NetApp FAS Series vs Qumulo comparison

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NetApp FAS Series

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

NetApp FAS Series and Qumulo compete in the enterprise storage solutions category, with Qumulo having an edge due to its advanced features and real-time analytics, which are highly appreciated by enterprises seeking immediate data insight.

Features: NetApp FAS Series is noted for its data protection, integration capabilities supporting hybrid cloud environments, and a robust set of tools for backup. Qumulo provides real-time analytics and scalability, which give organizations adaptable data insights. These features, especially real-time file system visibility, set Qumulo apart.

Room for Improvement: NetApp FAS Series could benefit from improved real-time data processing, better scalability options, and enhancements in their analytics capabilities. Qumulo may improve on reducing upfront costs, offering more competitive pricing, and enhancing protocol support for more diverse enterprise needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetApp's deployment process is supported with extensive documentation, streamlining the setup process. Qumulo simplifies deployment through intuitive interfaces and automated updates, coupled with proactive customer service, offering an enhanced user experience.

Pricing and ROI: NetApp FAS Series is recognized for its appealing pricing with competitive setup costs and strong ROI, attracting budget-conscious enterprises. Though Qumulo carries higher upfront costs, it justifies this with considerable long-term ROI benefits through efficient data handling and scalable features, making it a worthwhile investment.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp FAS Series vs. Qumulo Report (Updated: November 2026).

NetApp FAS Series vs. Qumulo

November 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.2

NetApp FAS Series offers cost-effective storage consolidation with reliable deduplication, ideal for VMware, providing significant ROI and service quality.

Sentiment score

6.5

Qumulo enhances productivity and user satisfaction by simplifying file management, increasing uptime, and optimizing workloads across industries.

If you have the configuration well maintained and configured, you should have good efficiency and compression for the clients and for yourself.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Qumulo is a revenue competitor with Isilon, NetApp, Ampere Stewart, and PowerScale, so this is HP's purchase to compete with those particular companies.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

The capabilities for handling high throughput unstructured workloads and executing petabyte-scale migrations are paramount for media and entertainment or healthcare, where they can reduce the burden of long nights spent on migrations.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

We have seen a return on investment in the reduction of storage administration effort.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Infrastructure Architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.3

NetApp FAS Series' customer service is well-regarded for knowledgeable support, though first-level responsiveness could improve; satisfaction remains high.

Sentiment score

9.1

Qumulo customer service is praised for 24/7 availability, responsiveness, expertise in cloud and NAS, and effective issue resolution.

Sometimes, the support was inadequate because the initial architecture was poorly defined.

reviewer1395864

Pre-Sales Director France, Belgium and Luxembourg at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees

We are also using it ourselves for the SAN and CIFS protocol.

System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

They often provide basic solutions, such as suggesting a failover or a power cycle, which are not the sophisticated solutions we expect from a vendor.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

Senior Cloud System Engineer at Atos Poland

These professionals possess deep expertise in cloud deployments and NAS migrations, ensuring that I am speaking with knowledgeable individuals.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

I rate customer support for Qumulo as excellent, giving it a 10 for its top-tier service in response, resolution, and overall attention to customer needs.

Oscar Ortega

Computing Junior at a media company with 1-10 employees

I would rate Qumulo's tech support as a 9 out of 10.

Naved Siddique

Sr Infrastructure Engineer at American Express

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

NetApp FAS Series offers seamless, flexible scaling with effective data management, though it may require additional hardware and involve cost considerations.

Sentiment score

7.3

Qumulo is highly scalable, efficient for large data environments, enhancing performance without disruptions, popular in media and healthcare sectors.

We normally avoid current versions and use versions that have been running for at least two months in client usage before updating drivers.

DIRECTOR at Vellore Online Systems

NetApp FAS Series is scalable, and it is possible, but you need to pay.

System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The NetApp FAS Series is scalable and offers numerous solutions, but only if customers are willing to invest in the shelves.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

Senior Cloud System Engineer at Atos Poland

This linear scale allows for multi-petabyte workloads, which is essential for both media and entertainment as well as healthcare's image management.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

It is really scalable and easy to use for our end users.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Scalability is one of the strongest features.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Infrastructure Architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

NetApp FAS Series is praised for reliable performance, minimal issues, swift support, and exceptional stability despite occasional firmware challenges.

Sentiment score

8.4

Qumulo is highly stable with minor performance issues mainly due to workload management, earning strong user confidence.

When panic occurs on the node, it reboots itself, and we have experienced numerous hardware-related issues.

Senior Cloud System Engineer at Atos Poland

Most things are tailor-made, and we avoid downtimes even with primitive CLI commands.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

DIRECTOR at Vellore Online Systems

I can confidently say it is highly stable.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A lot of performance issues also depend on how the workload is handled.

Naved Siddique

Sr Infrastructure Engineer at American Express

I would rate the stability of Qumulo as a nine.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Room For Improvement

Users seek improved documentation, speed, cost-effectiveness, third-party integration, intuitive UI, security, and storage flexibility for NetApp FAS Series.

Qumulo users seek automation, API integrations, non-disruptive upgrades, UI enhancements, compatibility fixes, and pricing adjustments for improved performance.

Storage companies should create encrypted storage solutions between the OS and storage to protect against ransomware attacks.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

DIRECTOR at Vellore Online Systems

Nutanix leads the business in this approach, and I feel that NetApp is missing some aspects, such as CPU, GPU, and RAM, in its AI portfolio.

reviewer1395864

Pre-Sales Director France, Belgium and Luxembourg at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees

There is an opportunity there for NetApp with Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

Sergio Cardone

Technological Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

It programs very easily. There are REST APIs, and there is a cloud connection.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Overall, it is a solid tool that works very well on-premises and in cloud environments.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

If we get into an issue, hardware says, 'Talk to software, Qumulo,' and Qumulo says, 'Talk to Dell.'

Naved Siddique

Sr Infrastructure Engineer at American Express

Setup Cost

NetApp FAS pricing is high but competitive due to features and discounts, offering long-term value with upgrade fees.

Enterprise buyers find Qumulo's pricing reasonable, valuing its straightforward licensing, competitive setup costs, and satisfactory vendor assistance.

SSDs are more cost-friendly, yet HDDs are higher in cost.

Geetha Mai A G

Analyst at Sutherland Global Services

The pricing of NetApp FAS Series is not cheap, but in comparison to other vendors, NetApp FAS Series is affordable.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The pricing setup cost and everything was the lowest compared to other competitors.

reviewer2871183

System Administrator at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

The pricing is on the premium side.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Infrastructure Architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Pricing is expensive; that was the one thing, but it is an industry standard in the animation industry or film industry.

Aguloy Anonymous

Manager of IT Corporate Software at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Valuable Features

NetApp FAS Series users praise its reliability, high performance, efficient data protection, and seamless cloud integration with robust support.

Qumulo provides scalable, secure file sharing with real-time analytics, easy management, and seamless integration with cloud platforms.

While NVMe disks are expensive and require three disks for parity calculations, hard drives in NetApp FAS Series are inexpensive, making it more cost-efficient per GB, even with RAID tech implementation.

Senior Cloud System Engineer at Atos Poland

Our IOPS are very high, reaching somewhere about 50k to 150k or 1.150k.

For more quotes and insights, download the NetApp FAS Series report

DIRECTOR at Vellore Online Systems

With the data management features of Data ONTAP, I have not experienced data loss or unavailability as I have SnapMirror, Snapshot, and SnapVault in place.

Geetha Mai A G

Analyst at Sutherland Global Services

The most valuable feature in Qumulo is the scaling feature, as Qumulo file data platform is optimized for scale, so we could support petabytes of data, billions of files, millions of operations, and thousands of users.

Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

They are easy to reach, and you can send them a Slack message with Level 3 engineers available to help you within seconds.

reviewer2871183

System Administrator at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

Qumulo has positively impacted my organization by simplifying storage management while providing a single, scalable platform, reducing administrative efforts, making storage growth easier to manage, and allowing users to experience consistent performance.

For more quotes and insights, download the Qumulo report

Infrastructure Architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Categories and Ranking

NetApp FAS Series

Ranking in NAS

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (6th), Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (2nd)

Qumulo

Ranking in NAS

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 9.5%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qumulo is 3.6%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetApp FAS Series	9.5%
Qumulo	3.6%
Other	86.9%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Geetha Mai A G

Analyst at Sutherland Global Services

Unified storage has protected critical data and supports smooth admin work for diverse workloads

In my experience with NetApp FAS Series, I found the CLI commands to be very valuable and easy to understand, unlike other storage products. I can use just the show command to see something, and it helps me narrow down issues quickly, which makes CLI easy for me. I use snapshot technology in NetApp FAS Series. The snapshot technology has helped me in data protection. For example, during an upgrade of our ONTAP version at my workplace, it did not reflect properly despite the upgrade being completed. I had a VMware snapshot from another team, and that was helpful for me to retrieve the data right after the failed upgrade. I use snapshots frequently, maintaining a snapshot policy of 28 days which allows me to help users retrieve files they are unable to access. In maintaining data integrity in my operations with RAID DP, I see that it helps me significantly. If two or more disks fail, it gives me time to work on replacements. If only one disk fails without RAID DP, I would lose data and connection, but with RAID DP, I have that time to act without losing or making data unavailable to users. The data management features of Data ONTAP are highly valuable for my organization in terms of data security and compliance. I have not experienced data loss or unavailability as I have SnapMirror, Snapshot, and SnapVault in place. This helped prevent escalations. While I faced some access issues or slowness, severe data loss has not been an issue, and I resolve issues within one to two hours with the data integrity these tools provide.

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reviewer2536608

Solutions Architect at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

UI has simplified pixel data insights and cost savings while hardware lifecycle still needs work

There is an option I would like to see. Instead of installing a separate Grafana server to get the telemetry data, why can we not set up the same capability in the UI itself? Then we could choose the retention period of the log and get everything inside the Qumulo dashboard itself, rather than installing a separate Grafana server, because we need to maintain a separate server to collect these metrics. There is one more needed improvement I noticed. If you compare Qumulo to Dell Isilon as a vendor, a patch update with Dell Isilon covers the hardware as well. In Qumulo, however, you have to maintain the hardware lifecycle and the software separately. This means every time you update your server, you have to update two entities: one is the hardware and the other is Qumulo. So it might be quite challenging. A great deal of time is also involved for an engineer to do both of these things, so I do not think Qumulo can directly integrate with the hardware so that we can update the Qumulo software together with the hardware patches. Right now, I do not have any other improvements needed for Qumulo that I have not mentioned yet.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	38
Large Enterprise	59

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

Which SAN product would you choose: IBM FlashSystem (FS9500) vs PureFlash Array/X NVMe vs PureFlash Array/XL NVMe?

Have you considered a NetApp FAS Storage for your NAS needs? I am sure it fits very well.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding its pricing, I believe it is high. I utilize both HDD and SSD, where SSDs are more cost-friendly, yet HDDs are higher in cost, making it not very affordable but still useful. For general ...

What needs improvement with NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding improvements for NetApp FAS Series, I think everything is generally good. If there is a need to improve something, they can extend their support. Previously, in my company, I only saw Net...

What needs improvement with Qumulo?

Qumulo can be improved but not necessarily; it was fairly smooth to set up, and the support is great and easy to manage. Regarding Qumulo's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security are ...

What is your primary use case for Qumulo?

My main use case for Qumulo is asset data storage. When I was working at Mercury Filmworks, we used Qumulo to store our digital assets that artists work on, so people both ways retrieve assets, wor...

What advice do you have for others considering Qumulo?

I would rate Qumulo a nine on a scale of 1 to 10. I rate it a nine because the cost is what keeps it from being a ten; it is an expensive solution, but if you do have the funds to acquire Qumulo st...

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Product Reports

Download NetApp FAS Series product report

NetApp FAS Series

October 2026

Download Qumulo product report

October 2026

Overview

NetApp FAS Series offers high availability and seamless protocol integration. Known for its robust features such as data replication and efficient storage architecture, it finds use in challenging enterprise environments and virtualization.

NetApp FAS Series delivers valuable enterprise storage capabilities with an emphasis on unified storage architectures supporting SAN and NAS functionalities. Features like high availability, robust snapshot technology, and seamless protocol integration cater to diverse workloads. Data replication through SnapMirror and reliable performance under heavy loads are appreciated. Deduplication and compression enhance storage efficiency while scalability, resilience, and strong customer support further its appeal. Improvements are desired in flexibility, documentation, speed, and affordability. Additionally, its monitoring capabilities and cloud integration need attention. Organizations employ FAS Series for enterprise storage, SQL Server LUNs, Exchange LUNs, VMware, and corporate file sharing.

What are the most notable features of NetApp FAS Series?

High Availability: Ensures continuous access and reduces downtime.
Snapshot Technology: Offers point-in-time copies for data recovery.
SnapMirror: Provides efficient data replication for disaster recovery.
Storage Efficiency: Deduplication and compression optimize storage use.
Cloud Integration: Enhances flexibility with cloud environments.

What benefits should be examined in reviews?

Scalability: Supports expanding storage needs without performance loss.
Reliability: Maintains robust performance under heavy workloads.
Strong Support: Access to helpful customer service resources.
Cost Efficiency: Consider value in context of feature set and performance.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, NetApp FAS Series is implemented for centralized data management, supporting complex protocols like NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI. This enables efficient handling of virtualization, databases, unified storage tasks, and backup solutions crucial for maintaining unstructured data and redundancy.

NetApp

Qumulo offers an efficient and reliable file-sharing platform with real-time analytics and seamless integration with major cloud services, ensuring ease of use and high IO speed for storage needs.

With its focus on file sharing, real-time analytics, and reliability, Qumulo allows for smooth operations, ease of use, and resilience. It boasts integration with AWS and Google Cloud, providing enhanced functionality with a strong operational cost-to-complexity ratio. Despite requests for software upgrades and better support for certain protocols, it remains a competitive choice for centralized media storage and object-based storage solutions.

What are Qumulo's most important features?

File Sharing: Offers seamless file sharing capabilities.
Reliability: Ensures stable and dependable operations.
Ease of Use: Designed with user-friendly interfaces.
Real-Time Analytics: Provides immediate insights and data analysis.
No Downtime Updates: Supports upgrading without interruptions.
Failover Capability: Allows disaster recovery operations.
Cloud Integration: Compatible with AWS and Google Cloud.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Performance: High IO speed in storage systems.
Cost Efficiency: Benefits from operational cost-to-complexity ratio.
Data Insights: Detailed analytics on processes and usage.
Integration Potential: Easy integration with cloud and backup platforms.

Organizations in marketing and entertainment industries rely on Qumulo for managing files, media storage, and archiving needs. On-premises deployments are common for centralized media storage, facilitating object-based storage for videos, images, and office data support. The solution appeals to solution providers and resellers seeking market presence with application versatility.

Sample Customers

Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College

County of Riverside Sheriff Department, Hyundai Mobis Automotive North America, University of Arizona, UCSD - San Diego Supercomputer Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Sinclair Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, Kaiser Permanente, Deluxe Creative, Vexcel Imaging, University of Florida, The Madison Square Garden Company, Arizona State University, Cinesite, San Diego Padres Baseball, Johns Hopkins University - School of Medicine, IHME, EllieMae, Washington State University.