We performed a comparison between Dell EMC Powermax and Dell EMC PowerStorebased on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, our reviewers consider Dell EMC PowerStore to be a superior solution. The setup is simpler, and although the price is on the higher side, most users consider it to be worthwhile for the high performance.
"The stability and performance are the best things about the solution."
"The compression and deduplication features help to make the best use of the capacity."
"The all-flash disc is the most valuable feature of this solution."
"Pure Storage technology allowed us to automate tasks, reducing something which started as a 12-hour turnaround down to about 15 minutes."
"The initial setup was very straightforward and very quick. It was up and running in our data center within 24 hours of receiving it."
"The initial setup was straightforward in the way that it was a database vacuum storage."
"The management is simple in Pure Storage FlashArray."
"The most valuable feature of Pure Storage FlashArray is the all-flash storage performance, low latency, and efficiency of their de-duplication technology. Additionally, the ease of use is good compared to other storage systems. The features in data protection, snapshotting, and replication between data centers and sites are superior to other solutions."
"PowerMax, with version 9.02, which we installed recently, has some very good features, such as CloudIQ."
"The SRDF site-to-site replication for the volumes is the most important feature for us. That enables us to do site recovery and replication for our VMware infrastructure."
"The product is very fast and reliable."
"It has dramatically cut down the footprint in our data center and reduced the amount of raw disk capacity that we needed to purchase."
"Uptime by far is the most important thing, and also the replication ability (SRDF). Most of the customers who need this type of availability also want the protection of multiple data centers, and it is able to easily switchover workloads to their other data centers."
"You can use PowerMax for all workloads and consolidation. We have used it to scale thousands of VMs."
"We are happy with the monitoring that Dell EMC is doing for us. They have helped us to identify many issues during the routine checks, issues which we were not aware of."
"CloudIQ has become an optimal tool for us to get the full picture of all the different arrays, from mid-tier all the way up. It gives us that single view and the ability to launch the Unisphere. That is really is powerful in being able to manage the array."
"It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization."
"The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions."
"When compared to Pure Storage, Dell PowerStore's cost was quite attractive."
"The solution is very easy to implement."
"The solution is extremely stable."
"There is no complicated configuration for queries and calls. You just create a model and go."
"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."
"It is a stable solution."
"The price should be lower."
"A three wave application or multi wave application synchronization would be an improvement."
"Just some nit picky stuff, like allowing servers and volumes to be grouped. Therefore, it would easier to work with them in the GUI."
"Pure Storage FlashArray could improve by being more secure."
"The time-to-market could be better at times, but I think that's true for all vendors of hardware."
"I would like some form of QoS implemented. As a service provider, it would be beneficial to have it."
"I would like to get a weekly report of how our storage has been used, and if there is any storage sitting there not being used."
"I feel like there is too much automation; the user doesn't have any manual input."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"Dell PowerMax NVMe is costly compared to other solutions."
"When it comes to Oracle and database workloads, data reduction could be a little bit better. Some of the competition, like Pure, have post-processes which do additional deduplication and compression on the backside; everything is in-line and then they do a secondary process. It would be a good option if you could start getting 5:1 or 6:1 data reduction on database workloads."
"The initial setup was complex, as it is a complex system and you have to learn a lot."
"The GUI interface is very complicated and could be improved by streamlining the number of steps in the process."
"PowerMax Storage needs improvement in the area of monitoring tools. It should have more functions and more complicated analysis options inside the monitoring tools."
"I would also like to see a real-time, graphical view of metrics. I don't know how far back in time we can look, but if we could see the performance from two months or three months back, and how it is performing now, that would be helpful."
"Dell should work on their marketing strategies to make the product more visible on the market. They should promote the product's compatibility with IBM, as not everyone knows it."
"Where the system needs to improve is by adding more enterprise features like replication on other sites. We would also like it to be much more aligned with the VMware version. For example, today we have two different versions of VMware ESXi running to keep the PowerStore online. It would be better if the software cycling was faster."
"During the installation phase, the licensing part was not straightforward. It was very difficult for the technicians, who are not trained Dell EMC technicians, to do the licensing because the information on their website is not straightforward... Eventually, I had to pass this task to our business partner and they did it for us."
"It's also only supported with a limited amount of switches."
"The price is on the higher side."
"The setup process could be improved. We had some issues regarding configuration and the time it took to do things. It wasn't specifically the people we worked with, but more the process and how it's done. They can work on that."
"There are certain shortcomings with the technical support team of Dell PowerStore, where improvements are required."
"The cost of technical support is high."
"The support is not very good."
Dell PowerMax NVMe is ranked 8th in All-Flash Storage with 66 reviews while Dell PowerStore is ranked 1st in All-Flash Storage with 46 reviews. Dell PowerMax NVMe is rated 8.8, while Dell PowerStore is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Dell PowerMax NVMe writes "Simplified storage provisioning for us, enabling us to assign any volumes in two to three minutes". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerStore writes "It has a very strong NAS that can support a lot of big, heavy environments". Dell PowerMax NVMe is most compared with IBM FlashSystem, Dell Unity XT, Huawei OceanStor Dorado, Dell XtremIO and Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, whereas Dell PowerStore is most compared with Dell Unity XT, IBM FlashSystem, NetApp AFF, HPE Nimble Storage and Huawei OceanStor Dorado. See our Dell PowerMax NVMe vs. Dell PowerStore report.
See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors and best NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays vendors.
We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
