No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Dell PowerEdge C- Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 PowerEdge C- Series
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Blade Servers (6th)
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Rack Servers (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Density Optimized Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge C- Series is 19.3%, down from 26.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 21.4%, up from 20.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Density Optimized Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge C- Series19.3%
HPE Apollo Systems21.4%
Other59.3%
Density Optimized Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Sanjay Singh Bisht - PeerSpot reviewer
Server Administrator at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
High-density servers have maximized compute efficiency and have powered critical workloads reliably
Regarding how Dell PowerEdge C- Series can be improved, I would highlight a couple of areas. While it's excellent for dense and scale-out workloads, it isn't perfect for every scenario, and the complex I/O and component upgrades pose challenges since each server node is compressed into a narrow removable sled, making physical space inside the node tight. Replacing components requires pulling the entire node out and dismantling the protective casing. PCI expansion is also limited compared to standard 2U single-node servers such as the PowerEdge R700 series, which can hold up to eight PCI slots. Dell PowerEdge C- Series typically supports only two to three slots, restricting the addition of multiple specialized network interface cards. Finally, the initial capital expenditure is heavy; acquiring a PowerEdge C chassis and its multiple sleds requires significant upfront commitment, making it less cost-efficient if you need one or two nodes now, as you generally need to commit to the ecosystem upfront.
Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The scalability of the solution met our needs."
"The solution's ease of use is its most valuable aspect for our organization, with user-friendly management, very good security, fair pricing, and useful new features added with every release."
"The hybrid solution is much more stable than other products."
"We deployed four PowerEdge C6100 when we needed to reduce the power consumption and the amount of heat generated in our data-center."
"The management platform is great."
"I see it is absolutely beneficial to have a return on investment after implementing Dell PowerEdge C-Series at about 20%."
"I would encourage individuals who are looking for a simple and easily maintained solution to choose PowerEdge C."
"The scalability of the product is good since it offers high performance and capacity."
"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."
"Tech support has been outstanding."
"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."
"It's very reliable, I haven't had a single failure at all in the year and a half; not the slightest problem with it, and it's been a pretty good product so far."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"It is a stable product; very reliable."
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity."
 

Cons

"It should be improved in terms of future expansion. We should be able to have additional free slots for future extensions in terms of memory."
"There could be some more ports added in the future."
"The need to update the firmware and check if there is any bug in the product is one of the areas where Dell PowerEdge C falls short and needs to make improvements."
"For Dell specifically, I would say they are losing a little bit of the edge in consumer relations compared to what I see around the industry."
"With reference architectures like VX rack, the update process is quite painful."
"Customer service and support have been generally helpful but can be slow due to the need to navigate different specialists."
"The product’s cost needs improvement."
"I don't see the possibility of mixing LFF drives with SFF drives in a particular machine."
"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."
"We have tried to used standardization using Ubuntu Linux and it's been hard. They had some difficulties getting the RAID configuration up and running because there are no drivers for it. It's not supported by HPE."
"The solution could improve the hardware, such as the motherboard or servers. We have had hardware faults in the past."
"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."
"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."
"We would like to see improved cooling because that is quite an issue. If you put that much compute power into a single rack, cooling really becomes an issue. And there is room for improvement there."
"If there's anything that hasn't been that stable, then it is the Lustre file system."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a need to pay towards the annual subscription-based licensing model offered by the solution. The product is moderately priced. Price is a critical issue, and it is always good to have moderately priced solutions."
"The price could be reduced."
"The licensing cost of PowerEdge C is very high."
"When we talk about pricing it is the cheapest on the market that I have found."
"The product costs can be high, especially for disks and other components."
"The cost depends on the configuration."
"Despite the slightly higher price, we prefer Dell due to the high quality of their products."
"I don't handle the financial aspects, so I don't know the exact costs, but in terms of the value it brings, it's worth it."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Density Optimized Servers solutions are best for your needs.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
23%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PowerEdge C?
I purchased from Dell directly. Dell has given a special discount for that purchase and the support is always a positive factor from Dell's side. We got instant support whenever it was required and...
What needs improvement with PowerEdge C?
The main area for improvement in Dell PowerEdge C- Series is the booting time, as when we power on, it takes time.
What is your primary use case for PowerEdge C?
Dell PowerEdge C- Series is a hardware server installed in my organization. I use it as a hardware server installed in our data center, and we are running our Active Directory and file server for o...
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge C- Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.