Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Cloud File Storage Services

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS vs Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 3 checks side by side
Higher score Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS #2 in Cloud File Storage Services 9.3/10 Paid ✓ 2 of 2 features Visit Alibaba Cloud
Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) #6 in Cloud File Storage Services 8.9/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 2 features Visit Amazon EFS

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS leads on 0 checks, Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) on 0, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 3 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreAlibaba Cloud File Storage NAS · 9.3/10
  • Most featuresAlibaba Cloud File Storage NAS · 2 of 2

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS scores higher on our rubric for cloud file storage services: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #6.

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS is the better fit for broad Alibaba Cloud file storage needs. Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) is the better fit for elastic AWS-native file storage.

  • Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS fits best

    Broad Alibaba Cloud file storage needs

  • Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) fits best

    Elastic AWS-native file storage

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.9
Ranking #2 in Cloud File Storage Services #6 in Cloud File Storage Services
Best for Broad Alibaba Cloud file storage needs Elastic AWS-native file storage
Pricing model Paid Paid
Starting price — $0.30/GB/mo
Free plan — —
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud
Platforms Web, Linux, Windows Web, Linux
Support Docs Docs
Integrations 10 integrations 11 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS 2/2 · Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) 1/2
Snapshots ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Managed backups ✓ ✓
Specs
Supported protocols NFSv3, NFSv4.0, SMB 2.1, SMB 3.0 NFSv4.0, NFSv4.1
Maximum capacity 10 TB Not checked yet
Availability zones Not checked yet Not checked yet
Scaling model Elastic Elastic
Our review
Pros
  • NFSv3, NFSv4.0, SMB 2.1, and SMB 3.0 access
  • Elastic capacity with quotas, ACLs, recycle bin, and backups
  • Integrates with ECS, Kubernetes, HPC, Terraform, and APIs
  • Automatic scaling to petabyte scale
  • Regional multi-Availability Zone deployment
  • NFS access across EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, and Lambda
Cons
  • No free plan is available
  • IA and Archive tiers add separate read and write traffic fees
  • Extreme NAS uses fixed capacity with hourly charging after purchase
  • No permanent free plan
  • Designed around Linux workloads and NFS access
  • Costs vary by Region, storage class, throughput, and data protection use
Our verdict

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS is a managed distributed file-storage service for Alibaba Cloud compute nodes, containers, high-performance computing workloads, and on-premises applications. It provides shared access through NFS and SMB,…

Read the review →

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) is a managed, shared cloud file system for Linux workloads. It provides NFSv4.0 and NFSv4.1 access for AWS compute services, including Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, AWS Fargate, and AWS Lambda. EFS…

Read the review →
  1. Alibaba Cloud File Storage NASCloud File Storage Services 9.3Paid
  2. Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)Cloud File Storage Services 8.9Paid

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS — where it wins

    • NFSv3, NFSv4.0, SMB 2.1, and SMB 3.0 access
    • Elastic capacity with quotas, ACLs, recycle bin, and backups
    • Integrates with ECS, Kubernetes, HPC, Terraform, and APIs

    Where it doesn't

    • No free plan is available
    • IA and Archive tiers add separate read and write traffic fees
    • Extreme NAS uses fixed capacity with hourly charging after purchase

  • Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) — where it wins

    • Automatic scaling to petabyte scale
    • Regional multi-Availability Zone deployment
    • NFS access across EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, and Lambda

    Where it doesn't

    • No permanent free plan
    • Designed around Linux workloads and NFS access
    • Costs vary by Region, storage class, throughput, and data protection use

More comparisons

All cloud file storage services comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update