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What's the Difference Between Amazon EFS and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP?

Compare Amazon EFS and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP side by side — features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right product.

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Comparisons
Amazon EFS
Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP
Category

Storage, File Storage

Storage, Enterprise File Storage
Description

Serverless, fully elastic file storage

Fully managed NetApp ONTAP file systems with enterprise features
Best for
  • Content management
  • Web serving
  • Home directories
  • Machine learning
  • Container storage
  • Enterprise applications
  • VMware workloads
  • Database storage
  • DevOps environments
Key features
  • Elastic scaling
  • Multi-AZ
  • Lifecycle management
  • NFS compatible
  • Throughput modes
  • Multi-protocol (NFS/SMB/iSCSI)
  • Data tiering
  • Snapshots
  • Cloning
  • Data compression
Pricing model

Pay per GB stored; no provisioning required

Pay per GB provisioned + throughput + IOPS
Free tier

Yes

No
Expert take

“EFS is the answer when multiple EC2 instances or containers need concurrent read/write access to the same file system. It grows and shrinks automatically, so you never have to provision capacity or worry about running out of space.”
— Didier Durand, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]

“Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides multi-protocol access (NFS, SMB, iSCSI) with data tiering, cloning, and SnapMirror replication; ideal for migrating NetApp workloads to AWS.”
— Gary McLean, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]
Product page

Learn more about Amazon EFS »

Learn more about Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP »

When to use Amazon EFS or Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Use Amazon EFS when:

  • Content management
  • Web serving
  • Home directories
  • Machine learning
  • Container storage

Learn more about Amazon EFS »

Use Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP when:

  • Enterprise applications
  • VMware workloads
  • Database storage
  • DevOps environments

Learn more about Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP »

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