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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 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 R-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
272
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (2nd), Blade Servers (4th)
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 25.4%, down from 27.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 12.2%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series25.4%
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers12.2%
Other62.400000000000006%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Adalberto Giaretta - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda
Reliable with an easy setup and good support
These are rack servers. We use them for applications. It stores everything including VM servers, application servers, Windows, et cetera The reliability is great. The solution is like any other commodity like Dell or HPE. These are all very similar.  Setting up the solution is easy. It is stable.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The specific features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series that I find most valuable are stability and performance."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series has given us a stable platform to build on."
"Customers share with us their experiences, highlighting reliability, ease of use, maintenance, and lifecycle management. They frequently mention that this equipment doesn't break, stating it works and functions reliably."
"The most valuable feature is reliability. We rarely have any issues and because of this, Dell is our go-to for servers."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers scale really well with the growing needs of my company."
"We used other products, but Dell support offered more."
"The biggest benefit in the product is mainly because Dell PowerEdge R-Series is a well-known company with very good support."
"Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well."
"The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo."
"Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"The product is designed to make adding RAM and disk space easier for users."
"I would say the stability of the system itself would be the biggest advantage."
"Technical support has been very good and we've been satisfied with the level of service we get."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are scalable."
"I like everything about this solution. It is a very good server, with excellent availability. The size of the power is adequate and the low heating is beneficial."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more information about server health and the server's state, on the front. HP has a little screen that shows server utilization, how many disks there are inside, and the power consumption. HP also shows an alert if there is a malfunction of any device inside."
"The BIOS interface could be improved; it is very poor. PowerEdge is very good overall, but if you compare the BIOS interface with HPE, it is not very good."
"I would appreciate the capability to carry out live updates without the need to take the system offline."
"One of the things that I've noticed is that over time, the system degrades, meaning that little things don't work. For example, the hard drive would need to be replaced or iDRAC would not be functioning properly. We may have to flash the firmware. It is not like some other hardware where it just runs without issues for four or five years. With Dell, generally, there are little hiccups here and there."
"It would be nice if it were all included as a part of PowerEdge so you can check your server's performance and availability online."
"The T150 is a little bit bulky for what it is."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series could improve by focusing the servers to optimize their performance for Kubernetes clusters or something similar might be beneficial."
"After the expiration of support, it is sometimes challenging to find parts like hard drives, especially for obsolete models."
"IBM hardware takes time for building/assembling."
"From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."
"The power consumption needs to be optimized in Lenovo."
"For the price my company pays for Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers, we can have more from other vendors offering the same functionalities that are present in Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers at a lower price."
"From a user's perspective, it not so straightforward if you want to add some features."
"I definitely suggest potential users skip Lenovo and go for Dell EMC, which has good hardware, and great internal security components."
"The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."
"The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The high cost of Dell PowerEdge Rack Server licenses is attributed to the pre-installed Windows Server operating system from Microsoft."
"The pricing is great; very competitive. That's the reason we bought hundreds of them."
"It's not a very expensive solution."
"I personally think the pricing and licensing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is actually fairly decent, though the way the business runs leads to sticker shock anytime we give them a quote."
"The pricing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has been a little problematic. It was sticker shock with our most recent purchase compared to the previous one, and there's a gap in pricing at our current level because what we do isn't very compute-intensive, resulting in a mismatch where we fit into an in-between category without an exact solution available."
"It's a bit of a shock when you have to find the money, but the pricing is very competitive, so I'm happy with that."
"This is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"I don't know the exact amount of money, but when I compared it to Dell or HPE, Lenovo was the best when it comes to price and equipment."
"The licensing cost is the same as HP. It doesn't have any additional cost. However, the price, for example, for the memory option, does not match other vendors such as HP or Dell. They should work on the pricing of Lenovo. It is a great competitor, and it should compete with the price."
"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"Your budget determines the scalability."
"In India, the solution is cheap compared to its competitors."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"The cost of the solution depends entirely on the client. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business98
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise113
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

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....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
I do not see any area for improvement in Dell PowerEdge R-Series, particularly nothing very significant. I do not know what new features Dell could add to Dell PowerEdge R-Series; I have no idea, a...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
 

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo Rack Servers,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.