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Cisco UCS X-Series vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 X-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Blade Servers (13th)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Tanesh Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at SiliconSt.
Policy-driven infrastructure has simplified management and improved end-to-end troubleshooting
Regarding aspects of Cisco UCS X-Series that I would like to see improved, I was an operator and not in research, but everything seems up to the mark. Whenever I faced any type of issue, solutions were nearby, leaving me with few suggestions for enhancements. In terms of features and functionalities for improvement in Cisco UCS X-Series, I can say that if I compare Cisco UCS with other brands, I can proudly note features that must be included in Cisco UCS X. However, my experience is limited, as I primarily worked with Cisco UCS and sometimes Dell physical PowerEdge servers.
ArifSheikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
High availability servers have boosted hosted payment services but still need better local support
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main components we are utilizing. Since these servers are fully dedicated to various high-end solutions, they have some embedded features that their kernel and applications are using, which are bound to that functionality. We may not provide an exact assessment on its usage, but we are considering those products for some AI solutions; however, we are currently in the review stage and have not concluded our evaluation on how those are utilized yet. We are aware of the pricing of HPE ProLiant DL servers, but not off the cuff. We have obviously acquired those solutions ex-Pakistan, so they are on the rise, and while we do not remember those prices offhand, they are generally better than the IBM series, although they are becoming slightly pricey in Pakistan due to processor shortages and demand. Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives. If pricing can be reduced, especially for DB servers, that could have a direct positive impact on the overall solution. Regarding reliability, it has been satisfactory so far, but since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers. They provide import-based services, necessitating us to over-invest in backup stock and offline servers. If there was a market presence from those players in Pakistan, it could benefit both clients and distributors by reducing the need for investment in backup inventory.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find ease of management to be the most valuable feature, and it was easy to deploy, with the operational efficiency of Cisco in my IT environment being fine and very good."
"Cisco UCS X-Series scales with the growing needs of my organization very well, as much as you need it to with no issues whatsoever, and it scales whenever we need it to."
"I find that Cisco UCS X-Series is the best option on the market at the moment."
"Since I installed Cisco, I have not faced any hardware issues, so we depend on Cisco for hardware for our servers and for other hardware such as switches."
"Cisco UCS X-Series is a totally policy-defined structure, so you have to define everything in the policy, and it is easy to use and manage."
"The features I appreciate most with Cisco UCS X-Series are profile, profile deployment, and the ability to orchestrate configurations across all of the compute."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers have good performance and they support different types of applications."
"These are very reliable servers with a great warranty."
"Scalability Availability It’s robust Clustering Virtualization I can do with it almost everything within minutes."
"Since I have been in this position, for the last seven years, I have yet to have - knock on wood - any failure at all."
"The technical support from HPE ProLiant DL Servers is very good. We can contact them through various means and they are responsive, they are quick."
"Technical support is very cooperative and helpful."
"When we need to, we can get through to technical support and get the right person."
"Other than that, I would advise working with HP because they have reliable products that rarely have any issues and, when there are issues, they are easily resolvable by us."
 

Cons

"We are in a life cycle replacement phase, and we face a situation where we have to upgrade the hardware, but to get to the next series, you have to upgrade all of it."
"I have heard that the chassis concept may be discontinued or not reintroduced by Cisco, and I hope that does not happen."
"On pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cisco UCS X-Series, I find the pricing to be very high. This is the one painful aspect."
"I find their pricing maybe expensive compared to others, but stable, with no issues and so on."
"If we talk about the current market scenario regarding Cisco UCS X-Series, the products of various things such as RAM and hard drives have already increased a lot, which makes it quite a competitive market because you cannot control the prices for those things."
"Cisco UCS X-Series can be improved with a longer lifespan. The products go end-of-support and end-of-life quicker than I would prefer."
"I'm not impressed as you always go to the first-level support first, and it just takes forever to get to somebody that really can help you."
"I would like to see better support of monitoring protocols."
"The hardware was frequently faulty and sometimes broke down."
"The new function, which is coming at the moment, with the online firmware updates - that's one of the problems we're struggling with, with our customers, to have downtime - these live online updates are really, really a benefit we're waiting for."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are not scalable."
"They want to add more sites and it's just not good for us to add in another rack of equipment for every site."
"The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable."
"Obviously, you will still have hardware failures, but it is not something you can easily fix."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The iLO (integrated lights out) license is very expensive, but the functionality you receive is worth it."
"I give the price a five out of ten."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers have a higher price than Dell servers. However, the Japanese counterpart has the lowerest priced servers. The price of the HPE ProLiant DL Servers could improve, it could be less expensive."
"We did not need to pay for a license for the use of HP DL servers, just for normal hardcore support."
"It is not expensive. Its price is similar to other solutions."
"The pricing of these servers is fair. It is in the mid-range."
"They should reduce the prices as it is a significant concern for developing countries."
"There are less expensive solutions than HPE ProLiant DL Servers. However, there is a lot of value in this solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise98
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS X-Series?
I find their pricing maybe expensive compared to others, but stable, with no issues and so on.
What needs improvement with Cisco UCS X-Series?
Cisco UCS X-Series is okay, and I do not see any room for improvement. I do not know what additional features I would like to see in the future to make it better. I expect AI integrations in the fu...
What is your primary use case for Cisco UCS X-Series?
I have been working with Cisco UCS X-Series. I am the end user.
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable. However, if you look at the technical caliber of the server, if a customer invests that additio...
What needs improvement with HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
If I had to choose between HP and Dell, I would choose Dell's iDRAC over iLO. iLO is adequate, but Dell is much better, especially when configuring the internal storage of the server. Mostly when w...
 

Also Known As

No data available
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS X-Series vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.