Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems vs IBM Power 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 8.9, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.5. Dell Technologies holds a 27.7% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 4.1% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Read 171 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers reviews

15,901 Views
11,119 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

HPE Apollo Systems

Read 22 HPE Apollo Systems reviews

2,326 Views
1,775 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Power Systems

Read 69 IBM Power Systems reviews

4,877 Views
3,452 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

HPE Apollo Systems

IBM Power Systems

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, HPE Apollo Systems, and IBM Power Systems based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and others in Rack Servers.

To learn more, read our detailed Rack Servers Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Rack Servers

March 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.7%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.1%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 9.2%, up from 8.4% 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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Omobolaji Olaloku

Senior Enterprise System Engineer at Zenith-bank

Extremely stable, good ROI, and scalable

The most valuable feature of our machines is their ability to replace faulty parts without causing any downtime. Our servers are equipped with advanced technology, making it possible to replace defective parts without having to bring down the servers. This is crucial, as any disruption to our services would result in inconvenience to our customers. Therefore, being able to service the machines and replace parts without causing any downtime is highly beneficial.

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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 helps us monitor and manage our systems."

"It is reliable. We have not faced any issues."

"This is a stable solution."

"The Xeon CPU makes the system work very well and fast. I like this type of CPU. It has helped to improve the performance of targeted workloads by 70%."

"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is powerful."

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

"The server itself is valuable. It does what we ask it to do."

"The iDRAC feature is valuable. It is for remote handling. If there is a connection issue when we deliver a server to a remote site, we only need to ask them to switch iDRAC on. We then have direct access to the RAID server configuration without having switched it on."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pros

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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 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."

"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."

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

"Power Systems is like a dream solution for every IT person because it has redundancy, and it doesn't stop. It doesn't get affected easily. I don't see any weaknesses in this solution. At the moment, we have Power8. It is stable and runs smoothly. We have a big load, and it is working very well. It can be customized based on our needs. Flash copy is helping us amazingly. We have virtualization for vDisks, which is again very helpful. We are working on this virtualization technology, and we have a team that is working on redundancy and architecture."

"The main feature that I have found most valuable is PowerVM - its virtualization feature which is the most powerful."

"On the security side, we get regular security patch updates and system hardening. There are free tools available to harden the system."

"The installation is easy."

"IBM Power Systems' best features are its reliability, resilience, and performance per rack unit."

"The performance is the solution's most valuable asset. It has one of the highest levels of performance I have ever seen. It's quite remarkable, in that sense."

"PowerVM."

"The uptime feature is great."

More IBM Power Systems pros

Cons

"The Industrial and healthcare areas both need improvement."

"They can consider making them smaller in physical size but retain the same quality and the same security."

"The equipment is very good, but the price is a bit too high. In addition, their support for parts can be better."

"I have used these servers in a government project along with Nutanix, and there is a security restriction. I do not know if it is from Dell's side or Nutanix's side. From the host, you cannot read the external hard drive data inside a VM."

"The response time could be better."

"Considering from a hardware perspective, some areas of concern were network cards on the models we had in our organization, which were fairly inaccessible, so we had to remove the whole motherboard and, basically, the whole system to get rid of or swap a network card."

"All of the marketing terminologies from Dell are very complicated as they have names that sometimes involve the same technology."

"There is a suggestion to potentially revisit pricing."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers cons

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

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

"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

"The price has room for improvement."

"I think the cost should be cheaper."

"I would like to see firmware available to all of the systems."

"The pricing is high."

"The pricing of the product could always be lowered."

"I would like to see the scaling model improved so it's not just either tiny or huge."

"Its management can be made easier because it is not easy to manage. They should also find a new way for migrating from an old Power Systems to a new one. The migration process is currently very complicated. It should be made easier to scale. Currently, its scalability depends on the initial sizing, whereas in Nutanix HCI, you can add whatever you need and whenever you need it."

"The number of times IBM refreshes its operating system appears to be very slow."

More IBM Power Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"I don't know about the product's licensing part. Price-wise, it is an okay product. I believe that the cheaper the better, but I think that the product's price is okay."

"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."

"We do use Dell's OpenManage console. It is easy to use this console for lifecycle management or PowerEdge servers."

"The solution’s pricing is competitive with other products."

"PowerEdge is not a cheap product. It's a quality product, but there is always competition. If you want to buy a server, you need an operating system, and most of it is Microsoft. A bundled solution costs less than a separate operating system and hardware."

"The price is good for the quality of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."

"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."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers 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."

"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."

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

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

"The cost model is great. There is so much built in to the technology, that if you know how to use it you can save yourself a lot of money."

"It's more about the value you get for the price. Considering its stability and performance, the pricing is good."

"The pricing of the solution is very good because we can beat any other competitor with the pricing. Lately, they have offered good pricing for their customer."

"The solution's pricing is very, very high compared to other platforms."

"I give the cost a one out of ten."

"It is designed for a large workload, as opposed to a small workload. For our circumstances, and even as an independent, I can't buy a Power system to experiment on. It can't happen. You cannot buy them."

"The price of the solution could be somewhat better and this is what lowers my rating of it to a seven or eight out of ten."

"The pricing is reasonable."

More IBM Power Systems pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

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 ...

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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?

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have pretty much progressed a lot if we look at what features are on them now. I don't kn...

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What do you like most about HPE Apollo?

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

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What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Power Systems?

IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared to other brands or processors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?

IBM should provide a platform where users can learn about the storage and security of IBM Power Systems.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?

In my company, we use the system for the data center and our IBM Cloud Pak System.

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 41% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 31% of the time

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

Compared 9% of the time

Huawei FusionServer RH Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 5% of the time

Oracle SPARC Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 1% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Competitors

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 35% of the time

Dell PowerEdge XE Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerEdge FX vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Synergy vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 6% of the time

HPE Moonshot vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE Apollo Systems Competitors

Intel Server System vs IBM Power Systems

Compared 41% of the time

Oracle SPARC Servers vs IBM Power Systems

Compared 17% of the time

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs IBM Power Systems

Compared 15% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs IBM Power Systems

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs IBM Power Systems

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM Power Systems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

April 2025

Download Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Apollo Systems

April 2025

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Power Systems

April 2025

Download IBM Power Systems product report

Also Known As

PowerEdge R

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

IBM OpenPOWER LC

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

IBM Power Systems are built to crush the most advanced data applications - from the mission-critical workloads you run today to the next generation of AI.

IBM

Sample Customers

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

Weta Digital

Cipher

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and others in Rack Servers. Updated: March 2025.

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