DDN IntelliFlash vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays comparison

DDN IntelliFlash vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

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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

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Everpure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DDN IntelliFlash is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.6%
NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays	1.0%
DDN IntelliFlash	0.9%
Other	96.5%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

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Anil Rahulwar

L3 Storage Engineer at Capgemini

Good customer service and support and suitable for large environments

It is very easy to install. Users don't need to remember anything while deploying IntelliFlash because everything will be taken care of by tech support. They can easily modify the installation or change the password with the help of the tech support. It is very easy to integrate IntelliFlash with other solutions. We have plugins that can be integrated with other solutions. It will require maintenance. It is the same as any other storage solution: updates and upgrades, firmware upgrades, and drive upgrades.

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Tayo Olubanke

Managing Director at GCET

Offers flexibility and top-notch technology

You can go to bed peacefully if you have a NetApp. If you have NetApp within your data center, you get to know about power failure if you are using it. Your NetApp will still come alive. Even if it does not come alive, I can say that it is not like other tools when it comes to dealing with power failure. The tool is affordable, and the technology is top-notch. It is the only technology that has software for what we call inline compression and deduplication. All the products under NetApp are aiming to use AI. I know that you can achieve whatever you want to do with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

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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

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe will quickly overcome all the hurdles you face, including network and latency issues."

"The database workloads are pretty fast because I frequently move data from here to there."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is reliability."

"Offers excellent features like efficient data reduction, a reliable SafeMode, and a great support model for continuous assistance and updates."

"The latency is good."

"We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."

"Using this solution has benefitted us operationally by making us more efficient."

"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"High performance and ease-of-management are the most valuable features."

"Data Compression: Up to 80% space reduction in the database"

"Once we got this solution in there, we were able to get the reporting down from eight hours to under 20 minutes."

"We have been able to realize storage space savings for our virtualization environment and it has reduced our electricity usage by reducing the number of disks needed for the virtual environment."

"High performance and ease-of-management are the most valuable features."

"It provides a combination of all the protocols that you need, without losing deduplication and compression."

"EasyTier/hotcaching: Valuable because it allows greater performance than standard SAS disks Cheaper than pure solid state without needing to actively manage where the data is located."

"It performed great originally, and when it performed great, it was awesome."

More DDN IntelliFlash pros

"Rapid deployment, easy integration management and cloning of areas."

"I would recommend it. It is very stable, fast, and offers good support."

"We found all of those things in NetApp."

"Go with the NetApp EF-series All Flash Arrays, if you want good quality, reliability, speed and size."

"The NetApp EF-Series gave our organization easy access to our databases, and what's great about this solution is that it speeds up our data store because it is a cheap solution for flash performances."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the performance of the database access."

"If I were advising a colleague at another company who is researching this kind of solution, I would say take a good look at it because we haven't had any issues."

"The most valuable feature for us is the ability to move the workload between peers, and it also has a huge advantage of helping us cut down on power consumption."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pros

Cons

"They could add more support for file storage and different types of storage."

"Managing data isn't difficult for me. The performance is usually perfect, but we sometimes have capacity problems."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial."

"There are some challenges with data encryption and reduction."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"They could add more support for file storage and different types of storage."

"One area that I haven't been sold on yet is the POD replication."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"The monitoring matrix and its dashboard need work."

"We had just one small stability problem with power flapping and it did not start up again automatically. We had to access service ports and manually restart the storage processors."

"The monitoring matrix and its dashboard need work."

"The solution as it is right now is not very stable. The stability seems to have eroded."

"Technical support is bad. It'd grade them at 30% or 40%. The response time is terrible."

"It only keeps one hour of real-time data without the ability to do deep analysis of each element."

"It's annoying that if you turn on SMB3 (as opposed to the earlier CIFS protocol), then it is not possible to access a file store using a mixture of SMB and NFS."

"It's somewhat scalable, but maybe not so much as some of the competition."

More DDN IntelliFlash cons

"Their problems are on the software and the controlling of the storage where they lack segmentation and federation."

"This solution does not have any compression or deduplication."

"Nonetheless, there are a couple of other things that NetApp hasn't done right."

"I've observed an issue when creating a new storage solution with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays."

"The only major drawback is the replication between EF-Series units."

"Things like the FlexClones, SnapVault, SnapMirror, all of that. Some of it's available on the EF series, but we like what we have in the FAS system."

"This solution has limited storage."

"Better support technicians for CAPP."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"I recommend the full bundle software in order to have all the functionality. It is more expensive to purchase it one by one."

"I think we pay around 100 grand per year for three arrays or four arrays."

"It's a lot cheaper than what the other vendors have for the same type of environment. It saves us money."

"Adding more capacity will increase the cost."

"Its cost-effectiveness is a major selling point. Compared to other storage vendors, the EF-Series offers excellent value for its price. It's truly a leading product in the industry."

"The pricing is comparable with other competitors and similar in mid-range solutions, and for high range solutions, it would depend on our requirements or needs."

"They need to improve its pricing. The storage market is dying. So, they need to improve the price because it should reach all people. NetApp is one of the top ones, and they are charging a little bit of royalty as compared to other storage solutions."

"The price point for EF is considerably lower than the alternatives."

"One has to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model for one year or three years. After three years, you need to renew the license."

"Price-wise, NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is costlier than Dell. You have to buy a lot of licenses separately."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

10%

Performing Arts

10%

Marketing Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	18

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IntelliFlash?

It is a bit cheaper than other products, 10% to 20% cheaper.

What needs improvement with IntelliFlash?

DDN IntelliFlash should improve in terms of sales. In future releases, I look forward to more features about AI and M...

What is your primary use case for IntelliFlash?

We use IntelliFlash products for larger environments, like Qatar Airways. They have large scalability and use more th...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

One has to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model for one year or three years. After three years, you need to rene...

What needs improvement with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

The support of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required. I want NetApp's supp...

What is your primary use case for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

There are so many things to talk about around the use cases associated with the tool. There are so many reasons why I...

Dell PowerStore vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparisons

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

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VAST Data vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 18% of the time

NetApp AFF vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 9% of the time

Tintri VMstore T7000 vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 7% of the time

HPE Nimble Storage vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 7% of the time

Everpure FlashArray vs DDN IntelliFlash

Compared 6% of the time

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NetApp AFF vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 12% of the time

Dell XtremIO vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 8% of the time

Everpure FlashBlade vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 6% of the time

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays Competitors

Product Reports

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Download Everpure FlashArray X NVMe product report

DDN IntelliFlash

Download DDN IntelliFlash product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Download NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X, Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Tegile, IntelliFlash N-Series, IntelliFlash T-Series, IntelliFlash HD-Series

NetApp EF540, NetApp EF-Series

Overview

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe delivers high performance, reliability, and low latency, making it ideal for block storage in private cloud infrastructures and mission-critical applications.

Boasting robust data reduction, high availability, and seamless scalability, Everpure FlashArray X NVMe supports databases, VMware environments, and machine learning analytics. Known for its intuitive interface, superior support, volume snapshots, and AI-powered analytics, it efficiently manages storage needs, often deployed to replace outdated systems. Users highlight its simplistic management and easy configuration, although opportunities exist to enhance pricing, replication features, VNC integration, and storage capabilities.

What are the key features?

Data Reduction: Effective compression and deduplication improve storage efficiency.
Seamless Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing demands without downtime.
Volume Snapshots: Quickly create snapshots for data protection and recovery.
VMware Compatibility: Integrates smoothly with VMware environments for optimal performance.
AI-Powered Analytics: Provides insights for enhanced storage management and efficiency.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Low Latency and High Availability: Ensures rapid data access and uninterrupted service.
Easy Management: Intuitive interface simplifies configuration and monitoring.
Evergreen Model: Continuous upgrades without disruptive migrations.
Enhanced Support: Reliable service and support for critical applications.

Organizations in industries such as finance and healthcare implement Everpure FlashArray X NVMe to bolster data performance and reliability. They leverage its integration capabilities with Oracle databases and SQL workloads, supporting machine learning and virtualization. It's often chosen to upgrade legacy storage systems, ensuring high availability and speed for demanding environments.

Everpure (formerly Pure Storage)

Western Digital through its IntelliFlash arrays delivers high-performance storage with a complete range of features and connectivity options, including inline compression and deduplication, application and VM consistent snapshots, replication, RAID, data encryption, VMware vCenter integration, and multi-protocol support for SAN (FC, iSCSI) and NAS (NFS, SMBv3). IntelliFlash arrays deliver high availability through dualredundant and hot-swappable components, active/active or active/passive controllers, non-disruptive software upgrades, eMLC flash, and proactive cloud-based monitoring, analytics, and intelligence. A RESTful API provides scripted or programmatic control.

DataDirect Networks

The NetApp EF560 all-flash array is an all-SSD storage system for applications that demand extremely high levels of performance and reliability. Requiring just 2U of rack space, the EF560 all-flash array combines extreme IOPS, microsecond response times, and up to 12GBps of bandwidth with leading, enterprise-proven availability features.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Bank of Stockton, Barnsley College, Boyes Turner, Brigham Young University

RP Data, Western Oregon University, Toei Animation

DDN IntelliFlash vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays