Gladinet CentreStack vs Egnyte Connect: File Access Platforms Compared (2026)

The core architectural difference is where the data lives and who operates the platform. Egnyte is SaaS: Egnyte hosts the platform, Egnyte operates it, customers consume it. Data lives in Egnyte's data centres (with regional options including AU).

CentreStack is self-hosted or MSP-hosted software. The MSP or customer runs CentreStack on their own Windows infrastructure (on-prem servers, Azure VMs, AWS EC2, or CRS's UFSConnect AU-hosted option). Data lives wherever the operator decides to host it.

For enterprises who want to outsource platform operations and get governance features as part of the package, Egnyte's SaaS model is cleaner. For MSPs building a white-labelled service where data residency and brand control matter, CentreStack's self-hosted model is operationally closer to what the MSP business needs.

This is where Egnyte genuinely excels and CentreStack doesn't really compete. Egnyte Connect includes:

• Content intelligence (auto-classification of sensitive data).
• DLP policies that prevent sensitive data from leaving the platform.
• E-discovery workflows for legal holds and litigation support.
• Activity monitoring and reporting across the full content estate.

For enterprises in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, legal) where these capabilities are compliance-mandated, Egnyte's built-in governance is a genuine differentiator. Replicating it around CentreStack requires separate DLP tools (e.g. Microsoft Purview) and e-discovery products.

CentreStack's focus is different: file access, mobility, and MSP-friendly deployment. It does these well and governance is not the product's strength. For customers who need deep governance, Egnyte is the honest answer and we'll tell you so, even though we distribute CentreStack.

CentreStack's multi-tenancy is built for MSPs running file-access-as-a-service. A single CentreStack deployment serves many customer tenants, each with its own user base, branding, and data. Per-tenant provisioning is fast, white-labelling (custom logo, portal URL, email templates) is built in, and billing per tenant is operationally clean.

Egnyte's multi-tenant story is via the Egnyte Partner Program, which creates per-customer Egnyte tenancies that the partner manages. It's a legitimate pattern but it's not architecturally the same as CentreStack. Each Egnyte tenant is a separate Egnyte subscription; CentreStack's shared-deployment model amortises infrastructure cost across tenants in a way the Egnyte model doesn't.

For Australian MSPs in particular, CentreStack deployed via CRS's UFSConnect (AU-hosted CentreStack service) gives partners a white-labelled, AU-sovereign file service that they can resell under their own brand. We've seen this pattern replace multiple generations of cobbled-together file-sync services across mid-market MSPs.

Choose Egnyte Connect when:

• Governance features (DLP, content intelligence, e-discovery) are compliance-mandated.
• The customer is a medium-large enterprise that prefers SaaS operations.
• Deep content search across very large file estates is a frequent use case.
• The customer is comfortable with Egnyte as the platform operator.

Choose Gladinet CentreStack when:

• Data residency on customer or MSP infrastructure is a requirement.
• You're an MSP building a white-labelled file access service for multiple customers.
• NTFS permissions preservation on existing file servers is important.
• The customer wants Active Directory + on-prem integration without dependencies on a SaaS vendor.
• AU sovereignty and AUD billing matter.

CRS distributes Gladinet CentreStack with two deployment options. Partners can self-host CentreStack on their own infrastructure or the customer's, with full control over data residency and operational model. Alternatively, UFSConnect is the AU-hosted CentreStack service run by our partner RackCorp, giving MSPs a ready-to-resell file-access platform without operating the infrastructure themselves.

Both options include MSP multi-tenancy, white-labelling, and per-user licensing. The choice typically comes down to whether the MSP wants to operate the platform or consume it.