Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Dell PowerEdge XE-Series comparison

Dell PowerEdge R-Series and Dell PowerEdge XE-Series are both solutions in the Rack Servers category. Dell PowerEdge R-Series is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.1, while Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell PowerEdge R-Series holds a 25.9% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Dell PowerEdge XE-Series’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Dell PowerEdge R-Series users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Read 268 Dell PowerEdge R-Series reviews

13,767 Views
12,941 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Read 11 Dell PowerEdge XE-Series reviews

867 Views
867 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

Dell PowerEdge R-Series and XE-Series compete in the high-performance server market, with the R-Series generally having the upper hand due to its scalability and ease of deployment.

Features: Dell PowerEdge R-Series is notable for its scalability, remote management via iDRAC, and smooth integration with management tools, enhancing its performance for various workloads. On the other hand, the XE-Series is known for its compatibility with VMware, multi-versioning support for endpoint security, and a strong focus on security and reliability.

Room for Improvement: The R-Series could improve in centralized management and licensing simplicity, power efficiency, and faster feature deployment. The XE-Series needs better standalone server extendability and more seamless integration into broader IT infrastructures. Additionally, XE-Series support can be improved in terms of response time and stability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both series are primarily deployed on-premises, although the R-Series has slightly more deployment diversity across clouds. Customer support for both is generally praised, with the R-Series having more responsive and engaged support teams, though XE-Series sometimes faces support delays.

Pricing and ROI: The R-Series offers competitive pricing and good value for performance, though hardware costs can be high. The XE-Series competes with flexible licensing options, though prices can be high in some regions. Both series deliver strong ROI, with XE-Series excelling in maintenance savings and R-Series praised for longevity.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge XE-Series Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

December 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

7.2

Number of Reviews

268

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (2nd), Blade Servers (4th)

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Ranking in Rack Servers

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 25.9%, down from 27.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 2.1%, up from 1.1% 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	25.9%
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series	2.1%
Other	72.0%

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.

Read full review

Hany Magdy

CEO at Matrix ITS

Positive feedback highlights seamless integration and exceptional support

The reviewer primarily works with HCI, specifically Dell VxRail Hyper-Converged Infrastructure. Dell's HCI solution is considered superior to HP's in Egypt, where most customers prefer VxRail. For HP products, they provide blades, servers, C7000, and DL380. Dell's product range includes servers, storage, and hyper-converged infrastructures. Dell offers better pricing for server and technology, especially for HCI since they use VMware, which is considered one of the best hypervisors. Dell's Data Domain is recognized as the leading backup appliance globally, offering cyber resilience backup solutions. The reviewer has experience with Dell PowerProtect from eight years ago and Dell Avamar, which is particularly suitable for larger companies and virtual environments. They have also worked with Unity, VNX, and VMAX all-flash storage solutions, with the VMAX implementation using all NVMe (non-volatile memory). For backup solutions, they utilize GBS, Veeam, Veritas, and Dell solutions including DBS and Data Domain. The reviewer rates this solution 9 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

"Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio."

"Compared to the other vendors and generations, this one tends to be more user-friendly, so you spend less time trying to get where you want to go."

"The services of Dell are good, and the performance of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is also good; I didn't face any problems, and the issues I did encounter were resolved by their excellent support services, even though they're based overseas."

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped reduce our downtime by a lot."

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

"The GUI is accessible and everything is pretty much upfront. You don't get lost in navigating between the tabs."

"The upside of Dell solutions over its competitors lie in their support; they are spread across multiple vendors in Israel, and we are really pleased with the support we're getting from the Dell provider we're working with."

"I like the Dell EMC management and we have a great management interface. They are very reliable and we can trust the server. It's very reliable and easy to manage."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series pros

"In general, it works well. We haven't had issues."

"The most valuable feature is that it can support up to 32 drives of internal storage."

"The resource management features are valuable."

"The most valuable feature of these servers is the ability to store a lot—the capacity and the number of hard disk drives."

"The solution is flexible in my experience."

"PowerEdge XE servers are high-performing. We're hardly using 15 percent of their computing power, so there's a lot left over that we could utilize."

"One of the most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge XE Servers is the ease of fixing issues if there are any."

"Its reliability and consistency are most valuable."

More Dell PowerEdge XE-Series pros

Cons

"To improve Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I would like to see the return of the dedicated Hyper-V cluster storage product line that was discontinued, which I found to be a really nice product."

"I would like for PowerEdge Rack Servers could be a bit more compact."

"When trying to quote devices and servers for our Mexico City offices directly with Dell instead of through a partner, we encountered some challenges. It took several months to negotiate appropriate pricing, requiring escalation to the director of Dell Mexico and communication with Dell US."

"Being in Belgium, which is a small country, we might be considered too small for Dell since we only have 40 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. This sometimes affects our ability to receive deployment support."

"The maintenance for this solution could be improved."

"The price has room for improvement."

"The price is acceptable but could be improved."

"There are no items I want to improve on Dell PowerEdge R-Series; maybe just a discount."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series cons

"It should be easier to extend PowerEdge XE servers. We haven't architected them with an eye toward scalability. They have a fixed number of slots for hard drives, which is enough for our present use case, However, we would have more options if we could extend that. We could deploy the servers in a broader range of use cases with different requirements. It's fine for our current deployment with only a few thousand users. We're exploring other solutions like such as VxRail or PowerFlex for larger public-facing use cases."

"The support team must improve the speed of response."

"Upgrading can be a bit difficult."

"The quality and reliability could be improved."

"Dell PowerEdge XE Servers can improve by adapting HCI technology."

"In future releases, there should be more support options for the latest processor."

"It is mostly stable, but the usual problem would be, for example, upgrading to a newer version of VMware or dealing with compatibility issues during the process."

"I would like to have support for performing a detailed analysis of the server from a mobile device."

More Dell PowerEdge XE-Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell is priced better than alternative solutions."

"The pricing is good compared to other products."

"I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine."

"The price is reasonable. You have to pay if you want quality. When we purchase something, we have to do some market analysis, and I haven't seen a significant difference compared to other solutions."

"The licensing comes with a warranty."

"They seem to have become more expensive. I've not done a comparison with other vendors recently. If the price increases more, we would need to do a comparison next year just to make sure that we are benchmarking our server purchases correctly."

"I'd like them to be cheaper, but that's not the world we live in and that's not where the pound is at."

"It's not a very expensive solution."

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series pricing and cost advice

"There are different types of licensing available, that works well for customers. The product is not very much to purchase."

"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."

"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."

"Dell has competitive pricing."

"This solution is priced very reasonably."

"The pricing model is quite competitive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

University

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	95
Midsize Enterprise	59
Large Enterprise	112

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	3

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?

I am not the right person to talk about improvements for Dell PowerEdge R-Series because I am not related to the networking aspect; I am related to CAE. At my end, everything looks good for me. In ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?

For Dell PowerEdge XE Servers, particularly for standalone servers, extendability would be a great improvement. This feature is currently available only with virtualization environment. Adding exte...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?

I worked with HP Blade Servers including HP Integrity and Altex for the banking sector where I sold blade servers. I have not sold HP Superdome X or HP NonStop. The customers are using it for big d...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 38% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 21% of the time

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

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series

Compared 1% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge R-Series Competitors

HPE Apollo Systems vs Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Compared 18% of the time

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

Compared 17% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle SPARC Servers vs Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Compared 15% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

Compared 10% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge XE-Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series

January 2026

Download Dell PowerEdge R-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Rack Servers

January 2026

Download Dell PowerEdge XE-Series product report

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

PowerEdge XE Servers

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 PowerEdge XE-Series caters to AI-centric workloads by offering exceptional GPU support and processing power for demanding tasks like inferencing and large-scale training, making it ideal for organizations aiming to innovate with AI.

PowerEdge XE-Series stands out in modern GPU-centric computing with its purpose-built design for AI acceleration. Known for handling extreme workloads like model fine-tuning and AI-driven applications, it supports high-density GPU configurations and advanced thermal management. Its vast storage capacity and compatibility with VMware ensure reliable performance across virtualization, big data, and analytics while providing trusted security integration and robust scalability options. However, improvements in processor support, reliability, and management monitoring are sought by users.

What are the key features of PowerEdge XE-Series?

High-Density GPU Support: Configures multiple GPUs for demanding AI tasks.
Advanced Thermal Design: Optimizes cooling for enhanced performance.
Vast Storage Capacity: Supports up to 32 drives for extensive data management.
Compatibility: Works seamlessly with platforms like VMware.
Security Integration: Includes trusted platform modules for data protection.

What benefits should users expect from PowerEdge XE-Series?

Efficient AI Management: Enhances AI workloads with advanced processing.
Scalability: Adapts to growing demands in virtualization and big data.
Security: Offers robust data protection and reliability.
Improved Resource Management: Facilitates straightforward setup and usage.

In different industries, PowerEdge XE-Series is utilized for hosting SaaS, high-performance computing, and general-purpose servers. System integrators use it in client networks for applications like Hadoop, backup, and ERP. It supports virtualization and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions. Real estate sectors leverage iDRAC for efficient management, enhancing data security, power, and network redundancy.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

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

Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge XE-Series

December 2025

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