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Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.2
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.7
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Density Optimized Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 9.5%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 20.9%, down from 30.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Density Optimized Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Kalpesh Savaliya - PeerSpot reviewer
Good support, and this product well-suited to our size of environment
We use these rack servers for terminal operating systems The initial setup could be easier. I have been working with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers for five years. This is a stable product. For our use case, this product is scalable up to 16 blades, including two sites. I don't know how well…
Gayan Senadheera - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs
In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The C-series is the most valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is server management."
"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 product's stability is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten."
"The hardware customization capabilities are great."
"The product doesn't take up too much space on the rack and I like that."
"What I really like about the Cisco USC Server is its service profile."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the expansion and replacement of parts."
"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."
"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"It's very reliable. I haven't had a single failure at all in the year and a half; not the slightest problem with it."
"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"With HPE Apollo, we can propose configurations with many hard drives, making it suitable for large storage needs."
 

Cons

"The warranty and support periods should be extended."
"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers can improve by providing customization features to allow us to deploy them on the cloud. For example, we need VMware to allow us to accomplish a cloud deployment."
"The improvement should be done as per customer requirements."
"The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support."
"Some customers have complained about delivery time. So, the main weakness is the lead time."
"I think the pricing is high. Cisco has to look for bundling this solutions with other applications."
"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack could improve by selling storage. Cisco doesn't sell storage, which is a problem because some customers ask for storage. There are several brands in the market, such as HPE, and Dell EMC. However, Cisco doesn't have any storage. This is where the tension comes from buying this solution."
"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers could improve integration with third-party solutions."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."
"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second -that would be outstanding."
"The technical support for HPE Apollo Systems could be improved."
"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis, which is only $2,000 or $3,000."
"Cisco is expensive, but we didn't look at the cost of the product. We were looking at reliability and support."
"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."
"The server itself isn't costly at all, but the CPU and the RAM can be pretty expensive. You can buy a UCS for $2,000, but the RAM and CPU can cost up to $80,000. The most expensive asset is the intel processor, but it depends on how many cores you want and the technology you want to use on your CPU, like Hyper-V, etc."
"This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper."
"This product is slightly more expensive when compared to others."
"The price for Cisco is a bit higher than its competitors. We paid 40k for one server."
"The solution could be more cost-effective."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?
HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
Additional features would be beneficial in the next release of HPE Apollo Systems.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
We were working with HPE Apollo Systems for one of our projects for the company named VVDN. We were using HPE Apollo Systems, GPU systems and CPU systems. For GPU systems, the model was 6500, in wh...
 

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

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
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.