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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
21
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 September 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is 2.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.7%, up from 3.7% 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 Systems5.7%
Other91.4%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Ajit Pratap Kundan - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager Solution Consulting at Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
Rugged servers have delivered reliable high-performance analytics and reduced downtime
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series servers include rugged devices that are very tough, and we are using these servers in very sensitive areas. Their tolerance is good; they are resistant to dust and other elements. They feature redundant power, and they have a TPM 2.0, which is very important from a security perspective. This also has a Silicon Root of Trust. iDRAC, which is part of all Dell servers, is also included here. These are the important aspects from the servers' point of view. In terms of capabilities, Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is high performance and capable of addressing high performance workloads. They have front access networking, which makes it easy to work with. We also get all the GPU ready workload configuration required from the workload perspective, resulting in very low latency. Even users accessing from remote locations are able to achieve optimum performance. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series has flexibility; it is very flexible and can handle all kinds of workloads. We are running a variety of applications on this system. It is also easy to scale up and down on demand, which is the best part. Additionally, it has good rack compatibility, as most places do not have optimal power or space, and these servers address that concern.
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

"The performance of the product in extreme conditions is good; it can run in critical workloads with not much hardware issue."
"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."
"The scalability of the Dell XR2 Rugged Server is good and easy to do."
"Even though it is expensive, Dell PowerEdge XR-Series provides value for money and return on investment, especially for critical workloads and mission-critical applications."
"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is a super server, so compared to HP, I see big differences from the technical side."
"Stability, good performance, and good tools to manage the system are the best features for me."
"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."
"Taking into consideration the cost, HPE gave us the ability to actually do what we wanted to do."
"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance on that."
"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"It's very hard for a professor to amass the supercomputing resources, so I've been very fortunate to have that level of supercomputing at our disposal and that has really enabled us to do the world's leading superhuman AI research."
"I find HPE Apollo Systems to be scalable and efficient for AI initiatives, and the environmental efficiency has a significant impact on operational costs."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"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

"One of our issues is that we currently have an eight-bay system. I'd like to migrate to a 16-bay system, but there isn't a modular option available."
"Customization could be improved; more customization options are needed."
"Service is a specific aspect that could be improved, but it is nothing bad."
"I think Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved in appearance. I would say that the improvement opportunity is probably on the monitoring side, the overall monitoring side."
"I do not think there has been any reduction in total cost of ownership."
"Certainly, the first negative aspect is the cost because the biggest challenge today is the way component costs are going higher."
"It lacks a modular option to expand to a 16-bay system."
"I suggest virtualizing the CPU between multiple operating systems on the same server."
"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."
"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."
"Our first batch of Apollo servers that we got were so new that it was just hard to know kind of what to expect from HPE and what they wanted to deliver to us."
"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."
"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."
"We have tried to used standardization using Ubuntu Linux and it's been hard. They had some difficulties getting the RAID configuration up and running because there are no drivers for it. It's not supported by HPE."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of one Dell XR2 Rugged Server is approximately $10,000."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"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."
"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."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
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 Enterprise10
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?
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is a reliable platform overall, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The initial setup and configuration can be somewhat complex for new administrators. Firmwa...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is hosting and supporting cybersecurity workloads. I also use it to run the security tools and infrastructure that support vulnerability assessments, m...
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: August 2026.
912,006 professionals have used our research since 2012.