Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the HCI category. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Read 90 Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] reviews

89% willing to recommend

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Read 21 Dell vSAN Ready Nodes reviews

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2,129 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Broadcom, Nutanix and others in HCI.

To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCI

March 2026

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Helped 884,012 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HCI (10th)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2133501

Assistant VP, Information Technology at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Effective deduplication feature, but lacks a unified architecture

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series could be improved by reducing the number of nodes. Currently, the architecture separates data, computing, memory, and storage into different parts. For example, if I need around 200 servers with a requirement of TB of storage, I would need 200 clusters, which can be quite cumbersome. Other solutions like Dell and Nutanix have a single combined unit that includes computing, memory, and storage, which can reduce the number of nodes required and also reduce licensing and power consumption. Therefore, I suggest improving the architecture of the Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series by combining computing, memory, and storage into a single unit, making it more efficient and easier to manage. It will also reduce the number of nodes required and licensing costs and help to reduce power consumption. I would like to see improved internal integration capabilities in the next release. Currently, it is constrained only to VMware only. So, there is no integration part of the RAC or IEL or anything, and it isn't easy to manage it. If I want to hold another partner, then that part will not be possible. So, you have to manage that particular integration. Another feature could be in terms of memory usage.

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KuldeepSingh4

Technical Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Experience improved efficiency and customer satisfaction with enhanced integration and management capabilities

Scalability involves two types of environments: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and non-VCF environment where we use VMware Validated Foundation. With VCF we have significant automation built-in within the VCF console within SDDC manager as the primary management console. For non-VCF environments, it depends on customer choice. For small environments, we do manual scalability and sometimes use Terraform scripts to keep the host ready and add in the cluster automatically. For large environments with frequent scalability actions, we propose the Terraform solution that builds ESXi, does necessary configuration, and automatically starts up for associating with the existing environment. If scaling is infrequent, with one or two hosts per month, it is a manual job. From a challenge perspective, it seems easier, with just a few pre-checks regarding make and model compatibility, disks, and server health on the hardware level.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like Cisco Intersight."

"The management from the switches to the hyper-convergence solutions are quite good and well-developed."

"The most valuable feature is that you can manage the whole cluster from the traffic interconnect."

"You can administer things easily. E.g., if you need more power, you can add a system."

"It consumes a smaller footprint when I compare it with other competitors."

"This is not the only product we use, so we have other solutions to compare it with. We can compare different products and different vendors and tell our customers which products have which advantages and disadvantages so that they can leverage these products in their own environment. This product helps us to understand the customer's needs and what issues they can run into."

"Cisco provides the ability to configure BIOS, something that no one else can do, on a remote basis. That's really helpful sometimes. The bus-snooping alteration tool for BIOS is fantastic. That's one of the game-changing features that Cisco alone has at this point."

"The feature that we are most interested in is the scalability. When needed, we are able to add more nodes and scale it up further."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] pros

"vSAN ReadyNodes offer easy scalability, which has proven beneficial for storage needs."

"They are heading in the right direction and moving to integrate everything with a hybrid cloud, and moving workloads back and forth."

"Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes is scalable"

"The most valuable feature of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is file sharing."

"The most valuable feature is the set of user tools that are available."

"The benefit of using vSAN is that it's easy to manage on vCenter, you can see if there are issues, get recommendations, and overall, it's highly fault-free which is beneficial because we want to minimize downtime."

"No concerns regarding the footprint in the data center."

"Dell's technical support is generally very good."

Cons

"You have to get the same servers with the same storage; they need to be identical. However, in vSAN or in VMware we don't have to do that. We can just add storage and manage it in the same server."

"The initial setup of the Cisco HyperFlex HX platform was medium-level difficult. It's a little bit different from traditional servers. It takes getting used to the learning curve."

"The deployment could be made a little bit easier, as we still seem to struggle with it a little bit for a day or so to get it running."

"Cisco is a bit more challenging in terms of deployment. The admin must be knowledgeable in order to complete the task. Without that knowledge, it will be difficult to complete."

"We need to be able to scale out and not just up. When you want to scale up or scale out, you are quite limited."

"Unlike other options, you need to pay a subscription to Cisco yearly instead of paying for the hardware outright, which makes it more expensive in the long run."

"The initial setup can be complex."

"We'd like the product to offer better integration with other products."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] cons

"Although vSAN ReadyNodes work well, a faster firmware lifecycle with the release of validated firmware catalogs more quickly would be a desired improvement."

"The deployment is done by doing it one by one and could be simplified."

"Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes is a great hyper-converged system that is a perfect platform for supporting any kind of workload. The only workload that it's not designed to support is big data."

"Scalability is an area that could be improved. We are looking at a maximum of 32 nodes now in a cluster, but going to 64 or 128 would be a major advantage."

"I would want VMware to ensure that when there's a hardware failure on a host, it should gracefully migrate the VMs to another host available in the cluster without restarting, which would be a great improvement."

"Compatibility with other hardware nodes needs to be improved."

"Upgrades are carried out manually."

"Dell vSAN Ready Nodes' deployment is complex."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like a clearer licensing model. It should explain a bit more what you receive if you buy the more expensive license rather than the standard one."

"Initially HyperFlex was a little costly, it was higher, but Cisco wanted to get into our company, so they gave us a fair discount."

"Cisco is quite expensive, but not in the initial first buy."

"It's roughly $30,000 per Hyperflex license, so that would be about $60,000 a year."

"We currently have a perpetual license, which is kind of unlimited, so we don't have the normal licensing cost, yet."

"The price is a bit too high."

"There is no additional licensing cost other than the cost for each part."

"Comparable solutions with switches, storage, and services are cheaper than HyperFlex. It should be cheaper."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"My company makes yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the solution. The solution is expensive."

"The tool's pricing is competitive compared to others. The tool's licensing is based on annual subscriptions."

"There is a problem, which is the lack of an integrated price structure."

"The price of the solution was reasonable."

"The solution is more expensive than a traditional array. The prices are skyrocketing."

"Comparing the price of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes to other solutions it is not expensive."

"We have a four-year contract to use Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Marketing Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	57

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?

Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from core to edge and multi-cloud environments. It helps IT and OT teams deploy hyper...

See all answers

How does VxRail compare with Cisco HyperFlex HX Series?

VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if you are working with a limited budget, this platform offer...

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and stability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

There is no specific licensing model for vSAN ReadyNodes as it is linked with Broadcom VMware's solutions rather than Dell's. As a group under Comcast, we receive very good pricing from Dell due to...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

I would want VMware to ensure that when there's a hardware failure on a host, it should gracefully migrate the VMs to another host available in the cluster without restarting, which would be a grea...

See all answers

Comparisons

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 11% of the time

VxRail vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 10% of the time

FlexPod XCS vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Competitors

VxRail vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 9% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 9% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 8% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 6% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

March 2026

Download Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

March 2026

Download Dell vSAN Ready Nodes product report

Also Known As

No data available

vSAN Ready Nodes

Overview

The Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform is a purpose-built, high-performance, scale-out file system with a wide array of enterprise-class data management services. The data platform’s innovations redefine distributed storage technology, giving you complete hyper-convergence with enterprise storage features:

Enterprise-class data management
Continuous data optimization
Securely encrypted storage
Dynamic data placement
Clusterwide parallel data distribution
Linear and incremental scaling
API-based data platform architecture
A simplified approach

Cisco

Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes are pre-configured building blocks that reduce deployment
risks with certified configurations, improve storage efficiency by up to 50%1
, and can help
you build or scale your vSAN cluster faster.14 Whether you're just getting started, and/or
expanding your existing VMware environment, Dell EMC is here for you every step of the
way with consulting, education, deployment and support services for the entire solution.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Ready Pac Foods, Bryant University, Bellevue Group, KPIT Technologies, City Harvest

Rackspace

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Broadcom, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: March 2026.

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