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

Deni Garo 41 Reputation points
2022-11-29T12:48:09.393+00:00

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

Azure Storage Accounts
Azure Storage Accounts
Globally unique resources that provide access to data management services and serve as the parent namespace for the services.
3,523 questions
SharePoint
SharePoint
A group of Microsoft Products and technologies used for sharing and managing content, knowledge, and applications.
11,229 questions
{count} votes

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Michael Taylor 60,066 Reputation points
    2022-11-29T16:13:50.763+00:00

    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.

    6 people found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as Accepted Answers by the question author, which helps users to know the answer solved the author's problem.