Dell XtremIO vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe comparison

Dell Technologies and Pure Storage are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell Technologies is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0, while Pure Storage is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.6. Dell Technologies holds a 0.8% mindshare in AFS, compared to Pure Storage’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

Dell XtremIO

Read 54 Dell XtremIO reviews

1,205 Views
1,085 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Read 36 Pure FlashArray X NVMe reviews

1,757 Views
1,458 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell XtremIO

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Dell XtremIO and Pure FlashArray X NVMe are leading all-flash storage solutions competing in the enterprise market. Pure FlashArray X NVMe is viewed as a superior product due to its advanced features, which users feel justify the higher cost.

Features: Dell XtremIO offers robust data reduction technologies, seamless integration, and high availability. Pure FlashArray X NVMe features end-to-end NVMe architecture, industry-leading performance, and comprehensive data services. Users highlight the superior speed and innovations of Pure FlashArray X NVMe.

Room for Improvement: Users of Dell XtremIO report that improvements are needed in its analytics capabilities, management tools, and flexibility in updates. For Pure FlashArray X NVMe, feedback suggests enhancements in the ease of upgrades, additional features for better competitor parity, and improved management interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell XtremIO is praised for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer support. Users find the documentation clear and the setup intuitive. Pure FlashArray X NVMe receives positive marks for deployment, with specific praise for its rapid time-to-value. However, consistency in customer support quality is noted as an area for Pure Storage to improve. Dell's exceptional customer service gives it the edge in this aspect.

Pricing and ROI: Dell XtremIO is noted for its cost-effective pricing and solid return on investment. Users appreciate the balance between cost and performance it offers. Pure FlashArray X NVMe, while higher in initial cost, provides substantial ROI through its superior performance and efficiency. Users are inclined to consider the higher expense worthwhile for the benefits gained.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell XtremIO vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

July 2025

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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 XtremIO

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

14th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Dell XtremIO is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Stanislaw Jagielski

Trainer, Storage Consultant at Oxon

Efficient and straightforward setup boosts data management capabilities

Scalability is a significant feature of Dell XtremIO, as it is easy to expand and manage. It provides a lot of features suited for complex systems, such as scalability and the ability to define multi-domain systems, which are beneficial for data management and storage separation. It is efficient from the customer's point of view, offering deduplication at both the volume and file levels. The configuration and setup are straightforward, provided one has knowledge in setting up network infrastructure like VLANs. It is easy to install, use, and configure, making it a reliable product.

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Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The speed and scalability of Dell XtremIO are significant features that improve data storage management."

"Speed and reliability:"

"The solution's most valuable feature is its high performance."

"Xtrem10's features are more simple to implement. The integration and interface are also good."

"Performance and deduplication. This is a very robust block storage option that offers both performance and data optimization."

"Deduplication and cloning capability"

"I like the deduplication and auto-tiering features."

"Very good IOPS performance"

More Dell XtremIO pros

"It is very easy to install and configure. It has got excellent diagnostics. If you really need to see how the box is performing, the console gives you a lot of information. You can set thresholds as well as alerts based on the thresholds, which is a very powerful functionality. They are very proactive. They know how to monitor and manage the systems. They see a problem, and they are all over it before us. They see the problem before we see it, which is very good."

"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."

"It offers competitive performance, and the Evergreen storage model of Pure fits well with my organization."

"Technical support has been helpful and responsive."

"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."

"We are satisfied with the performance as it is significantly faster compared to traditional storage options."

"Everything, especially the VMs inside, is pretty fast."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ease of use."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

Cons

"I would like to see the ease of deployment and built-in Metro clustering."

"The product could be improved by reducing the pricing and having better organization in their technical support team."

"The solution needs to be simplified. When you integrate your storage with other systems, could use a little bit of automation."

"I believe having more replication options comparatively to VMAX (other than RecoverPoint) would be great."

"XtremIO needs to be lower priced. It also needs better endpoints and scalability."

"In the next release, the solution could have better integration and if we can host assets on the cloud, such as NetApp has the NetApp volumes, which we can host on the cloud directly called NetApp CVO (cloud volume ONTAP). Dell EMC should come up with something purely on the cloud rather than manage services."

"The GUI could be modified more in terms of how the different components are linked to each other."

"The interface could be simplified for beginners to ease the configuration of special objects in the system."

More Dell XtremIO cons

"One point I'd like to improve is that the tool should start selling small boxes again. It discontinued some products and is focusing on bigger, more capable boxes, neglecting the SMB market. Even though it's not a big market, it shouldn't have removed them."

"Every time I think of something that needs to improve, they're one step ahead, which I love. The only area I wish to see improve, I believe is coming, is in the FlashBlade product. Blade implementation fell short on a few of the services."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics should not incur extra charges."

"Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial."

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The initial purchase price was good but when you need to upgrade, it's a different story."

"It is great when a product can deliver high-end performance capabilities while offering a very competitive price point."

"Licensing is approximately $200,000 per year."

"XtremIO is pretty straightforward about pricing. However, you need to look at your data so you can estimate, with the advice of DEL EMC, what data reduction ratio you will reach. In our case, a 3:1 reduction ration gave us a positive case compared to other storage arrays."

"XtremIO is an all-flash array, which means it's a costly solution. When compared with general mid-range storage solutions, this is more expensive. As far as I know, there are no additional costs besides the license."

"There are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"It's not cheap, but it absolutely gets the job done. I don't have any real comment regarding licensing specifically."

"Don’t buy this array. You’re paying for loads of magic beans, since it’s mediocre at best for a platform in a rapidly growing field. Look instead at Pure Storage or something with variable block deduplication. You’ll end up spending less and getting a better product with actual support."

More Dell XtremIO pricing and cost advice

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at Rubrik

May 1, 2015

Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR

Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EMC XtremIO?

The feature I like most about Dell Xtremio is its hardware quality compared to other vendors. It's clear they're continuously improving their research and development.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell XtremIO?

Pricing is hard to determine as it depends on the given configuration. XtremIO offers features that justify a potentially higher price, however, this varies with configuration. It has efficient ded...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell XtremIO?

The interface could be simplified for beginners to ease the configuration of special objects in the system. While the current interface works well, a simpler version could be beneficial for new users.

See all answers

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I am an engineer and am not aware of the setup cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics should not incur extra charges. This is one of the main things organizations need.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 25% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 16% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 8% of the time

VAST Data vs Dell XtremIO

Compared 8% of the time

More Dell XtremIO Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 28% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 19% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 15% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO

July 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

July 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Also Known As

Dell EMC XtremIO Flash, Dell EMC XtremIO X2, XtremIO, XtremIO X2

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

Overview

Bring all-flash, scale-out storage to your enterprise applications with EMC XtremIO. Purpose-built for flash, XtremIO storage arrays are amazingly fast. Delivering high IOPS at less than 1 millisecond latency is just the start. EMC XtremIO helps you harness the power of flash storage by building in innovations like content-based data placement and dual-stage metadata.

Dell Technologies

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Pure Storage

Sample Customers

Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria, Wentworth-Douglas Hospital

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Buyer's Guide

Dell XtremIO vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

July 2025

Free Report: Dell XtremIO vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell XtremIO vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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