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Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA comparison

 

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)
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 2.3%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.7%, up from 16.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Abdul Rehman Abid - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful auto tiering, excellent support, and highly reliable
The initial setup of the Dell EqualLogic PS series is simple. The physical connectivity and rack mounting time depend on the size of the deployment. For example, if we have five of the Dell EqualLogic PS series we can mount and do the cabling within two hours. The initial configuration can be done within an hour. The estimated time to deploy from start to finish in this scenario is four to five hours maximum. One person can do most of the deployment, such as configuration, but a helper is needed to do the mounting of the cables.
Pragnesh Sachania - PeerSpot reviewer
Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments
We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We were attracted by the flexibility of being able to put in a new shelf whenever we needed to, to expand."
"Dell's technical support is very good."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series is a highly stable solution."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The product is very stable."
"The solution can scale."
"You can always trust it. It is stable."
"The solution has been working well overall."
"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."
"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."
"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."
"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."
"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."
"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."
"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."
 

Cons

"The product is reaching the end-of-lifecycle."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed."
"We need more space and we can't get any."
"The only challenging part in the tool was related to some site recovery area. In order to exploit the site recovery area, my company had to purchase additional VMware products."
"It is at the end of support and no longer supported. We have to move our VMware to another storage platform, and we have decided to use Dell PowerStore. We like Dell's products, and it is a new platform with a lot of features."
"The searchable online documentation is missing.​"
"6510 and 6610 have two iSCSI connections in each controller. Why do 6110xxx members have only one, and why do the same members have the possibility of having an active iSCSI interface in the passive controller? It could make a lot of noise with a failover."
"Individual file recovery would be a nice additional feature."
"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."
"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."
"The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."
"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​It is a fair price."
"All features are out of the box. The license will be in the virtual, OS, or application layer."
"It seemed expensive at first, but the durability lowered the cost of ownership dramatically over time."
"Licensing is pretty straightforward."
"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."
"Initial packages include all upgrades and services."
"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."
"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Construction Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EqualLogic PS series?
The technical support for the solution was really good.
What needs improvement with Dell EqualLogic PS series?
The main issue was that when there were new storage solutions technologies available on the market, Dell EqualLogic PS Series was not compatible with the latest products. Right now, we have a stora...
What is your primary use case for Dell EqualLogic PS series?
I used the solution in my company since we had a virtual infrastructure, which served as our storage array with ESXi connections, which are also integrated with VMware solutions.
What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The pricing of HPE MSA is not deemed reasonable, though their licensing costs compare similarly to other brands. The initial cost is where differences are more apparent.
What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?
If it could be a hybrid with SSDs and hard disks, then it would be more economical and efficient.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

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: June 2025.
859,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.