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Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers 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
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 4.7%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 15.8%, down from 17.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack 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…
Adalberto Giaretta - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable with an easy setup and good support
These are rack servers. We use them for applications. It stores everything including VM servers, application servers, Windows, et cetera The reliability is great. The solution is like any other commodity like Dell or HPE. These are all very similar.  Setting up the solution is easy. It is stable.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is server management."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the expansion and replacement of parts."
"We have many people in my organization using Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers in the administration."
"The solution is easily scalable."
"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are integration and customization."
"The technical support from Cisco is fine."
"It has centralized our server management and allows us to treat servers like a pool of resources instead of discrete devices."
"The initial setup is straightforward and easy to do."
"Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features."
"It is a scalable product."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is the easiest product to set up and maintain."
"It's very power-efficient and allows you to access the rack server directly without accessing the operating system on that server."
"I would say the stability of the system itself would be the biggest advantage."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"Easy integration with UPS systems provides added convenience and efficiency for our operations."
"It is a stable solution."
 

Cons

"The solution can be improved by adjusting the cost."
"The C-Series is not designed to be as scalable. They are designed to have enough RAM and enough CPU on their own side. If you want scalability, it's better to choose the B-Series— the Blade Servers — because those are much more scalable with Fabric Interconnect."
"The warranty and support periods should be extended."
"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."
"I would like to see a little more integration with VMware."
"The improvement should be done as per customer requirements."
"The solution needs more capacity and more scalability."
"There is room for better integration with other brands."
"It is quite an expensive product. Its price can be improved."
"For the price my company pays for Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers, we can have more from other vendors offering the same functionalities that are present in Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers at a lower price."
"From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."
"There are other solutions that are less expensive."
"Improvements could be made in the network cards, particularly by offering options for higher-speed cards beyond the current 10 GB."
"Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients. XClarity Controller is a very good feature, and Lenovo should include the XClarity Controller license without any additional cost. It should be integrated within the product."
"The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."
"The performance of the solution could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco is expensive, but we didn't look at the cost of the product. We were looking at reliability and support."
"This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper."
"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."
"This solution is a little expensive."
"The solution is expensive and I give the price a four out of ten."
"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."
"If they plan to expand their infrastructure in periods, then simply Cisco is not a good choice."
"The price of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is high."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"In India, the solution is cheap compared to its competitors."
"Its pricing is very competitive."
"I don't know the exact amount of money, but when I compared it to Dell or HPE, Lenovo was the best when it comes to price and equipment."
"The licensing cost is the same as HP. It doesn't have any additional cost. However, the price, for example, for the memory option, does not match other vendors such as HP or Dell. They should work on the pricing of Lenovo. It is a great competitor, and it should compete with the price."
"The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."
"It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year."
"It is too expensive. Because we are a university and we have to look for our money, many times we buy some refurbished machines or equipment at reasonable prices from IBM or Lenovo. We are a little bit limited in terms of money, and we buy as much as we can. If they were cheaper, we would buy more."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
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 Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is the easiest product to set up and maintain.
 

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series
SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo 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
immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.