IBM SoftLayer vs Zadara comparison

Why PeerSpot?

IBM and Zadara are both solutions in the Public Cloud Storage Services category. IBM is ranked #19, while Zadara is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4. IBM holds a 2.0% mindshare in PCSS, compared to Zadara’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zadara users who would recommend it.

IBM SoftLayer

Read 2 IBM SoftLayer reviews

1,163 Views
896 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Zadara

Read 16 Zadara reviews

5,622 Views
1,181 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM SoftLayer

Zadara

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 2024

IBM SoftLayer and Zadara compete in the cloud and infrastructure services sector. Based on user reviews, Zadara seems to have the upper hand due to its adaptability and user-friendly deployment processes.

Features: IBM SoftLayer is known for its robust infrastructure, high-performance servers, and network capabilities. Zadara stands out with its storage solutions, scalable resources, and seamless integration with other services.

Room for Improvement: IBM SoftLayer users suggest improvements in billing transparency, support response times, and documentation. Zadara users believe enhancements could be made in the documentation, user management features, and integration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM SoftLayer receives mixed feedback on deployment complexity but is acknowledged for substantial customer support once set up. Zadara impresses with its straightforward deployment and proactive customer service, making it easier for users to start and maintain operations.

Pricing and ROI: IBM SoftLayer has competitive setup costs but struggles with justifying ROI due to hidden fees reported by users. Zadara’s pricing model is transparent, and users feel the ROI is worthwhile due to its comprehensive features and consistent performance.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM SoftLayer vs. Zadara Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM SoftLayer vs. Zadara

September 2026

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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

IBM SoftLayer

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

19th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zadara

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (16th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (12th), Compute Service (8th), File and Object Storage (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of IBM SoftLayer is 2.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zadara is 2.6%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Public Cloud Storage Services Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Zadara	2.6%
IBM SoftLayer	2.0%
Other	95.4%

Public Cloud Storage Services

Featured Reviews

reviewer1032702

Global Principal Cloud Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Stable with excellent speed and agility

The most valuable aspect of the solution is simply to have the ability to host in a cloud form and out of the data center - the IBM big iron solution. It's the speed and the agility that really sell SoftLayer. The ELT versus ETL extract, transform and load versus extract, load, and then transform, the ELT method is what really sells SoftLayer. The ability to extract act from your current location, load into your future location, with limited change, and then be able to take the transfer actions slowly and methodically after you're in your new location is the part that really makes this awesome. The stability and scalability are quite good.

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Adeilson Araujo

Arquiteto De Cloud at Claro Brasil

Hybrid data migration has reduced costs and now needs stronger security and database integration

I would like to share something that I believe could improve Zadara's process, which is the issue of communication with databases. Today we have MongoDB as a cloud service, so integration with databases in Zadara would bring better performance in connection in SaaS models and in dynamic models that could bring a platform and a solution that could increase Zadara's usage in the market and in its business scope. Zadara can improve in the database integration area as I mentioned. Zadara can have better dynamism such as MongoDB in SaaS and bring this better dynamism by connecting and offering it within the clouds as a possibility of block storage within that partner cloud, such as AWS EBS, Google's cloud storage, or something within Azure. Creating a stronger partnership where this block storage can become an API connectable across various clouds but native to those clouds would be beneficial. I noticed simplicity in the security part during the time I used Zadara, so I believe Zadara's security needs to improve to provide more and deliver more security visibility to the end customer so that they feel more secure with data encryption and attack protection. A WAF on the API connection that goes through greater protection, something along those lines, could help guarantee that the data is protected by Zadara.

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

"The solution is highly stable."

"The ability to extract from your current location, load into your future location with limited change, and then be able to take the transfer actions slowly and methodically after you're in your new location is the part that really makes this awesome."

"The ELT versus ETL extract, transform and load versus extract, load, and then transform, the ELT method is what really sells SoftLayer."

"The stability is the solution's most valuable aspect for our organization."

"Zadara saves both time and money."

"We know that we have a reputable, reliable, and consistent vendor on our side, that to me is important."

"One of the most valuable features is its integration with other cloud solutions. We have a presence within Amazon EC2 and we leverage compute instances in there. Being able to integrate with compute, both locally within Zadara, as well as with other cloud vendors such as Amazon, is very helpful, while also being able to maintain extremely low latency between those connections."

"Zadara is a fully-fledged platform, and our customers are happy with its use."

"The most valuable feature of Zadara is its ease of use and safety, and overall the solution is a complete package with all the features needed."

"Zadara offers competitive services that are among the best options available for storage services and cloud computing."

"The processing is much faster with this product."

"It provides very satisfactory storage performance."

More Zadara pros

Cons

"For us, the versioning was an issue."

"The interface is hard to use for us. It should be simplified."

"Currently, when we do firmware upgrades, it sometimes causes issues and is not as nondisruptive as desired."

"Zadara can be improved by making their interfaces more attractive. They currently look like simple PHP interfaces, but they need to customize and work on their interfaces and user interfaces significantly."

"The cost is not favorable as Zadara does not provide competitive rates for regions like South Africa and Ethiopia."

"There is room for improvement in pricing as it is currently quite expensive."

"The management interface is more geared towards end-users rather than a service partner like ourselves, and there are improvements that can be made around that."

"In the next release, there can be some improvements to the web console by adding more features because the console is simple. Additionally, the calculator could improve."

"Right now, to use Zadara, you have to go through some hoops."

"The initial setup of the solution is complex."

More Zadara cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The pricing and licensing are very simple and the cost is predictable, although, like everything that you pay for as you use, you have to be mindful of what you're using."

"One of the factors that ruled out several providers was cost. They were way too expensive for the volume of data that we needed and the speed at which we needed to be able to manage it. There aren't a lot of providers that can do that."

"The pricing is very competitive and the fact that they have very compelling discounts for multi-year commitments is great."

"The price of Zadara is very good and it covers everything. There is no subscription needed."

"If you just take the street price of Zadara Storage Cloud and look up the price or cost per hour, then you could think that Zadara Storage Cloud is extremely expensive or a solution only for enterprise use. That is not true. You need to compare the entire system. This means that you don't stop looking at just the street price, but you need to consider all the features, requirements, and costs of support as well as the extra cost that other vendors have. Other players just play with hidden, additional costs. Everything is included in Zadara Storage Cloud's licensing cost; what you get is what you pay for."

"It is a nice licensing model and it makes it quite simple because we just pay for what we use, and the bill that comes shows us exactly what customers are using what resources."

"For our use, it's appropriately priced and overall, it's proved to be very cost-effective against other tier-one vendors."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Comms Service Provider

13%

Construction Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Zadara?

One point to improve Zadara is to make the limitations clear. We encountered many limitations, such as situations where disk space was available in terms of gigabytes, but the number of disks had a...

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What is your primary use case for Zadara?

Our main use case for Zadara is making machines available for customers to use by provisioning the entire environment for them, including both the infrastructure and networking components. We provi...

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What advice do you have for others considering Zadara?

My advice to other people who are thinking about using Zadara is that they can use it extensively, but they should pay attention to the limitations and the limits of Zadara itself. I would rate thi...

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Comparisons

Amazon S3 vs IBM SoftLayer

Compared 17% of the time

Amazon S3 Glacier vs IBM SoftLayer

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Cloud Software Appliance vs IBM SoftLayer

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 vs IBM SoftLayer

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs IBM SoftLayer

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM SoftLayer Competitors

Amazon S3 vs Zadara

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon EC2 vs Zadara

Compared 8% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Zadara

Compared 6% of the time

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs Zadara

Compared 5% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Zadara

Compared 4% of the time

More Zadara Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Public Cloud Storage Services

October 2026

Download IBM SoftLayer product report

Buyer's Guide

Zadara

October 2026

Download Zadara product report

Also Known As

CloudLayer

No data available

Overview

IBM SoftLayer, part of IBM Cloud offerings, provides robust infrastructure services designed to meet business demands for scalability and flexibility. It supports a range of computing needs, offering customizable resources with high performance and reliability.

IBM SoftLayer is an enterprise-grade cloud platform that combines powerful networking, security, and redundancy features. It enables users to deploy a combination of physical and virtual devices, facilitating hybrid cloud solutions. Known for its flexibility, it caters to businesses needing infrastructure tailored to specific operational needs, ensuring efficient workload management and performance.

What are the most important features of IBM SoftLayer?

Network Configuration: Offers high-speed networking with options for private, public, and management networks.
Security Measures: Comprehensive security with DDoS protection, firewalls, and encryption services.
Scalability Options: Flexible scaling of resources for dynamic business requirements.
Hybrid Deployments: Seamless integration of physical and virtual environments.
Data Centers: Global presence with numerous data centers offering reliability and low latency.

What benefits and ROI should you expect from IBM SoftLayer?

Cost Efficiency: Competitive pricing and transparent billing to manage IT budgets effectively.
Performance Optimization: High-performance infrastructure enhancing application speed and responsiveness.
Business Agility: Rapid deployment capabilities aiding timely project launches.
Operational Ease: Streamlined management of resources reducing operational overheads.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and gaming find IBM SoftLayer beneficial due to its secure, reliable infrastructure supporting sensitive data and high transaction volumes. It enables financial services to manage data flows seamlessly, healthcare sectors to ensure compliance with data security regulations, and gaming companies to deliver low-latency user experiences. Designed for enterprises needing tailored solutions to meet operational demands efficiently.

IBM

Zadara integrates cloud solutions with low latency and a pay-as-you-go model, offering user-friendly scalability and IOPS performance. Its robust features such as single-tenant experience and dedicated cores make it an essential choice for enterprise storage needs.

Zadara is designed for seamless cloud integration supporting major cloud vendors. Its offerings include dedicated cores and hybrid drive options within a scalable environment. Providing managed services, Zadara is adaptable with predictable pricing. Its reliability is enhanced by iSCSI service, supporting fault tolerance and data management across data centers.

What are the key features of Zadara?

Cloud Integration: Seamlessly supports major cloud vendors for easy deployment.
Low Latency: Ensures quick data access and processing.
Pay-as-You-Go: Flexible pricing model based on usage.
Single-Tenant Experience: Exclusive resources for enhanced performance.
Dedicated Cores: Provides consistent and reliable service quality.
Hybrid Drive Options: Offers a mix of storage solutions fitting diverse needs.
Managed Services Support: Comprehensive service management and support for users.

What benefits should users evaluate when considering Zadara?

Scalability: Easy to scale resources according to demand.
Flexibility in Deployment: Options for various enterprise storage configurations.
Predictable Pricing: Cost forecasts help manage budgets effectively.
User-Friendliness: Intuitive operations streamline processes.
IOPS Performance: High input/output operations per second for expedited tasks.

In industries managing large-scale data storage and disaster recovery, Zadara provides a foundation for secure and efficient data handling. It supports managed service providers with infrastructure solutions, including backup and disaster recovery, enabling seamless off-site storage and maintaining business continuity across different sectors.

Zadara

Sample Customers

Whogohost Ltd., Skypicker, Infinity Computers and Communications Company, Grace Co. Ltd., Keyword, Uvionics Tech, Tennis Australia, immixGroup, Salesbox, Cxense ASA, Avnet Inc., Komsomolskaya Pravda, Seekr

Time, Inc. A&E Network, The Washington Post, News UK, McGraw Hill, Gilt, Toshiba, Deloitte, VMware

Buyer's Guide

IBM SoftLayer vs. Zadara

September 2026

Free Report: IBM SoftLayer vs. Zadara

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SoftLayer vs. Zadara and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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