Dell PowerMax vs Dell XtremIO comparison

Dell PowerMax and Dell XtremIO are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell PowerMax is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.8, while Dell XtremIO is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.0. Dell PowerMax holds a 4.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to Dell XtremIO’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Dell PowerMax users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Dell XtremIO users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

Dell XtremIO and Dell PowerMax are enterprise-level storage solutions competing in performance and scalability domains. While Dell XtremIO offers advantages in pricing, Dell PowerMax leads with advanced features and capabilities, making it preferable for businesses focused on technology and performance.

Features: Dell XtremIO delivers consistent high performance with inline data deduplication, efficient snapshot management, and workload support. Dell PowerMax offers exceptional speed with its NVMe architecture, robust data protection, and intelligent automation.

Room for Improvement: Dell XtremIO could enhance its integration with cloud platforms, improve interface customization, and expand API support. Dell PowerMax may focus on simplifying deployment processes, enhancing user training resources, and reducing complexity for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell XtremIO stands out with straightforward deployment, easy setup, and responsive customer service. Dell PowerMax, despite its complexity, benefits from a structured deployment strategy and enhanced customer support for large-scale deployments.

Pricing and ROI: Dell XtremIO is competitively priced with a lower initial cost, appealing to budget-conscious organizations, offering ROI through efficient scaling. Dell PowerMax, although higher in initial investment, provides substantial long-term ROI via superior performance and durability, justifying its premium cost for cutting-edge solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerMax vs. Dell XtremIO Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerMax vs. Dell XtremIO

December 2025

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

1.0

Organizations reduced costs and improved performance with Pure FlashArray X NVMe, achieving quick ROI and efficient resource management.

Sentiment score

8.2

Organizations gained rapid ROI from Dell PowerMax with enhanced performance, cost efficiency, and improved data center capabilities.

Sentiment score

1.0

Dell XtremIO enhances performance, reduces latency, increases efficiency, and improves reliability, leading to faster response times and cost savings.

If you wait more than seven years to buy another one, you get a return on your investment.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

During a DCDR setup and migration from VMAX to Dell PowerMax, what was planned as a two-day downtime was completed in just three to four hours.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

The performance metrics or benchmarks I use to measure success with Dell PowerMax include uptime as well as our response times on our platforms, both of which are exactly where we want them to be, which is five nines and as fast as possible.

reviewer2706717

Senior Manager, Disaster Recovery, Storage & UNIX Systems at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

My client has seen significant ROI since the install, and when you don't go down, that's an ROI in and of itself.

Rocco Guerriero

Chief Executive Officer at Contour Data Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.1

Pure FlashArray X NVMe's technical support is praised for responsiveness, despite occasional follow-up issues, earning high customer satisfaction.

Sentiment score

8.3

Dell PowerMax support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though some seek improvements in response times and escalation access.

Sentiment score

7.2

Dell XtremIO support receives mixed reviews, from exemplary technical assistance to variable performance post-Dell merger.

Customers always have their issues resolved promptly.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Technical support is good at least through vendors, not directly with the principal.

Shakeel Qureshi

Infrastructure Specialis at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

I would rate Dell PowerMax support as a ten, as I have never had an issue with Dell support as it relates to this product.

Rocco Guerriero

Chief Executive Officer at Contour Data Solutions

ProSupport Next Business Day offers part replacement within four hours for data leaks.

Mohammed Anas

AI Solutions Architect at TierOne

Dell support for Dell PowerMax is exceptional, rating a perfect 10 out of 10.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

Pure FlashArray X NVMe offers scalable storage with low latency, easy upgrades, though capacity customization and high costs are noted.

Sentiment score

7.7

Dell PowerMax excels in scalability and performance, supporting diverse enterprise storage needs with minimal disruption and high flexibility.

Sentiment score

6.9

Dell XtremIO is scalable and integrates well with virtualization but may have initial cost and enterprise-level scalability challenges.

It hasn't broken down anytime in the last six to seven years, despite hurricanes, earthquakes, and power outages.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

Scalability is not an issue.

reviewer2706753

Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Dell PowerMax is good for enterprises, and it also depends on how much workload you're going to bring in on Dell PowerMax in terms of performance and how many users are going to use the database you're hosting.

MayankChauhan

Lead Consultant - Cloud & Infrastructure Services at Infosys

PowerScale is better suited for AI and overall buzz solution currently.

Mohammed Anas

AI Solutions Architect at TierOne

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

Dell XtremIO provides very good scalability, allowing for cluster configurations that are easy to scale.

Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

Dell XtremIO's scalability is quite easy;

Avi Shpaner

System Engineer at Exaware

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

Pure Storage offers exceptional stability and reliability with outstanding support, consistently achieving high user ratings for performance and service.

Sentiment score

8.7

Dell PowerMax is highly reliable with excellent performance, minimal downtime, and exceptional stability, receiving high praise from users.

Sentiment score

8.3

Dell XtremIO is generally stable and reliable, despite earlier issues, with well-regarded performance and effective support for problems.

I would rate the stability of the product at seven out of ten.

Gary Cheung

Project Manager at a government with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

These patches can be applied on the fly without requiring software upgrades or system downtime.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

I would rate it nine out of ten since there are no required downtimes, even during firmware upgrades.

Moin-Shah

System and Storage Admin at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

There has been no downtime with Dell PowerMax; it's been extremely reliable, easy to manage, easy to upgrade, and trustworthy as we've upgraded over the years from one version to another.

Rocco Guerriero

Chief Executive Officer at Contour Data Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

My customer has been using Dell XtremIO since 2017 and has not experienced any failures.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Room For Improvement

Pure FlashArray X requires cost-effective improvements in UI, integration, cloud features, multitenancy, analytics, backup, AI, and scalability.

Dell PowerMax needs better deduplication, automation, cloud integration, documentation, pricing, and customer support for enhanced user experience.

Dell XtremIO faces challenges with volume limits, user interface, replication, upgrades, support response times, and scalability.

One way to improve the product is to add an operational assistant that doesn't depend on VMware.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert.

Santhosh Sridhara

Cloud Architect at DXC Technology

Storage replication should be essential.

Shakeel Qureshi

Infrastructure Specialis at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

Compared to competitors such as NetApp, which integrates with public cloud hyperscalers (GCP, Azure, AWS), Dell PowerMax lacks in this aspect.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

Dell can assist by providing plug-and-play integrated templates that allow customers to drag, drop, modify, and connect with any target system for generating snapshots without logging into the storage directly.

Moin-Shah

System and Storage Admin at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dell PowerMax NVMe is very reliable storage and cannot experience downtime.

Kazi Amranul Houqe

First Assistant Vice President (FAVP) & Unit Head of Server & Storage Management Unit at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

The interface could be simplified for beginners to ease the configuration of special objects in the system.

Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

There is a significant lack of training, support documents, and forums available for Dell XtremIO, making troubleshooting difficult for third-party individuals.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

The API to connect with command line or to see performance very clearly could be enhanced, similar to how NetApp works with Grafana and NetApp monitor, which shows you a comprehensive view of the whole picture.

Avi Shpaner

System Engineer at Exaware

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers see Pure FlashArray X NVMe as a justified premium investment due to performance and comprehensive licensing.

Dell PowerMax is costly but premium, with high support costs, yet discounts are possible through vendor negotiations.

Dell XtremIO's high pricing is justified by performance and features, offering comprehensive licensing but additional products are needed.

While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits.

Enes SUZER

Manager, System Infrastructure & Security at Organik Kimya San. ve Tic. A.S.

The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

The higher cost compared to other vendors is justified by additional features, vendor-managed upgrades, and superior support services.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

It is the best choice for large projects in terms of price and features compared to midrange solutions.

Gianpaolo-Mazzola

Presales Engineer at Project Informatica srl

The price is starting from $500,000.

Mohamed Abdel Salam

Senior Sells at Enterprise Sigma Technology

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

XtremIO offers features that justify a potentially higher price, however, this varies with configuration.

Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

Dell XtremIO is quite expensive compared to other solutions on the market.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Valuable Features

Pure FlashArray X NVMe offers exceptional performance, reliability, scalability, and seamless VMware integration, enhancing workload efficiency and user experience.

Dell PowerMax is valued for reliability, performance, scalability, NVMe technology, and ease of use, making it ideal for enterprise storage.

Dell XtremIO offers high performance, scalability, and efficient management with deduplication and compression, ideal for complex workloads.

Its data compression feature is the best that we have ever seen.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed.

Enes SUZER

Manager, System Infrastructure & Security at Organik Kimya San. ve Tic. A.S.

We are satisfied with the performance as it is significantly faster compared to traditional storage options.

Gary Cheung

Project Manager at a government with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Pure FlashArray X NVMe report

NVMe provides additional fast cache, similar to random access memory (RAM), which improves overall system performance and read/write experience for users.

Jasdevjuneja

Works

Dell PowerMax NVMe is very supportive of our operational growth since we require daily performance from our core banking systems and need to facilitate data movement efficiently.

Moin-Shah

System and Storage Admin at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

The key benefits of using Dell PowerMax, quantified in terms of saved hours and saved costs, is having one single platform that provides functionality to all of our internal customers.

reviewer2706717

Senior Manager, Disaster Recovery, Storage & UNIX Systems at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerMax report

The inline data deduplication feature and compression were useful for me because the performance was very good when I needed to read or write from storage, latency was reduced, storage was extended, and volume replication was supported.

Avi Shpaner

System Engineer at Exaware

Scalability is a significant feature of Dell XtremIO, as it is easy to expand and manage.

Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

The speed and scalability of Dell XtremIO are significant features that improve data storage management.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell XtremIO report

Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerMax is 4.8%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell XtremIO is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerMax	4.8%
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.4%
Dell XtremIO	0.9%
Other	92.9%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

Read full review

MayankChauhan

Lead Consultant - Cloud & Infrastructure Services at Infosys

Delivers essential support and performance for intensive operations in real-time environments

Our infrastructure is spread across the private as well as a public cloud. Our requirement was that the IOPS latency should not be more than one millisecond. If anything goes beyond one millisecond, it's a problem for us. We wanted a system that could handle the transactions and meet our latency requirements. There are performance benefits for sure. The amount of deduplication and compression offered by Dell PowerMax is quite good, especially with databases. Dell PowerMax delivers optimum performance and reliable support, integral for handling failures and ensuring operational continuity. The performance capacity optimization and support we receive from Dell are also valuable.

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Avi Shpaner

System Engineer at Exaware

Has improved data reduction and snapshot efficiency while supporting critical workloads

There are some areas that could be improved with Dell XtremIO. The API to connect with command line or to see performance very clearly could be enhanced, similar to how NetApp works with Grafana and NetApp monitor, which shows you a comprehensive view of the whole picture. The snapshot functionality could work more similarly to Snap Center. If I want to see all the VCenter with the VM, I think it needs the API for this. I do see big differences between Dell and other products. NetApp works very closely with VCenter, and Hitachi also integrates well, but Dell is not very clear and does not proceed well with VCenter integration with Dell. It needs the API, and I need to see all the snapshots. If I want to restore a VM from only a few directories or a few files that I need to restore, it is very difficult. I do see some differences in licensing. For the last few years, the Dell EMC price is acceptable. A few years ago, Dell EMC was expensive, approximately 20 percent more than NetApp. Right now the budget between EMC and NetApp is very closely aligned. Regarding the installation process and deployment of Dell XtremIO, I notice that in Israel, a lot of professional services and engineers who work with Dell EMC have moved to another storage company. I do not know why. Dell EMC does not have enough engineers, system engineers, or professional services engineers to provide service to the old clients, similar to how NetApp or Hitachi do. I think Dell XtremIO is between easy and complicated to deploy; it gives you the whole picture, but I need to go closely to VCenter to connect to VCenter to see the snapshot and to see performance with more dashboards of performance. I also need to connect the switch fiber channel to see all zoning to give me more flexibility to install or configure fiber channel or to see the performance of the fiber channels. I think there should be some fiber channel disconnect adapter or better troubleshooting from hardware for errors.

Read full review

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 1, 2015

Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR

Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	55

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

See all answers

What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?

Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell of...

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What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerMax NVMe?

First, it's an enterprise storage solution. This is very important for us. Another important feature is replication.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerMax NVMe?

When comparing Dell PowerMax NVMe with other vendors, such as IBM enterprise solutions, the price is relatively higher.

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What do you like most about Dell EMC XtremIO?

The feature I like most about Dell Xtremio is its hardware quality compared to other vendors. It's clear they're cont...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell XtremIO?

Pricing is hard to determine as it depends on the given configuration. XtremIO offers features that justify a potenti...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell XtremIO?

There are some areas that could be improved with Dell XtremIO. The API to connect with command line or to see perform...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 18% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 6% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Dell PowerMax

Compared 20% of the time

Dell VMAX All Flash vs Dell PowerMax

Compared 7% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell PowerMax

Compared 7% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Dell PowerMax

Compared 7% of the time

IBM FlashSystem 9100 NVMe vs Dell PowerMax

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell PowerMax Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 14% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell XtremIO Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2026

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerMax

January 2026

Download Dell PowerMax product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO

January 2026

Download Dell XtremIO product report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

Dell PowerMax NVMe, Dell EMC PowerMax, PowerMax

Dell EMC XtremIO Flash, Dell EMC XtremIO X2, XtremIO, XtremIO X2

Overview

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Pure Storage

PowerMax leads in mission-critical enterprise storage with advanced architecture and AI-driven automation, ensuring secure and efficient IT optimization. Its multi-node NVMe scale-out framework delivers unmatched performance and consolidation, backed by Dell’s Future-Proof Program.

PowerMax is renowned for its robust reliability, performance, and efficient data reduction capabilities. Users benefit from its NVMe architecture, aiding significant scalability and cost efficiency through effective deduplication and compression. Unisphere simplifies management, while CloudIQ provides enhanced monitoring. With high availability and strong IOPS capabilities, PowerMax effectively manages demanding workloads and ensures seamless operations. Its compact design and increased storage capacity enhance user experience, particularly with easy maintenance and robust performance.

What are the key features of PowerMax?

Reliability: Ensures consistent service uptime and data integrity.
High Performance: NVMe architecture provides exceptional speed and efficiency.
Data Reduction: Deduplication and compression drive down costs.
Management Tools: Unisphere interface for easy system management.
CloudIQ: Advanced monitoring for predictive insights.
High Availability: Supports mission-critical and demanding workloads.

What benefits should users expect from PowerMax?

Performance Optimization: Handles low latency and high IOPS needs.
Scalability: Expands effortlessly with growing data and workload demands.
Enhanced Monitoring: Predictive analytics for proactive management.
Efficient Maintenance: Streamlined processes reduce downtime and costs.

Dell PowerMax is predominantly employed in mission-critical applications such as SQL, Oracle databases, ERP systems, and high transactional environments. Healthcare, finance, and e-commerce sectors leverage its high performance, scalability, and NVMe technology for low latency and redundancy. It is adept in storage consolidation, data analytics, and disaster recovery.

Dell Technologies

Bring all-flash, scale-out storage to your enterprise applications with EMC XtremIO. Purpose-built for flash, XtremIO storage arrays are amazingly fast. Delivering high IOPS at less than 1 millisecond latency is just the start. EMC XtremIO helps you harness the power of flash storage by building in innovations like content-based data placement and dual-stage metadata.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Rackspace, Open Line

Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerMax vs. Dell XtremIO

December 2025

Free Report: Dell PowerMax vs. Dell XtremIO

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