What is the better option Sharepoint online or azure storage account for files

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What is the better option Sharepoint online or azure storage account for files

Deni Garo 41

Hi all,

We have 2 TB of data on our file server and I am wondering what is the better option for us to migrate azure storage account or Sharepoint Online? Sharepoint online costs 200$per TB but it is relatively easy to access files? What do you think about azure storage account (not azure files)? When to migrate files there vs Sharepoint online?

Does anyone knows what the price is for 1 TB in storage account?

Please help

Dillon Silzer 57,831 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2022-11-29T14:12:39.477+00:00

Are you going to actively be writing/reading this data?

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Dillon Silzer 57,831 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2022-11-29T14:12:39.477+00:00

Are you going to actively be writing/reading this data?

Answer 1

Depends upon your planned usage of the files and security requirements.

Are you going to store the files for archive purposes only? If so then Azure Storage is probably a better location because you can lock it down more easily.
Do users need to be able to read/write the file? If so then SharePoint is the only real option over Azure Storage because Azure Storage requires either programmatic access or using the Azure Portal (which isn't a good UI solution).
Do you need to be able to share access to files? If so then SharePoint is designed for this. While you can "share" files in Azure Storage it requires programmatic access or using Azure Portal.
Do you need file versioning? SharePoint is the winner here as well. Azure Storage (ignoring some basic storage options) is really just for storing files.

Yes, the more you store in SharePoint the costlier it gets but that is because it is more readily available and the UI is provided. Azure Storage is better at storing files long term and pretty much requires programmatic access so is best used for storing things you will provide a UI wrapper around. The cost is less but you have to build the infrastructure to work with it.

Some other things you might consider.

Move any legacy files that are only needed for historical purposes and are rarely (if ever) updated to Azure Storage and keep only "active" files in SharePoint.
OneDrive is good for storing large sets of files as well and allows sharing. To me it is a poor man's SharePoint but is cheaper. However if multiple people need read/write access then it doesn't work out so well. But it is an alternative to Azure Storage if you don't want to build a UI around it.

You can get the costs for all Azure services based upon your needs (region, estimated size, performance, etc) using the Azure Calculator.

Deni Garo 41 Reputation points

2022-11-30T08:09:58.92+00:00

Hi guys,

Many thanks guys for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Are you going to store the files for archive purposes only? Some of the files will archive and be accessed on if needed. Could be that we need to access it 1 time in a year or so. I have hard time of understanding azure calculator with read and write operations etc.. We would like to use West europe region, lrs, and no premium storage. It is enought for HDD.

Do users need to be able to read/write the file? Yes many of the files will be accessed and modifed but not all.

If I am not wrong we can map storage account in file explorer? Is this only the case for file share option in storage account and not cool tier?
Michael Taylor 60,331 Reputation points

2022-11-30T14:44:22.907+00:00

For archived files I'd use Azure Storage (especially if this is your backup of the files). Of course I'd also consider a DR solution for these files. For the files that you access a lot then SharePoint would be the choice over Azure Storage.

As for the price calculator the base cost is $20 per month (as of today) for 1 TB of storage as you described. If you seldom write then the write operations are neglible except the very first time. Azure supports the option to bulk upload files via a manual process. This is cheaper than paying for all the writes but it takes more time. We did this when we had several TBs of data to put into Azure. The list operations are generally minor (and per 10K) so likely that is $0.54 a month. Read operations are the hardest to figure out. If nobody is reading the files then there is no cost but every 10K reads is $0.04 a month. So if you had 100,000 reads in a month (which is a lot) then that would be $0.04 * 100 = $4 extra. For the most part the cost is in how much you store.

For files that need to be modified then SharePoint is the best choice here without question.

AFAIK you cannot map Azure Storage in file explorer. You can use Azure Files (which is similar) and then mount it as a file share. But the cost is different. SharePoint is still probably a better option here but use the price calculator to be sure. Remember that Sharepoint supports versioning as well.

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What is the better option Sharepoint online or azure storage account for files

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