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Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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 C-Series Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
272
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (2nd), Blade Servers (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 5.6%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 25.4%, down from 27.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series25.4%
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers5.6%
Other69.0%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1441011 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr, Manager- Network Solution Architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Comprehensive support and integration ensure smooth cloud infrastructure operations
I may not be the right person to comment on advanced improvements because we are just using basic functionalities. We are getting all the functionalities which we used to get in other OEM rack servers. Potential areas for improvement may include a more flexible pricing model, better technical support, or tutorials from the vendor for users.
Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In most cases, computes compute, and there isn't much differentiation, but one point of differentiation is Intersight cloud management."
"The VIC card is the most important feature."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is server management."
"Its hardware is really reliable. We also like Cisco for its support."
"The initial setup is straightforward and easy to do."
"The solution has improved our organization by easily integrating with our VMware and storage solutions."
"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are integration and customization."
"It has centralized our server management and allows us to treat servers like a pool of resources instead of discrete devices."
"The complete hyper-converged infrastructure of this solution has been most useful. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time by 20%."
"The biggest value of PowerEdge servers is that Dell is a brand name. I also appreciate the flexibility of the platform. I know how to configure PowerEdge servers and build a solution from scratch."
"They give us peace of mind; we sleep well at night."
"The most valuable feature, when I compare Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers with other brands available, is the price versus performance, as I get more for what I pay, and mostly, we use this for our CAD workloads."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series demonstrates tremendous robustness, which is one of the main reasons for continued use."
"The speed of delivery is something super valuable. Reliability and performance are also valuable."
"The real advantage to Dell when I look at some of the other competitors is the support."
"Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio."
 

Cons

"I think the pricing is high. Cisco has to look for bundling this solutions with other applications."
"The product must add customer-friendly monitoring features."
"There is very little scalability for the cluster. If you need a higher availability, there is a user limitation. So that is the low side."
"Definitely the support area needs improving. Especially the time response in case of hardware failure."
"In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment."
"The warranty and support periods should be extended."
"In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment."
"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers could improve integration with third-party solutions."
"We have a cloud-first strategy, and hardware is starting to become more and more secondary, so we are not betting on it."
"The GUI could be improved. I primarily work with the command line, which enables you to do many things faster."
"Considering from a hardware perspective, some areas of concern were network cards on the models we had in our organization, which were fairly inaccessible, so we had to remove the whole motherboard and, basically, the whole system to get rid of or swap a network card."
"On the MX7000 platform, they should continue to release better and faster blades."
"I would say the pain points are better power usage and consumption; that's not up to Dell, that's up to the CPU manufacturers."
"Reduced cabling and improved power consumption management would be beneficial improvements."
"I have used these servers in a government project along with Nutanix, and there is a security restriction. I do not know if it is from Dell's side or Nutanix's side. From the host, you cannot read the external hard drive data inside a VM."
"They could improve the time between new versions of the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is slightly more expensive when compared to others."
"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."
"If they plan to expand their infrastructure in periods, then simply Cisco is not a good choice."
"The pricing is expensive."
"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."
"​Best to buy all the blades configured for the same purposes of load balancing and failover or load shifting.​"
"The price of the solution could be better when compared to other solutions. However, when we purchased the solution we received Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers in a bundle with other hardware, such as IP phones and networking switches."
"This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper."
"They seem to have become more expensive. I've not done a comparison with other vendors recently. If the price increases more, we would need to do a comparison next year just to make sure that we are benchmarking our server purchases correctly."
"You can't have computed performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck."
"Regarding the pricing, it seems fair."
"PowerEdge pricing is equivalent to that of all the others in the market."
"The pricing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is on par with everything else at the moment."
"I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine."
"The server is a one-time purchase, but the support is on a subscription basis."
"Dell is somewhat more expensive than HPE."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business98
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise113
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?
I may not be the right person to comment on advanced improvements because we are just using basic functionalities. We are getting all the functionalities which we used to get in other OEM rack serv...
What is your primary use case for Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?
We are running AI on Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers, and we can do it sometimes even without any GPU.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?
I would strongly recommend Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers to others.
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
I do not see any area for improvement in Dell PowerEdge R-Series, particularly nothing very significant. I do not know what new features Dell could add to Dell PowerEdge R-Series; I have no idea, a...
 

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Artoni Transporti, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, City of Mississauga, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Kind en Gezin, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Nationwide, Quest, Talbots, University of St. Gallen
NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge R-Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.