Dell SC Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series comparison

Dell Technologies and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell Technologies is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.8, while Lenovo is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell Technologies holds a 0.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Dell SC Series and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series offer competitive storage solutions. Pricing and support favor Dell SC Series; however, Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series stands out for its advanced features, justifying the higher cost.

Features: Dell SC Series offers automated data storage management, efficient migration tools, and intuitive data optimization. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series provides robust data protection, scalable architecture, and advanced data management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Dell SC Series needs better integration flexibility, more intuitive management tools, and enhanced user interface design. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series could improve its initial setup process, reduce complexity, and simplify configuration protocols.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell SC Series is known for straightforward deployment and reliable customer service. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series, while somewhat complex during setup, compensates with highly responsive support.

Pricing and ROI: Dell SC Series is cost-effective with quick ROI due to lower setup costs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series, despite a higher price, provides long-term ROI through advanced features and extended benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell SC Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell SC Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

July 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

9.3

Dell SC Series offers cost-effective virtualization, ease of management, and significant savings through flash disks, boosting ROI and user satisfaction.

Sentiment score

2.8

Customers achieved cost savings and improved efficiency with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series, benefiting from better data management and scalable solutions.

By opting for the gold subscription every three years, you get a free upgrade to the latest controller release.

SajithEruvangai

IT System Specialist - Operations & Infrastructure at Daman

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

Users were very happy when I bought it, as it significantly lowered disk response times.

reviewer2618529

It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series 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

7.2

Dell SC Series support is highly rated for its responsiveness, knowledgeable staff, and effective issue resolution globally.

Sentiment score

4.9

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series customer service experiences are mixed, with some praising it and others citing poor support.

We also had one outage where a controller of one of the products had failed and had to be replaced on-site.

reviewer943512

System and Network administrator at Vodafone

Customers always have their issues resolved promptly.

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Pure has good storage.

Gokhan Dikmen

Vice President of product at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

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

Advanced support offers instant replacement without delays.

Ramnesh Kumar

System Administrator at Lovely Professional University

Compared to other companies, Dell SC Series offers one of the best support experiences in my career.

RafaelGamaluis

Architect Engineer, IT INFRASTRUCTURES Project Manager at Vilavi

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series 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

6.1

Dell SC Series offers flexible, scalable storage for businesses of all sizes, though some note cost and controller limitations.

Sentiment score

6.4

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is highly scalable for medium to large enterprises, though costs and connections can limit expansion.

It is highly scalable.

Joerg Utesch

Sales Director at systemzwo group

It is suitable for both medium-sized and enterprise businesses.

Jaka Demšar

VAD PLSM Storage - Slovenia & Croatia at ASBIS

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

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is scalable, and I would rate its scalability as a seven out of ten.

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series 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

8.9

Dell SC Series is stable, cost-effective, with minimal downtime and maintenance, praised for replication and reliable performance despite setup complexities.

Sentiment score

5.5

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is generally stable and reliable, though some users report occasional failures and resilience issues.

During the eight years, there have been no problems such as hardware failure or stopping.

Gokhan Dikmen

Vice President of product at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

I would rate the stability of the solution as a ten out of ten.

SajithEruvangai

IT System Specialist - Operations & Infrastructure at Daman

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

In storages, stability is the most important aspect, even before performance.

reviewer2618529

It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

If I have sold fifty boxes, about fifty percent of them experienced failure.

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series report

Room For Improvement

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

Dell SC Series needs improved user-friendliness, technical support, integration, scalability, and features like compression, automation, and cloud compatibility.

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series needs licensing flexibility, enhanced features, better service, and improved pricing and management.

We would appreciate a built-in transparent failover in the next release to eliminate the need for a separate metro cluster.

Joerg Utesch

Sales Director at systemzwo group

I'm eagerly anticipating the roadmap's promise of introducing multiple controllers, which could significantly boost scalability and resilience.

SajithEruvangai

IT System Specialist - Operations & Infrastructure at Daman

We mostly rely on long-term releases. We don't need the most up-to-date features, but we need a reliable environment.

reviewer943512

System and Network administrator at Vodafone

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

Dell PowerStore, which supports NVMe over TCP, is different and not very affordable.

reviewer2618529

It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees

In the future, I want any box that comes on-premises to have the provision to integrate with cloud storage.

Ramnesh Kumar

System Administrator at Lovely Professional University

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

Many customers have lost data while configuring it, indicating a need for improvement.

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series report

Setup Cost

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

Dell SC Series offers competitive and scalable enterprise storage, with varied pricing and discounts for partnering users.

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series offers competitive pricing comparable to Dell and HPE but with complex cost calculations and optional features.

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

I would give it a nine out of ten in terms of costliness.

SajithEruvangai

IT System Specialist - Operations & Infrastructure at Daman

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

Sometimes Dell offers better performance for less money.

reviewer2618529

It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

There are extra expenses beyond the standard licensing fee for features such as replication and deduplication, which are available on demand.

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series report

Valuable Features

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

Dell SC Series provides performance, auto-tiering, and replication with ease of management, scalability, high availability, and strong support.

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is praised for FlexClone, cloud tiering, data efficiency, and ONTAP features, offering superior service.

Pure Storage has signature security technology, which cannot be deleted, even if you are an administrator.

Gokhan Dikmen

Vice President of product at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

The platform's robust features include excellent sustainability tracking, and a comprehensive dashboard offering insights into IOPS, bandwidth, performance, and virtual activities.

SajithEruvangai

IT System Specialist - Operations & Infrastructure at Daman

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

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

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

The storage also lowered the response time of disks across the entire farm, making it a great product for operational efficiency.

reviewer2618529

It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees

I can mix and match the drives, using older mechanical devices and the latest SFP drives in a single solution with different enclosures.

Ramnesh Kumar

System Administrator at Lovely Professional University

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell SC Series report

One of the most valuable features of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is the snapshot feature.

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series report

Categories and Ranking

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell SC Series is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is 2.1%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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

RafaelGamaluis

Architect Engineer, IT INFRASTRUCTURES Project Manager at Vilavi

User interface offers clarity and detailed information while technical support consistently delivers

The best features of Dell SC Series are stability and replication. The replication solution is excellent, and they have a solution named Live Migration. It is a robust platform. The interface and the GUI (graphical user interface) for administrating the Compellent are exceptional, with abundant information that is very clear. The management capabilities are excellent, and the stability of our storage hardware is remarkable.

Read full review

Mark Richmond

Chief Technology Officer at Next Level Communications

Reliable and fast servers with good support

We use on-premise servers with Lenovo ThinkSystem. We set up Hyper-V and load multiple types of servers including a domain controller, a SQL Server, and application servers The solution provides fast servers that are reasonably priced. We set up RAID ten to ensure drive redundancy, leading to…

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

University

Performing Arts

Government

Computer Software Company

23%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 do you like most about Dell SC Series?

I find this version to be more budget-friendly compared to products from other vendors. This aspect greatly benefits ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell SC Series?

In our case, we received favorable pricing with Dell because of our strong partnership. While I acknowledge that Dell...

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What needs improvement with Dell SC Series?

For us, it is a great product. The deduplication and compression could potentially be improved, though they are alrea...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

There are extra expenses beyond the standard licensing fee for features such as replication and deduplication, which ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many cus...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

My primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series ( /products/lenovo-thinksystem-dm-series-reviews ) is for storag...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 25% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 13% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Dell SC Series

Compared 45% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Dell SC Series

Compared 10% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell SC Series

Compared 10% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell SC Series

Compared 9% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Dell SC Series

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell SC Series Competitors

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 38% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 14% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 11% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 10% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 6% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

August 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell SC Series

August 2025

Download Dell SC Series product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

July 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series product report

Also Known As

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

SC Series Storage, Compellent

ThinkSystem DM Series

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

Dell EMC SC Series arrays provide a unified platform for the ultimate in performance, adaptability and machine-driven efficiency. SC Series software delivers modern features that help you meet aggressive workload demands using the fewest drives necessary. With an open, future-ready design, SC Series storage integrates seamlessly with applications and infrastructure, enabling you to scale on a single platform and add capabilities without forklift upgrades.

Dell Technologies

To meet enterprise storage requirements, ThinkSystem All-Flash DM Series systems provide high performance, superior flexibility, and best-in-class data management. DM Series runs on ONTAP data management software, which gives customers unified storage across block-and-file workloads. It accelerates your business while improving the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of your IT operations.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

TGen, Frost Science, Gerrie Electric

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Dell SC Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

July 2025

Free Report: Dell SC Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell SC Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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