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Azure Stack HCI vs HPE SimpliVity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.9
Azure Stack HCI provides financial benefits, efficiency, and cost savings, with added advantages for Microsoft Software Assurance users and Azure Arc access.
Sentiment score
8.5
HPE SimpliVity significantly reduces costs, offers quick ROI, and enhances performance for financial benefits and operational efficiency.
There has been some return on investment in terms of just time usability and reduction of footprint.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Azure Stack HCI's customer service receives positive ratings, excelling in technical support while working on SDN training improvements.
Sentiment score
6.0
HPE SimpliVity's customer service is praised for knowledgeable support, despite transition challenges, with room for improved documentation.
The technical support from the HPE side is excellent, and I give them 10 out of 10.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Azure Stack HCI provides scalable, reliable infrastructure with automated scaling and high availability, favored by organizations globally.
Sentiment score
6.7
HPE SimpliVity is scalable and suitable for small to medium businesses, but may not fit larger enterprises' needs.
With HPE, customers can scale up the HPE SimpliVity solution anytime.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Azure Stack HCI, built on Hyper-V, offers scalable, stable clustering, but some find it lacks full maturity, rated 7/10.
Sentiment score
8.5
HPE SimpliVity offers stable, efficient performance with minimal disruptions, effective support, and reliable zero downtime even in large deployments.
From HPE's side, it is stable, and customers find it easy to manage and easy to grow.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Stack HCI needs improved networking management, simplified operations, faster deployment, better integration, stability, and user support.
HPE SimpliVity struggles with limited integration, complex upgrades, slow restoration, costly pricing, and lacks flexibility in scaling and management.
Hyper V seems to lag behind compared to VMware.
In the future, if HPE integrates HPE SimpliVity with VM essential, that will be a great combination.
 

Setup Cost

HPE SimpliVity offers competitive pricing and value with straightforward licensing, appealing to organizations focused on efficiency and consolidation.
The licensing is quite expensive because it's per call.
 

Valuable Features

Azure Stack HCI optimizes performance with advanced networking, NVMe, Kubernetes, and Azure integrations for efficient data center management.
HPE SimpliVity offers efficient storage optimization, integrated backup, user-friendly management, and scalable performance with vSphere integration.
The integration with Azure using Azure Arc is excellent.
The greatest benefit is that customers don't need multiple hardware solutions from other vendors. Virtualization comes in a single box.
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Stack HCI
Ranking in HCI
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Azure Stack HCI is 3.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 8.6%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Nicholas Diesel - PeerSpot reviewer
The storage for local usage is very efficient for an HCI product but virtualization needs improvement
Azure Site Recovery is brilliant. The integration with Azure using Azure Arc is excellent. Additionally, Azure storage for local usage is very efficient for an HCI product. There has been some return on investment in terms of time usability and reduction of footprint, and obviously, HCI two emissions and other factors.
Shaijith KB - PeerSpot reviewer
Hardware acceleration and enhanced performance but has support challenges
There are some problems with support from HPE. Tickets often go to Tunisian engineers who do not attend promptly. Updates are required when we have an update on vCenter or host level, and we must procure support from HPE SimpliVity team, which is complicated. Some IPs are not reachable due to subnet issues. Installation by the HPE support team can be messy.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
44%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Stack HCI?
The pricing is very competitive unless you are talking about the actual licensing itself. The licensing is quite expensive because it's per call.
What needs improvement with Azure Stack HCI?
A little bit of the storage architecture could be improved. The integrated switching could use some enhancements. The virtualization platform always has room for improvement. Hyper V seems to lag b...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is notable.
 

Also Known As

No data available
SimpliVity, HPE HCI
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Stack HCI vs. HPE SimpliVity and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.