Dell EqualLogic PS series vs NetApp FAS Series comparison

Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Dell Technologies is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.5, while NetApp is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. Dell Technologies holds a 4.9% mindshare in MS, compared to NetApp’s 10.5% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

Dell EqualLogic PS series

Read 20 Dell EqualLogic PS series reviews

1,610 Views
1,562 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

NetApp FAS Series

Read 111 NetApp FAS Series reviews

11,377 Views
2,275 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell EqualLogic PS series

NetApp FAS Series

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Dell EqualLogic PS Series and NetApp FAS Series are competing in the storage solutions category. Although Dell EqualLogic is notable for its pricing and customer service, NetApp FAS Series has the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set, appealing to users needing advanced capabilities.

Features: Dell EqualLogic PS Series offers simplicity in management, efficient load balancing, and seamless expansion capabilities. NetApp FAS Series provides advanced data management, flexible storage efficiency, and robust data protection with a broader range of features.

Room for Improvement: Dell EqualLogic could benefit from enhancing its advanced data management features, flexibility in storage types, and scalability options. NetApp FAS Series might improve by simplifying the initial setup process, reducing its complexity for non-technical users, and offering more competitive pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell EqualLogic PS Series shines with a straightforward deployment model and responsive support. NetApp FAS Series, despite a more complex setup due to its extensive features, provides reliable deployment assistance and efficient customer service, helping to navigate initial challenges effectively.

Pricing and ROI: Dell EqualLogic PS Series is competitively priced, delivering strong ROI through cost-effective expansion and reduced administrative burdens. NetApp FAS Series, while initially more costly, offers greater long-term value with its scalable architecture and comprehensive features, resulting in superior cost efficiency over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. NetApp FAS Series Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. NetApp FAS Series

August 2026

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Helped 908,877 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp FAS Series

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (4th), NAS (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 4.9%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 10.5%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetApp FAS Series	10.5%
Dell EqualLogic PS series	4.9%
Other	84.6%

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Khuram Ayyaz

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.

Read full review

Srikanth Purushothaman

DIRECTOR at Vellore Online Systems

Has supported long-term data protection and backup while requiring better part availability and pricing options

For monitoring purposes, we normally use flash access storage exclusively. We utilize a hybrid system because we need performance, combining NL-SAS for the volume and SAS flash to use as a fast cache system that provides more IOPS. We normally implement RAID 10, which we prefer over RAID 6's n plus 2 combinations. We utilize it for data redundancy, even with write intensity on. Regarding the unified storage architecture for NetApp FAS Series, we normally opt for exclusivity unless budget constraints exist. Our IOPS are very high, reaching somewhere about 50k to 150k or 1.150k. The high performance ensures minimal latency. An advantage we've seen with NetApp FAS Series is that snapshots provide very rapid backup and fast recovery. We basically use snapshots for data protection as first-level protection, with deduplication between the two storages serving as second-level protection.

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 solution offers very good read capacities, the size of the box we have is pretty decent, the speed on offer is very good, we have found the initial setup to be fairly straightforward, and Dell's technical support is very good."

"Enterprise features for snapshot management and replication benefited us greatly."

"Before deploying it, we used public clouds for our services, facing latency and other issues with other vendors; after deploying this cluster, we were very satisfied and relieved."

"I have been using Equallogic arrays for myself and my customers for over seven years now, and they continue to be my gold standard for SMB storage."

"The solution has been extremely consistent over the years, we've had absolutely no issues with the product at all, and it's lasted a long time without causing any problems."

"The solution has been working well overall."

"Dell's technical support is very good."

"Equallogic PS series arrays are the best suited storage platform for mid to high level enterprises."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pros

"It helps us meet all customer requirements. Customers have been using NetApp for many years. They are very satisfied with NetApp and continue to use NetApp and upgrade to new solutions."

"Can use both SAN and NAS at the same time."

"Using the built-in Snapshots and SnapMirror technology, we were able to have better working data protection locally and off-site."

"The replication feature protects us from data loss."

"The biggest advantage that makes NetApp FAS Series better is that we can use RAID technology on the storage."

"Our business has grown two and half times in size over six years, and we’ve added more disks and shelves, as well as upgrading controllers, and we’ve done it without any down time."

"The most valuable feature is SnapMirror."

"Good bang for the buck."

More NetApp FAS Series pros

Cons

"Individual file recovery would be a nice additional feature."

"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."

"The product is reaching the end-of-lifecycle."

"The solution does not scale well at all. It's a box, so we only have so much space to work with."

"Do not go for EQL. It will be out of production in a few years."

"It is at the end of support and no longer supported."

"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."

"Why is it not possible for both controllers to be simultaneously active (load balancing)?"

More Dell EqualLogic PS series cons

"When we were going through all the MFA hardening and the anti-ransomware setup, I gave some feedback to our executive. The MFA process for getting that set up on the AFF systems was cumbersome compared to some of our other systems."

"The plan is to go with all SSDs and use MDM, rather than sticking with traditional disk drives. The goal is to have all SSDs for better maintenance speed, which is essential for applications that need to work."

"There should be a separate admin web management for each SVM. We are currently managing all SVMs from a single admin interface, it is a problem."

"The solution’s pricing is expensive."

"We’ve hit some bugs in the ONTAP code that’s caused it to crash."

"When it comes to deployment we had our share of issues. Some of these issues are to blame on the vendor's lack of experience with the new models and ONTAP versions, but sometimes the systems themselves were faulty."

"NetApp for all these years has been improving their storage. The only area that could be improved is to lower prices for their All Flash FAS."

"It lacks automatic tiering, When you use data, some of it goes cold. It is not hot data, so the system should automatically move that data to the SATA, while the hot data is kept on tier-one, the SaaS or SSD drives."

More NetApp FAS Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"All features are out of the box. The license will be in the virtual, OS, or application layer."

"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."

"It is a fair price."

"Licensing is pretty straightforward."

"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."

"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."

"I don't think I would say that the product is less expensive...The product's price is not an issue for our company, considering the relationship we have with Dell and the customer support we receive."

"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."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pricing and cost advice

"The price it not low, but comparing features to other vendors, the price can be balanced."

"If we want a ransomware solution with the product or other extended features, we need to pay an extra cost."

"When we need to implement a less expensive solution we use Huawei. NetApp FAS Series is a little bit expensive compared to the average of the market."

"it’s not an inexpensive solution and it may not be for the cost-sensitive customer."

"The product's pricing is reasonable."

"I don't recall the price, but in general, pricing can always be better."

"We are on a perpetual license."

"The only area that could be improved is to lower prices for their All Flash FAS."

More NetApp FAS Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

25%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Performing Arts

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	38
Large Enterprise	59

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Which SAN product would you choose: IBM FlashSystem (FS9500) vs PureFlash Array/X NVMe vs PureFlash Array/XL NVMe?

Have you considered a NetApp FAS Storage for your NAS needs? I am sure it fits very well.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding its pricing, I believe it is high. I utilize both HDD and SSD, where SSDs are more cost-friendly, yet HDDs are higher in cost, making it not very affordable but still useful. For general ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp FAS Series?

Regarding improvements for NetApp FAS Series, I think everything is generally good. If there is a need to improve something, they can extend their support. Previously, in my company, I only saw Net...

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 18% of the time

HPE MSA vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 15% of the time

Nexsan BEAST vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 14% of the time

NEC D8 series vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 11% of the time

IBM XIV vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 8% of the time

More Dell EqualLogic PS series Competitors

Dell PowerScale vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 24% of the time

Qumulo vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 5% of the time

HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp FAS Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series

August 2026

Download Dell EqualLogic PS series product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp FAS Series

July 2026

Download NetApp FAS Series product report

Also Known As

EqualLogic PS series

No data available

Overview

Dell EqualLogic PS series offers enterprise-level scalability, reliability, and virtualization at reasonable costs. With exceptional performance and ease of management, it's an ideal choice for modern storage needs.

EqualLogic PS series provides impressive scale-out capabilities, seamless virtualization compatibility, automated tiering, and thin provisioning. The storage system supports robust features like snapshot capabilities, synchronous replication, and stable data expansion. High reliability and efficient data management make it suitable for organizations needing dependable storage solutions. While enhancements in controller failover, performance, and Fibre Channel connectivity are desired, it addresses high IOPS demands and integrates well with VMware environments, offering stable operation in data centers.

What are the key features of Dell EqualLogic PS series?

Scalability: Allows easy expansion to meet growing data needs.
Automated Tiering: Optimizes storage efficiency and performance.
Thin Provisioning: Maximizes storage utilization and efficiency.
Virtualization Compatibility: Seamlessly integrates with virtual environments.
Snapshot Capabilities: Enhances data protection and recovery.

What benefits can users expect from Dell EqualLogic PS series?

High Reliability: Zero failures over extended periods.
Reasonable Costs: Offers competitive pricing for its performance.
Exceptional Support: Backed by robust technical support services.
Straightforward Management: Easy to deploy and manage.
Redundancy: Ensures data safety and reliability.

In industries like education and corporate IT, Dell EqualLogic PS series is used for shared storage in VMware environments, powering virtual machines, student portals, and production sites. It effectively supports databases with high IOPS requirements, such as Oracle and SQL, making it a trusted component of data center operations for file storage and backup needs.

Dell Technologies

NetApp FAS Series offers high availability and seamless protocol integration. Known for its robust features such as data replication and efficient storage architecture, it finds use in challenging enterprise environments and virtualization.

NetApp FAS Series delivers valuable enterprise storage capabilities with an emphasis on unified storage architectures supporting SAN and NAS functionalities. Features like high availability, robust snapshot technology, and seamless protocol integration cater to diverse workloads. Data replication through SnapMirror and reliable performance under heavy loads are appreciated. Deduplication and compression enhance storage efficiency while scalability, resilience, and strong customer support further its appeal. Improvements are desired in flexibility, documentation, speed, and affordability. Additionally, its monitoring capabilities and cloud integration need attention. Organizations employ FAS Series for enterprise storage, SQL Server LUNs, Exchange LUNs, VMware, and corporate file sharing.

What are the most notable features of NetApp FAS Series?

High Availability: Ensures continuous access and reduces downtime.
Snapshot Technology: Offers point-in-time copies for data recovery.
SnapMirror: Provides efficient data replication for disaster recovery.
Storage Efficiency: Deduplication and compression optimize storage use.
Cloud Integration: Enhances flexibility with cloud environments.

What benefits should be examined in reviews?

Scalability: Supports expanding storage needs without performance loss.
Reliability: Maintains robust performance under heavy workloads.
Strong Support: Access to helpful customer service resources.
Cost Efficiency: Consider value in context of feature set and performance.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, NetApp FAS Series is implemented for centralized data management, supporting complex protocols like NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI. This enables efficient handling of virtualization, databases, unified storage tasks, and backup solutions crucial for maintaining unstructured data and redundancy.

NetApp

Sample Customers

FAW Foundry, AW Engineering, Unimat, eLongNet Information Technology, BDO Brasil, Odyssey Space Research

Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. NetApp FAS Series

August 2026

Free Report: Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. NetApp FAS Series

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