Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs VxRail comparison

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes and VxRail are both solutions in the HCI category. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.8, while VxRail is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes holds a 2.9% mindshare in HCI, compared to VxRail’s 15.8% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of VxRail users who would recommend it.

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Read 21 Dell vSAN Ready Nodes reviews

1,783 Views
1,783 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

VxRail

Read 133 VxRail reviews

14,337 Views
13,620 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

VxRail

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

VxRail and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are hyper-converged infrastructure solutions from Dell. VxRail seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive integration with VMware, providing high performance and ease of management.

Features: VxRail stands out with seamless upgrades and comprehensive system checks utilizing VxRail Manager. It offers high availability and ease of administration due to its integration with VMware. Features like RecoverPoint and ESRS enhance data protection and monitoring. Additionally, its expansion capabilities support business growth without third-party dependencies. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are known for software-defined storage prowess, providing strong performance and scalability. They offer modularity, allowing enterprises to choose hardware configurations that fit their needs.

Room for Improvement: VxRail users have pointed out installation challenges and the need for faster security patch rollouts. Enhanced cloud integration and a simplified setup are also desired. For Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, users suggest a more integrated pricing structure and improved hardware support, including faster firmware lifecycle rollouts and better patch management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both VxRail and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are primarily deployed on-premises, with some hybrid cloud utilization. VxRail is praised for its technical support and dedicated assistance, although it is considered costly. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes receive positive feedback for support but room for improvement in technical engagement is noted. Both benefit from strong Dell customer service, with VxRail seemingly offering a more tailored support experience.

Pricing and ROI: VxRail's pricing is considered expensive for smaller businesses but justified through reduced management overhead and operational efficiency. The solution's integration with VMware contributes to its return on investment by streamlining hybrid cloud operations. Meanwhile, Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are seen as more cost-effective over time, despite higher upfront license costs. Customers value its competitive pricing and reliable performance, although certain configurations encounter criticism over premium pricing.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. VxRail Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. VxRail

September 2025

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Helped 868,787 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

3.7

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes offer 30-40% savings despite integration issues, leveraging existing staff to reduce operating expenses.

Sentiment score

5.2

VxRail delivers ROI through simplified management, reduced costs, quick deployment, and seamless integration into hybrid cloud environments.

The OPEX benefits are around 30 to 40% because the same engineer who manages vSphere can handle Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, eliminating the need for additional support engineers.

KuldeepSingh4

Technical Solution Architect at HCLSoftware

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

4.0

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes support is rated positively, though response times can be slow, with varying service quality.

Sentiment score

7.7

VxRail support is praised for knowledge and resolution but criticized for response times and international availability challenges.

If we require a replacement part, the engagement is usually within four hours

Humphrey Hlatshwayo

Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.

Whether we have pro support plus or just the basic level, they are helpful and reliable as long as we provide the necessary details.

reviewer1046019

Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

There is always room for improvement in terms of response time and reaching knowledgeable staff quickly.

reviewer2598528

Senior Engineering Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

A key area for improvement for VMware would be response time.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

The support is all provided by Dell, and it is quite good.

Peter Braack

Principal Consultant at Sycor GmbH

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.2

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes offer scalability and flexibility, though costs and resource needs pose challenges for larger deployments.

Sentiment score

7.6

VxRail is highly scalable, effortlessly expanding resources, supporting up to 64 nodes, ideal for diverse organizational needs.

With VCF we have significant automation built-in within the VCF console within SDDC manager as the primary management console.

KuldeepSingh4

Technical Solution Architect at HCLSoftware

I would rate scalability around seven because when customers want to expand capacity but all the drive slots are full, they are forced to buy new servers or nodes which adds more costs with licenses and hardware.

reviewer1046019

Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

There are limitations, such as the inability to upgrade from a single to dual CPU in certain configurations.

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Scalability is easy with VxRail.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

5.1

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are stable and reliable, with high stability ratings, though performance and disk issues require management.

Sentiment score

8.5

VxRail offers high stability, reliability, and robust performance, with users appreciating its minimal issues and graceful handling of failures.

A disk group for five disks can be problematic, and customers need to tolerate downtime if the disk is not available.

KuldeepSingh4

Technical Solution Architect at HCLSoftware

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

It is a very stable and mature product, with centralized management and upgrades being perfect for us.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

The product is very stable, and I rate its stability as nine out of ten.

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Room For Improvement

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes need better scalability, automation, cost-efficiency, integration, support, and updates to address current customer challenges.

VxRail users face compatibility, scalability, and cost issues, seeking better integration, automation, and improved support while managing complexities.

A faster firmware lifecycle with the release of validated firmware catalogs more quickly would be a desired improvement.

reviewer2598528

Senior Engineering Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees

I would want VMware to ensure that when there's a hardware failure on a host, it should gracefully migrate the VMs to another host available in the cluster without restarting, which would be a great improvement.

Humphrey Hlatshwayo

Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are useful as a product, but the lack of expansion with VMware has led customers to refrain from further upgrades.

reviewer1046019

Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

It requires a very clean environment to proceed without issues.

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Stabilizing the update procedure further would make it better.

Peter Braack

Principal Consultant at Sycor GmbH

The major issue with VxRail is the razoring process, which can only be performed by Dell.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Setup Cost

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are initially costly but cost-effective long-term, with competitive pricing and annual licensing considerations.

VxRail is competitive but costly, with potential negotiation benefits, yet high initial costs concern smaller organizations.

As a group under Comcast, we receive very good pricing from Dell due to our considerable business dealings.

reviewer2598528

Senior Engineering Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

Previously, the cost was higher, however, recent changes in VMware pricing have reduced it.

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Purchasing VxRail is quite expensive compared to a simple Dell server.

Peter Braack

Principal Consultant at Sycor GmbH

The cost varies for us as a large company because we receive special offers from Dell.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Valuable Features

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes offer compact design, scalability, and robust security, enhancing performance and user experience with single-vendor support.

VxRail enhances productivity with seamless integration, centralized management, scalability, and cost-effective hyper-converged infrastructure for efficient resource consolidation.

The benefit of using vSAN is that it's easy to manage on vCenter. You can see if there are issues, get recommendations, and overall, it's highly fault-free which is beneficial because we want to minimize downtime.

Humphrey Hlatshwayo

Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.

The ability for single-team management without requiring a separate storage team for managing arrays and fiber channel switches is also a valuable feature.

reviewer2598528

Senior Engineering Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees

Dell's technical support is generally very good.

reviewer1046019

Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell vSAN Ready Nodes report

Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

The features of VxRail that we find most useful for our customers include the easy update mechanism and the support for both VMware and hardware.

Peter Braack

Principal Consultant at Sycor GmbH

Another benefit is the fully automated upgrade process, which is completed with just one click through the VxRail Manager.

AlexOltean

Technical architect at Emerson

For more quotes and insights, download the VxRail report

Categories and Ranking

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Ranking in HCI

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VxRail

Ranking in HCI

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

133

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is 2.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VxRail is 15.8%, down from 20.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VxRail	15.8%
Dell vSAN Ready Nodes	2.9%
Other	81.3%

HCI

Featured Reviews

KuldeepSingh4

Technical Solution Architect at HCLSoftware

Experience improved efficiency and customer satisfaction with enhanced integration and management capabilities

Scalability involves two types of environments: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and non-VCF environment where we use VMware Validated Foundation. With VCF we have significant automation built-in within the VCF console within SDDC manager as the primary management console. For non-VCF environments, it depends on customer choice. For small environments, we do manual scalability and sometimes use Terraform scripts to keep the host ready and add in the cluster automatically. For large environments with frequent scalability actions, we propose the Terraform solution that builds ESXi, does necessary configuration, and automatically starts up for associating with the existing environment. If scaling is infrequent, with one or two hosts per month, it is a manual job. From a challenge perspective, it seems easier, with just a few pre-checks regarding make and model compatibility, disks, and server health on the hardware level.

Read full review

Rami Jadallah

Data Center Solution Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Streamline management and integration with seamless upgrades

The primary reasons customers choose VxRail include ease of management, ease of upgrades, and integration with VMware. The hyper-converged infrastructure simplifies software and hardware upgrades. Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	42
Large Enterprise	56

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and stability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

There is no specific licensing model for vSAN ReadyNodes as it is linked with Broadcom VMware's solutions rather than Dell's. As a group under Comcast, we receive very good pricing from Dell due to...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

See all answers

How does HPE Nimble Storage compare to VxRail?

HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one, zero rule. That means I need three copies of my data on two different types of me...

See all answers

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 engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...

See all answers

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 being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if the user is working with a l...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSAN vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 14% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 10% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 10% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 8% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

October 2025

Download Dell vSAN Ready Nodes product report

Buyer's Guide

VxRail

September 2025

Download VxRail product report

Also Known As

vSAN Ready Nodes

VCE VxRail

Overview

Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes are pre-configured building blocks that reduce deployment
risks with certified configurations, improve storage efficiency by up to 50%1
, and can help
you build or scale your vSAN cluster faster.14 Whether you're just getting started, and/or
expanding your existing VMware environment, Dell EMC is here for you every step of the
way with consulting, education, deployment and support services for the entire solution.

Dell Technologies

VxRail is a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance co-engineered by Dell Technologies and VMware, designed to optimize VMware environments by simplifying compute, storage, virtualization, and management.

Built on VMware vSAN software, VxRail ensures high performance, reliability, and flexibility. It supports a broad array of workloads, from business-critical applications to next-generation use cases. VxRail simplifies infrastructure management with powerful integration and seamless scalability, offering centralized management and user-friendly interfaces. Streamlined updates, robust lifecycle management, and one-click upgrades facilitate a user-centric experience that minimizes deployment complexity and staffing needs. However, its performance with disk deduplication, integration with public clouds, and processor support can be enhanced, along with pricing and licensing improvements.

What features define VxRail?

High Performance: Optimized for superior efficiency in VMware environments.
Seamless Scalability: Scales effortlessly to accommodate growing demands.
Centralized Management: Simplifies control through unified interfaces.
Effortless Integration: Easily integrates with VMware tools and services.
Automated Updates: Ensures ongoing system availability through streamlined updates.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Resource Efficiency: Reduces staffing requirements and optimizes resource use.
Flexibility: Supports a variety of use cases and workloads.
Reliable Support: Provides robust support to ensure operational continuity.
Reduced Complexity: Facilitates ease of deployment and minimized setup times.

Organizations across sectors such as finance, telecommunications, education, and manufacturing utilize VxRail for its scalability, ease of deployment, and infrastructure management capabilities. It aids in server and application hosting, storage, and virtualization management, often employing VMware integration. The platform is valued for its ability to consolidate IT components, support VDI solutions, and enhance cloud readiness and resource allocation.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Rackspace

World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. VxRail

September 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. VxRail and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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