Amazon EBS vs Amazon EFS
Developers should use Amazon EBS when they need durable, low-latency block storage for EC2 instances, such as for databases, file systems, or applications requiring consistent I/O performance meets pick efs when you need posix-compliant storage mounted read-write across dozens-to-thousands of ec2/ecs/eks/lambda instances at once — shared cms uploads, or training data mounted by an autoscaling gpu fleet. Here's our take.
Amazon EBS
Developers should use Amazon EBS when they need durable, low-latency block storage for EC2 instances, such as for databases, file systems, or applications requiring consistent I/O performance
Amazon EBS
Nice PickDevelopers should use Amazon EBS when they need durable, low-latency block storage for EC2 instances, such as for databases, file systems, or applications requiring consistent I/O performance
Pros
- +It's essential for stateful applications in AWS, as it allows data persistence beyond the lifecycle of an EC2 instance, enabling backups via snapshots and easy scaling of storage capacity
- +Related to: amazon-ec2, aws-storage
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
Amazon EFS
Pick EFS when you need POSIX-compliant storage mounted read-write across dozens-to-thousands of EC2/ECS/EKS/Lambda instances at once — shared CMS uploads, or training data mounted by an autoscaling GPU fleet
Pros
- +Skip it for Windows-native shares: Azure Files' SMB + Active Directory integration beats EFS's NFS-only model, and for raw HPC throughput, FSx for Lustre or Google Filestore Zonal (up to 26 GiBps, 920K IOPS) outrun EFS's 20-60 GiBps ceiling
- +Related to: amazon-ec2, amazon-eks
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
Use Amazon EBS if: You want it's essential for stateful applications in aws, as it allows data persistence beyond the lifecycle of an ec2 instance, enabling backups via snapshots and easy scaling of storage capacity and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.
Use Amazon EFS if: You prioritize skip it for windows-native shares: azure files' smb + active directory integration beats efs's nfs-only model, and for raw hpc throughput, fsx for lustre or google filestore zonal (up to 26 gibps, 920k iops) outrun efs's 20-60 gibps ceiling over what Amazon EBS offers.
Developers should use Amazon EBS when they need durable, low-latency block storage for EC2 instances, such as for databases, file systems, or applications requiring consistent I/O performance
Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev