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Dell XC Appliance vs HPE SimpliVity comparison

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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
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
155
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 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 SimpliVity is 5.6%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE SimpliVity5.6%
Dell XC Appliance1.7%
Other92.7%
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.
Mohammed Lokman Hossen - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Has integrated solutions and rapid recovery made management smoother and more reliable
There is the latest update from HPE regarding HPE SimpliVity. For virtualization, HPE has to depend on other manufacturers, OEMs such as VMware or Hyper-V. Recently, HPE declared the VM essential virtualization solution. In the future, if HPE integrates HPE SimpliVity with VM essential, that will be a great combination. Functionality-wise, I am totally satisfied with HPE SimpliVity, but for improvement, if HPE integrates its own virtualization solution, this combination and integration will be beneficial because this integration can be configured with the cloud-based system. A VM can be uploaded to the cloud from this, which will be advantageous for backup to other sites.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The solution's best feature is its simplicity."
"To other customers who are looking to implement Dell XC, it's a very good hyper-converged solution."
"The stability of the product is pretty good, as there have been no bugs, glitches, or crashes that I'm aware of."
"Dell's appliances provide several key benefits, including horizontal and vertical scalability up to 64 nodes, proprietary artificial intelligence tools that are uncommon in the industry, seamless iDRAC integration with VMware to monitor VM details, performance, and hardware issues from one screen, and CloudIQ software that proactively addresses configuration errors."
"The most valuable features are the deduplication and the compression features."
"When we compare it to normal hardware servers, I'd say it is quite easy to configure and deploy."
"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."
"This solution is best for companies just starting out or who are working with a small environment and are looking for a small infrastructure."
"The most valuable features of SimpliVity are the built-in backup and immunity to ransomware."
"We really enjoy the virtualization that the solution offers."
"Customers have moved to SimpliVity for ease of use, consolidation of vendors, reducing cost, improving performance, improve data protection capabilities, and even managing storage at multiple sites."
"The improvement to the company has been in terms of data reduction, we're storing more data with a lower footprint."
"Disaster recovery, backup simplification, deduplication, and compression features have helped improve my organization."
"​My impression is that it is a very nice solution. Very simple to use."
"It has a proven track record of stability."
 

Cons

"The pricing for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."
"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."
"In the next release, I would like to see support for Docker and containers."
"Currently, there is no support for the servers that are not in the cluster."
"We are not always advised of new features or updates, so we must research to stay up to date."
"The solution's storage size could be improved."
"The cost of using the public cloud deployment is astronomical."
"There should be more provisioning capabilities within the solution."
"A better GUI for some functions."
"When it comes to performing backups, the dashboard is not intuitive and not user-friendly."
"Nutanix very often beats us."
"The price could be better and it needs to back to other storage."
"I would give this solution a six out of 10 because it's not so stable and there are some bugs in the nodes."
"SimpliVity's data management could be better. Nutanix's interface is a bit more user-friendly."
"The biggest feature, which should be included, is some method to handle archival backup or cloud-based backup."
"High availability for large production environments needs to be offered."
 

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."
"The pricing is dependent on the technology and is in direct relation to the manufacturer and the components."
"The pricing is good."
"We received a good price from Dell."
"The pricing for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."
"Its licensing is quite easy. There is a model license, but it depends on the system you buy. There are no extra costs. There is only one license."
"There is a one-time purchase needed for the license for HPE SimpliVity. The solution is expensive, but it is worth the money."
"In terms of the licenses, customers do not actually get any benefit."
"We did get some quotes from Nutanix, and they were ballparks. So, it is not cheap, and there is nothing free, but those two were comparable."
"HPE has decided to sell the solution in all-flash configurations, which may not be as cost effective for smaller mid-market enterprises."
"Scaling isn't cheap"
"The licenses from the product are expensive compared to the other solutions in the market."
"Other vendors fall short on price compared to HPE on this product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
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 Business67
Midsize Enterprise49
Large Enterprise80
 

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...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
Standalone HPE SimpliVity is more expensive than other OEMs and solutions. Regarding the software side, VMware is costing significantly more nowadays compared to other solutions in the market. The ...
What needs improvement with HPE SimpliVity?
I haven't noticed anything that should be better in HPE SimpliVity, as I haven't done extensive work on this platform; I have only completed a couple of projects recently. Pricing could be an area ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SimpliVity, HPE HCI
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cardlytics, AEW Energie, Aubert, Zhongtong Information Service, Commune de Villepinte, Teikyo University Hospital
Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XC Appliance vs. HPE SimpliVity and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,262 professionals have used our research since 2012.