Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Rack Servers category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.0, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. Dell Technologies holds a 27.2% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Read 243 Dell PowerEdge R-Series reviews

13,002 Views
12,742 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

HPE Apollo Systems

Read 23 HPE Apollo Systems reviews

1,890 Views
1,663 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

HPE Apollo Systems

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 26, 2025

Dell PowerEdge R-Series and HPE Apollo Systems compete in the server market, offering solutions for high-performance and storage-intensive workloads. Based on the comparison, Dell PowerEdge R-Series appears to have the upper hand with its competitive pricing and strong customer support, although HPE Apollo excels in storage capabilities.

Features: Dell PowerEdge R-Series provides comprehensive scalability, robust remote management with iDRAC, and excellent reliability and manageability. HPE Apollo Systems offer high-density storage, flexible configurations, and support for compute-heavy environments.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerEdge R-Series could improve firmware management, user-guided support, and thermal management. HPE Apollo Systems could enhance compatibility with network protocols, increase GPU capacity, and improve setup ease for faster deployment.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerEdge R-Series is praised for on-premise and cloud deployment options and strong customer responsiveness, although technical support experiences vary. HPE Apollo Systems are known for good technical support but face criticism regarding pricing and customer service compared to Dell.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerEdge R-Series is considered competitively priced with good ROI and flexible licensing but can be expensive for specific features. HPE Apollo Systems have higher initial costs due to specialized configurations but offer strong performance for data-intensive environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems

November 2025

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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 PowerEdge R-Series

Ranking in Rack Servers

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

243

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (3rd), Blade Servers (4th)

HPE Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

4.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 27.2%, down from 28.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 3.8%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series	27.2%
HPE Apollo Systems	3.8%
Other	69.0%

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Tom van Mil

Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.

Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities

The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.

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Amit Khulve

Consaltant at Targus Technologies Pvt Ltd

Partnership boosts hardware sales with advanced system capabilities

Our company is a platinum partner with HPE, and we continue to deal with HPE. We sell many of their hardware products. Depending on the requirement or deal, we may sell HPE Converged System, hardware, or converged systems. I have worked on a range of HPE hardware, including BL380, DL385, and Apollo servers, Apollo 20, Apollo 6500, MSA, and Cray storage. I find HPE Apollo Systems to be scalable and efficient for AI initiatives. The environmental efficiency has a significant impact on operational costs. Overall rating for HPE Apollo Systems: 8 out of 10.

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

"I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers overall about a nine out of ten as nothing is truly perfect, leaving opportunities for improvement."

"What truly impresses me about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is their unwavering commitment to customer service, providing great assistance throughout the entire product lifecycle."

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good for our solution. It is the best option on the market and the best solution so far. I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten."

"The DRA cards for server management is the most valuable feature. They provide a clear overview of server settings and issues. We also like that the notifications are well-organized."

"I like a feature they call iDRAC. It's a feature that allows you remotely power on and off the server."

"I would estimate we save two to four hours a week, depending on what's happening, such as if we need to spin up a new server, which would contribute to more time if done the old way."

"When it comes to handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, the PowerEdge Rack Servers are fit for purpose. They do what they need to do."

"Dell support is the best."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series pros

"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."

"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."

"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."

"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."

"With HPE Apollo, we can propose configurations with many hard drives, making it suitable for large storage needs."

"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."

"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."

"It enables us to implement software defined solutions very easily, because Apollo servers are certified for use with Linux systems"

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

Cons

"The licensing of the different formats of the iDRAC is somewhat annoying."

"If I could improve the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in any way, I would say that buying the components separately at a lower cost is the only thing."

"It needs improvements in the thermal design and the management of servers."

"Dell PowerEdge R-Series could be improved by expanding the slots and local disks. This is the main area for improvement because I have many environments where I need local space, and the slots limit how much I can accomplish."

"Speaking on the XE series specifically, the internal service to the system, if you need to get to a DIMM or anything similar, requires that you remove all three risers and the storage controller. It's not very internally service friendly."

"The vendor must provide cheaper versions of the tool for smaller use cases."

"In Pakistan, the vendors or the partners of Dell are not providing a good environment. They need to improve their support and hire partners that have certified support sources."

"From the licensing model perspective, it might be useful for enterprises to get an overall enterprise license, rather than licensing each server. That is one option because we tend to buy the service with the licenses, but some of our older equipment does not have them."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series cons

"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."

"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."

"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."

"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."

"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."

"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."

"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second -that would be outstanding."

"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a strong agreement in place with our parent company, that typically ensures favorable pricing terms for us, although occasionally we may need to negotiate with Dell representatives for further discounts to provide competitive pricing to our customers."

"The overall pricing and licensing are fair according to the market."

"They are fairly priced."

"The pricing is very competitive."

"I know the pricing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers went up last year, and we weren't too happy about that, but it is what it is."

"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."

"The licensing is expensive and inflexible."

"The licensing comes with a warranty."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series pricing and cost advice

"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."

"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."

"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	83
Midsize Enterprise	55
Large Enterprise	101

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

When it comes to how Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved, I honestly don't know as I'm not on the technical side anymore.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

Additional features would be beneficial in the next release of HPE Apollo Systems.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We were working with HPE Apollo Systems for one of our projects for the company named VVDN. We were using HPE Apollo Systems, GPU systems and CPU systems. For GPU systems, the model was 6500, in wh...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 40% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 27% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 10% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 6% of the time

Lenovo Edge Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series Competitors

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 32% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Synergy vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 4% of the time

More HPE Apollo Systems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

November 2025

Download Dell PowerEdge R-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Apollo Systems

November 2025

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

Overview

PowerEdge R-Series delivers high performance, flexibility, and scalability for data centers. It supports demanding tasks with robust management tools and advanced cooling, providing reliability and efficiency across various workloads.

Engineered for large deployments, PowerEdge R-Series supports extensive configurations optimizing performance in data centers. With features like advanced cooling and energy-efficient architecture, it empowers organizations to manage heavy workloads while facilitating seamless scalability. It offers remote management, robust security, and integration with VMware ensuring operational excellence and high availability for business-critical applications.

What are the key features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series?

Scalability: Supports flexible configurations for diverse workloads.
Remote Management: iDRAC and OpenManage facilitate easy oversight.
Energy Efficiency: Architecture helps reduce energy consumption.
Security: Robust features ensure protected performance.
VMware Integration: Enhances manageability and productivity.

What benefits and ROI should you look for?

Performance: Handles high-performance and demanding tasks.
Flexibility: Offers easily upgradable configurations.
Reliability: Provides consistent performance with long-term support.
Efficiency: Reduces energy use and operational costs.
Ease of Use: Simplifies management and maintenance.

PowerEdge R-Series is deployed across industries for virtualization, database hosting, and application servers. It supports environments like VMware and Hyper-V for AI, cloud infrastructure, and computing tasks. Widely used by finance, healthcare, and academia, it enhances reliability and efficiency of IT infrastructure.

Dell Technologies

The HPE Apollo high-density server family is built for the highest levels of performance and efficiency. They are rack-scale compute, storage, networking, power and cooling – massively scale-up and scale-out – solutions for your big data analytics, object storage and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. From water-cooling that’s 1,000X more efficient than air, to “right-sized scaling” with 2X the compute density for workgroup and private cloud workloads, the HPE Apollo line is a dense, high-performance, tiered approach for organisations of all sizes.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco

Weta Digital

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems

November 2025

Free Report: Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems

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