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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

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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
22
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 September 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 3.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.7%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series3.3%
HPE Apollo Systems5.7%
Other91.0%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer991842 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director, Information Technology at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Reliable data platform has supported continuous R&D and 24/7 manufacturing operations
The after-sales support is one factor for improvement, and the cost to extend the support and warranty of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is the main factor in whether we want to continue using the product or transition to another solution in the future. Dell PowerEdge XE-Series consumes a lot of power, so we have to really plan before deploying more Dell PowerEdge XE-Series in our environment; that is something we have to consider. Based on my experience so far, I am quite satisfied and do not see any other improvements needed for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series. My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is that they are a bit costly. If Dell can work on the pricing, that would be good, making Dell more competitive over other products.
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

"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."
"Running AI workloads on Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has been good value and reliable, with no issues so far."
"In general, it works well. We haven't had issues."
"The most valuable feature of these servers is the ability to store a lot—the capacity and the number of hard disk drives."
"We are saving almost 60% of our cost yearly with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series."
"Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has contributed positively to the development of our cloud services."
"The solution is flexible in my experience."
"The strong point of this solution is its compatibility with VMware and its resilience."
"It is a stable product; very reliable."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"We are running Apollo with SL-series servers and the best thing about them is the density of the storage area available."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity."
"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."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"Not having to manage traditional NAS has made a big difference."
"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"There are some areas for improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series; it's more of a Dell issue."
"The support team must improve the speed of response."
"In future releases, there should be more support options for the latest processor."
"Today, my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is difficult, but since one to two years ago, it has been very simple with Dell."
"For Dell PowerEdge XE Servers, particularly for standalone servers, extendability would be a great improvement."
"What I found in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers is the disk reading; sometimes with heavy imagery, we find it to be slow."
"I don't think Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is very stable; there are many failures."
"We use OpenManager a lot, and that can be a bit clunky at times. They can make that better."
"If there's anything that hasn't been that stable, then it is the Lustre file system."
"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."
"Connectivity to the outside of the server needs to be improved at the same time the network is improving."
"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."
"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."
"We are struggling a little bit with some of the configuration we need to do, particularly with write capability to drives."
"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."
"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

"This solution is priced very reasonably."
"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."
"Dell has competitive pricing."
"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."
"The pricing model is quite competitive."
"There are different types of licensing available, that works well for customers. The product is not very much to purchase."
"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."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
University
6%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
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?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is that they are a bit costly. If Dell can work on the pricing, that would be good, making Dell more competitive o...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
The after-sales support is one factor for improvement, and the cost to extend the support and warranty of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is the main factor in whether we want to continue using the produc...
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is storing data, mainly for R&D and manufacturing. Our company runs many sequencers that generate data for R&D, so all of the data are dumped i...
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: September 2026.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.