Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Rack Servers category. Dell Technologies is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5. Dell Technologies holds a 3.2% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 6.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

Read 22 Dell PowerEdge XR-Series reviews

2,026 Views
1,783 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

HPE Apollo Systems

Read 25 HPE Apollo Systems reviews

3,785 Views
3,293 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

HPE Apollo Systems

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

HPE Apollo Systems and Dell PowerEdge XR-Series are contenders in the high-performance computing market. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has an advantage due to its superior features.

Features: HPE Apollo Systems excel with scalable architecture, high-density servers for data analytics, and efficient storage capabilities. They cater to AI and deep learning with extensive GPU support. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series focuses on modularity, offering flexible chassis with compute sled slots, robust performance, and advanced security features. The modular design enhances system reliability and efficiency, providing an edge over HPE Apollo Systems.

Room for Improvement: HPE Apollo Systems could enhance modularity and expand their support for customizable configurations and power redundancy. They might also improve deployment processes. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series could focus on pricing competitiveness, simplify certain deployment complexities, and expand the high compute density features to appeal more to budget-conscious clients.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is known for simplified deployment and strong customer service, making it ideal for quick setups. HPE Apollo Systems offer competitive deployment but slightly lag in customer service reliability compared to Dell.

Pricing and ROI: HPE Apollo Systems present competitive pricing and favorable ROI due to lower upfront costs and scalability, appealing to cost-sensitive buyers. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series demands higher initial investments but offers long-term value with advanced technology, promising potentially higher ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems

November 2026

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

Ranking in Rack Servers

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Rugged Servers (1st)

HPE Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is 3.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 6.0%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series	3.2%
HPE Apollo Systems	6.0%
Other	90.8%

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Md Rafique

Desktop support Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Edge workloads have run reliably with rugged performance and secure remote management

While Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has met our expectations overall, there are a few areas that could be improved. The initial setup and configuration process could be more streamlined, especially for first-time deployments. Firmware and driver updates could be simplified further to reduce maintenance efforts, and more detailed documentation for edge-specific deployment scenarios would be helpful. We would also like to see enhanced monitoring and analytical capabilities within the management tools, providing deeper insights into system health and performance without relying on additional software. Additional areas for improvement include more intuitive management dashboards, faster firmware validations and data processes, and broader compatibility guidance for machine deployments with third-party hardware and firmware. More built-in automation for routine maintenance and proactive issue detection would also help reduce administrative overhead. These are enhancements rather than major shortcomings, as the platform is already stable, reliable, and well-suited for edge computing.

Read full review

Gökhan DURMAZ

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerEdge servers have helped reduce unplanned production downtime by approximately 30% because we are able to handle issues immediately."

"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is very popular and we are selling this as a standard."

"The Dell teams are always knowledgeable, always great to work with, and always on top of their game."

"The performance of the product in extreme conditions is good; it can run in critical workloads with not much hardware issue."

"Using Dell PowerEdge servers has indeed affected the overall flexibility of my customer's operations and businesses."

"Stability, good performance, and good tools to manage the system are the best features for me."

"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is a super server, so compared to HP, I see big differences from the technical side."

"Overall, it has improved operational efficiency and given us greater confidence in running business-critical workloads at the edge."

More Dell PowerEdge XR-Series pros

"It's pretty flexible."

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

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

"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."

"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 this is a machine that should be considered instead of deploying multiple machines and multiple systems."

"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable."

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

"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

Cons

"The support could work faster, but that is the only small thing that could be better."

"The initial setup and configuration can be somewhat complex for new administrators."

"I do not think there has been any reduction in total cost of ownership."

"I suggest virtualizing the CPU between multiple operating systems on the same server."

"While Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has many positives, there are areas for improvement."

"It lacks a modular option to expand to a 16-bay system."

"Dell XR2 Rugged Server could improve if there was more customization allowed."

"For improvements on Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I suggest enhancements in the support features, such as implementing a feature where the system can call home to Dell support to open a call automatically."

More Dell PowerEdge XR-Series cons

"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."

"Connectivity to the outside of the server needs to be improved at the same time the network is improving."

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

"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."

"The technical support for HPE Apollo Systems could be improved."

"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."

"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."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of one Dell XR2 Rugged Server is approximately $10,000."

"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."

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

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

27%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?

I found the pricing of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series to be competitive for an enterprise-grade server. The initial hardware investment is significant, but it is justified by the performance and long-ter...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?

Regarding improvements for Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I need to add more CPUs and memory and easily convert to the cloud environment since I have many Azure cloud environments locally. In terms of n...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?

My main use case for Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is that it is integrated with all the databases and backup along with the storage infrastructure and application infrastructure. I am supporting all th...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

Compared 10% of the time

Lenovo Edge Servers vs Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

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Oracle SPARC Servers vs Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

Compared 6% of the time

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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 12% of the time

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Moonshot vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 7% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 3% of the time

More HPE Apollo Systems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series

November 2026

Download Dell PowerEdge XR-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Apollo Systems

October 2026

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Also Known As

XR2 Rugged Server

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

Overview

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series brings high-performance servers to environments outside traditional data centers, merging durable design with energy efficiency for edge computing needs.

PowerEdge XR-Series is engineered for harsh conditions, offering secure and manageable performance for IoT, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. With its focus on remote manageability, intelligent system monitoring, and robust security, it's ideal for edge-based workloads. Combining durability with high performance, these servers are cost-effective for real-time data processing and analysis at the source, enabling seamless integration with edge infrastructures to enhance operational efficiency and maintain uptime.

What are the key features of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series?

Modularity for flexibility: Allows easy customization and scalability.
Advanced security with zero-trust architecture: Ensures data protection against breaches.
Dual power supplies: Enhances uptime and reliability in mission-critical applications.
Excellent management tools like iDRAC: Simplifies remote monitoring and management.
Compatibility with GPU: Enhances edge computing and virtualization capabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

High availability: Reduces downtime and ensures consistent performance.
Reliability in extreme environments: Offers dependable functionality under harsh conditions.
Streamlined administration with OpenManage: Improves operational efficiency through simplified management.
Scalability: Supports dynamic growth and adapts to increasing workloads.
Cost-effectiveness: Provides a balance of performance and energy efficiency for a competitive edge.

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is widely adopted for edge computing, application hosting, virtualization, and cybersecurity. It is ideal for sectors like banking, trading, manufacturing, and online services, supporting AI workloads, VMware, and IoT applications. Its ability to handle complex workloads with private cloud capabilities and hyper-converged infrastructure aligns with industry demands for scalability and reliability in managing critical data processes.

Dell Technologies

HPE Apollo Systems deliver high compute and storage density, scalability, and environmental efficiency with exceptional performance for AI initiatives and data capturing across diverse applications.

HPE Apollo Systems are characterized by their dense compute and storage capabilities, offering flexibility in configurations to meet the demands of AI, deep learning, and high-performance computing. Their management software simplifies deployment, ensuring effective performance across tasks that require significant storage. While Apollo Systems are designed for efficiency and scalability, improvements can be made in security, tech support, and integration with hypervisors and backup solutions. Enhancing cooling and licensing processes, connectivity, and faster drive writing capabilities are also areas for growth.

What are the key features of HPE Apollo Systems?

High Compute Density: Supports intense processing needs efficiently.
Scalability: Easily adaptable to growing data demands.
Environmental Efficiency: Minimizes energy consumption, enhancing sustainability.
Flexible Configurations: Caters to a range of applications from AI to data storage.
Reliable Performance: Consistently delivers under various workloads.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Cost Effectiveness: Reduces expenditure with its efficient design.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly fits into diverse IT environments.
Performance Enhancement: Boosts operational efficiency and output.
Easy Deployment: Streamlines the setup process for quick operation.

HPE Apollo Systems find extensive use in sectors such as telecom, supporting high-performance computing and AI workloads. They optimize Linux servers, replace legacy systems, and serve as storage solutions across industries. Their applications span from big data management in Splunk clusters to backup solutions in medical faculties, enhancing compute power and storage within compact racks.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

DIGISTOR - Secure Data Storage

Weta Digital

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems

November 2026

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