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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 26, 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 C-Series Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
228
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (4th), Data Center Networking (2nd), Blade Servers (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 5.2%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 27.4%, down from 28.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series27.4%
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers5.2%
Other67.4%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Berthold Manz - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless server transitions enhance IT infrastructure for AI projects and improve management capabilities
If you are integrated into the Cisco management solution, it is very easy to handle. The performance aspects of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are very strong. The ability to move from one server to another without changing anything is excellent. We can transfer all the identity of the servers between the servers.
Muzamil Yakub - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers robust security and management features while supporting diverse workloads
For the most part, there’s no need for improvement in areas like manageability and security; they’ve covered those quite well. The storage controllers are also very well designed, and the support for NVMe is excellent. Regarding customization, the chassis can be tailored to meet specific user needs. They have addressed many aspects thoroughly. For instance, remote management is well taken care of; I even have an app on my phone that allows me to check the health status of the hardware. Overall, we can monitor and manage servers remotely without any issues. I would say that while Dell keeps up with industry innovations, they’ve addressed nearly all areas effectively. Dell could improve its coverage a bit. Sometimes, there are firmware updates that need to be addressed. When we log into the iDRAC interface on the server for management, we currently have to manually upload the images for the new firmware upgrade. While the upgrade process itself is straightforward, many customers are often unaware that a firmware upgrade is even necessary. If this process could be automated so that the server can check for available firmware updates on its own, it would be really helpful. The server could send out an alert email indicating that a new firmware upgrade is available, allowing the administrator to decide when to perform the upgrade.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is reliable and easy to use."
"In terms of the features that I have found most valuable, that is basically the hardware, which is more dynamic."
"It is very nice and stable with an easy administration GUI."
"On the Cisco side, there is a benefit in terms of server management. Cisco provides UCS Manager, which is a multi-tenant site manager. We can manage multiple sites while maintaining disaster recovery, a feature not available on other platforms."
"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are integration and customization."
"The product doesn't take up too much space on the rack and I like that."
"The product's stability is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten."
"The solution is easily scalable."
"Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well."
"We have about 80 servers and have only lost maybe two power supplies. They just run forever."
"The use of OpenManage Console reduces the time it takes to manage PowerEdge Rack Servers in terms of updates and maintenance."
"It is pretty good at handling diverse applications. We have been using these servers for eight years. We have experienced good performance with them."
"The complete hyper-converged infrastructure of this solution has been most useful. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time by 20%."
"My favorite features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been the redundancy and reliability."
"Dell support is the best."
"The most valuable aspects include hot swapping and the elasticity as far as being able to scale."
 

Cons

"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers could improve integration with third-party solutions."
"The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support."
"The solution needs more capacity and more scalability."
"Technical support could be more responsive."
"The product must add customer-friendly monitoring features."
"The hard drive of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is not very good. I have already replaced three of them."
"On the contact center and video conferencing, I would definitely like to see more AI features. The AI features are key for us. You will find a lot of them in the cloud-based solution, but in the on-premises solution, they're hardly there. I would like to see the same AI features that are there in the cloud-based Cisco UC."
"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."
"Dell PowerEdge servers are not fail-proof; from that perspective, hardware remains a potential point of failure."
"There are no items I want to improve on Dell PowerEdge R-Series; maybe just a discount."
"In Pakistan, the vendors or the partners of Dell are not providing a good environment. They need to improve their support and hire partners that have certified support sources."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are competitive, but there is room for energy efficiency improvement considering the thermal design and power consumption."
"When trying to piece out a server for our builds, there are so many different SKUs—probably 30 to 40 SKUs—that it can be difficult to read. If that could be condensed a little bit, that would help."
"Currently, the solution does not have the in-process memory encryption technology."
"Improvement is always necessary for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers so that people don't take it for granted."
"We have storage and would like to manage more backups without adding extra storage devices. Maybe it's already there. I need to look at it more."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack could improve. It's a little more expensive in comparison with Dell or HPE solutions."
"The price of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is high."
"​Best to buy all the blades configured for the same purposes of load balancing and failover or load shifting.​"
"The solution could be more cost-effective."
"The prices of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are higher compared to the competition. When we try and sell against the competition, then it becomes quite difficult to sell"
"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."
"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."
"The price for Cisco is a bit higher than its competitors. We paid 40k for one server."
"The high cost of Dell PowerEdge Rack Server licenses is attributed to the pre-installed Windows Server operating system from Microsoft."
"I don't know about the product's licensing part. Price-wise, it is an okay product. I believe that the cheaper the better, but I think that the product's price is okay."
"The pricing is fair enough."
"This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire."
"One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000."
"The server is a one-time purchase, but the support is on a subscription basis."
"The cost structure associated with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers aligns closely with the prevailing norms established within the information technology hardware sector."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable. We pay a basic premium with a military premium on top of that."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
Midsize Enterprise52
Large Enterprise95
 

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...
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?
For the most part, there’s no need for improvement in areas like manageability and security; they’ve covered those quite well. The storage controllers are also very well designed, and the support f...
 

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: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.