Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems

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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 Rack Servers

Ranking in Rack Servers

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

207

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (3rd), Blade Servers (5th)

HPE Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.6%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 3.9%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Syed Masuood

Country manager at Asta Innosys

Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently

We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.

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Gayan Senadheera

Director at Tyax Pvt Ltd

Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs

In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The iDRAC is an excellent service; it allows us to install and deploy our software remotely."

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel are easy to use, are easy to manage with OpenManage, and have extended support for five years."

"The solutions accelerated GPUs helped to support demanding workloads and to reduce data processing time in our organization."

"I like how I can stack many servers on top of each other, and they work like a cloud."

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very reliable, very cost-effective, and the services that Dell provides are very useful and helpful in deploying infrastructures."

"I find great value in Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, particularly in their excellent serviceability."

"It is quite stable. We didn't have a single downtime of failure. Nor have we ever experienced any downtime in electrical components or the hardware. In this way, the server is reliable."

"I love the updates from the iDRAC, they are very nice. The installation is easy. Replacement, if something fails, is so easy and so good."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pros

"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable. It is quite effective for the work for which we are using it. We are mainly running video servers on these, and we are quite happy with the resilience, density storage, and streaming capacity of the system."

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

"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."

"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"

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

"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance."

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

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

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

Cons

"I would like to change the physical rails to be more like how HPE rails are formatted and organized."

"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."

"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."

"Pricing might be an area for improvement. There is competition, and lowering prices could be beneficial."

"PowerEdge could have more configuration options, such as the ability to combine different CPUs, memory volumes, data storage, and memory. The new Intel-based ones are a bit power-hungry."

"I'd appreciate seeing more options in terms of expandability for certain Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers models."

"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."

"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. Currently, we are not getting good deployment experience. However, after deployment, Dell solutions perform very well."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers cons

"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."

"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."

"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."

"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."

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

"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."

"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."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We weren't paying very much, but it was at the end of the lifecycle. We are now using the VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure, and the pricing was very similar for the same amount of power but with easier automation."

"Dell is priced better than alternative solutions."

"I wouldn't say the solution's pricing is the best, but it's very competitive."

"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."

"The licensing comes with a warranty."

"This is an expensive solution."

"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."

"The pricing could always be better."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

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

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

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856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers could be improved in areas such as cooling. I've seen some demos of Dell working with Vertiv to manage things such as that, so a combination of air cool and liquid cool....

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.

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Product Reports

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Download Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers product report

HPE Apollo Systems

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Also Known As

PowerEdge R

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

Overview

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are designed to optimize performance and efficiency in a data center environment, supporting various applications. Dell stands as the leading vendor in accelerated servers for AI, commanding a 33.8% revenue share. Based on user reviews, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers supporting tasks from basic web hosting to more demanding applications like data analytics and virtualization. They are engineered to offer high performance, reliability, and scalability. With a focus on automation and integrated security, these servers simplify operations and protect against threats, making them a smart choice for businesses of all sizes.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a robust, secure, and scalable solution that can meet the diverse needs of businesses, backed by comprehensive support. Benefits to look for in reviews include performance, reliability, scalability, and customer support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers key features include:

Scalability: These servers can easily scale to meet growing business needs, supporting more workloads and processing power.
Integrated Security: From hardware to firmware to the operating system, Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with security in mind, offering layers of protection.
Energy Efficiency: Advanced thermal design and energy-smart technology help reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Automation: With Dell EMC OpenManage, the management of servers is streamlined, allowing for automated deployment, monitoring, and updates.

In terms of implementation, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are used across various industries, from small businesses to large enterprises. They serve as the foundation for IT infrastructure, powering critical applications in healthcare, finance, education, and more. The adaptability of these servers means they can be tailored to specific industry needs, from handling large datasets in research institutions to supporting high-transaction databases in financial services.

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

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems