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Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 PowerEdge XR-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Rugged Servers (1st)
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is 2.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 6.0%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series2.9%
HPE Apollo Systems6.0%
Other91.1%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Md Rafique - PeerSpot reviewer
it support at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Edge workloads have run reliably with rugged performance and secure remote management
While Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has met our expectations overall, there are a few areas that could be improved. The initial setup and configuration process could be more streamlined, especially for first-time deployments. Firmware and driver updates could be simplified further to reduce maintenance efforts, and more detailed documentation for edge-specific deployment scenarios would be helpful. We would also like to see enhanced monitoring and analytical capabilities within the management tools, providing deeper insights into system health and performance without relying on additional software. Additional areas for improvement include more intuitive management dashboards, faster firmware validations and data processes, and broader compatibility guidance for machine deployments with third-party hardware and firmware. More built-in automation for routine maintenance and proactive issue detection would also help reduce administrative overhead. These are enhancements rather than major shortcomings, as the platform is already stable, reliable, and well-suited for edge computing.
Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Using Dell PowerEdge servers has indeed affected the overall flexibility of my customer's operations and businesses."
"I appreciate the management tool, iDRAC, in Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, as it is convenient for administrators to use when managing Dell PowerEdge XR-Series."
"Dell XR2 Rugged Server's technology is always on the competitive edge, with the most current technology."
"I appreciate Dell PowerEdge XR-Series server because everything is integrated and the full solutions are integrated, including firmware and updating."
"The best features in Dell PowerEdge XR-Series are all-flash storage, which is easy to implement and install, and it was also easy to upgrade."
"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has had a positive impact on my organization by improving the reliability and performance of my infrastructure."
"The storage and the disc performance in terms of IOPS is great because of the RAID card which is built-in."
"The Dell teams are always knowledgeable, always great to work with, and always on top of their game."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity."
"With HPE Apollo, we can propose configurations with many hard drives, making it suitable for large storage needs."
"It enables us to implement software defined solutions very easily, because Apollo servers are certified for use with Linux systems"
"We had a PoC, as I said, and we were happy with it and decided to implement it, as it satisfies all our needs and is the perfect solution."
"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"I find HPE Apollo Systems to be scalable and efficient for AI initiatives, and the environmental efficiency has a significant impact on operational costs."
"We previously used the DL380s; compared to those, Apollo has roughly four times the amount of space per server, which means we can really do a lot."
 

Cons

"This can be better and could be improved."
"I suggest virtualizing the CPU between multiple operating systems on the same server."
"Dell XR2 Rugged Server could improve if there was more customization allowed."
"While Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has many positives, there are areas for improvement."
"For improvements on Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I suggest enhancements in the support features, such as implementing a feature where the system can call home to Dell support to open a call automatically."
"I see areas for improvement in Dell PowerEdge XR-Series as sometimes there is some delay during the boot time; we occasionally need to disable some ROM options to prevent a boot delay or a network boot loop."
"In comparison with them, Dell hardware and services are good and fine, but they do not have any own operating systems."
"The initial setup and configuration can be somewhat complex for new administrators."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"OpenView is a new product which does not support older versions of the hardware."
"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."
"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."
"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."
"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second - that would be outstanding."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of one Dell XR2 Rugged Server is approximately $10,000."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
30%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
I found the pricing of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series to be competitive for an enterprise-grade server. The initial hardware investment is significant, but it is justified by the performance and long-ter...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
Regarding improvements for Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I need to add more CPUs and memory and easily convert to the cloud environment since I have many Azure cloud environments locally. In terms of n...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is that it is integrated with all the databases and backup along with the storage infrastructure and application infrastructure. I am supporting all th...
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
 

Also Known As

XR2 Rugged Server
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

DIGISTOR - Secure Data Storage
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge XR-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.