virtual SAN
No data available
 

Overview

Experience peace of mind with DataCore SANsymphony, the ultimate software-defined storage solution alleviating storage management challenges. Say goodbye to the complexities of managing different storage tiers and disruptions with SANsymphony's block-level storage virtualization technology, empowering you to automate capacity provisioning and data placement across diverse storage environments including SAN, DAS, HCI, and JBOD. Break down silos, control data placement, meet business continuity objectives, boost performance, and seamlessly expand or refresh hardware with SANsymphony. Benefit from features like asynchronous replication for disaster recovery, minimizing data loss, accelerating application responsiveness, and integrating new technology non-disruptively. Trusted by industry leaders like NASA, Thorntons, Inc., and TUI Cruises, DataCore SANsymphony guarantees unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and reliability, ensuring uninterrupted data access and application availability while reducing storage costs and inefficiencies.

DataCore

NetApp is the data authority for hybrid cloud. We provide a full range of hybrid cloud data services that simplify management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments to accelerate digital transformation. Together with our partners, we empower global organizations to unleash the full potential of their data to expand customer touchpoints, foster greater innovation and optimize their operations.

NetApp
 

Sample Customers

Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.
1&1 IONOS, Acıbadem Healthcare Group, Adder Technologies, Aero Vodochody Aerospace
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP
March 2025
Free Report: DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP
Find out what your peers are saying about DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
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