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

Dell PowerPath vs NetApp ONTAP comparison

Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the Storage Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7, while NetApp is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6. Dell Technologies holds a 15.5% mindshare in SS, compared to NetApp’s 35.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
Dell PowerPath
Read 8 Dell PowerPath reviews
  • 464 Views
  • 260 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
NetApp ONTAP
Read 92 NetApp ONTAP reviews
  • 1,369 Views
  • 1,027 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Dell PowerPath and NetApp ONTAP compete in the storage management solutions category. NetApp ONTAP has an upper hand due to its advanced features, despite pricing and support leaning towards Dell PowerPath.

Features: Dell PowerPath provides reliable multipathing, load balancing, and efficient data migration capabilities. NetApp ONTAP offers comprehensive data management, advanced monitoring, and seamless data replication across systems.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerPath could enhance its monitoring tools and expand support for non-EMC storage systems. Additional automation features would be beneficial. NetApp ONTAP could improve deployment ease by simplifying initial setup and providing better integration with non-NetApp environments. Faster support response times and enhanced migration tools would also be advantageous.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerPath is praised for its straightforward implementation and effective customer support, facilitating quick integration into existing systems. NetApp ONTAP, while more complex, offers extensive customization options, necessitating longer initial setup. Its support is effective but less accessible than Dell's.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerPath provides a cost-effective solution with affordable initial fees and rapid ROI, ideal for budget-conscious businesses. NetApp ONTAP offers long-term value through its robust features and scalability, justifying the higher initial investment.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP Report (Updated: November 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP
November 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 873,003 peers since 2012

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 PowerPath
Ranking in Storage Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp ONTAP
Ranking in Storage Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Storage Software category, the mindshare of Dell PowerPath is 15.5%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp ONTAP is 35.1%, down from 44.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Storage Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
NetApp ONTAP35.1%
Dell PowerPath15.5%
Other49.4%
Storage Software
 

Featured Reviews

Derrick Brockel - PeerSpot reviewer
A resilient and reliable solution that has many load-balancing technologies and provides high availability
People who want to buy the solution must create a scorecard of Dell PowerPath against other products. They must run database tests. They must consider factors like pricing, performance, ease of use, visibility, and reliability. They must also run tests to understand which product recovers faster. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Read full review
Naveen Radhwani - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good performance, stability, and complete data security
Our upcoming investments would be prioritized around a hybrid cloud solution because we ourselves promote the cloud in the market. We are the premium service provider for AWS, so we have that inclination toward cloud computing. From the experience that we had during the pandemic, we are looking for some kind of hybrid solution for our environment. NetApp should focus on a hybrid cloud solution because none of the media houses are opting for cloud storage. The files are quite heavy, and it becomes quite difficult to maintain them on the cloud. If NetApp can provide such technology and fill the gap of storing media files in the cloud, it would give them an advantage.
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

"The solution has improved our performance, reliability, and redundancy."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is migration without disruptions."
"We have found the solution to be quite flexible and very scalable."
"The product is very reliable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that disaster recovery scenarios are very good and easy to use in Dell PowerPath since it is available in a simplified form."
"OS-aware multipathing is a valuable feature of the product."
"It provides a high availability and will increase the performance of any server or operating system."
"The user interface is good."
"NetApp ONTAP has improved our organization through speed, efficiency, and data availability, which ensures business continuity."
"Technical support is good. NetApp's solution engineers are good at architecting designs which are standard, but also future thinking. I've only opened a few tickets, and they've answered my questions each time. NetApp takes less than four hours to respond."
"CIFS and NFS protocols have delivered the most value. NetApp ONTAP offers very reliable CIFS and NFS protocols."
"Today, because NetApp listened to their customers and improved their GUI, we can perform a firmware upgrade within minutes."
"ONTAP has improved my organization by lowering budget costs. Deduplication, compression, compaction, SnapMirror, SnapWall, the transaction happens from one to the other. It's serving our needs just as expected."
"ONTAP has really reduced our costs because we learned that we could use our storage with fewer machines and drive down data center costs."
"Previously we didn't have DR, but ever since we purchased the NetApp server, we are able to use Snap Mirror and then create DR scenarios, so that's been a huge benefit. This solution has helped reduce the overall cost of storage space in our organization by allowing us to use one data center, instead of two, and then allowing us to replicate the data; so that saves us money to buy more storage. We have been able to save space by using this solution."
"The cluster version is flexible and easy to use."
More NetApp ONTAP pros
 

Cons

"The technical support is good but they are not available all the time."
"While I utilize it for data migration, I would love to do that data migration in a GUI from an ease of use perspective."
"The product must adapt to other storage technologies like HPE 3PAR."
"The solution is quite stable, although they have not quite worked out all of the kinks."
"Customers do not choose PowerPath unless they have Unix or Linux."
"The solution should provide extensive reports on backups and backup failures."
"Although PowerPath is very mature and has been on the market for more than 15 years there are still a lot of bugs that have been profiled with PowerPath, specifically, during any OS upgrade."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"There is a lot a lot of functional integration that we look forward to for improvements. I'm learning where they're going and I'm very interested to see those improvements and how they can help us."
"I would like to see more integration of the features with the CIFS and SMB Protocols. We also want integration with iSCSI."
"I would like more security against the malwares, spyware, and ransomware. I feel like ONTAP is a bit lacking in this area."
"Especially with the all-flash arrays, we would like to see better storage efficiency and deduplication. In terms of manageability, it would be great if NetApp would add more native reporting tools into the dashboard so that we don't need to use the third-party tool for analyzing our environments or to generate any reports. This would be especially helpful for companies that need to generate some chargeback for the customers."
"The price could be lower."
"They could expand what is possible to do with automation as there are gaps in the Ansible module coverage they have."
"The only thing that they have to improve in NetApp is that they're still relying on padding each node in active/active in CDOT. That has to go away. They should look at the scalability on a platform level. The computer will have that one file system with multiple nodes on it. If even one node fails, any node in that cluster could take over the functionalities. But today, it absolutely relies on that active-active uncoupling it. That needs to be improved in such a way that it would be one namespace. If this node goes down, any node in the cluster should take over and run that environment."
"The back-up side of the solution could be improved, as could the archive. We still have to rely on third-party backup programs and other archiving solutions. If it was offered by NetApp itself, it would be much better."
More NetApp ONTAP cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is fair."
"The solution is expensive."
"Pricing is good. I don't have any issues with the pricing of this solution."
"I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is affordable, and ten is really expensive. Dell PowerPath is an expensive tool."
"There are no additional costs associated with the product."
"The product is a little bit expensive."
"With the duplication and compression, we have been about a one and half to two times savings since we are not running all-flash."
"They could reduce the price."
"While it is going to cost a lot of money, their technologies is worth it."
"I rate NetApp ONTAP's pricing a seven out of ten."
"Because of its manageability, we have fewer people managing it."
"When you purchase NetApp for the first time they will provide you with the standard license, or a premium license, and even a standard bundle solution license."
"We have a wholesale contract with NetApp. We also have NetApp ONTAP On-Demand activation for certain things. We also have some preferential pricing for licenses. The licensing that I see here doesn't apply to other clients in the field. NetApp is expensive, but so are the competitors, making it hard to ascertain precise retail value. However, based on my perspective, NetApp pricing appears competitive."
"There could be improvements, its proprietary software so it can be pricey."
More NetApp ONTAP pricing and cost advice
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Storage Software solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
873,003 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Transportation Company
17%
Healthcare Company
17%
Retailer
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
6%
Performing Arts
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise66
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell PowerPath?
The solution has improved our performance, reliability, and redundancy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerPath?
The product is a little bit expensive. It is a little pricey because it provides multipathing with other OSs. I rate the pricing a five out of ten.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Dell PowerPath?
The product must adapt to other storage technologies like HPE 3PAR. When we use 3PAR storage, we have to use another technology to load balance. The product must be integrated with other products l...
See all answers
How does Azure NetApp Files compare to NetApp ONTAP?
Azure NetApp Files is a Microsoft Azure file storage service built on NetApp technology. The platform combines the file capabilities of Azure and NetApp to move critical file-based applications to ...
See all answers
What do you like most about NetApp ONTAP?
We do not face any glitches or downtime.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp ONTAP?
It is cost-effective for the benefits you get.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell PowerPath Logo
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell PowerPath
Compared 54% of the time
More Dell PowerPath Competitors
DataCore SANsymphony vs NetApp ONTAP Logo
DataCore SANsymphony vs NetApp ONTAP
Compared 39% of the time
Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP Logo
Azure NetApp Files vs NetApp ONTAP
Compared 20% of the time
StorONE Storage-as-a-Service vs NetApp ONTAP Logo
StorONE Storage-as-a-Service vs NetApp ONTAP
Compared 11% of the time
More NetApp ONTAP Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerPath
November 2025
Dell PowerPath reportDownload Dell PowerPath product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp ONTAP
October 2025
NetApp ONTAP reportDownload NetApp ONTAP product report
 

Also Known As

PowerPath
No data available
 

Overview

EMC PowerPath: Host-based software for automated data path management, failover and recovery, and optimized load balancing. PowerPath automates, standardizes, and optimizes data paths in physical and virtual environments as well as cloud deployments to deliver high availability and performance.

AUTOMATE FAILOVER/RECOVERY

PowerPath automates data path failover and recovery to ensure applications are always available and remain operational.

OPTIMIZE LOAD BALANCING

Adjust I/O paths constantly to leverage all available data paths and to monitor and rebalance the dynamic environment for the best application performance.

STANDARDIZE PATH MANAGEMENT

Simplify and standardize data path management across heterogeneous physical and virtual environments as well as cloud deployments.

Dell Technologies

NetApp is the data authority for hybrid cloud. We provide a full range of hybrid cloud data services that simplify management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments to accelerate digital transformation. Together with our partners, we empower global organizations to unleash the full potential of their data to expand customer touchpoints, foster greater innovation and optimize their operations.

NetApp
 

Sample Customers

Healthcare Residential Service Company
1&1 IONOS, Acıbadem Healthcare Group, Adder Technologies, Aero Vodochody Aerospace
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP
November 2025
Free Report: Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
873,003 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our Dell PowerPath vs. NetApp ONTAP report.
See our list of best Storage Software vendors.

We monitor all Storage Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.