Dell PowerScale vs Panasas ActiveStor comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Dell Technologies and Panasas are both solutions in the NAS category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8, while Panasas is ranked #22. Dell Technologies holds a 12.9% mindshare in N, compared to Panasas’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Panasas users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerScale

Read 114 Dell PowerScale reviews

20,036 Views
11,220 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Panasas ActiveStor

Read 2 Panasas ActiveStor reviews

1,178 Views
1,178 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerScale

Panasas ActiveStor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Panasas ActiveStor and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) are both in the high-performance and scalable data storage market. While Panasas ActiveStor is noted for its competitive pricing and strong support, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is regarded as superior in feature set and overall value.

Features: Panasas ActiveStor offers high throughput, simplified management capabilities, and easy scalability, perfect for demanding environments. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) provides a scale-out architecture, comprehensive data management features, and advanced data services, supporting a wide range of workloads with options for detailed analytics and flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Panasas ActiveStor facilitates deployment with a straightforward model and responsive support, ensuring minimal disruption. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) also offers efficient deployment and strong customer service but may require more initial configuration due to advanced customization and integration options.

Pricing and ROI: Panasas ActiveStor often entails lower initial setup costs, providing a good return on investment through efficient management and performance. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has higher upfront expenses but offers long-term savings through advanced features that enhance operational efficiency and adaptability.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerScale vs. Panasas ActiveStor Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale vs. Panasas ActiveStor

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 PowerScale

Ranking in NAS

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (1st)

Panasas ActiveStor

Ranking in NAS

22nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale is 12.9%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Panasas ActiveStor is 1.9%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Dell PowerScale	12.9%
Panasas ActiveStor	1.9%
Other	85.2%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Santosh Bharadwaj Rangavajjula

Product Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

File sharing has supported collaboration and disaster recovery but security support still needs work

Dell PowerScale can improve specifically for AI workloads, particularly on the MCPs. I would add that we have not seen an official MCP from Dell PowerScale and are relying on open source. It would be valuable to have an MCP server that we can set up directly with them. Regarding Dell PowerScale's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security could be better. We have Superna that we buy along with Dell PowerScale, but we are seeing very big problems with integrating it. Superna is primarily for the security use case, as we want to prevent cybersecurity attacks and ransomware attacks. If Dell is providing this as a supplementary feature, it should provide better support. Regarding Dell PowerScale's AI capabilities, I do not see much accuracy and reliability of output. This is actually a security problem because Dell does not provide official MCP servers while most other vendors are providing it. This forces us to rely on open source, which is not secure. Dell PowerScale plays a role in my organization's AI initiatives as we want to use the Metadata IQ functionality from Dell PowerScale; however, there is not enough support and extensive documentation for us to be able to do this.

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Mac Wang

Project Manager at Realnux

A stable solution with good performance and bandwidth

The tool's setup is not difficult. The deployment is completed within two to three days and we would require three engineers to handle the process. First, we need to install the software which can take around two to three hours. Next, comes the configuration and connection to the central network which is complex. It can take about eight to ten hours to complete.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, the hardware itself, and the OneFS file system, are the best selling points, combined with the delivery and the installation."

"The tool's most valuable features are high density and scalability."

"I have experienced a significant improvement once we switched to Dell PowerScale nodes as compared to other nodes that we use previously."

"What I appreciate about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) are its best features: it supports both file and object storage, and it is very easy to manage."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its performance."

"With Dell PowerScale, there is no concern about whether the system is running; Dell PowerScale operates in all circumstances, and we have experienced six years of zero seconds of downtime."

"Certainly, we have seen return on investment and peace of mind, especially with our two clusters that are linked together, where one is a disaster recovery solution for the other."

"The capacity and scalability are what I appreciate the most about it; that was huge for us. We saw its benefits immediately after we started using it."

More Dell PowerScale pros

"The stability is excellent and we've found the product's performance to be very good."

"We've found the product to be quite flexible."

"I am impressed with the tool's performance and bandwidth."

Cons

"The price always has room for improvement."

"Perhaps if there was a local chatbot built within the system or on the dashboard where we could directly ask for anything on the OneFS, it could help us."

"The legacy file system for Epsilon didn't scale into the cloud and didn't have a separate OS. It would be key if this was made possible."

"My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerScale has been expensive."

"The product needs to improve CLI since commands are complex. The search option is also difficult since you must give the full path."

"Dell's customer service needs improvement. Specifically, hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline."

"The support offered by the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"There is room for improvement in its handling of object storage."

More Dell PowerScale cons

"The solution is quite expensive."

"We have received complaints from customers that the tool is not easy to use. The tool's local technical service is slow. The solution is good for Linux customers and not for customers with other operating systems like Windows. The solution should provide storage without client software integration."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."

"Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment."

"The solution is expensive; it is not the cheapest solution out there. If you look at it from a total cost of ownership perspective, then it is a very compelling solution. However, if you're looking at just dollar per terabyte and not looking at the big picture, then you could be distracted by the price. It is not an amazing price, but it's pretty good. It is also very good when you consider the total cost of ownership and ease of management."

"The only drawback for us is that it's a large upfront investment. This was a huge decision for a startup company to make. It took a bit for us to get over the line on it, but we have not regretted it."

"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is an expensive solution."

"This solution is priced slightly higher than others on the market but does offer good quality. With this solution's data reduction and compression, we were able to purchase less. Costs have dropped because of the data rate of compression and deduplication."

"Dealing with the product costs and licensing areas is getting easier since Dell is simplifying the licensing process and licensing packages offered to users."

More Dell PowerScale pricing and cost advice

"The solution's price is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	70

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

When it comes to pricing for Dell PowerScale, I find it reasonable. As you may expect, it is a high-end enterprise solution, so it comes with a price that is not expensive but not cheap. However, i...

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What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

I believe Dell PowerScale can be improved by advancing its AI capabilities further. For instance, when we fetch data, it could potentially display multiple options of how the data looks in differen...

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What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

Dell PowerScale serves as a premier scale-out network-attached storage solution that I primarily use for data storage and managing mass volumes of unstructured data. I use it to handle different do...

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Comparisons

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Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

Huawei OceanStor 9000 vs Panasas ActiveStor

Compared 7% of the time

CTERA Intelligent Data Platform vs Panasas ActiveStor

Compared 7% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Panasas ActiveStor

Compared 5% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Panasas ActiveStor

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale

November 2026

Download Dell PowerScale product report

Buyer's Guide

NAS

October 2026

Download Panasas ActiveStor product report

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon

ActiveStor

Overview

As a storage engine in Dell AI Data Platform, Dell PowerScale is the world's #1 scale-out NAS platform for enterprise unstructured data. Trusted by more than 25,000 customers, including more than 1,500 customers running GPU workloads, PowerScale uses OneFS operating system to provide a single namespace and unified file and object access for AI/ML training, RAG pipelines, analytics, media production, and life sciences, and other demanding workloads. PowerScale F710 was the world’s first Ethernet-based storage appliance certified with NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD. Selected configurations support NVIDIA GPUDirect Storage, pNFS, and NFS over RDMA for high-throughput parallel AI data access. PowerScale supports near-linear, non-disruptive scaling from terabytes to petabytes. Available in all-flash, hybrid, and archive configurations for on-premises and cloud deployment options, including AWS and Azure. Supported next-generation configurations deliver up to 35 GB/s read throughput per node.

Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.

What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Single-pane management: Simplifies data control and monitoring through a unified interface.
SyncIQ: Ensures efficient data replication for business continuity.
SmartQuotas: Provides intelligent quota management for optimized storage allocation.
Multi-protocol support: Facilitates cross-platform data access and integration.
Seamless storage expansion: Allows effortless scaling to accommodate growing data needs.

What benefits should users consider when reviewing Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Operational efficiency: Reduces workload with easy management and automation.
Enhanced security: Offers comprehensive data protection and recovery options.
Scalability: Supports large-scale data storage with flexible growth capabilities.
Performance: Delivers high-speed data processing for demanding applications.
Integration flexibility: Adapts to on-prem and hybrid cloud environments for diverse deployment needs.

Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.

Dell Technologies

Panasas ActiveStor is a high-performance storage system providing scalable and efficient data management designed for high-demand workloads. It is ideal for environments requiring robust storage capabilities with easy management and high scalability.

ActiveStor stands out in providing unmatched data throughput, reliability, and scalability, supporting diverse high-performance computing environments. It is designed to tackle demanding workloads requiring fast access to large datasets, essential for maximizing storage performance. ActiveStor integrates seamlessly, ensuring minimal downtime and ease of management for IT professionals.

What are the key features of Panasas ActiveStor?

Scalability: Handles increasing data sizes and user demands
High Throughput: Maintains consistent performance under load
Fault Tolerance: Ensures data protection with redundancy
Easy Integration: Compatible with existing infrastructures

What benefits should be considered in reviews?

Performance Improvement: Enhanced I/O speeds for faster workloads
Data Protection: Robust mechanisms to secure data integrity
Reduced Downtime: Simplified recovery processes to ensure constant availability
Cost Efficiency: Optimized resource management for better financial outcomes

Industries such as media, finance, and research benefit significantly from ActiveStor's capabilities. Its implementation aids researchers in handling complex simulations, media organizations in optimizing large file transfers, and finance sectors in processing vast datasets swiftly, all while ensuring robust data management.

Panasas

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,

Advanced Mask Technology Center Airbus Argonne National Laboratory The University of Texas at Dallas School of Arts Technology and Emerging Communication Башнефть Boeing Bosch California Academy of Sciences Caltech Canon Case Western Reserve University Conoco Phillips Deluxe DirecTV Fairfield Technologies United States Federal Reserve Garvan Institute of Medical Research Goodyear Halliburton Harvard Medical School Honeywell In-Depth Geophysical Intel Kawasaki Lockheed Martin 3M Magseis Fairfield Mammal Studios The Man Group McLaren Mercedes-Benz MINES ParisTech NASA US Navy National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center NBCUniversal National Institutes of Health Nio National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northrup Grumman Novartis Partners Healthcare Procter & Gamble PGS Pratt & Whitney Rutherford Appleton Lab Siemens Sim International Sinopec Solers Square Cnix TGS Toyota Motorsport GMBH Toppan Turner UMass Medical School United Technologies University of Georgia University of California Los Angeles University of Minnesota University of Notre Dame University of California San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation Whiskytree

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale vs. Panasas ActiveStor

November 2026

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