Pure Storage vs. NetApp

Rethink your refresh of legacy storage. Be disruptive, not disrupted.

Read Why NetApp Misses the Mark

Overview Benefits Compare Customer Stories Resources

Move Up to Uncomplicated Storage

Now more than ever, IT is in the front seat to drive innovation as business needs evolve. But NetApp's legacy architecture requires risky, disruptive migrations and can't scale across generational upgrades. Embrace storage agility with the industry’s leading, all-flash storage innovator. Pure can uncomplicate your storage, forever. There’s no reason to settle for less.

Investment Protection

Pure: Upgrade to the latest-generation controller with full trade-in credits for old controllers. No renewal required.
NetApp: No investment protection for traditionally purchased storage. Must re-buy hardware to upgrade.

Non-Disruptive Upgrades

Pure: Proven 99.9999% availability, with over 3,000 non-disruptive controller upgrades and no forklift upgrades or data migrations.*
NetApp: Upgrading a NetApp AFF system is disruptive when moving storage media. When moving volumes, it requires a complex cluster setup to avoid disruption.

* For FlashArray

Proven Modern Simplicity

Pure: Addresses the most demanding application performance needs with 100% all-flash, end-to-end NVMe and NVMe-oF.
NetApp: Legacy architecture slows innovation. Portfolio lacks features like data-in-place upgrades and native clustering for business agility.

Dynamic, Continuous Innovation

Pure: Pure invests more than 25% of revenue in R&D. Recent introductions include NVMe-oF, synchronous active-active replication, and enhanced data reduction.
NetApp: All-flash FAS arrays are still not all end-to-end NVMe. Less focus on innovation with only 16% of revenue invested in R&D.

See Why Evergreen Leads The Way

Feature	Pure Storage	NetApp
Ease of Use	Built from the ground up to eliminate manual tasks and automate tuning, support, and maintenance.	Legacy platform, customer responsible for maintaining and configuring storage primitives
Non-Disruptive HW and SW Upgrades Across Generations	Truly non-disruptive, data-in-place, full performance, modular upgrades via Evergreen architecture	Significant performance reduction during "non-disruptive" upgrades*
Highly Consistent All-Flash Portfolio	One architecture, two platforms (scale-up, scale-out), with shared Evergreen, DirectFlash®, Purity, Pure1®	Multiple hybrid and All-Flash products with disparate upgrade paths and management interfaces
One Software Architecture	All storage systems are based upon a single Purity software platform	AFF/FAS systems are based upon a single software platform, ONTAP; E-Series and StorageGrid are different
Direct-to-Flash Management	DirectFlash® software and hardware technology that increases both density and performance	Commodity SSD-based, retrofitted architecture that limits efficiency and performance
Traditional Ownership Subscription: Investment Protection with Routine/On-Demand Upgrades	Evergreen//Forever™: Controller/blade upgrades at regular intervals, anytime 100% controller/blade trade-in credit, flash trade-in	Only for "eligible controllers", with convoluted & selective upgrade matrix; has flash trade-in
Proven Record Of Delivering on Promises Upgrade/Trade-in	Delivered >10,000 controller upgrades, without disruption or rebuy	New program unproven
Available Fully as-a-Service, with Flexible Terms and All-inclusive Software	Evergreen//One™: 1 to 5 year terms, all array software features included	Keystone: semi-flexible 1 to 3 year terms, extra charges for data protection, other features
As-a-Service SLAs: Performance, Capacity, Availability, Energy Efficiency	Evergreen//One: Solutions customized, measured, and remediated according to clear SLAs; industry's first energy efficiency SLA	Keystone: Performance SLO only (no known remediation)
Energy-Efficient, Sustainable Storage	Up to 85% less energy use/carbon emissions than competing all-flash, lower e-waste with proven Evergreen design**	Much less energy efficient
Unified File Services	Unified file services delivered on a modern storage platform	Block services delivered on top of a native file platform

Slide

* If controllers are not throttled to 50% or less performance utilization in normal operation.
** 2024 ESG Report

Proven Track Record

With proven 99.9999% availability, a 100% NVMe-enabled portfolio, and industry-leading efficiency, FlashArray//X is designed for the most demanding applications. See why customers give Pure an 82 NPS rating and Gartner places Pure as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Primary Storage.

Get Primary Storage Guide Get Primary Storage Guide

The Evergreen Experience

Sustaining innovation and competitiveness requires a dependable technology foundation. Forget disruptive upgrades, data migrations, and capacity re-buys. Take advantage of the most choice in flexible consumption subscriptions and make your next storage refresh your last one.

* OPEX treatment is subject to customer’s auditor review

Get ESG's Perspective Get ESG's Perspective

The Customer Experience to Beat

Can you upgrade your storage without disrupting your business? (Spoiler alert: Yes.) Upgrade on your schedule and disrupt the game with non-disruptive differentiators.

Get IDC's Perspective Get IDC's Perspective

Don't Take Our Word for It

Hear what industry leaders have to say about why you should rethink your refresh.

The Pure Storage Difference | 2:03

“We have had 100% uptime on our Pure arrays for nearly five years, and that includes software updates and controller upgrades.”

David Coindreau

Manager of Server and Storage Services, Frost Bank

Read the Story Read the Story

Trust Radius - Customer Story: NetApp Storage Replacement

Rethinking Storage for the Modern Era

Comparing Customer Experiences with FlashArray//X Competitors

Storage for the Modern Enterprise

IT Central Station: Top Rated All-Flash Storage Arrays

All-Flash Arrays Architectural Design

Evergreen//Forever

DATA STORAGE SOFTWARE

STORAGE MANAGEMENT

Storage as a Service

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