NetApp StorageGRID vs Pure Storage FlashBlade comparison

NetApp and Pure Storage are both solutions in the File and Object Storage category. NetApp is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while Pure Storage is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0. NetApp holds a 5.7% mindshare in FaOS, compared to Pure Storage’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

NetApp StorageGRID

Read 16 NetApp StorageGRID reviews

3,125 Views
2,630 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Read 37 Pure Storage FlashBlade reviews

4,062 Views
3,059 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

NetApp StorageGRID

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID compete in the storage solutions category. FlashBlade appears to have the upper hand in speed and performance, whereas StorageGRID is favored for its effective storage management and cost-efficiency in larger deployments.

Features: Pure Storage FlashBlade is known for its high throughput, low latency, and easy scalability, making it suitable for environments demanding rapid data access. Customers appreciate its replication features and simple management interface. In contrast, NetApp StorageGRID is recognized for deduplication, compression, and robust data security. Customers value its storage management capabilities and object storage solutions.

Room for Improvement: Pure Storage FlashBlade could enhance its cloud integration and deduplication capabilities. Users recommend improvements in API support and lowering licensing costs. Additionally, there's a call for quicker resolution of issues by support teams. For NetApp StorageGRID, users highlight integration difficulties with Active Directory and suggest better pricing and marketing strategies. Improved metadata management and visibility are also suggested.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Pure Storage FlashBlade and NetApp StorageGRID offer on-premises and private cloud deployment options. FlashBlade stands out for proactive support but has noted a decline in support quality. Meanwhile, StorageGRID provides consistent customer satisfaction with quick support response times.

Pricing and ROI: Pure Storage FlashBlade is considered expensive but delivers excellent ROI due to performance and simplicity in storage management. It is viewed as a valuable investment for its powerful features. NetApp StorageGRID is competitively priced within its market but is seen as mid-range to high in cost. While it achieves effective cost reductions, only some users note significant ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

April 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

NetApp StorageGRID

Ranking in File and Object Storage

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Ranking in File and Object Storage

6th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (16th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.7%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage

Featured Reviews

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Object-based storage and offers intuitive management tools, making it easy to configure and maintain

The only thing missing is flexibility in configuration to cater to specific customer requirements. Another area of improvement is marketing. NetApp's marketing of StorageGRID isn't optimal. They should present it more effectively, especially in regions like Pakistan. Here, I haven't seen any marketing campaigns from NetApp for StorageGRID or the Solid State Platform (SSP). While StorageGRID is a globally recognized product, I haven't seen any marketing efforts from NetApp in Pakistan. Even competitors are promoting object storage solutions here, but NetApp seems less efficient in selling StorageGRID. There might be one or two customers, but even as a NetApp partner, I'm not aware of any major sales. I've been trained on StorageGRID, and it is a good product. I'm unsure why it hasn't gained traction in Pakistan compared to other countries. So, I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan. I'm pretty confident that if we have one example of successful StorageGRID implementation in Pakistan, other customers will follow suit.

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Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us

The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.

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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

"NetApp StorageGRID is a great alternative to AWS S3 buckets."

"The technical support is good."

"It improves our operational efficiency."

"The scalability is very effective for our customers."

"The ability to get to the StorageGRID from anywhere on my network. The solution is remote. You don't have to be at a physical location."

"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."

"Right now, we have an older StorageGRID. I like that we can grow it."

"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."

More NetApp StorageGRID pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power outages when we need to quickly move data between different data centers. It ensures efficient replication and helps maintain our data centers' uptime."

"It is very easy to use, and it is very fast."

"The snapshots, replication, and the ability to have immutable blades are the most valuable features. You're putting data snapshots out in those blades, and they cannot be touched. Its performance is great."

"I like its size. It is smaller than the other competitors. We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte."

"Using this solution has made our backups more reliable."

"FlashBlade offers low latency, high throughput, and seamless scalability."

"The most valuable features are the Metro clustering, and disaster recovery."

"The performance of FlashBlade is excellent. It does not necessarily leverage the SOS API that some of the newer products leverage, but I found its speed pretty much on par and comparable. It is fast, and it does what it is supposed to do."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

Cons

"It's quite complex, which is a disadvantage; it's enterprise-level, it's complicated to set up, and you need external support."

"I just recommend improving the marketing campaigns in Pakistan."

"If I could change anything in NetApp StorageGRID, that would be pricing."

"Improvements need to be made in the support area."

"There was a small amount of confusion when working with StorageGRID and Active Directory for access. We had to do things three to four times resulting in our engineer troubleshooting a couple of things. The location of the menu, along with what is inside the menu: configurations, settings, etc., is not straightforward to users. Most users are Windows-based. So, when make logical changes to the menu which are not similar to Windows, users and administrators get confused."

"The user interface of NetApp StorageGRID might need some tweaks, and configuration is maybe a little bit confusing for those who are not so experienced."

"They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space."

"The price is something that NetApp could improve, as with most companies. NetApp is known for not being the cheapest storage option, which is also valid for StorageGRID. There are other storage options on the market which we are aware of and have done proofs of concept for, but you cannot really compare the list prices because, as a big user of NetApp storages, we have totally different prices than some list prices. Still, the price information we got for other options are almost always less expensive than StorageGRID."

More NetApp StorageGRID cons

"In terms of scalability, it doesn't expand out quite as robustly as some of the others, but it covers 90% of the market in what it does."

"The features provided for SMB customers are limited."

"There is some room for new features related to authentication and integration with Kubernetes, and other solution using S3 Bucket."

"I would like to see better integration."

"Commvault has mainly driven the Analytics, providing data and reports. However, the product has room for improvement, especially regarding storage analytics. Upgrading firmware has caused issues, requiring feature disabling to revert to traditional backups. The firmware upgrades sometimes affect Commvault backups."

"Recently, while upgrading the version code, one of the controllers failed. Replacing the controller took between 14 to 20 days."

"We haven't been able to use much of the cloud area of Pure Storage. We have a storage server and it would be better if it could integrate with other cloud features of this solution."

"The feature that we're waiting on is better integration with the cell services."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is very cost-effective."

"We save money on storage costs from this solution since it allows us to have a source of revenue from customers consuming the service."

"The pricing of StorageGRID falls within the typical range for enterprise-grade solutions and is comparable to other vendors such as Dell, NetApp, and Pure Storage."

"While we have been able to save money on storage costs, it could be better."

"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."

"We pay for a license annually."

"The licensing that the S3 service provides them from a FabricPool standpoint is more attractive than the licensing from AWS or Azure."

"Creating your own data stores, backups, or storage grids, helps eliminate all these costs of downloading all the data back after you downloaded to the cloud."

More NetApp StorageGRID pricing and cost advice

"Licensing fees are paid yearly."

"The price could be cheaper."

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is a hardware appliance, and it's very expensive if you compare its price with other solutions. You can get the same features and benefits from its competitor, VAST Data, but for half the price of Pure Storage FlashBlade."

"The price of this solution could be made more affordable."

"The product is very expensive."

"It is within reason for what you get. From what we have found comparing it to other vendors, it is in the same range as others. Given the choice, we would definitely redeploy it based on the cost."

"I understand that it is competitively priced compared to other brands."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Manufacturing Company

19%

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?

The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?

It is very cost-effective.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?

They can enhance the deduplication and compression features, which are crucial for saving more disk space. It's not at the same level as the NetApp filer or the real NetApp cluster that runs itself...

See all answers

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power outages when we need to quickly move data between different data centers. It ensure...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate. FlashBlade is worth the money due to the experience and performance it delivers, including quick response times.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

Its configuration should be easier. There should be easier language for the configuration.

See all answers

Comparisons

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 25% of the time

MinIO vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 25% of the time

Dell ECS vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 23% of the time

Scality RING vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp StorageGRID

Compared 2% of the time

More NetApp StorageGRID Competitors

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 21% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 2% of the time

More Pure Storage FlashBlade Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID

May 2025

Download NetApp StorageGRID product report

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

May 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Also Known As

Storage GRID

No data available

Overview

Store and manage unstructured data at scale using NetApp StorageGRID for secure, durable object storage. Place content in the right location, at the right time, and on the right storage tier, optimizing workflows and reducing overall costs for globally distributed rich media.

NetApp

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

Sample Customers

ASE, DARZ GmbH

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

April 2025

Free Report: NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Pure Storage FlashBlade and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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