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 8.7. DataCore holds a 25.0% mindshare in SS, compared to NetApp’s 37.7% 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 58 DataCore SANsymphony reviews

3,606 Views
288 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

NetApp ONTAP

Read 90 NetApp ONTAP reviews

1,263 Views
960 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

DataCore SANsymphony

NetApp ONTAP

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

DataCore SANsymphony and NetApp ONTAP both compete in the enterprise storage solutions market. DataCore SANsymphony appears to have an upper hand in flexibility and cost-effectiveness, while NetApp ONTAP excels with integrated data management and robust enterprise adoption.

Features: DataCore SANsymphony's features include auto-tiering, synchronous mirroring, and parallel I/O, which optimize performance and ensure high availability. It is known for its scalability and ease of integration with different hardware. NetApp ONTAP provides data protection and integration through SnapMirror, SnapVault, and deduplication technologies, enhancing disaster recovery and storage efficiency. Its advanced snapshot capabilities ensure robust data protection.

Room for Improvement: DataCore SANsymphony could improve iSCSI initiator connectivity and develop a more user-friendly web console. Enhanced integration with Veeam and a more intuitive management console are also needed. NetApp ONTAP users seek better volume replication in SAN environments and simpler management processes. There's potential for improved cloud integration and GUI enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: DataCore SANsymphony is often implemented on-premises with hybrid cloud deployments, praised for responsive technical support and straightforward setup. NetApp ONTAP supports both on-premises and cloud, offering a consistent deployment experience with reliable customer service. Both platforms provide strong support, with DataCore being noted for proactive service.

Pricing and ROI: DataCore SANsymphony's pricing can escalate with increased storage needs due to its licensing model, yet it offers cost-effectiveness through scalability. NetApp ONTAP's pricing reflects its comprehensive features, offering significant value and total cost of ownership savings. Flexible licensing options, including pay-as-you-go models through AWS, align costs with usage. Both solutions enhance ROI through high availability and operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP

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

DataCore SANsymphony

Ranking in Storage Software

2nd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (4th), HCI (7th), Storage Performance (2nd)

NetApp ONTAP

Ranking in Storage Software

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Storage Software category, the mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 25.0%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp ONTAP is 37.7%, down from 43.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Storage Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NetApp ONTAP	37.7%
DataCore SANsymphony	25.0%
Other	37.3%

Storage Software

Featured Reviews

SigfridCecillon

Owner at Arsium

High availability and user-friendliness enhance infrastructure health and redundancy

I would rate technical support from DataCore SANsymphony a 10. Each time I contact the technical support, it's when I don't have a choice because it's very difficult for me on site, and each time, I have good people online who are able to help me solve the problem. Usually, the problems are not very technically difficult, but sometimes they are, and the support team is still there to help us resolve them. The majority of the problems are linked to licensing, so when the license has expired or the number is not correct, they are proactive and change things live, which is very good.

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Naveen Radhwani

Head IT at TO THE NEW Digital

Provides good performance, stability, and complete data security

Our upcoming investments would be prioritized around a hybrid cloud solution because we ourselves promote the cloud in the market. We are the premium service provider for AWS, so we have that inclination toward cloud computing. From the experience that we had during the pandemic, we are looking for some kind of hybrid solution for our environment. NetApp should focus on a hybrid cloud solution because none of the media houses are opting for cloud storage. The files are quite heavy, and it becomes quite difficult to maintain them on the cloud. If NetApp can provide such technology and fill the gap of storing media files in the cloud, it would give them an advantage.

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

"Supporting of Automated-Storage-Tiering (AST) is a good feature that saves money."

"The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are many counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress)."

"DataCore has helped provide flexible, highly available, high-performance storage that otherwise would have been outside our price range."

"Continuous data protection (CDP), can be used to "protect" again ransomware by recording all write on disk in a log. You can recover your data with incredible time granularity."

"I'd have to say that the biggest improvement gained by using SANsymphony has to be the performance of the product."

"During the maintenance periods, on any part of the storage or VMware migration, we have had no downtime."

"It's a software storage solution that can scale as we like. There is also has a parallel feature that enhances the performance of the storage solution. We can separate storage and computing, and we can scale these two parts of the platform to meet business needs efficiently."

"I found the solution to be very stable."

More DataCore SANsymphony pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is to be able to do multiple clusters on one pane of glass. We used to have to log on to each cluster per NetApp to view statistics on it or the logs if something was wrong. But now we can use ONTAP to view all the clusters and it shows us if something is full of space or not."

"The most valuable feature is the very high IOPS rating which you can achieve with it."

"We over-allocate our aggregates and it still works, it's great, it's fun. We dedupe everywhere, we get huge savings. We went back and deduped the whole thing again, we could get more, so that's what we do. We go back and look to see if there's an option we can set and do it from the beginning, but still 13 terabytes, that's a lot of dedupe savings. Sometimes we get 50% or more in our savings, so we love dedupe."

"Scalability is good. Now that we have the ability to add more nodes to the cluster, it's better. It allows us to grill our clusters allowing them to be larger and faster, without having to buy a whole new system."

"It's very fast, NetApp is always dependable, so if we have an issue, they're very responsive."

"The whole point of our project and the team I lead is that we wanted to be able to move data from a ship back to shore. With ONTAP, we are able to do that extremely fast, especially based on the way we were doing it before."

"The performance of the hardware is good."

"The specific feature of NetApp ONTAP that I have found most valuable is SnapMirror. The feature that allows me to replicate volumes from one site to another and the possibility to reuse all the storage appliances by aggregating them into one cluster are also valuable."

More NetApp ONTAP pros

Cons

"Problem detection could be easier. It should help customers identify problems very quickly because it's not easy to analyze on the platform today."

"I would like to see reporting added, such as a monthly connectivity report."

"The main problem is there is no DataCore OS."

"I think an easier way to open a service call, right through the DataCore GUI, would be an improvement, especially when there is an urgent issue."

"In my opinion, there should be improvements in how to get and filter logs."

"The graphical interface is not always very stable."

"The cloud reporting interface is quite poor compared to other vendors."

"My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that in many cases it is expensive, but we can find a solution every time to have a discount for selling it."

More DataCore SANsymphony cons

"With NetApp ONTAP, the technology is all there, but its management process needs some simplification."

"If you do the initial setup manually, it is a bit difficult for someone who doesn't know."

"For administration, there is no user interface present for NetApp ONTAP, so I have to rely on the ONTAP CLI."

"It is not as good as we need from a performance perspective. At the moment, we are always running out of CPU on the controllers, even the high-end solutions."

"In Africa, especially in West Africa, NetApp doesn't chat with their customers. Therefore, we always have to go through the local partners or vendors."

"One area where they could improve NetApp ONTAP is their ability to migrate to and from different enterprise storage."

"The back-up side of the solution could be improved, as could the archive. We still have to rely on third-party backup programs and other archiving solutions. If it was offered by NetApp itself, it would be much better."

"I could see the GUI being a little bit more refined, the presentation layer being a little stronger, a little less sluggish."

More NetApp ONTAP cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing."

"In my case, the licensing per terabytes is very high and it must be licensed for each extra functionality."

"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."

"This solution allows the use of off-the-shelf hardware and charges by the TB of storage."

"Pricing has improved but it is still expensive."

"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."

"The solution is cost effective."

"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."

More DataCore SANsymphony pricing and cost advice

"We have been able to save about 3TB to 5TB of storage. We still need to do more on the compression bit, then provisioning, to save more going forward."

"We received a super deal for our new machine, so we were happy with the price."

"We have seen ROI, especially with the deduplication. We have a high ratio of deduplication and are way past 70 percent of our VDI, as we have almost 400TBs on our VDI. We have been able to save at least a quarter of a petabyte of space."

"In the past, you didn't have to buy separate products. They were mostly included with the purchase. In the end, it's more expensive to buy it separate than together. If you are going to need it, one package at the beginning is cheaper."

"Our cost per IOP is three to four dollars, but we have a hybrid solution. Therefore, we have SSD and spinning disk running together."

"Additional costs exist if you want a license for a feature like SnapMirror."

"The data compression and deduplication have kept us from buying more disks these past three years."

"It helps us save money using compression and deduplication."

More NetApp ONTAP pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

University

Transportation Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	66

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?

Regarding the pricing of the solution, it's better than before. They have made some improvements regarding the pricing, but it's still too expensive. As an integrator, I consider that it's at a goo...

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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?

The area of DataCore SANsymphony that has room for improvement is the support. I cannot determine if certain features have been deployed and are available in the new software sold by DataCore.

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?

The pricing is high. That said, we received favorable pricing at Intel due to the company's large NetApp ONTAP deployment across different organizations. While we're not in the IT department (we're...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 7% of the time

More DataCore SANsymphony Competitors

Dell PowerPath vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 31% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 19% of the time

StorONE Storage-as-a-Service vs NetApp ONTAP

Compared 12% of the time

More NetApp ONTAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony

September 2025

Download DataCore SANsymphony product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp ONTAP

September 2025

Download 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

September 2025

Free Report: DataCore SANsymphony vs. NetApp ONTAP

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