Microsoft Azure File Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) comparison

Microsoft Azure File Storage vs. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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

4.0

Mixed experiences with Microsoft Azure File Storage highlight ROI benefits, integration ease, but variable efficacy for medium businesses.

Sentiment score

6.9

Nutanix Unified Storage boosts ROI by reducing costs, enhancing uptime, scalability, and efficiency, while improving data management and productivity.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

For me, the biggest return on investment when using this solution is that we do not have to have much support staff to run it.

Tom Hiles

Senior Manager, IT Infrastructure & Support at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

The scalability challenge with previous systems is lessened with Nutanix since we can expand by adding new hardware without needing migrations.

Ryan Salaheddine

Infrastructure Architect & Manager at a real estate/law firm with 201-500 employees

We are saving approximately 20% to 25% compared with the competition.

reviewer2703840

Global of Central Computing IT Operations Head at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

Azure File Storage support varies by contract, location, and status; premium users enjoy faster response than standard users.

Sentiment score

7.5

Nutanix Unified Storage customer service is efficient and knowledgeable, with high satisfaction but room for improvement in complex cases.

The perspective documentation is good.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Database Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Microsoft technical support is very prompt.

Arijit Chatterjee

Senior System Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

As and when we require, they are able to provide solutions or guide us toward solutions.

Beniton Fernando

Senior Technical Architect at Volante

They come on the call, start troubleshooting immediately, and resolve issues effectively.

Ashish Savaratkar

Senior System Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

They are very knowledgeable, and if they can't solve the problem, they find the answer within a day or so.

Shawn Greisen

Manager, System Engineering at a mining and metals company with 10,001+ employees

I would give the customer service and technical support a ten out of ten.

Manuel Heredia

PreSales at IKUSI

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.6

Microsoft Azure File Storage is highly scalable, easily integrates, adapts to needs, and receives strong user ratings.

Sentiment score

7.8

Nutanix Unified Storage offers scalable, efficient, and stable storage expansion with easy integration and intuitive licensing for diverse environments.

We successfully handled a huge transaction during an iPhone launch without any issues.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

This means you don't have to buy everything upfront; you can buy what you need and add more as you grow, which is advantageous.

ChrisGeaghan

Sales engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees

These three components utilize scalability tools, enabling storage addition to nodes and supporting independent, linear performance growth.

Amarnath Charugundla

System Engineer at Tata Consultancy

I find the scalability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to be excellent, and I would rate it a ten based on my clients' requirements.

SaurabhShukla

Technical Lead at Cognizant

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

6.4

Microsoft Azure File Storage is reliable with high ratings, minor issues, and requires good internet for optimal performance.

Sentiment score

8.0

Nutanix Unified Storage is stable and reliable, offering smooth upgrades, quick issue resolution, and effective technical support.

I rate the stability of Microsoft Azure File Storage as a seven out of ten.

Database Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

There are a few technical issues that need to be fixed within the Azure ecosystem.

Mohammad-Huda

Data & Analytics Practitioner (BI Dw, Big Data) at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

We sometimes encounter glitches with bigger files, but everything else works as expected.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Lead Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We have not experienced these issues with Nutanix, which I attribute to the all-flash technology, the quality of their platform, and the responsiveness of the hyper-converged infrastructure.

Ryan Adams

System Administrator II at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is very stable.

Ashish Savaratkar

Senior System Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

It automatically triggers tasks, causing performance issues.

reviewer2700540

Nutanix Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Azure File Storage needs better cost clarity, technical support, usability, security, performance, and diagnostics to enhance user experience.

Nutanix Unified Storage requires upgrades in storage capabilities, ease of use, FTP compatibility, analytics, security, support, and pricing.

Some chunking logics need to be better to address issues with processing bigger files.

Lead Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

There is a limitation on the storage capacity, like four terabytes.

Database Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The information is not readily available on the internet, so we have to double-check and understand everything.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The main concern is pricing, which could deter some customers; addressing this would enhance its appeal.

Mrudula Oruganti

Senior Solution Software Engineer at Gigamon

The system should move towards AI-driven optimization and enhance S3 object storage capabilities.

Sukhwinder-Singh

Corporate Trainer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees

System downtime can disturb the entire ecosystem and impact all applications.

Amarnath Charugundla

System Engineer at Tata Consultancy

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Setup Cost

Microsoft Azure File Storage pricing is usage-based, often higher than competitors, with savings via long-term contracts and reservations.

Nutanix Unified Storage offers competitive pricing, appreciated for cost-effectiveness, but may be expensive for small businesses or specific regions.

I would rate it three or three and a half out of ten on the pricing scale.

Lead Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

I would rate the pricing of Microsoft Azure File Storage seven or eight, where one is high and ten is low.

Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The pricing for Microsoft Azure File Storage is five out of ten, not so expensive and not so low.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Database Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Compared to buying three or four vendor solutions, it is much cheaper.

Tom Hiles

Senior Manager, IT Infrastructure & Support at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

The cost has doubled for the same amount of data, which was a challenge when presenting use case justifications for the increased cost.

Ryan Salaheddine

Infrastructure Architect & Manager at a real estate/law firm with 201-500 employees

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has definitely helped reduce our total cost of ownership.

Nidhi Lnu

Information Technology Managed Services Provider at SCE

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure File Storage excels in flexibility, integration, security, and cost-effectiveness, meeting diverse organizational file storage needs.

Nutanix Unified Storage offers scalability, efficiency, robust security, seamless cloud integration, and simplifies IT management, enhancing storage reliability.

It is satisfying our requirements with encryption and security features in place.

reviewer1707861

Senior Data Production Engineer at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees

File storage is complemented by OCR with Azure Cognitive Service.

Lead Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Azure File Storage saves time compared to AWS.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure File Storage report

Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is appreciated for its fault tolerance and redundancy at the cluster level, which ensures reliable storage of files, folders, and other information accessible on the client side.

reviewer2700540

Nutanix Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The cybersecurity features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) when dealing with unstructured data, such as ransomware threats, provide the ability to detect and back up block-based storage, allowing me to restore repositories or sets of block storage with one button click, which is automatic.

Andrew Essien

Network Engineer at Alabama A & M University

My experience with using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for data-intensive workloads is that we have many SQL Servers and they perform much better than they did when we used hybrid converged previously.

Tom Hiles

Senior Manager, IT Infrastructure & Support at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) report

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure File Storage

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Ranking in Public Cloud Storage Services

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (6th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (2nd), File and Object Storage (3rd), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Public Cloud Storage Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure File Storage is 8.6%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is 2.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Public Cloud Storage Services Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure File Storage	8.6%
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)	2.8%
Other	88.6%

Public Cloud Storage Services

Featured Reviews

Has simplified customer data management and improved file transfer workflows

Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

We are using AWS as well, and the main difference is that Microsoft Azure File Storage is more user-friendly for configuration-related and admin-related activities. We do not have to perform many complex activities, making it simpler compared to AWS. Security-wise, there are some concerns because it is in the cloud. The customers need to double-check, and they are not giving complete approval when it comes to security. I would rate Microsoft Azure File Storage's security compliance features seven or eight out of ten. It is secure, but since it is in the cloud, we have to convince customers when providing solutions. Many questions were raised while providing the architecture and solution for this file transfer management system. We convinced them because we have the feature and showed a demo, but it is still a prototype. We have to get approval before starting the work. The data redundancy options in Microsoft Azure File Storage are good. I am facing some challenges in convincing customers, and additional information would be helpful to address these challenges. Microsoft Azure File Storage saves time compared to AWS. We tried the prototype in AWS as well, but Azure is easier. Regarding cost, it is slightly less compared to AWS. The functionality of Microsoft Azure File Storage does not pose any issues, though basic users find it complex and require training. Regarding stability, I would rate Microsoft Azure File Storage 8.5 to 9. Scalability in Microsoft Azure File Storage is impressive. We recently handled a huge transaction during an iPhone launch without any problems.

Read full review

Amarnath Charugundla

System Engineer at Tata Consultancy

Unified management and cost-effectiveness lead to positive experiences and future savings

Improvement is necessary wherein the memory or storage should not breach 90%, because if breached, it becomes unmanageable. We have to set alerts or CPU triggering for 95% for the first warning. Other activities on nodes or file systems should be properly maintained. We must monitor the dashboard for P1, P2 alerts in the Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) file share system including SMB, NFS, objects, and blocks. Attention should be maintained for any alerts such as CPU, memory, and RAM alerts, as exceeding these creates issues within teams. If triggered to 95% and forgotten, it crosses the SLA breach, causing disturbances to application, web, and platform teams. Continuous monitoring on the Nutanix dashboard is essential. Even a highly experienced person in Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cannot provide a 10 rating out of 10 because it is a vast system. I would rate it eight from my perspective.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Public Cloud Storage Services solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	30
Large Enterprise	64

Questions from the Community

Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?

Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure File Storage?

The product is a reliable cloud solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure File Storage?

The cost of Microsoft Azure File Storage depends on the storage account, whether it is premium or standard; there is a cost difference, with the cost being higher for premium and lower for standard...

What do you like most about Nutanix Unified Storage?

Nutanix has excellent product documentation available on their portals, written in simple, easy-to-understand language.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Unified Storage?

It is very cost-effective compared to the traditional environment. With new hardware, it's a long-term investment but very effective for us. It is mid-range in pricing. I consider it a long-term in...

What needs improvement with Nutanix Unified Storage?

To improve Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), cost is always an issue for every company, especially when we talk about large amounts of data. This is more a cultural market issue than the price of the ...

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Comparisons

Compared 79% of the time

Azure NetApp Files vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 5% of the time

Wasabi vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 4% of the time

Amazon S3 Glacier vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 3% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs Microsoft Azure File Storage

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Azure File Storage Competitors

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon S3 vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Compared 5% of the time

MinIO vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

Compared 5% of the time

More Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Azure File Storage

January 2026

Download Microsoft Azure File Storage product report

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

January 2026

Download Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) product report

Also Known As

MS Azure File Storage

Nutanix Files Storage, Nutanix Volumes Block Storage, Nutanix Objects Storage

Overview

Fully managed file shares that use the standard SMB 3.0 protocol

Key scenarios:

Share data across on-premises and cloud servers
Migrate file share-based applications to the cloud with no code changes
Integrate modern applications with File storage
Simplify hosting for high availability workload data

Microsoft

Nutanix Unified Storage offers seamless scalability and high availability with a user-friendly interface, supporting multi-protocol operations while integrating effortlessly with cloud platforms. It enhances performance and security with features like ransomware protection and advanced data management.

Nutanix Unified Storage streamlines storage management by consolidating infrastructure and optimizing virtualization. It reduces operational complexity and enhances performance across diverse workloads. Despite feedback on integration challenges and suggestions for improving pricing, API capabilities, and security, it remains a key choice for dependable storage solutions. Calls for streamlined implementation and enhanced AI capabilities reflect its potential to better support evolving organizational strategies, driving cost efficiency and data accessibility.

What are the key features of Nutanix Unified Storage?

Intuitive Interface: Simplifies management with easy navigation.
High Availability: Ensures minimal downtime and reliable performance.
Seamless Scalability: Adapts to increasing data requirements effortlessly.
Multi-Protocol Support: Facilitates comprehensive operations across different systems.
Advanced Security: Offers ransomware protection and secure data backup.
Cloud Integration: Allows smooth interaction with cloud platforms.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Operational Efficiency: Reduced complexity through streamlined management.
Cost Optimization: Achieved via data compression and consolidation.
Enhanced Data Visibility: Improved insights with advanced data lens.
Performance Improvement: Significant uplift in workload handling and database performance.
Scalable Infrastructure: Enables growth and adaptation to changing demands.

In industries, Nutanix Unified Storage is deployed to centralize storage needs, improve database efficiency, and enhance file sharing and security. Organizations use it to consolidate infrastructure, support virtualization, optimize costs, and facilitate virtual machine hosting. It's instrumental in scalable object storage, ransomware protection, integrating legacy systems, and catering to critical applications.

Nutanix

Sample Customers

Talon, Camden

JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco