NetApp StorageGRID vs Quantum ActiveScale comparison

NetApp and Quantum are both solutions in the File and Object Storage category. NetApp is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while Quantum is ranked #24. NetApp holds a 5.7% mindshare in FaOS, compared to Quantum’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Quantum users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

NetApp StorageGRID and Quantum ActiveScale compete in the object storage solutions category. Quantum ActiveScale has the upper hand due to its advanced features, making it appealing despite its higher costs.

Features: NetApp StorageGRID focuses on robust data management, scalability, and pricing, appealing to enterprises seeking reliable solutions. Quantum ActiveScale provides advanced data protection, performance optimization, and superior security, making it preferred for data-intensive environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetApp StorageGRID is known for its straightforward deployment and strong customer service, facilitating easier infrastructure integration. Quantum ActiveScale offers robust customer support but presents a more complex deployment process due to its advanced capabilities, potentially posing initial challenges.

Pricing and ROI: NetApp StorageGRID is recognized for competitive setup costs, offering better ROI for budget-conscious enterprises. Quantum ActiveScale requires a higher initial investment but justifies it with enhanced performance and features, appealing to organizations where advanced capabilities outweigh setup costs.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp StorageGRID vs. Quantum ActiveScale Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Quantum ActiveScale

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

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 5.7%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Quantum ActiveScale is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

File and Object Storage

Featured Reviews

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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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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Frank Lai

Architecture Department at Supermicro Computer

Good performance and reliable but the setup is complex

We would like to see a self-sufficient installation. Nowadays it's open-source, but the installation is still tied to the vendor, which means it is unlikely that it is going to scale. I want them to tap into the broader community. It is really emerging, they have a year over year, 50% annual growth. With a 10-year-old company, it will certainly bring a lot of interest, and will certainly make it more successful, if they tap into that growing customer base. They have to make themselves relevant to the industry. The industry is totally geared to the Cloud, DevOps, and geared for agility. The software with the appliance in my set is already outdated, and it is not that it cannot sell, but it has to be tapping into the emerging and growing sectors to continue with the customers and businesses. This is what the requirement is, to improve their technology. Which means that they have to make themselves relevant to the industry.

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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

"It helps simplify our storage, because the user interface is very simple and the installation is easy."

"We have integrated it with VMware. The integration process is pretty good. Especially with VMware, it helps with the capacity of it."

"It performs well and it is also very fast."

"The product is scalable and easy to expand."

"What I like best about Pure Storage FlashBlade is its object storage functionality, plus it has fast underlying hardware. Pure Storage FlashBlade is also very stable. I find its stability one of its valuable features."

"The ease of deployment and management has helped us simplify our storage. We also do not have to worry about capacity management as much. A lot of these things are native to Pure Storage."

"It has also helped to simplify storage for us in the way that it's easy to manage. Their automatic monitoring really helps when things break or are about to break. They see a problem coming and alert us even before our own system does."

"It uses the same platform for connectivity so integration is seamless."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

"It has awesome scalability. We consume it with storage appliance nodes, then we just plug and play as we need more."

"It improves our operational efficiency."

"It helps automate our storage infrastructure."

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

"It has improved our operational efficiency through time consumption and logistics by 40 to 50 percent. Everything that had to do with our legacy tape solution has been improved and is now more efficient."

"The feature of NetApp StorageGRID that has significantly improved data storage management for my customers is the value of the S3 API because it allows developers who are not infrastructure-oriented to use it and write code against it."

"The most valuable feature is tiering."

"The feature of StorageGRID that I find most valuable for ensuring data durability and protection is its Information Lifecycle Management functionality."

More NetApp StorageGRID pros

"The technology is stable which is good."

"Workflow is easy to manage and maintain."

Cons

"We initially encountered challenges with the assembly process due to issues with the documentation required during setup, an area where Pure Storage needs improvement."

"The technical support needs to improve. When we open a case, it is auto assigned to a support tech person. Nine out of ten times, we get an email right back saying that person is off until tomorrow. I cannot handle that. They just did this over the weekend to us, too. I had to call our rep and have them do something about it."

"I want efficiency. FlashBlade doesn't have efficiency now."

"I would like to see better integration."

"The features provided for SMB customers are limited."

"Compared to, for example, Hitachi NAS, the solution is not mature at all. It's just in its infancy as far as technology goes."

"I would like to have Snapshots and Snapmail in the next release. People who came from a NetApp background, especially expect these features."

"I would like to see more deduplication."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

"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."

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

"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 on its architecture, as StorageGRID is a software solution that emulates a RAID level."

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

"The integration with more apps has room for improvement."

"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."

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

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

More NetApp StorageGRID cons

"Lacks some ability to integrate with different systems."

"We would like to see a self-sufficient installation."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a costly solution, but Pure Storage FlashBlade doesn't require additional licenses. All of the software is combined into one bundle."

"The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate."

"The price could be cheaper."

"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."

"The price is a little high."

"The pricing is relatively expensive due to the FlashBlade technology. However, for companies needing quick and reliable data access, the cost is justified."

"Our licensing is renewed annually."

"Licensing fees are paid yearly."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

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

"Buying the solution is expensive, but it saves you money down the line when you factor in the logistics of not having to buy tapes."

"I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances."

"It is very cost-effective."

"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."

"With respect to pricing, it is okay. This product is mid-range."

"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."

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

More NetApp StorageGRID pricing and cost advice

"Quantum ActiveScale is open-source."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

22%

Manufacturing Company

19%

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Educational Organization

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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 out...

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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 per...

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What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

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

See all answers

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 rest...

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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 a...

See all answers

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Comparisons

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

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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

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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Quantum ActiveScale

Compared 36% of the time

Dell ECS vs Quantum ActiveScale

Compared 25% of the time

Qumulo vs Quantum ActiveScale

Compared 25% of the time

MinIO vs Quantum ActiveScale

Compared 15% of the time

More Quantum ActiveScale Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

May 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID

May 2025

Download NetApp StorageGRID product report

Buyer's Guide

File and Object Storage

April 2025

Download Quantum ActiveScale product report

Also Known As

No data available

Storage GRID

ActiveScale, Quantum ActiveScale Object Storage, ActiveScale Object Storage

Overview

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

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

StorNext File System
Increase productivity and reduce time to critical business insights with StorNext® File System. StorNext architecture delivers the necessary performance to get your business moving forward.

Quantum

Sample Customers

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

ASE, DARZ GmbH

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

NetApp StorageGRID vs. Quantum ActiveScale

April 2025

Free Report: NetApp StorageGRID vs. Quantum ActiveScale

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Quantum ActiveScale and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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