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Dell XC Appliance vs HPE Hyper Converged comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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 XC Appliance
Ranking in HCI
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Hyper Converged
Ranking in HCI
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Dell XC Appliance is 1.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Hyper Converged is 2.4%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Hyper Converged2.4%
Dell XC Appliance1.7%
Other95.9%
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Enables seamless integration with multiple software and outstanding AI tools
The main issue with the DirectVXL appliance is that it only supports a single orchestrator or hypervisor. If multi-hypervisor support is required and VMware does not provide it, then Dell's appliance won't support it. I find it overly reliant on VMware. In cases of company mergers involving different platforms, software that can handle a multi-hypervisor environment would facilitate quicker integration.
PD
IT Project Manager at Intesa Sanpaolo
Has enabled me to simplify complex infrastructures and support virtualization projects with efficiency
In HP, I have been on board on a project study until 2018 and we studied the server rack model that supports HPE Hyper Converged board and Windows configuration. HPE Hyper Converged is excellent because it can avoid the usage of storage area network. For example, if you have three servers in parallel in a battery, a cluster, you can share the local storage for each server in a hyper-converged virtual storage without the storage area network. The architecture here has a simple physical structure. The logical configuration is complex, but the physical infrastructure is simpler than the old legacy cluster with the storage area network. The possibility of issues is minor. There is a very high level of redundancy and very high level of performance distribution and parallel usage of resources. It functions as a grid configuration. HPE Hyper Converged can be improved by replacing the old infrastructure based on legacy clusters and old servers. It can replace and dispose of legacy storage that is very expensive to maintain and has great dimensions to manage. You can dispose of big storage to have a battery of local servers with local storage in a hyper-converged architecture. This is not the future, it is the new technology. It is probably the best solution for cloud service and also for companies that require several virtualized environments. The foundation for using the hyper-converged solution is virtualization. First, every company must switch from physical setup to virtual configuration. Second, HPE Hyper Converged is a technology upgraded to avoid local big storage, storage area network, and complex fiber cabling from server to storage. You can eliminate everything and just manage the battery of servers in hyper-converged configuration as they share and are able to share the local storage as main big storage area network.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, the Dell XC Appliance is a very good product."
"The most valuable features are the deduplication and the compression features."
"The stability of the product is pretty good, as there have been no bugs, glitches, or crashes that I'm aware of."
"When we compare it to normal hardware servers, I'd say it is quite easy to configure and deploy."
"The most valuable feature is that you can assign a volume to an off-shore workload on the fly."
"What I like the most is that it is easy to implement, easy deployment and that it's easy to manage."
"We are getting time back to other things because we are not having to look after the infrastructure, as we have had to do in the past."
"The solution's best feature is its simplicity. It's so simple to deploy it. You've got the VMware, and it's own appliance. It is really helpful. The system is online within half a day and saves so much time."
"One of the good features would be the fast backup solution Hyper Converged offers, which is more efficient compared to other vendors."
"The performance is good compared to the cost of the solution."
"HPE Hyper Converged is stable."
"The HA, which means I have a copy of the VMs always available, and the moment a VM is down, the system tries to power it on again."
"Looking back after a year and a half, I really think that it was the right decision and it has made my job easier."
"It is easy to manage; the administration is simpler. It saves a lot of rack space in the data center because you can consolidate 20 servers into three to five nodes. The client will be able to benefit from power savings and cost savings as well."
"The features of HPE Hyper Converged that are most effective and beneficial are its simplicity as well as its scalability."
"The solution is reasonably priced and easy to manage for the smaller to medium size business companies where they don't need an IT department."
 

Cons

"The pricing for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."
"Currently, there is no support for the servers that are not in the cluster."
"To improve this product, I think there is a lot of work that is required by Dell to simplify the maintenance and life cycle upgrades."
"There should be more provisioning capabilities within the solution."
"The cost of using the public cloud deployment is astronomical."
"In the next release, I would like to see support for Docker and containers."
"The solution's storage size could be improved."
"We are not always advised of new features or updates, so we must research to stay up to date."
"This solution is very costly."
"Installation and setup could be easier."
"The solution would be better served if it integrated with other solutions better."
"If the solution could further compress the data, it would use less storage."
"The solution can be improved on the management side. More management features should be added to future releases."
"I would like to see improvement in the hardware underneath it."
"Scalability requires using additional nodes."
"Data protection and optimization is really weak; they do not offer deduplication or compression, and we do not have a real backup solution beyond snapshots, which is forcing us to do automatic backups of the extremely important data on different servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price point is very fair for a product in this category but can vary depending on the components selected within the family of products."
"We received a good price from Dell."
"The pricing is good."
"The pricing for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."
"The pricing is dependent on the technology and is in direct relation to the manufacturer and the components."
"There are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"We have a very good return on investment due to data savings through compression and deduplication methods. It simplifies IT management and enhances security, including the end-to-end security of the IT data engine. The product is complete, simple, and provides visibility."
"It could be cheaper, everything could be cheaper."
"I would rate the price at seven out of ten. There are no additional licensing fees, but it would be cheaper to go with a dHCI solution."
"The product's pricing is very competitive because HPE provides a buyback policy to users...Users can make either monthly or yearly payments towards the licensing cause of the solution."
"HPE Hyper Converged is an affordable solution."
"The solutions cost us a lot."
"Pricing with Dell EMC is double the price which I paid for HPE. However, in the end, Dell EMC is double in performance. This is not an apple to apple comparison though, as I have a four node from Dell EMC and a three node."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering Dell XC Appliance?
My advice for people who are selling this product is to first make sure that you educate the customers. The customer doesn't often know much about HCI and what the need to be using it for. If they ...
What needs improvement with Dell XC Appliance?
The main issue with the DirectVXL appliance is that it only supports a single orchestrator or hypervisor. If multi-hypervisor support is required and VMware does not provide it, then Dell's applian...
What is your primary use case for Dell XC Appliance?
Dell offers several benefits with its appliances. Primarily, I can combine them horizontally and vertically, reaching up to sixty-four nodes. Additionally, Dell employs its own artificial intellige...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Hyper Converged?
The product is intermediate in price, neither expensive nor cheap. We are talking about an on-premises solution without licensing for years. Currently, licensing is required for VMs and CPU cores. ...
What needs improvement with HPE Hyper Converged?
The initial setup of HPE Hyper Converged requires study and a comprehensive understanding of virtualization. The second step is to follow instructions step by step, as it can be complex to understa...
What is your primary use case for HPE Hyper Converged?
I have several years of experience in storage area network and IT infrastructure, working with Pure Secure, Pure Secure Storage, EMC Square, HP, and Lenovo storage and other brands, several other b...
 

Also Known As

No data available
HPE Hyper Converged 380, HPE Hyper Converged 250, HPE Hyper Converged 250 for Microsoft CPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cardlytics, AEW Energie, Aubert, Zhongtong Information Service, Commune de Villepinte, Teikyo University Hospital
North Lindsey College, FireWhat?, HudsonAlpha
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XC Appliance vs. HPE Hyper Converged and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.