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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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 XE-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 3.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.6%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series3.1%
HPE Apollo Systems5.6%
Other91.3%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

MW
Senior Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Flexible management has delivered reliable uptime and supported diverse workloads efficiently
There are some areas for improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series; it's more of a Dell issue. They've promised changes, but engaging with Dell sometimes means they will take the customer on a direct model and cut the partner out. This isn't a technical issue, but a business one. When architecting a solution and introducing Dell to a customer, you sometimes get an email saying the customer wants to buy directly from Dell, leaving all my hard work and introductions for nothing. I believe Dell could add new features to Dell PowerEdge XE-Series in the future. There are many more CPU variants available than just Intel and AMD, and it would be nice to have a major vendor introduce another option outside of those. While I know it's difficult due to supportability and changes, that would just be a preference.
Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the trusted platform module."
"This solution has brought us a return on investment. It can store a lot of hard disks, which helps users to have a lot of capacity in smaller rack space."
"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."
"Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has contributed positively to the development of our cloud services."
"The resource management features are valuable."
"The solution is flexible in my experience."
"This is a very stable product; we have implemented more than 60 servers over the past three years and we have not come across any issues with stability, making it a very reliable server."
"Its reliability and consistency are most valuable."
"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, and it's been a pretty good product so far."
"Not having to manage traditional NAS has made a big difference."
"We had a PoC, as I said, and we were happy with it and decided to implement it, as it satisfies all our needs and is the perfect solution."
"It's allowed us to compete with cloud storage providers like AWS to put together a scalable on-premises solution of more than 20PB at a similar pricepoint."
"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."
"We are running Apollo with SL-series servers and the best thing about them is the density of the storage area available."
"Taking into consideration the cost, HPE gave us the ability to actually do what we wanted to do."
"It is a stable product; very reliable."
 

Cons

"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."
"The big problem with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is the volatility in pricing, so trying to find stability is pretty important to us."
"Upgrading can be a bit difficult."
"I don't think Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is very stable; there are many failures."
"Dell PowerEdge XE Servers can improve by adapting HCI technology."
"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."
"What I found in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers is the disk reading; sometimes with heavy imagery, we find it to be slow."
"The support team must improve the speed of response."
"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."
"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."
"We are struggling a little bit with some of the configuration we need to do, particularly with write capability to drives."
"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."
"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."
"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."
"Big stability issues with the CPU on the first generation which made them virtually unusable."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell has competitive pricing."
"There are different types of licensing available, that works well for customers. The product is not very much to purchase."
"This solution is priced very reasonably."
"The pricing model is quite competitive."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
TCO percentage shows up to 73, 75, 80% improvement in power efficiency.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
In future updates of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series, I would appreciate dashboard optimization and AI integration. I am not utilizing any AI functionality of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series at this time.
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
I have used Dell PowerEdge XE-Series, which is a bit different series of rack server. The primary purposes of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series in my case are for servers, as we host multiple applications. ...
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge XE Servers
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.