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Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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

Dell EqualLogic PS series
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 5.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 8.5%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE MSA8.5%
Dell EqualLogic PS series5.0%
Other86.5%
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Khuram Ayyaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Executive at Virtual University
Has enabled uninterrupted access to educational platforms and simplified storage management
Dell EqualLogic PS series is easily scalable, and we can add extra boxes and storage. It was easy to deploy during COVID. Deploying Dell EqualLogic PS series is straightforward, with no complexity involved. Dell EqualLogic PS series is a good product. We did not experience any failures in the last six to seven years, and it is still running as our storage for offline data. There are snapshot capabilities in data protection available, but we did not use that feature because it consumes much space. We have only 150 terabytes of space and simply use it to create volumes without utilizing it for snapshots. We use thin provisioning in Dell EqualLogic PS series, but I did not explore that feature further.
JT
Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees
Ensures quick data handling but needs advanced security features
The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable. I found that its scalability benefited my organization, especially in larger settings. While the price is not reasonable, its performance makes up for it. Additionally, the licensing costs are consistent with most brands. Compared to Huawei, however, I found that Huawei's processing power, performance, and cost were more advantageous.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has been working well overall."
"The scalability of the Dell EqualLogic PS series is very good, we had no issues."
"The product is very stable."
"The technical support is very good."
"It is extremely reliable."
"I am satisfied with it; it works very fine for our purpose, and its performance is enough for our needs."
"The solution can scale."
"It is stable and scalable."
"We use the MSA outside of our data center, and it's a nice robust platform that we can use without buying a whole enterprise SAN, so it gives us the flexibility we need."
"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."
"The solution is scalable and easy to manage."
"So far, our experience with this product has been great."
"MSA is cheap and scalable compared to other solutions, making it a solid and cost-effective choice."
"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
"Generally, HPE MSA has improved my storage management and has notably provided scalability benefits."
"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."
 

Cons

"The performance isn't as good as, for example, Nimble."
"When they deployed our cluster, they did not provide any documentation or low-level or high-level diagrams. They simply came, mounted the servers, and started installation without documentation, which is a negative point on the vendor side."
"Do not go for EQL. It will be out of production in a few years."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed."
"The searchable online documentation is missing.​"
"Three of the four devices have been rock solid, and one of them had a string of issues that we eventually resolved."
"I can't buy any more solutions provided by EqualLogic...Since I can't buy it anymore, I don't receive any updates on the solution. Also, this is the last year in which one can buy support for the solution."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve by providing fiber channel connectivity. Fiber channel connectivity is not supported, which is a requirement of advanced applications, such as SAP HANA. SAP HANA recommends fiber channel connectivity, but the Dell EqualLogic PS series is only an ISCSI data storage."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."
"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."
"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."
"However, we did have some issues at first but we worked through them and currently we have no issues."
"I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."
"We had a few issues with some of the firmware codes, probably about five years ago."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."
"​It is a fair price."
"I didn't buy it. It was another person seven years ago. So, I don't really know, but all storage platforms cost a lot of money. It is probably in the mid-range, but you get what you pay for."
"Initial packages include all upgrades and services."
"All features are out of the box. The license will be in the virtual, OS, or application layer."
"Licensing is pretty straightforward."
"Price-wise, the solution is cheap. I rate it a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series can improve its scale-out feature. Sometimes the customer has a limited budget for storage expansion. When they want to expand their capacity, they need to buy a complete controller plus storage capacity, which sometimes is out of their budget. If Dell EqualLogic PS series support could scale up the environment in which only hard drive extension controllers should be supported, then customers can expand within a lower budget."
"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Performing Arts
7%
Educational Organization
5%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell EqualLogic PS series?
I do not have anything in mind regarding new capabilities for Dell products at this time.
What is your primary use case for Dell EqualLogic PS series?
We are essentially a university, and we have deployed Dell EqualLogic PS series in our data centers to run our production sites, student portals, websites, our on-premises portal, and campus manage...
What advice do you have for others considering Dell EqualLogic PS series?
I work with Dell EqualLogic PS series. I am an end user and a customer for Dell. I have experience only with Dell PowerEdge, and I do not work with other products like PowerScale or PowerStore. Reg...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
I did not compare the cost of HPE MSA with others because we buy with a framework contract, and HP is the only brand available on that contract, so we have no comparison.
What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The user web interface is a bit slow, but it is really easy to use, although you still have to wait a bit when you send an operation. We have had some drive failures, but with the redundancy, we ha...
What is your primary use case for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
We use HPE MSA as storage for the VMware servers, and we will try to use Proxmox server later on, but currently, we use VMware.
 

Also Known As

EqualLogic PS series
HP StorageWorks MSA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FAW Foundry, AW Engineering, Unimat, eLongNet Information Technology, BDO Brasil, Odyssey Space Research
Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.