Dell EqualLogic PS series vs NetApp FAS Series comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Dell Technologies is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5, while NetApp is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.1. Dell Technologies holds a 5.4% 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

2,142 Views
2,056 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

NetApp FAS Series

Read 111 NetApp FAS Series reviews

13,605 Views
2,857 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: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. NetApp FAS Series

November 2026

Download the complete report

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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

Dell EqualLogic PS series

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

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)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (6th), NAS (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 5.4%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 10.5%, down from 14.3% 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	5.4%
Other	84.1%

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

Geetha Mai A G

Analyst at Sutherland Global Services

Unified storage has protected critical data and supports smooth admin work for diverse workloads

In my experience with NetApp FAS Series, I found the CLI commands to be very valuable and easy to understand, unlike other storage products. I can use just the show command to see something, and it helps me narrow down issues quickly, which makes CLI easy for me. I use snapshot technology in NetApp FAS Series. The snapshot technology has helped me in data protection. For example, during an upgrade of our ONTAP version at my workplace, it did not reflect properly despite the upgrade being completed. I had a VMware snapshot from another team, and that was helpful for me to retrieve the data right after the failed upgrade. I use snapshots frequently, maintaining a snapshot policy of 28 days which allows me to help users retrieve files they are unable to access. In maintaining data integrity in my operations with RAID DP, I see that it helps me significantly. If two or more disks fail, it gives me time to work on replacements. If only one disk fails without RAID DP, I would lose data and connection, but with RAID DP, I have that time to act without losing or making data unavailable to users. The data management features of Data ONTAP are highly valuable for my organization in terms of data security and compliance. I have not experienced data loss or unavailability as I have SnapMirror, Snapshot, and SnapVault in place. This helped prevent escalations. While I faced some access issues or slowness, severe data loss has not been an issue, and I resolve issues within one to two hours with the data integrity these tools provide.

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

"Dell's technical support is very good."

"The technical support is very good."

"The technical support for EqualLogic has been universally outstanding."

"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"I am satisfied with it; it works very fine for our purpose, and its performance is enough for our needs."

"The product is very stable."

"It is extremely reliable."

"Technical support, when we had access to it, was very good."

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pros

"Scalability especially in SMB range has been well-received."

"I sleep well at night because of its redundancy."

"In the 20-some years I've been working with NetApp stuff, the system has caused one outage."

"We have used some solutions like Hitachi, Dell, and EMC, but NetApp has more flexibility and we decided to stay with NetApp."

"I would definitely recommend NetApp FAS Series to other users because it's stable and really handy for IT personnel who manage it."

"For us, the greatest aspect of the solution is the fact that it just runs."

"It just works, and when some drives go into failure status, it’s just a prediction of drive failure, letting us know when to get the drives replaced."

"This solution is very, very, very, very stable."

More NetApp FAS Series pros

Cons

"The replication efficiency needs to be improved."

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

"The performance isn't as good as, for example, Nimble."

"If I need to have more space or more capacity, I need to replace the product. It would be ideal if we could scale without replacing the box itself."

"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed."

"It's kind of expensive when you buy the EqualLogic solution because, as you grow, you have to keep buying another controller. It can be more expensive with time."

"The searchable online documentation is missing."

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

More Dell EqualLogic PS series cons

"The solution’s pricing is expensive."

"It was not possible to have a custom user inside ONTAP without the delete permission to delete the volume. We wanted others to be able to create a SnapMirror and volume, but have no volume deletion permission. In the newest version, it seems to already be in place, but there was a bug enabling this one in older versions 9.11, 9.10, or earlier."

"Upgrades are always hold-our-breath situations."

"NetApp FAS Series should introduce an FTP application for the broadcast and post-production market."

"We see a lot of bugs in roll outs, and sometimes I think the first GA are late-beta deployments."

"There was a bug when creating new custom roles that automatically gave volume deletion permission, which was a problem, but they finally fixed it."

"I have not given the FAS a perfect rating because the All Flash Array is probably going to beat it down, in terms of performance."

"It's straightforward in 7-mode, but using cDOT, it's terrible."

More NetApp FAS Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Initial packages include all upgrades and services."

"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 seemed expensive at first, but the durability lowered the cost of ownership dramatically over time."

"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."

"It is a fair price."

"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."

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

More Dell EqualLogic PS series pricing and cost advice

"The pricing of NetApp FAS Series is reasonable for its performance."

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

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

"Low-priced product, but pricing could still be made more attractive."

"The product is on the expensive side."

"It is expensive."

"The scalability is pretty good, but it's too expensive."

"It is a one-time license charge for NetApp FAS Series to run and we pay annually for upgrades and support."

More NetApp FAS Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

16%

Performing Arts

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

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

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Compared 20% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 16% of the time

HPE MSA vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 14% of the time

Nexsan BEAST vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 12% of the time

IBM XIV vs Dell EqualLogic PS series

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell EqualLogic PS series Competitors

Dell PowerScale vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 20% of the time

Qumulo vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 4% of the time

HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series

Compared 3% of the time

More NetApp FAS Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell EqualLogic PS series

November 2026

Download Dell EqualLogic PS series product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp FAS Series

October 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

November 2026

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