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Dell XC Appliance vs HPE SimpliVity 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 SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
6th
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 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 SimpliVity is 5.7%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE SimpliVity5.7%
Dell XC Appliance1.7%
Other92.6%
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

"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 feature is the low management overhead, and the lower skill set required to manage it."
"The most valuable features are the deduplication and the compression features."
"It's an extremely stable solution, and I highly recommend it."
"Overall, the Dell XC Appliance is a very good product."
"The most valuable feature is that you can assign a volume to an off-shore workload on the fly."
"When we compare it to normal hardware servers, I'd say it is quite easy to configure and deploy."
"From a single screen, I can view VM details, performance, and hardware issues, such as power supply or fan malfunctions, along with RAM module problems."
"Software upgrades and scalability can be done during normal business hours with no downtime."
"It's a very good solution for disaster recovery."
"SimpliVity's console is useful."
"Compared to the protection offerings of the platforms, I think the competing native data protection just isn't there, and SimpliVity really got that part nailed down."
"We were under promised and over delivered!"
"The main reason customers choose this solution is the fast backup and recovery capabilities."
"Disaster recovery, backup simplification, deduplication, and compression features have helped improve my organization."
"We had a standard HPE blade server, our reseller put forward SimpliVity to us, we tried it out and tested it, and I was like, "Wow," it blew us away."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The cost of using the public cloud deployment is astronomical."
"In the next release, I would like to see support for Docker and containers."
"Although HPE has made significant improvements, the upgrade procedure is still overly complex."
"A better GUI for some functions."
"Its deployment should be easier."
"There may be issues around scaling."
"They can bring more awareness about this product."
"There are some problems with support from HPE."
"It would be better if it could integrate more easily with other vendors."
"The product isn't stable yet, and we are facing a lot of issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is good."
"The pricing is dependent on the technology and is in direct relation to the manufacturer and the components."
"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 for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."
"In terms of the licenses, customers do not actually get any benefit."
"HPE has decided to sell the solution in all-flash configurations, which may not be as cost effective for smaller mid-market enterprises."
"For three years, it is $60,000 for three nodes. It is quite pricey."
"We're paying $3,000-$4,000 a month."
"For the VMware licensing, it is approximately $10,000 a year."
"The pricing of HPE SimpliVity is comparable with other solutions so the price is good."
"The solution is expensive; not every budget can fit in there."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. We have purchased a five-year license with all the support and upgrades."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing 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: August 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.