DataCore SANsymphony vs IBM Spectrum Scale comparison

DataCore and IBM are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. DataCore is ranked #4 with an average rating of 9.3, while IBM is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.0. DataCore holds a 7.1% mindshare in SDS, compared to IBM’s 4.2% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of DataCore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

DataCore SANsymphony and IBM Spectrum Scale are major players in storage solutions. DataCore has an edge in pricing and support, whereas IBM Spectrum Scale is preferred for comprehensive features and performance, particularly in large-scale environments.

Features: DataCore SANsymphony is known for its efficient data management with easy-to-manage disk pools and auto-tiering, ensuring high availability through its mirroring function. Seamless capacity expansion and fast implementation are key highlights. IBM Spectrum Scale is recognized for its superior parallel file management, scalability, and cross-platform integration, maintaining high performance with minimal latency.

Room for Improvement: DataCore SANsymphony users report pricing complexity and tech support issues, with desires for improved iSCSI connectivity and better integration with solutions like Veeam. A more intuitive interface is needed. IBM Spectrum Scale's challenges include complex licensing and difficult initial deployment, with calls for clearer instructions and GUI enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: DataCore SANsymphony offers on-premises and hybrid cloud deployment options and is praised for its customer service and responsive technical support. IBM Spectrum Scale, primarily focused on on-premises deployment, is lauded for robust support but mentioned less frequently than DataCore.

Pricing and ROI: DataCore SANsymphony involves high costs due to its subscription model based on storage volume, yet is seen as cost-effective for redundancy and scalability. IBM Spectrum Scale has reasonable costs but a complex pricing model, offering high availability and strong ROI through effective resource utilization.

To learn more, read our detailed DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

August 2025

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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

Pure Storage FlashBlade

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 4.2%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 7.1%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Scale is 4.2%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
DataCore SANsymphony	7.1%
Pure Storage FlashBlade	4.2%
IBM Spectrum Scale	4.2%
Other	84.5%

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Featured Reviews

Eric Black

Solutions Architect at Recovery Point Systems

The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us

The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.

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SigfridCecillon

Owner at Arsium

High availability and user-friendliness enhance infrastructure health and redundancy

I would rate technical support from DataCore SANsymphony a 10. Each time I contact the technical support, it's when I don't have a choice because it's very difficult for me on site, and each time, I have good people online who are able to help me solve the problem. Usually, the problems are not very technically difficult, but sometimes they are, and the support team is still there to help us resolve them. The majority of the problems are linked to licensing, so when the license has expired or the number is not correct, they are proactive and change things live, which is very good.

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Bernd Stroehle.

Enterprise Architect at kosakya

Deliver improved performance in data processing and foster extensive AI initiatives

I find IBM Spectrum Scale to be an excellent product known for its fast parallel file system. It achieved the best results when integrated with IBM hardware. Even though it is complex, it provided significant performance advantages in large-scale data management. Its fault tolerance mechanisms and integration capabilities make it popular for extensive AI initiatives and data processing tasks for organizations like Daimler Benz and Bosch.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The performance of FlashBlade is excellent. It does not necessarily leverage the SOS API that some of the newer products leverage, but I found its speed pretty much on par and comparable. It is fast, and it does what it is supposed to do."

"It performs well and it is also very fast."

"The tool's most valuable features are data warehousing, speedy recovery, and analytics. Its latest release is cost-effective."

"Approximately 40% to 50% of my time is saved using Pure Storage FlashBlade compared to different products."

"It helps simplify our storage, because the user interface is very simple and the installation is easy."

"The initial setup is pretty easy and simple."

"We have integrated it with VMware. The integration process is pretty good. Especially with VMware, it helps with the capacity of it."

"It is very easy to use, and it is very fast."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pros

"The support is excellent."

"DataCore's ability to seamlessly move virtual volume data between storage pools as well as their synchronous mirroring has made maintenance and disaster recovery planning achievable."

"SANsymphony is flexible, with many potential options for implementation. SANsymphony's can be used with VMware, Hyper-V, or even with a hypervisor agnostic approach. It can also be used for strictly physical non-virtualized solutions."

"It is a well-proven, automated management tool in all dynamic provisioning, auto-tiering, great performance, parallel I/O, cache speed mechanism, etc."

"Our system is designed to be scalable and flexible, so it can grow and adapt to meet the changing needs of our clients."

"Good security with this solution."

"DataCore SANsymphony brings stability to the infrastructures, and the infrastructures are healthy after, along with the redundancy."

"The most valuable feature for us is that we can adjust the size of the storage very easily, without stopping production."

More DataCore SANsymphony pros

"GPFS monitoring is the best feature."

"It makes our file system sharing a lot easier, even across different continents. We have had file systems shared across different continents with no performance degradation."

"I rate this product ten out of ten."

"It has been pretty reliable throughout the years. As far as capacity is concerned, it can handle most heavy loads."

"Technical support has been very helpful. They provide us with pretty good solutions that we can implement moving forward."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to share files across different platforms."

"I would rate my overall experience with IBM Spectrum Scale as nine out of ten."

"It is incredibly scalable and stable."

More IBM Spectrum Scale pros

Cons

"I want efficiency. FlashBlade doesn't have efficiency now."

"The documentational aspect of FlashBlade needs improvement."

"Its configuration should be easier."

"I have not seen ROI."

"I would like to have Snapshots and Snapmail in the next release. People who came from a NetApp background, especially expect these features."

"I would like to see more deduplication."

"I would like to see more VM-Aware features in the next release of this solution."

"To improve FlashBlade, some analysts suggest enhancing its handling of relational database management systems and SQL queries."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade cons

"In my opinion, there should be improvements in how to get and filter logs."

"The graphical interface is not always very stable."

"For customers or technicians that don't speak and understand English, it could be great to have other languages support, all the more so given the number of countries in which SanSymphony is used."

"The cloud reporting interface is quite poor compared to other vendors."

"There is room for improvement in the graphical interface."

"One limitation of this solution is that it's Windows-based, e.g. one requirement to install DataCore SANsymphony SDS is putting it on a Windows server machine. It relies on Windows and that is a limitation because there are some customers who are looking for non Windows systems."

"I'd like to see the company make the renewal of the software cheaper."

"Problem detection could be easier. It should help customers identify problems very quickly because it's not easy to analyze on the platform today."

More DataCore SANsymphony cons

"Integration with other vendors is not available."

"I wish there were some graphical user interface to access the GPFS file system creation and monitoring."

"There can be improvements in fault tolerance and making erasure coding faster."

"The biggest problem is that it is not able to provide block storage."

"The initial setup is complex, especially if trying to avoid erasure coding, as it requires more discs. Avoiding erasure coding can significantly increase costs."

"This is probably the biggest challenge, getting everything upgraded, because it just takes time. We wish it was a faster solution to be able to do everything at once, but you have do each node individually. The more nodes, the longer it takes."

"We do have some issues where Spectrum Scale does not work as expected. We have seen our Spectrum Scale servers go down unexpectedly, but because we have a cluster, it does not take out the entire organization."

"The solution's pricing could be better."

More IBM Spectrum Scale cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pure Storage FlashBlade is a hardware appliance, and it's very expensive if you compare its price with other solutions. You can get the same features and benefits from its competitor, VAST Data, but for half the price of Pure Storage FlashBlade."

"We used a reseller for the purchase."

"Our customers have seen a reduction in TCO."

"The product is very expensive."

"It's a costly solution, but Pure Storage FlashBlade doesn't require additional licenses. All of the software is combined into one bundle."

"The pricing is relatively expensive due to the FlashBlade technology. However, for companies needing quick and reliable data access, the cost is justified."

"I have seen ROI. It has allowed me to increase the density of my VMs without having to purchase anything additional."

"I feel that the price could always be lowered."

More Pure Storage FlashBlade pricing and cost advice

"The pricing and licensing are better with DataCore."

"The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing."

"The solution is cost effective."

"It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers."

"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."

"Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing."

"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."

"We have licensing costs on a yearly basis. They charge per terabyte, so in terms of cost, it can be very costly. They have three different features, and you have to pay extra for those."

More DataCore SANsymphony pricing and cost advice

"The licensing is based on the number of terabytes."

"The licensing model is complex and depends on factors such as the number of processing cores and the amount of storage."

"The solution is costly but reliable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

20%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	20

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	35
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power out...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?

The pricing of Pure Storage FlashBlade is expensive compared to other products I used from other companies in the pas...

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What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?

I believe there is not much improvement needed because they have everything we need, but the interface is a little bi...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?

The cost changed from a perpetual license to a subscription model, and it seems reasonable. I am technical personnel ...

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What do you like most about DataCore SANsymphony?

The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like...

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What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony?

In my opinion, there should be improvements in how to get and filter logs. However, this is not a frequent need becau...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Scale?

IBM Spectrum Scale is very expensive with complex pricing models usually based on the amount of storage used or the n...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Scale?

There is room for improvement in the web interface. There could be more information available, such as charts and gra...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Scale?

My personal use of this product is for parallel writing or reading files.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 10% of the time

VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade

Compared 8% of the time

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StarWind Virtual SAN vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 13% of the time

VMware vSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 10% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs DataCore SANsymphony

Compared 8% of the time

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Red Hat Ceph Storage vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 23% of the time

DDN IME vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 12% of the time

Portworx Enterprise vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Gluster Storage vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 9% of the time

VMware vSAN vs IBM Spectrum Scale

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Scale Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure Storage FlashBlade

August 2025

Download Pure Storage FlashBlade product report

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony

August 2025

Download DataCore SANsymphony product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Scale

August 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Scale product report

Also Known As

No data available

DataCore Virtual SAN

No data available

Overview

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

Experience peace of mind with DataCore SANsymphony, the ultimate software-defined storage solution alleviating storage management challenges. Say goodbye to the complexities of managing different storage tiers and disruptions with SANsymphony's block-level storage virtualization technology, empowering you to automate capacity provisioning and data placement across diverse storage environments including SAN, DAS, HCI, and JBOD. Break down silos, control data placement, meet business continuity objectives, boost performance, and seamlessly expand or refresh hardware with SANsymphony. Benefit from features like asynchronous replication for disaster recovery, minimizing data loss, accelerating application responsiveness, and integrating new technology non-disruptively. Trusted by industry leaders like NASA, Thorntons, Inc., and TUI Cruises, DataCore SANsymphony guarantees unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and reliability, ensuring uninterrupted data access and application availability while reducing storage costs and inefficiencies.

DataCore

IBM Spectrum Scale is a cluster file system that provides concurrent access to a single file system or set of file systems from multiple nodes. The nodes can be SAN attached, network attached, a mixture of SAN attached and network attached, or in a shared nothing cluster configuration. This enables access to this common set of data to support a scale-out solution or to provide a high availability platform. IBM Spectrum Scale has many features beyond common data access including data replication, policy based storage management, and multi-site operations. You can create a cluster of AIX nodes, Linux nodes, Windows server nodes, or a mix of all three. IBM Spectrum Scale can run on virtualized instances providing common data access in environments, leverage logical partitioning, or other hypervisors. Multiple IBM Spectrum Scale clusters can share data within a location or across wide area network (WAN) connections.

IBM

Sample Customers

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL

Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

August 2025

Free Report: DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale

Find out what your peers are saying about DataCore SANsymphony vs. IBM Spectrum Scale and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.

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