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FlexPod XCS vs HPE ConvergedSystem comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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

FlexPod XCS
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE ConvergedSystem
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure for SAP HANA (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.8%, up from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ConvergedSystem is 10.9%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS12.8%
HPE ConvergedSystem10.9%
Other76.3%
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems
The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.
PF
Project Engineer at Astellas Pharma US
With good integration and expansion capabilities, the tool also offers good technical support
It is a solution that we could expand in our company. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Our company has 400 users, all of whom have used it at one point or the other. All of the departments are involved in the usage of the tool.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is valuable, because it is easy, easy to use, so we don't spend a whole lot of time learning new products out there, which is a major plus."
"A single FlexPod can support a load of 2,000 - 5,000 employees without downtime."
"I see the most value in the UCS portion. I love Cisco UCS."
"The advantage is being able to consolidate everything into a relatively small chassis."
"Backup, restore, and ease of deployment are the most valuable features."
"Despite our FlexPod being six to seven years old, it still works to this day."
"This is a very stable product and we have had really good luck with it, so I would recommend it to a colleague at another company."
"We got the product and we have a small environment, but it was able to be scalable to when we started to grow."
"The most valuable features of HPE ConvergedSystem are scalability and resilience."
"The user interface, reporting, and management are good, and we are quite happy with the performance."
"Previously, with a traditional extract transform load process, it would take us three hours to load our large volume tables, now it takes us about ten minutes on SAP HANA on a ConvergedSystem platform."
"The solution's technical support was good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"This solution is very simple to use."
"The flexibility is the most advantageous aspect of the solution. Our system has a very big environment. Due to this, the replication and backup operation is not an easy task. We prefer HPE SimpliVity modules in our environment, even when we have some different cases in operations."
"The storage, BladeSystems, Virtual Connect, and simplicity with hyper-converged solutions are the most valuable features of this solution."
"Consolidation and duplications features."
 

Cons

"It is hard to stay in a supported config with the software and firmware versions of the platform. It's always a concern to ensure things not only work well, but they work at all."
"There are certain things that are just hard to do on a physical infrastructure, like for instance you need to make petabytes of data available at high speed."
"There have been issues upgrading the firmware."
"The upgrades that they had to go through from 7-Mode to CDOT (Clustered Data OnTap) did not make for a good transition. You basically had to stand up a side-by-side system, copy your data over, upgrade your stuff and move your data back."
"I would to see a little bit more in the FlexPod interface."
"The biggest thing that I would like to see is more cost-effective FlexPod solutions."
"A progress bar would...be pretty cool."
"It's not a perfect solution because, obviously, it doesn't always fit everybody, there are unique requirements that people have."
"I would like to see a full flash array added and the pricing improved, as HP is expensive."
"The interface is not fully integrated with the ESXi, which is something that could be improved."
"This is an expensive solution."
"I think the MTG inside HP could be improved."
"HPE ConvergedSystem needs to improve its price."
"I would like to see monitoring solutions included, as well as brand support."
"The MTG inside HP could be improved."
"HPE ConvergedSystem needs to improve its management. I would like the tool to add cloud management features so that the system can be accessed anywhere from the cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We immediately saw a return on investment due to the fact that replacing our legacy storage arrays with the new AFFs reduced the footprint and maintenance costs. Overall, we saw an almost immediate ROI."
"We can just swap in new equipment or hardware as we need, which has probably saved us several weeks."
"The solution has saved our customers' organization in terms of CapEx. E.g., with the cloud availability, it's turned into sort of a hybrid CapEx/OpEx model."
"We have saved time and money for new service deployments. Without FlexPod, it probably takes about ten hours. With FlexPod, within two hours, we are up and running. So, we have seen about an 80 percent time decrease."
"It is cost-effective."
"It is not going to save you money, but that is not the point. The opportunity to stay competitive in the marketplace is not a cost."
"Our licensing costs are about $50,000 per year."
"Everything is purchased, so we do not do any leasing with this product."
"There are some extra costs in addition to the licensing costs for the yearly maintenance from professional third-party services."
"This is an expensive solution."
"I rate the product price an eight and a half on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"My company has a five year contract for HPE ConvergedSystem. The contracts depend on companies and sometimes it can be three years. The solution is worth its price."
"Pricing is good. We have not calculated what hyper-converged infrastructure has brought us but I think there has to be some lower cost for us, compared to the public cloud. Obviously, there would be a lower cost, probably by more than half."
"The pricing is sensitive."
"The pricing is competitive. Not a major problem. We have a subscription model."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Marketing Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise182
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise13
 

Also Known As

No data available
HPE ConvergedSystem 700, HPE ConvergedSystem for SAP HANA, CS500, HPE ConvergedSystem 900, HPE ConvergedSystem 500, HPE ConvergedSystem 300
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
FAW-Volkswagen, NICS, NBrIX, Pinpoint, HPE Technology Services, SWS, Ko Sistem, HPE
Find out what your peers are saying about FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,830 professionals have used our research since 2012.