Compare Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files
This article provides a comparison of Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files.
Most workloads that require cloud file storage work well on either Azure Files or Azure NetApp Files. To help determine the best fit for your workload, review the information provided in this article. For more information, see the Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files documentation and the Shared storage for all enterprise file-workloads session which covers choosing between Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files.
Features
Category | Azure Files | Azure NetApp Files |
---|---|---|
Description | Azure Files is a fully managed, highly available, enterprise-grade service that is optimized for random access workloads with in-place data updates. Azure Files is built on the same Azure storage platform as other services like Azure Blobs. |
Azure NetApp Files is a fully managed, highly available, enterprise-grade NAS service that can handle the most demanding, high-performance, low-latency workloads requiring advanced data management capabilities. It enables the migration of workloads, which are deemed "un-migratable" without. Azure NetApp Files is built on NetApp's bare metal with ONTAP storage OS running inside the Azure datacenter for a consistent Azure experience and on-premises like performance. |
Protocols | Premium
Standard
To learn more, see available file share protocols. |
All tiers
To learn more, see how to create NFS, SMB, or dual-protocol volumes. |
Region Availability | Premium
Standard
To learn more, see Products available by region. |
All tiers
To learn more, see Products available by region. |
Redundancy | Premium
Standard
To learn more, see redundancy. |
All tiers |
Service-Level Agreement (SLA) Note that SLAs for Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files are calculated differently. |
SLA for Azure Files | SLA for Azure NetApp Files |
Identity-Based Authentication and Authorization | SMB
Note that identify-based authentication is only supported when using SMB protocol. To learn more, see FAQ. |
SMB
NFS/SMB dual protocol
NFSv3/NFSv4.1 To learn more, see Azure NetApp Files NFS FAQ and Azure NetApp Files SMB FAQ. |
Encryption | All protocols
SMB
REST
To learn more, see Security and networking. |
All protocols
SMB
NFS 4.1
To learn more, see security FAQ. |
Access Options |
To learn more, see network considerations. |
To learn more, see network considerations. |
Data Protection |
To learn more, see Azure Files enhances data protection capabilities. |
To learn more, see How Azure NetApp Files snapshots work. |
Migration Tools |
To learn more, see Migrate to Azure file shares. |
|
Tiers |
To learn more, see storage tiers. |
All tiers provide sub-ms minimum latency. To learn more, see Service Levels and Performance Considerations. |
Pricing | Azure Files Pricing | Azure NetApp Files Pricing |
Scalability and performance
Category | Azure Files | Azure NetApp Files |
---|---|---|
Minimum Share/Volume Size | Premium
Standard
|
All tiers
|
Maximum Share/Volume Size | 100 TiB | All tiers
Up to 12.5 PiB per Azure NetApp account |
Maximum Share/Volume IOPS | Premium
Standard
|
Ultra and Premium
Standard
|
Maximum Share/Volume Throughput | Premium
Standard
|
Ultra
Premium
Standard
|
Maximum File Size | 4 TiB | 16 TiB |
Maximum IOPS Per File | Premium
Standard
|
All tiers
|
Maximum Throughput Per File | Premium
Standard
|
All tiers
|
SMB Multichannel | Yes | Yes |
Latency | Single-millisecond minimum latency (2ms to 3ms for small IO) | Sub-millisecond minimum latency (<1ms for random IO) To learn more, see performance benchmarks. |
For more information on scalability and performance targets, see Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files.