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Cisco UCS B-Series vs Cisco UCS E-Series Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

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 UCS B-Series
Ranking in Blade Servers
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco UCS E-Series Servers
Ranking in Blade Servers
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS B-Series is 7.5%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco UCS E-Series Servers is 3.7%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Blade Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco UCS B-Series7.5%
Cisco UCS E-Series Servers3.7%
Other88.8%
Blade Servers
 

Featured Reviews

MB
Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED
Efficient server management reduces costs and supports seamless operations
Cisco UCS B-Series has reliably sustained smooth operations without the need for significant maintenance. Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management. Additionally, the integration capabilities are seamless, and the power consumption and heat generation are low, resulting in reduced cooling costs and increased financial benefits.
AK
Solution Architect at COPYCAT LIMITED
Automation and integration capabilities streamline IT infrastructure management
The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS E-Series Servers is the Cisco interface. The server management and automation capabilities have been outstanding in automation, greatly benefiting our IT team. Pricing is acceptable, and these servers have had a significant impact on cost savings and operational efficiency. The integration with Cisco routers simplifies the IT infrastructure.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The feature that I found the most value is the abstract and stateless capacities."
"Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components in the Cisco UCS, is scalable, and controls multiple chassis while managing resources for thousands of virtual machines."
"The Dashboard is quite impressive and is, so far, the best based on my experience."
"The hardware is easily swappable and, utilizing the boot from SAN option, you can always keep your server intact due to the service profiles."
"The most valuable feature is definitely the service profile."
"Cisco UCS changed the server blade game, converging network and compute into a single profile-based platform."
"Faster deployments of new and replacement hardware compact footprint saves valuable space on the rack."
"The stability provided by the product is its most valuable feature for our organization."
"The Cisco chassis is very easy to configure and any network engineer or expert can configure the solution and easily integrate it with the chassis."
"What I can advise other prospective customers is that they should not worry about Cisco's support, stability, and performance."
"The most valuable features are that they are efficient and easy to setup."
"The product's most valuable features are stability, speed, and scalability."
"They are really easy to maintain. I've added RAM to them. I've done a lot of other things with the virtualization."
"Overall, the Cisco chassis is pretty good, pretty stable and easier to configure as compared to HP and others."
"Cisco has better visibility and manageability for disaster recovery."
"Cisco UCS E-Series Servers have been reliable, and it took almost five years for any hardware failure, which was only about a $100 repair, so nothing too major."
 

Cons

"The configuration is a little bit complicated and could be made simpler."
"The cost is expensive and has room for improvement."
"Dell should address the issue of direct support and spare parts availability in our region."
"We have to have Java to manage the infrastructure. It would be great if we can manage the infrastructure through a web browser."
"The management interface in the current version is Java based."
"The configuration is a bit complex, as it requires very high technical expertise to apply it."
"Power Options for setting up Grid needs to have further customization."
"It is more expensive than the competitors."
"The processing capacity could be improved."
"The platform's pricing needs improvement. There could be more collaborative tools included."
"The product should also be available in a standard edition or a standard license since currently there is a need to pay for an extra license, which is very expensive, especially when considering the budgeting part of our company."
"The biggest pain point for us is the matrix for the firmware upgrades. It is a pain. You look at that thing, you might as well be reading Greek. It would be a whole lot better if they could clean up their documentation on it."
"The tool must be made compatible with multi-vendor ecosystems."
"I would like to see improvements in VMware integration with Cisco, especially in terms of documentation and integration tools. Support of NVIDIA integration would also make it better."
"I am always asked to justify why we should purchase such expensive hardware when there are other brand names available with same capacity for a lesser price."
"It is not a solution that is cloud ready."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing with Cisco is very high."
"The pricing for Cisco is less than for the HP Proliant series."
"UCS is expensive, and we will be migrating to the cheaper HP servers."
"Pricing will be based on your requirements so it is important to plan, engage, and negotiate directly with the Cisco Account Manager."
"We have to pay a monthly licensing fee for the solution."
"It is not a yearly subscription but a yearly support renewal that you need to do for Cisco UCS B-Series."
"The product is expensive."
"The product cost is high."
"There is a need to pay towards the licensing costs of the solution. The most expensive server from Cisco is Cisco UCS B-Series."
"The product is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"It's expensive, they are quite pricey."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable. From a commercial point of view, the prices are okay."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
17%
Computer Software Company
9%
Wholesaler/Distributor
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise41
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS B-Series?
Comparing Cisco UCS B-Series with traditional servers, while its initial cost may be slightly higher, it is not as expensive as Oracle Exadata, making it a worthwhile investment. It pays off in the...
What needs improvement with Cisco UCS B-Series?
There is a need for Cisco UCS B-Series to evolve and scale vertically, particularly with the increasing data demands and the integration of AI, ensuring the solution remains certified and capable u...
What is your primary use case for Cisco UCS B-Series?
The Cisco UCS B-Series servers are used to run backend databases ranging from small, medium, to large, running different versions of RDBMS such as Oracle, SQL, MySQL. It also includes cloud databas...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS E-Series Servers?
The pricing of Cisco UCS E-Series Servers is okay, costing around 30,000 per year. Support is included in this cost.
What needs improvement with Cisco UCS E-Series Servers?
I would like to see improvements in VMware integration with Cisco, especially in terms of documentation and integration tools. Support of NVIDIA integration would also make it better.
What is your primary use case for Cisco UCS E-Series Servers?
I use Cisco UCS E-Series Servers ( /products/cisco-ucs-e-series-servers-reviews ) for managing our IT infrastructure and supporting AI-driven projects. The integration with Cisco routers simplifies...
 

Also Known As

UCS B-Series, Unified Computing System B-Series
UCS E-Series Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Anonymous Banking Group, Artoni Transporti, Bellevue, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Hertz, Houston Methodist, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Lufthansa Systems GmbH & Co.KG, Outscale, Sony Corporation, Talbots
Navaho,  MiroNet AG, Columbia Sportswear
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS B-Series vs. Cisco UCS E-Series Servers and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.