Dell PowerFlex vs VMware vSAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 6, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
185
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
Dell PowerFlex
Ranking in HCI
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware vSAN
Ranking in HCI
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
228
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerFlex is 14.1%, up from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSAN is 16.2%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
Unique Categories:
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
9.2%
No other categories found
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

NG
Mar 28, 2022
Hardware agnostic and easy to set up with great support
We are an SMB IT consulting company with an infrastructure department.  Before 2019, we had been deploying HP StoreVirtual VSA in order to deliver a typical 2-node hyper-converged cluster. Since the publishing of EOL/EOS for HP StoreVirtual we had been looking for a suitable replacement.  We looked…
KN
Mar 13, 2023
Good integration, stable, and increased performance
The solution is a private cloud hyper-converged infrastructure that is scalable, with highly available computer workloads The solution has helped reduce our costs and increase our performance. The integration with AWS is a valuable feature. Compared to similar solutions, Dell PowerFlex is not…
Emmanuel Nguyen - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 4, 2023
Easy to install but needs improvement in terms of compatibility with previous versions, stability and performance
We use the solution for VDI and SBC Citrix With this solution, less time is needed to install three-tiered infrastructure. The main advantage is that it's all in the box, with VMware vCenter Server product. Compatibility with the previous version, stability, performance, and upgradeability of…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The backup is readily available for use, and the restoration process is easy."
"It allows you to use ANY consumer or enterprise HDDs and SSDs, and that's a really great thing!"
"When we need additional storage but want to keep the size of the SANs manageable, the StarWind Virtual SAN has allowed me to do everything needed."
"The product only requires two VMWare ESXi host servers versus three host servers for VMware's comparable solution."
"It's quite easy to install."
"Quick setup, great support, stability is great"
"The StarWind Virtual SAN management console is intuitive and easy to use."
"It enables us to provide more solution options for our clients, with the reassurance that, when implemented, they will be efficient and stable."
"The support is highly responsive."
"Dell PowerFlex is a one-stop-shop solution. Storage, compute, network, application monitoring, and support cases are all combined into one solution. It's very easy to administer compared to when you have a reference architecture where you need to design and build everything yourself. You would also then have to work with multiple vendors."
"Dell PowerFlex is a complete hyperconverge that makes automation easy to manage and extremely stable."
"The solution is quite stable."
"The most valuable feature is the overall integration and just seeing the three different layers which make up the machine software. Altogether, it's something that I would say is much better than any other solution that I have experienced before."
"The support team responds quickly."
"The tool's most valuable features are its price and flexibility. It has high performance."
"The catalog of APIs for automation has been most valuable, although they are quite limited."
"We've found the solution to be scalable."
"The product’s most valuable features are performance and expandability."
"We had very good access to technical support."
"Easy-to-use, and easy-to-scale product."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The installation is very easy."
"The solution's unified administration is its most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable feature for our customers is vMotion. It allows them to shut down virtual machines and migrate them to others servers."
 

Cons

"The management console of StarWind Virtual SAN is pretty complex."
"StarWind really needs to market its product more."
"If there was one thing we could request, it would be the ability to shrink volumes. For example, we want to be able to decrease in the size of the volume."
"It would help if the manufacturer provided clearer and more detailed documentation, with explanations of how the application can be installed in various HA configurations."
"They require more media visibility."
"Pricing is a bit high."
"It would be helpful if StarWind provided more precise and detailed documentation explaining how to configure the solution in various scenarios, including the advantages and disadvantages of each."
"It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery."
"We've had some issues around the licensing."
"They need to work on improving the overhead for protecting the data."
"The biggest issue with the solution is that it doesn't support Hyper V. It's a big problem."
"I am not really impressed by the technical support of this solution."
"I would like to see a more user-friendly interface."
"The initial deployment was complicated and required a lot of data nodes, IPs, internal vLANs, data vLANs, and many other things."
"I think there might be some room for improvement when it comes to pricing, because although I know how to convert customers, at the end of day, it's quite expensive. Sometimes your feature architecture is still coming out much cheaper than hardware costs for your infrastructure."
"The solution needs to offer more documentation and educational materials."
"It could have some automation. We haven't involved ourselves in a lot of automation around the vSAN environment capabilities. We're still running it using a very traditional setup. So, there could be some plugins to automate it using third-party environments, such as Jenkins."
"As no product is 100% perfect, the price for VMware vSAN could still be improved, though it is good when compared to some of its competitors."
"The product's high price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"It could be more robust. The latency is also an issue for us, and the reliability. I would like it to be faster and a little more flexible."
"Hardware load balancing is available on the enterprise version of the solution, however, it's extremely expensive and therefore out of our budget."
"I would like a better Hardware Certification List (HCL). The HCL should a little easier to deal with."
"Only the stretched cluster requires a minor improvement."
"The monitoring feature in VMware vSAN could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is straightforward, with free and trial versions available."
"We are happy with the price."
"Once you buy the license, you are free to build your own hardware solution based on your needs."
"Licensing is easy and the whole package is cost-effective."
"When we did all the analysis for StarWind, it was approximately 20 percent less than any of the other solutions that we looked at."
"The pricing is excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
"This is a good, economical solution compared to data storage systems."
"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The solution's price is medium."
"The cost of this solution is fair."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"The product is expensive."
"The price could be improved."
"We have a good contact in Dell and he prepared all the information and provided everything to us."
"The price of the solution is fair, it is priced in the average range amongst competitors."
"Every product is licensed with full support for a certain number of years. The licensing could be cheaper."
"The only problem I have with VMware is the price. It is a good product, but it is expensive."
"I have been told that if I used VxRail it would be cheaper than the system we are using now with buying the products separately. The solution is expensive overall."
"The price is expensive."
"With the new pricing model, it's expensive for the customer."
"The price of vSAN could be lower."
"There is a license to use this solution and we pay approximately $30,000 annually. There were not any additional fees required other than the license. The solution is expensive."
"This is a cost-effective product. It's a bit cheaper than the other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
48%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Make the most of your 30-day trial license, and if needed, you should contact the sales department of StarWind to ext...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
The dashboard is functional, but it could benefit from a more modern and visually appealing design. A facelift would ...
What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not bein...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerFlex?
I have good partners who prepared the price for us. I told them what we needed and everything worked out perfectly. W...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an e...
Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We resea...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
VxFlex, VxRack FLEX, PowerFlex
vSAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Canopy, 8x8Inc., Atos, Canadian Pacific, City of Denton, CenturyLink, BNP Paribas, Asyaport, EDF, CSC, Fox Sports, Insight, Hunter, KPIT, Paetec, Rosetta Stone, Sonda, Xerox
Read Some Case Studies At Home Cloud CaribCINgroupDiscovery Check out the Rest of our Customer Stories Here
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerFlex vs. VMware vSAN and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.