--- title: Azure Files Reviews meta_title: 'Azure Files Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 55 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Azure Files works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.0 review_count: 55 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-30' parent_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # Azure Files Reviews **Vendor:** Microsoft **Category:** [Cloud File Storage Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/cloud-file-storage) **Average Rating:** 4.0/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 55 ## About Azure Files Azure File offers fully managed file shares in the cloud, accessible via the industry standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. Azure File shares is mounted concurrently by cloud or on-premises deployments of Windows, macOS, and Linux. ## Azure Files Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **high security and ease of use** of Azure Files, making data storage convenient and reliable. (2 reviews) - Users value the **high customer support** from Azure Files, ensuring smooth operations and reliable assistance when needed. (2 reviews) - Users find Azure Files to be **easy to use and implement** , making remote data storage straightforward and efficient. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **implementation ease** of Azure Files, making remote data storage straightforward with minimal effort. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **high security and automated backup** of Azure Files, ensuring data is safely managed and accessible. (2 reviews) - Cloud Storage (1 reviews) - Collaboration (1 reviews) - Integrations (1 reviews) - Learning (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find Azure Files **expensive** , suggesting that its pricing structure needs improvement for better accessibility. (1 reviews) - Users express concern over **storage limitations** in Azure Files, suggesting a need for improved pricing and capacity options. (1 reviews) ## Azure Files Reviews ### 1. "Microsoft Azure Storage Review" **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shubham T. | Data Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 21, 2024 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Microsoft Aure storage provide an alternate solution of storing data remotely with high security instead of having our own physical storage. Ease to use and implement as we just have to buy subscription according to our need,rest is handled by service provider. Automated Backup and recovery of data with customer support. Another benefit of Azure Storage, data is visible to it's corresponding user with security. Can be integrated with other services according to business need and subscription. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** For me, Microsoft Azure Storage fullfill all the requirement that need to be completed for storage purpose like security,data availability,scalaility etc. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Microsoft Azure Storage help business to store their data at low cost because it save infrastructure cost,security etc Also storage account is managed by Microsoft itself . ### 2. "Azure Storage review" **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sanjana R. | Analyst, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 21, 2024 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Easy to use and implement. Data migration is very smooth. A greate cloud storage solution provided by microsoft ,which can be scaled to accomodate large amount of data as per requirement. Data is stored securely with it's high availability to its correspoding user. User do not need to bothered about backup and restore of data as it is handled by service provider itself. High customer support. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Azure Storage offer limited information storage capability. Pricing structure can be improved so that it can be used most. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Storing data physically require more security,money,human help etc which is not reliable as cloud storage is therefore cloud storage is very helpful in today's era. ### 3. Secured cloud storage for a Enterprises **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hiran T. | SOC Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Azure files can be deployed as cloud, SaaS, and web-based which reduces the effort of implementation of cloud storage in the IT infrastructure. Azure files can be accessed from Windows, Linux, and macOS clients using SMB protocol. Easy to deploy in the cloud. Files can be created and modified in the cloud itself. The file can be accessed remotely and securely. Windows servers can easily integrated. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Free trial and free version are not available. Customer support resolution and response time need to be optimized and solutions need to be simplified. Azure files use only server message block (SMB) protocol which limits its application. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Azure files fulfilled our requirement of having cloud storage which is secured and easy to access. It helps us in data loss prevention when there is a cyber attack on the IT network of the organization. Azure files can be deployed in SaaS, web, and cloud platforms. ### 4. Good file-sharing service for small companies **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hari K. | Senior Principle engineer, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 07, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Simple file transfer that works with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Another helpful feature of Azure files is it uses SMB protocol which allows us to map an Azure file directory into a network drive on our machine. It also includes drive mapping steps for various operating systems, so we don't need to look anywhere. The sync is high-speed and runs in the background. With a retention policy, we can be sure that data is backed up and that our data is secure. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** For product based companies, it is not useful Because it has a storage restriction of 5TB per account, we need to create additional storage accounts to store more than 5 TB. If it is less than 5 TB, then it is very great **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mapping a storage account into a network drive on a local computer so that data can be accessed quickly, uploaded, and downloaded. we don't need to sign in to azure cloud each time we want to download or upload files to the storage account ### 5. My journey from Servers to Cloud - Azure Files. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abhishek D. | Cloud Implementation Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 07, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** 1. Azure Files seamlessly integrates with our existing Azure infra 2. Since it is scalable, it ensures we never run out of space 3. Supports both SMB and NFS. 4. Provides role based access control that helps us to control access to various users and follow the rule of least privileges. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** 1. Understanding the Pricing is complex. 2. Learning and understanding for new users who have no prior experience on Azure can be overwhelming. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using Azure Files mostly for file storage across our org. It has helped us to streamline our data management and allows us for easy cross-team collaboration. The scalability ensures we are always prepared for data growth and we can increase the size/sku with a few clicks. ### 6. Azure files : PaaS Storage offering by Azure **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Phani Venkata Sai B. | Architectural Staff, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 15, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Azure files help set up SMB file shares for organisational file share requirements, majorly useful in your AVD deployments for having FSLogix file shares for storing user and office365 profiles. It's easy to set up and maintain and can be secured by enabling private endpoints on the storage account to prevent unauthorised access. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The minimum file share size should be 100 GB, which may not be suitable for more minor share requirements, and the maximum file size capacity of a file is up to 1 TB if using a standard Azure file share and 4 TB for a premium Azure file share; hence organisations should be careful when choosing Azure files, and other best option is to go with Azure Netapp files which gives better performance and storage capacity pool options with higher iops in comparison with Azure files. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our AVD infra uses Azure files to store end-user FSlogix profiles for more than 300+ users. We have Azure files with private endpoints configured to handle the user profiling requirements, which work seamlessly and give the best performance and user experience. ### 7. Best Alternatives for On-Prem DFS File Services **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sandeep P. | Sr Administrator - IT Infrastructure, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** It is Exellent Option for small and Midsize companies who is looking for moving on cloud with their on-prem file services. it is very safe and flexible to deploy based on the requirements. I have recently moved our Company's on-prem data to Cloud successfully with improved performance. initially, we were looking for some third party storage Management solution where we will have backup, point in time snapshots and security. we found the solution but the cost ways high. it was costing the solutions somewhere around $40000/year which looks huge. we start exploring the features on azure files with azure file sync. it exact match the our requirment with less the 1/4 of the total third party solution. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** it doesn't provide global file locking facility. I have deployed the Azure FileSync Agent with Cloud Tiering enabled. when i open a file from AZ Sync Agent 1 and same file can be opened from AZ Sync Agent 2 and can be edited. whoever saves last will be overwrite first saved data. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has proven strong Security features to safely save your data. minimum 3 copies Azure Maintains or you can choose zone-redundancy, geo-redundancy and many more. also strengthen backup options to safegaurd your data. restore data in few clicks and worst case sinario like Ransomeware threats. It is very safe, data is encrypted at rest and in transit, very easy to manage without the need for hardware or operating system implementations, intelligent, thanks to the caching of local files that are used more frequently. Created to offer hybrid flexibility. Access your data from wherever you want, multiplatform or multi regions. ### 8. Performance and high availability **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 01, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Azure files keeps you files in highly availability. Your data is replicated across multiple data centers and multiple times, so it is always available and protected against data loss, even in the event of a hardware failure. Also we can easily add more storage capacity as the needs grow. Azure Files also offers high performance so applications can access the stored data quickly and reliably. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Being a cloud service, and especially if you need a lot of storage space it could get very costly. It is also complex to manage, especially if you are not familiar with cloud computing. Consider also that when in cloud you need to mitigate any risks of security breaches. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is helping in data storage for large amounts of data that need to be protected and highly available, for file sharing with other users, to provide application data and backup and recovery. ### 9. Nice NFS file system for Azure **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** aswath k. | System Administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 10, 2023 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Able to mount Files system with cloud and on premises server. Very useful for kubernetes cluster running on state set. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Creating and mounting steps are little tricky. More documentation will be very helpfull **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Usefull for kubernetes clusters. Having same data across cluster and don't want to care about servers goes down. ### 10. User friendly **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ishant S. | Cloud Consultant, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** It has user friendly interface, easy to use. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Pricing is little bit higher than other cloud platform like AwS. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Backup is best solution there, you don't have to use third party agent for that. ### 11. A super cloud platform - one stop solution for all cloud services **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Diksha G. | Technical Consultant, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Best thing about azure cloud services is they provide you preview version of some their services and even free version is also available to some of their resources. They give you free credits as well first time to try on some services and you can use cost management services to utilise the cost of your resources. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** There is nothing about dislike. only thing is sometimes cost structure can be confusing when we just onbooard from new project to cloud **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Load balancing pay as you go pricing model, less on prem resources, less maintenance of data and storage. Major problem solving is we don't need to worry about data on premises, we. can have the backups on cloud ### 12. Fast and secure cloud file sharing for teams and organizations **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sandra Y. | Director of Communications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Easy for the staff to use. A few lines of code embeds it into File Explorer, making it easy for non-techs to use. Free for nonprofits. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Some ISPs block access to Azure. There are work-arounds for this issue, but I recommend finding out if it is an issue before building it. Sharing folders externally is not possible. Sharing individual files is difficult and can only be done by I.T. staff. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Simple, fast and easy way to cloud all of our organization's documents and files, and share them in the office and with telecommuters. ### 13. Azure DevOps is one of the best GIT based DevOps tool! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anand P. | SWE, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 08, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** The User Interface is very cleanly built. It's very easy to set up your account and get started with your development task wherein you can either import an existing repository or start fresh **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The API documentation for Azure DevOps Server doesn't exist so it might become really difficult to build integrations for 3rd party applications with this GIT repository. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** It can be a great option as an alternative to AWS. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Azure DevOps for an end to end DevOps cycle, using the repository to store my API schema, pipeline in Azure Pipeline, and integration from Postman for a 2-way sync developing my APIs. ### 14. Overall, it was a decent experience. I've used azure disk storage and azure files. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amit K. | Software engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** The UI is pretty clean, very user friend friendly. Pretty positive experience with the services provided **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Azure disk storage was bit slower compared to other cloud services platform storage services **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** I would say the speed can improve of the services. Overall it's great **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** In few years, no one will keep physical hardware as it's hard to maintain. Cloud is the future and azure is doing well in that industry ### 15. incredibly amazing using MS Azure. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Afroza Sharmin U. | Data Annotator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 13, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** It is reliable and secure and also provides multitasking. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** I think it's Data loss, Crashes affect a lot. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** I think Microsoft Azure is a great helping hand in our Data Science Community and we all should use it for our greater purpose in DS. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's saving my time and I can rely on its amazing security. ### 16. Experience **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Accounting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** It is a very pleasant user friendly platform which facilitates development and analysis of the operational requirements very easy. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The technology is new and require updates to eliminate small bugs at times. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Discuss your business requirements with sales team to understand the right tools for your organization. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem is solving for me is the ability to collaborate on single platform with my team. ### 17. Azure file storage **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suraj U. | Senior System Administrator - L2, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2022 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Access control, data migration, files sharing, backup etc **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** High pricing and does not support all legacy storage systems. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Best for migration and files sharing **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helped us with the migration of data as we can mount the file storage into server as well as external drives. ### 18. Not expensive, but requires Azure skllls to setup **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lorne R. | Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 12, 2021 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** It's cloud-based and not very expensive. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** VERY difficult to setup correctly. Requires at least a decent amount of Azure IaaS configuration knowledge and experience. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Really just using as longer term file and backup storage. ### 19. Perfect software for cloud storage **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nnamdi M. | F, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Azure file storage is very reliable, secure and fast. It has a high availability and high uptime 99.9%. There is no need for configuration. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It is complicated to use especially for the first time. So you may need time to study it for some time. It is not compatible with other platforms. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Availability and accessibility of files that are secured from any location and at any time, ### 20. Very helpful **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Biotechnology | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2020 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Does exactly what I need for it to do. I work with Azure Cloud fairly often and it works seamlessly, and they're constantly improving functions with the program. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The cost is a bit high and was a bit confusing at first **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Ease of use, and cost of the services **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've been able to use it to help with my Azure Kinect files, and it's been very helpful with keeping things organized ### 21. super cool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2020 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like the web user interface and availability **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Azure File store could be difficult to understant at first **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Use it :) **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Azure file storage helps me a lot in my daily work ### 22. Best file storage for Azure development users **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2019 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** 1. Easy to create Azure Storages and files as required 2. Easy to download data files 3. Low prices 4. High Durability than other competators 5. Higher performance **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** 1. Documentation is little messy 2. Tracking all files and documents are little concerned in Azure file Storage 3. Pricing start when you have enterprise level subscriptions 4. Cant view files larger than 2MB size. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Not a great file storage, but in coming years Microsoft is going to develop a lot **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** The Major problem I faced using file storage was, can view files larger than 2MB, need to download those files and view it with other editor. The benefit is all documents can be placed at one place. ### 23. Reasonably Priced File Storage **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David G. | David Grimes, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2019 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Azure File Storage has been reliable since day 1, with no down time, which is very important. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The technical setup to use Azure File Storage was quite perplexing, and we had to have an expert help us set it up. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used Azure File Storage for a file share when we are sharing the rather large production audio files creating our podcasts. They are large uncompressed WAV files. We are able to work in different states by using Azure File Storage. We no longer use it as we found a cheaper alternative. ### 24. Azure, from my point of view **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Chemicals | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** You can cache shared shares of Azure files on Windows computers. Create file shares in the cloud, without having to manage the overhead of a physical server or device. The most monotonous work is done automatically **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Unable to create Azure file shares from storage accounts that are only for blobs or from premium storage accounts. The fsutil reparsepoint utility command can also delete a recurrence point of analysis. It is a very new program that is still in beta, it fails a lot and it hangs, it closes unexpectedly and sometimes it leaves your computer blocked for a few minutes. Besides, I realize that the price is quite high for the functions it has. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** It is very safe, data is encrypted at rest and in transit, very easy to manage without the need for hardware or operating system implementations, intelligent, thanks to the caching of local files that are used more frequently. Created to offer hybrid flexibility. Access your data from wherever you want, multiplatform and harmonious **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used it to store large amounts of data in the cloud, all the studies that are performed, data, analysis and DNA sequencing, Azure is used to have the entire cloud as an additional backup and has no problem in case the computer does not work and also to be able to access them from home or from another side when we move to another city to work or present a certain project, we access Azure online and download the data that we need. ### 25. Secure storage and easy access and administration in the cloud **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stever Jose G. | Senior Service Delivery Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Since the implementation, it guarantees easy access to shared resources in the cloud. It's easy Shared access Fully managed Tools and scripting support Resistance Friendly programming Savings in costs for storage and data security. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Lack of compatibility with different platforms. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Azure file backup is a solution that allows us to store data securely, because the cost benefit is not a problem because it helps us to reduce the time and loss of information. And as always I say ask your provider a test or demo of the solution to see the functionalities of the solution **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Availability of shared files accessible 24 hours with the backup and security required by the company. ### 26. Shared storage for Azure resources **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael T. | Project Manager, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 11, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** File storage is very common thing that we know as network shares in our in-premise infrastructure. Cloud version is using SMB protocol and can be managed though Azure portal. Shares can be accessed by using storage access key and URL or integrated with Azure virtual networks, so these will be accessible by virtual machines within desired subnets. As a regular shares, these could be mounted as network disks and used just like your shared location in datacenter, the only difference that you does not need to manage the servers hosting this shares, Azure will take care of it. Different redundancy options allows keeps you safe from additional costs for not important data, as well as loosing critical files in case of Azure datacenter outage. File service has very affordable price, and you only charged for actually used space, but not for all share capasity **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Hard to access the shares from non-Azure locations, this is actually very secure, but not very comfortable. Access keys requires extra attention to keep you data secure. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Keep you storage access keys safe, perform additional control for people who can have access to these. Regenerate key immediately if you even suspect that these were compromised, this will keep you safe from data loss **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Shared location for different IT management tasks ### 27. Network shares for your Azure resources **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Victor R. | DevOps, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 10, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** File Storage provides basic functionality of File Server utilizing SMB 3.0 protocol. You can create file shares, control quotas for these and attach this shares as network drive to any virtual machine, just like it is working on-premises with file server. The only difference that you don`t need separate server, and don`t have to pay for the service itself, you are charged only for data stored on these shares. So if you have a share with 500GB quota and storing only 50MB there, you will be charged for 50MB. And storage costs in Azure is very low. It also provides great file transfer speed between the share and Azure virtual machines, much faster that even SSD based file server. It can provide desired level of redundancy for you files, so even in case of some availability issues in Azure sitem files will remain available at least for read purposes **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Nothing in my mind. Maybe that you should not use these shares with on-premise resouces, unless you are using ExpressRoute and MPLS circuit for connection. Speed will not you happy in this case **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Probably the most simple way to organize your file transfer across Azure VMs **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** File shares for Azure Virtual Machines ### 28. Advanced cloud storage for sharing data **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael L. | Principal System Engineer, Telecommunications, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 07, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** File Storage allows you to create file shares using SMB 3.0 protocol. Flexible access control with Shared Access Signatures and ability to mount shares as network drives allows you to skip creation of additional expensive virtual machines as file servers. Shares could be accessed with 'net use' or Azure Storage Explorer tool. You can limit your storage usage by setting up quotas for each share. Great speed when accessing these from Azure resources in the same region. Low storage costs **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** hard to access these from other Azure regions or outside of Azure. Downloading files to on-prem locations will consume outbound azure traffic that you will be charged for **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** using these instead of file server will save your costs **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** File server for Azure VMs ### 29. Safe and secured! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** RANGER C. | Lead Account Manager, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Safe and secured to store your documents and files , i really love it becuase i can store my files and access them anywhere, very realible no need to bring extra harddrives, you can easily share or send files from collegues **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** None! The storage is enough for 1 TB of file is enough. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Safe and secured, files on the go **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** File on the go, you can access your files easily without bringing any laptop or hard drive, and files are safe and secured. ### 30. Remote user loves azure **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Caroline J. | Federal Sales Intern , Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like the ease of access to your files- comes in super handy to access whether switching machines or just newtorks **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Some of my older colleagues are often confused by it - however I believe this is just because they are used to older software **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I mainly use it to share excel files with colleagues- I work remotely so it is super easy for me to be working with people on the same team even from several states away ### 31. Keep your files safe in this robust cloud storage **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jimmy Alejandro M. | Desarrollador Web, Civil Engineering, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Every file it's encrypted and secure. Uses the lastest technology protocols SMB 3.0 and HTTPS. It's cross-platform available for windows, linux, or mac. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Requires a high speed Internet connection to move a lot of data. It is very difficult to figure out what a certain addition will do to impact your monthly pricing. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** It is a great offering that can help any business from startup to large enterprises. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Azure has helped us create and scale huge amount of data. ### 32. Great cloud file sharing service **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Palak S. | IT Specialist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** This service allows you to host your files in the cloud. The files are always being backed up and there is no worrying about the server going down. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Downfall is if the internet goes down you're out of luck and can't access your files unless you have backup. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** The new thing is being in the cloud. Azure will help you get there and is definitely reliable with the exception to if you lose internet. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Efficiency, productivity, cost. ### 33. Excellent file share system **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** This is so much better than Dropbox. The file share can be used with Windows and MacOs. Plus, it is extremely secure for those who care about security. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** I think that it is higher in price than some of its competitors. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** If you can afford it, this is one of the better products out there. If not, there are cheaper alternatives like Dropbox that may not be as good but get the work done. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used it in the past to store files that I needed to access from different computers. The biggest challenge that I can think of is that the support for this product is quite pricey. ### 34. Keeping Files Safe **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Haley C. | Accounting Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Encryption of files is a major plus. Up to date on the usage of technology. Constant backup of the files eases any worry of a computer shut down. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** The cost is more than some comparable products. You need to have knowledge of the program or it is not very user friendly. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Storing and Sharing files is made easier. ### 35. Review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ruby O. | Resolution Specialist, Outsourcing/Offshoring, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like that you can control what cache saves to your history. I also like the ease of file syncing. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It does require that you know a little more about software design which isn’t for everybody. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Make sure you understand more about file syncing. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps with group collaboration. ### 36. SMB 3.0, love it! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** jose antonio m. | Analista Nivel 2 en SOC, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** The security it has, using SMB 3.0 i feel safer. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** I think is a very expensive product, there are cheaper options **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Consider if you have enough money for this product **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having virtual machines in the cloud is useful because you don´t need to keep a infrastructure in your office ### 37. User friendly customizable storage **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amanda W. | GC-ECD Laboratory Technician, Environmental Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like that your able to create folders to organize files **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Haven’t had any dislikes to date. If I had to choose then it would be the inability to have multiple admins. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having information readily available to selective groups or everyone is a great tool ### 38. Easy to use but not to it's fullest Extent **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mary Charlotte S. | Technical Recruiter , Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Easy to see and communicate among various remote parties and teams. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Can be hard to initiate a new page and keep track of documentation. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Take the time to understand the tool. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Benefits that it keeps everything online for you but it isn't super user friendly. ### 39. Works well **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in E-Learning | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 05, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** This makes file sharing so easy. You can sync all or some of your files and the iOS app works great. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It auto updates itself and sometimes it’ll really slow down the computer when it does. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Sending large files outside of email is so easy now. Most of the time, we don’t have to use any FTP solution. ### 40. How did I not find this sooner? **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Erinn D. | Wilderness Fellowship, Renewables & Environment, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Very easy organization! It was easy to manage my files in a way that made sense. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Not as aesthetically pleasing as google drive or dropbox **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Trying to have a workspace where everyone knows where everything is. ### 41. Azure for file sharing **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like that we can all work on the same files without having to keep them on desktops and individually update. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It can be a bit slow depending on the size of the file and your internet speed. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** It's worked well for us because of multiple locations and constant in-house server failures. Definitely worth a try if you are mobile. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Security is crucial; no potential breaches by using a secure storage method. ### 42. Azure storage works well, but can be improved **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Simple options to upload into blob storage, integration with Azure OLAP **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Navigation is a bit cluttered (compare with Google Drive and AWS S3) **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Definitely try some automation options via data factory v2, etc. before resigning to the out-of-the-box experience from Azure File Storage. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Azure SQL Datawarehouse. This was an alternative to data factory v1 that was fraught with technical errors at the time. ### 43. Azure File Storge **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Howeasy is to add storage and deploy that in the cloud and as the demand increase one can add storage with a click of a button **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** we should be able to integrate this with Azure AD the feature which is missing or even Windows AD **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** give it a try **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** trying to map network drive and give access to users ### 44. Good product!! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like the ease of use and how compatible it is with other programs I use on a daily basis. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** There really isn’t anything that I dislike about this product. It is a great product. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to keep all my files in electronic form versus having paper files which aren’t good for the environment. ### 45. Azure File Storage **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 20, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like the Cost and Scalability of the product **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It requires platform experties and management for support. **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** When communicating between applications **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using it to share data between applications running in Azure. ### 46. A very efficient managed file transfer software **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Pharmaceuticals | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** 1) Native file format with REST & SMB Access,2)Helps to sync data that has been placed in multiple location. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** i did not like its lift and shift migration startegy **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** it has helped our employess to access their folders from any place and on any device. ### 47. Fast and secure file shares **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrey G. | Network and Security Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 29, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** The speed and security of this storage, no one can get access without your permission. Perfect for file sharing between Azure based servers. Can be accessed from on-premise environment **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** On-prem access can be very slow depending on your bandwidth, but this was expected **Recommendations to others considering Azure Files:** Use File Storage if you want to leverage the costs of virtual machine for file server. Storage in Azure is very cheap unlike VMs **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Storing the files that need to be accessed from different virtual machines in azure without need to deploy additional file server just for this ### 48. Cloud or On premise Easy Storage **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I originally like the option of on-prem and cloud but with costs the cloud option is best **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Price increases, Cloud option is reasonable will save a lot of infrastructure in environment **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Safe reasonable storage in the cloud ### 49. Azure file storage **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** Easy upload and retrieval of files with minimal issues **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** Not much functionality beyond file storage **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Clearing up space needed for other important documents. Easy access of files from everyone given access ### 50. Decent product **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2018 **What do you like best about Azure Files?** I like that it is from a trustworthy company and it is a reliable product. **What do you dislike about Azure Files?** It is an expensive product for a small business. **What problems is Azure Files solving and how is that benefiting you?** Lots of accessible storage over the Internet. ## Azure Files Discussions - [What is the use of storage account in Azure?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/azure-files-what-is-the-use-of-storage-account-in-azure) - 1 comment - [View Azure Files pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-files/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-02+02%3A58%3A50+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=7ab10686-b5cf-4007-b404-d569b87c640b&secure%5Btoken%5D=5b896aad75571cb34a60be9e0113cc6cb25f740cf23213641e8bc446a7b89182&format=llm_user) ## Azure Files Features **Functionality** - Storage Scaling - Backup Support - File Security - File Organization **Cloud Support** - Service Support - Cloud Transparency - Cloud Migration Support **Automation** - Intelligent Data Management - Workflow Automation ## Top Azure Files Alternatives - [Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-elastic-file-system-amazon-efs/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (52 reviews) - [Amazon FSx for Windows File Server](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-fsx-for-windows-file-server/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (30 reviews) - [Google Cloud Filestore](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-filestore/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (20 reviews)