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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.1
The Dell PowerEdge XE-Series ROI depends on AI workload support, infrastructure efficiency, and effective data management for returns within four years.
Sentiment score
3.1
ROI varies widely, with quick returns for some and up to 10% savings, influenced by deployment and downtime support.
We do not go to a customer to sell a Dell PowerEdge XE-Series server with GPUs. Instead, we tell customers that we help them clean their data and identify what AI use cases they can implement for their business.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would say we regularly see return on investment with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series around four years.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
We are saving almost 60% of our cost yearly with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
In terms of percentage, I am saving from 5 to 10%.
IT Consultant at SPE
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series users praise its customer support for reliability, timely responses, and effective issue resolution.
Sentiment score
6.7
HPE ProLiant DL Servers' support is responsive and knowledgeable, though experiences vary by region and initial contact challenges.
What matters is reliability, response time, solving issues quickly, and the professionalism in deployment.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The best features of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series are the support and product build quality.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
The technical support provided by Dell is excellent.
CEO at Matrix ITS
I feel very confident with HPE ProLiant DL Servers regarding reliability.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
We do not communicate directly with HPE's technical support because our local support company is primarily responsible.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
4.7
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is highly scalable, configurable, and suitable for diverse needs, supporting thousands of users effectively.
Sentiment score
5.7
HPE ProLiant DL Servers offer scalable and modular expansion with some constraints depending on organizational needs and older models.
For example, if I connect two systems, it will allow me 16 GPUs, and similarly for three or four units, multiplying the available GPUs, which is great for AI/ML workloads.
Server Validation Engineer at UST Global
From our usage point of view, we rely less on onboard storage, depending instead on SANs and NAS, and the fiber connections and throughput are satisfactory.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
I cannot give high marks for scalability since servers are designed to be standalone.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
The Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is highly reliable, with minimal compatibility issues and excellent performance in demanding environments.
Sentiment score
5.8
HPE ProLiant DL Servers are praised for their reliability, minimal downtime, and consistent performance, preferred by many organizations.
Since we are speaking about enterprise production, we make sure that stability is number one priority.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It has high availability, 24/7 for 365 days, most of the time without any power failure.
Server Validation Engineer at UST Global
I can give HPE ProLiant DL Servers a rating of 10 for stability and reliability.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
 

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series needs improved cooling, processor support, GPU flexibility, management tools, stability, and better support responsiveness.
HPE ProLiant DL Servers face challenges with iLO, storage, noise, efficiency, pricing, scalability, support, software, and cloud solutions.
This ensures you can have high-density GPUs in a single rack to save space rather than having multiple semi-empty racks with only one or two air-cooled servers.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Some of our workloads utilize heavy imagery, which could be several terabytes or gigabytes in size, so when accessing imagery, we find disk read to be a bit slow.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
One requirement is the storage protocol, as the external storage protocol is not much used in the platform; only iSCSI is used and there is no support for FC or FC over NVMe.
Server Validation Engineer at UST Global
We really need to open another application called Intelligent Provisioning just to configure it, whereas in Dell, we can simply go to storage, click the RAID configuration that we need, and everything is available in iDRAC.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
 

Setup Cost

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series provides affordable pricing with flexible licensing, low implementation costs, and various support agreements tailored to needs.
Enterprise evaluations find HPE ProLiant DL Server pricing either costly or competitive, with discounts and valued cost-to-benefit ratio.
We are saving almost 60% of our cost yearly with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
 

Valuable Features

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series excels in GPU implementation, offering scalability, high performance, extensive storage, and reliable VMware compatibility.
HPE ProLiant DL Servers are reliable, scalable, and cost-effective, offering enhanced management and efficiency for diverse IT infrastructures.
The best features of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series are the support and product build quality, which we use the most.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
The initial setup for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is easy, and management is also easy, which is why the team prefers it.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
There is an OEM version of NVIDIA servers that provides much more flexibility and is more cost-effective compared to NVIDIA's direct offering.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The price-performance ratio is better than IBM counterparts, which is why we have opted for these solutions.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
I am satisfied with the security protocols in HPE ProLiant DL Servers for data integrity.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 2.8%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is 18.1%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers18.1%
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series2.8%
Other79.1%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

AA
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Ai infrastructure has supported dense gpu workloads and now drives end‑to‑end data value
Customer awareness about air cooling compared to liquid cooling is an area that needs attention. Liquid cooling requires existing setups, and since AI workloads are significantly different from traditional workloads, a single rack can now have more than 600 kW, which is much higher than traditional workloads. Current data centers are not ready to support heavy AI HPC clusters. If you have requirements from that perspective, you need to understand that you must build new data centers that are liquid cooling ready. This ensures you can have high-density GPUs in a single rack to save space rather than having multiple semi-empty racks with only one or two air-cooled servers.
ArifSheikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
High availability servers have boosted hosted payment services but still need better local support
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main components we are utilizing. Since these servers are fully dedicated to various high-end solutions, they have some embedded features that their kernel and applications are using, which are bound to that functionality. We may not provide an exact assessment on its usage, but we are considering those products for some AI solutions; however, we are currently in the review stage and have not concluded our evaluation on how those are utilized yet. We are aware of the pricing of HPE ProLiant DL servers, but not off the cuff. We have obviously acquired those solutions ex-Pakistan, so they are on the rise, and while we do not remember those prices offhand, they are generally better than the IBM series, although they are becoming slightly pricey in Pakistan due to processor shortages and demand. Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives. If pricing can be reduced, especially for DB servers, that could have a direct positive impact on the overall solution. Regarding reliability, it has been satisfactory so far, but since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers. They provide import-based services, necessitating us to over-invest in backup stock and offline servers. If there was a market presence from those players in Pakistan, it could benefit both clients and distributors by reducing the need for investment in backup inventory.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise98
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
What I found in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers is the disk reading; sometimes with heavy imagery, we find it to be slow. Some of our workloads utilize heavy imagery, which could be several teraby...
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
I deal mostly with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series, specifically the XE-Series. My team uses Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers, but I have not used it much myself. We ha...
What advice do you have for others considering Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
I think most of them are in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series. What I found in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers is the disk reading; sometimes with heavy imagery, we find it to be slow. Some of our workload...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable. However, if you look at the technical caliber of the server, if a customer invests that additio...
What needs improvement with HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
If I had to choose between HP and Dell, I would choose Dell's iDRAC over iLO. iLO is adequate, but Dell is much better, especially when configuring the internal storage of the server. Mostly when w...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge XE Servers
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.