--- title: S3 is a better abstraction than NFS / networked block... description: S3 wins over networked filesystems like NFS and EBS not despite its limitations but because of them. Being stateless, HTTP-based, and honest about what it... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-a-better-abstraction-than-nfs-networked-block-storage-fs9nruxrb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: S3 is a better abstraction than NFS / networked block storage | daily.dev og:description: S3 wins over networked filesystems like NFS and EBS not despite its limitations but because of them. Being stateless, HTTP-based, and honest about what it... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-a-better-abstraction-than-nfs-networked-block-storage-fs9nruxrb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Fs9nrUxRb.png og:image:alt: S3 is a better abstraction than NFS / networked block storage og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # S3 is a better abstraction than NFS / networked block storage **[Sylvain Kerkour](https://daily.dev/sources/kerkour)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary S3 wins over networked filesystems like NFS and EBS not despite its limitations but because of them. Being stateless, HTTP-based, and honest about what it can't do (e.g., no in-place object updates) means it never overpromises. Networked block storage and NFS claim to behave like local filesystems but fail unpredictably under network congestion, lock contention, and edge cases. Good abstractions don't overpromise — and S3 doesn't. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why does S3 work better than NFS for cloud applications? S3 is stateless, HTTP-based, and makes no promises it can't keep — you can't even update an object in place. NFS and networked block storage claim to behave like local filesystems, but fail unpredictably under network congestion, lock contention, and other edge cases. An abstraction that overpromises causes hard-to-debug failures; S3's simplicity avoids that class of problem entirely. _Teams choosing between S3 and NFS for cloud workloads track real-world trade-offs like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [S3 is the new network: Rethinking data architecture for the cloud era](https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-the-new-network-rethinking-data-architecture-for-the-cloud-era-ohp7udiqc) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AWS Introduces S3 Files, Bringing File System Access to S3 Buckets](https://daily.dev/posts/aws-introduces-s3-files-bringing-file-system-access-to-s3-buckets-ptldece9l) · InfoQ · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [AWS turns its S3 storage service into a file system for AI agents](https://daily.dev/posts/aws-turns-its-s3-storage-service-into-a-file-system-for-ai-agents-sccfynore) · InfoWorld · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [AWS S3 Files vs EFS — Cost Comparison, POSIX Limits, and Lambda Setup](https://daily.dev/posts/aws-s3-files-vs-efs-cost-comparison-posix-limits-and-lambda-setup-p7v5bmxkt) · AWS Fundamentals · 11 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#distributed-systems](https://daily.dev/tags/distributed-systems), [#aws-s3](https://daily.dev/tags/aws-s3) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-a-better-abstraction-than-nfs-networked-block-storage-fs9nruxrb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"S3 is a better abstraction than NFS / networked block storage","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-a-better-abstraction-than-nfs-networked-block-storage-fs9nruxrb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/s3-is-a-better-abstraction-than-nfs-networked-block-storage-fs9nruxrb"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:56:23.042Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:36:04.872Z","description":"S3 wins over networked filesystems like NFS and EBS not despite its limitations but because of them. 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