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Azure Blob Storage, with Azure Data Lake Storage vs. FreeNAS

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Azure Blob Storage

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AAzure Blob Storage is Microsoft Azure’s object storage service for storing and accessing large volumes of unstructured data. Organizations use it for application content, backups and archives, media, logs, data exports, machine learning datasets, high-performance computing workloads, and data-lake storage. NOTE: Azure Data Lake Storage, also known as Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, is not a separate service or account type. It is a set of big-data analytics capabilities within Azure Blob Storage…

    $0.01

    per GB/per month

    FreeNAS

    Score5.4 out of 10
    N/AFreeNAS is an open source operating system that allows nearly any hardware serve as a network-attached storage device. It was developed by iXsystems.N/A
    Pricing
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Editions & Modules
    Block Blobs
    $0.0081
    per GB/per month
    Azure Data Lake Storage
    $0.0081
    per GB/per month
    Files
    $0.058
    per GB/per month
    Managed Discs
    $1.54
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    iXsystems
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    24 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    23 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    25 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    22 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Small Businesses
    Google Cloud Storage
    Score9.2 out of 10
    DiskStation
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Everpure FlashBlade
    Score9.9 out of 10
    DiskStation
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Cloud Storage
    Score9.2 out of 10
    DiskStation
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (25 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Azure Blob StorageFreeNAS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    In Azure, it is the storage to use, and in my view, the Blob Storage offers more, or finer-grained configuration options, than S3. So my recommendation would be to check in detail what is offered. As the Blob Storage is more or less a Microsoft exclusive product, the "interoperability" is more limited than, for example, with S3. The S3 is more widely adopted, and if you cannot exclude a migration scenario from one cloud provider to another, additional effort is needed.
    Incentivized
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    iXsystems
    FreeNAS is well suited for most storage serving scenarios, whether it be for an office file server, backup destinations, data replication across the internet, or as backend storage for virtual machines. It can serve various types of clients via a plethora of standard protocols and can easily integrate with existing infrastructure using LDAP authentication and so on. It's pretty simple to use (it helps to have at least a basic understanding of the underlying technologies) and almost maintenance-free. One scenario that springs to mind that it may not be appropriate for (yet) is as S3 storage. However, S3 functionality was added in a recent release and may have improved greatly since then. I'm sure it will eventually work very well for this.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Microsoft
    • The data lake analytics tool is good and provides loads of computing power to speed up the processing time.
    • It provides unlimited storage for structured, semi-structured or unstructured data.
    • Cloud-based service and we can easily use it for ETL and ELT processes.
    Incentivized
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    iXsystems
    • The FreeNAS web interface is modern looking. It makes tasks like provisioning drives into raid volumes easy.
    • The ZFS raid option allows you to add in an SSD as a cache drive to increase performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • study for the certifications also to have them as a reference for work when you have any questions about applying a configuration to the equipment.
    • The Internet interface is simple and easy to use. Capacity is good and it's good that HP continues to innovate with this technology
    Incentivized
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    iXsystems
    • Not good for beginners as it requires deep understanding of networking and storage.
    • Most of the good and required features are not available in free version.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    Blob storage is fairly simple, with several different options/settings that can be configured. The file explorer has enhanced its usability. Some areas could be improved, such as providing more details or stats on how many times a file has been accessed. It is an obvious choice if you're already using Azure/Entra.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    iXsystems
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    Microsoft has improved its customer service standpoint over the years. The ability to chat with an issue, get a callback, schedule a call or work with an architecture team(for free) is a huge plus. I can get mentorship and guidance on where to go with my environment without pushy sales tactics. This is very refreshing. Typically support can get me to where I need to be on the first contact, which is also nice.
    Incentivized
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    iXsystems
    There were some things that can be found by other users on forums and Google and some things that were not.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Azure Premium Blob offers better latency than competitors. It works best with the Azure ecosystem, and competitors lack it. Azure Blob even stands out in storage durability, providing up to 16 nines. It can have various use cases that can suit all the organisation's needs. The Azure Blob solution can also be deployed on-premises.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    iXsystems
    FreeNAS effectively uses all resources really well and it is highly recommended for in premises NAS. It has unlimited ROI as it is really free and open-source. The only payment we need to pay is when we need any support from those guys. FreeNAS helps us to effectively do our work with the legacy systems as it manages all the components really well. FreeNAS although rebranded to TrueNAS will still be there until our legacy systems run.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • Data Migration projects from relational sources to Azure Data Lake Storage have given a great ROI, thanks to the less running costs, and High availability
    • Pretty easy to work with in terms of Managing and accessing Data in containerized fashion.
    • Further features like Archival of data which is accessed less frequently can significantly reduce cost
    Incentivized
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    iXsystems
    • Low-Cost Network Attached Storage
    • Provides additional network storage to support client & business operations
    • FreeNAS secures our data using custom encryption keys
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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