Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

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
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 2.0%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 3.8%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HPE Apollo Systems3.8%
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series2.0%
Other94.2%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

HM
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.
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

"Its reliability and consistency are most valuable."
"The most valuable feature is that it can support up to 32 drives of internal storage."
"One of the most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge XE Servers is the ease of fixing issues if there are any."
"The most valuable feature of these servers is the ability to store a lot—the capacity and the number of hard disk drives."
"In general, it works well. We haven't had issues."
"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."
"The solution is flexible in my experience."
"The strong point of this solution is its compatibility with VMware and its resilience."
"It enables us to implement software defined solutions very easily, because Apollo servers are certified for use with Linux systems"
"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."
"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."
"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."
"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
 

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."
"I would like to have support for performing a detailed analysis of the server from a mobile device."
"Dell PowerEdge XE Servers can improve by adapting HCI technology."
"We use OpenManager a lot, and that can be a bit clunky at times. They can make that better."
"The quality and reliability could be improved."
"Upgrading can be a bit difficult."
"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."
"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."
"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
"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 are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."
"This solution is priced very reasonably."
"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."
"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."
"Dell has competitive pricing."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"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."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rack Servers solutions are best for your needs.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Retailer
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What advice do you have for others considering Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
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 ...
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
Some features could be added to HPE Apollo Systems in the future, and I feel that some capability is needed. HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability. Two f...
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
I have been distributing this product for three years. I don't have specific use cases, and everything about the major use case for HPE Apollo Systems is good. I don't know the purpose clients are ...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
I am not using these products today, and I do not work with some specific firewalls. My company is TD Synnex, a distributor company, and I work for this company. My email is , and my first name is ...
 

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: December 2025.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.