FlexPod XCS vs HPE Hyper Converged comparison

The compared NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise solutions aren't in the same category. NetApp is ranked #1 in CI , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 12.6% mindshare in the category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #11 in HCI , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

3,176 Views
1,493 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

HPE Hyper Converged

Read 38 HPE Hyper Converged reviews

2,248 Views
2,158 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

HPE Hyper Converged

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

FlexPod XCS and HPE Hyper Converged are advanced data center solutions. FlexPod XCS appears to have the upper hand due to better pricing and support, while HPE Hyper Converged is noted for superior features and management.

Features: FlexPod XCS offers robust hardware integration, exceptional performance, and scalability. HPE Hyper Converged provides simplified management, flexibility, and a comprehensive solution set.

Room for Improvement: FlexPod XCS needs better software updates, more intuitive management tools, and enhanced analytics. HPE Hyper Converged requires improved analytical capabilities, more streamlined support, and stronger software updates.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FlexPod XCS is known for straightforward deployment and mixed support reviews. HPE Hyper Converged offers quick deployment and responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: FlexPod XCS is competitively priced with a good ROI. HPE Hyper Converged, although more expensive, offers significant value in terms of features and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Converged Infrastructure Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Converged Infrastructure

January 2026

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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

FlexPod XCS

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

295

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (1st)

HPE Hyper Converged

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HCI (11th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Solutions solutions, they serve different purposes. FlexPod XCS is designed for Converged Infrastructure and holds a mindshare of 12.6%, up 8.4% compared to last year.
HPE Hyper Converged, on the other hand, focuses on HCI, holds 3.0% mindshare, up 2.9% since last year.

Converged Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
FlexPod XCS	12.6%
HPE ConvergedSystem	12.3%
Dell VxBlock System	10.2%
Other	64.9%

Converged Infrastructure

HCI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HPE Hyper Converged	3.0%
VxRail	13.8%
VMware vSAN	11.4%
Other	71.8%

HCI

Featured Reviews

John Kevin

Deputy IT Manager at MBBank

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.

Read full review

GosayeErko

System Engineer at BIOS Engineering

Infrastructure management simplifies for clients with integrated interface and enhanced resource utilization

Currently, the HPE HCI is based on the VMware solution, and most clients are skipping VMware because VMware has changed its licensing method. If HPE starts to use its own hypervisor for its HCI solutions, it will be the best solution. We push a different vendor for the backup and replication, so we only use the HCI, then we use Veeam for the backup and replication section.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to integrate different products into one validated design. That allows customers to understand and get the value out of the hardware, as it was designed."

"I live by the Validated Designs. I do exactly what those designs say and I haven't had a problem as a result. For example, they used to do the FCoE. They figured out there was a problem and they went over to the NFS. I moved over and I agreed with them. It worked better."

"It's a kind of one-stop shop as far as support goes."

"High availability is outstanding. We haven't had any problems with that."

"Validate designs are a good. They work in the background to combine all the infrastructure and storage. They create automation which can create volumes and attach VMs directly to massive CIFS."

"For FlexPod, it is always trustworthy. I had previously never seen flex machines from other brands or associated with other products. FlexPod is a large investment and they are good enough to support it."

"The tool's most valuable features are the flexibility and ability to adapt to redundancy."

"We have seen a 20 percent improvement in application performance."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"Ease of management, as I come from a software background, and I'm responsible for IT overall. I can get in there and turn some nuts and bolts and make things happen without any trouble."

"Hyper Converge is easier to manage and performs better than traditional infrastructure."

"It scales very well."

"The HA, which means I have a copy of the VMs always available, and the moment a VM is down, the system tries to power it on again."

"The most valuable feature is the in-built backup system. The backup speed is also excellent."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The most valuable feature was its time to delivery."

"One of the solution's strong points is the deduplication capabilities of SimpliVity."

More HPE Hyper Converged pros

Cons

"We would like to see the automation improved because there has been a learning curve having to create the workflows."

"Setting up a Cisco USC environment can be complex."

"I would like to see more CVDs and more published designs around a multi-hypervisor approach within a single pod."

"This is an expensive solution."

"FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to leverage automation capabilities."

"I'd like to see a little bit simpler management pane. Using UCS Director to front everything is good but for a lot of that upper mid-market, it's probably a little bit of overkill for what they need. They just want a nice, simply portal to go through and see what's going on. So if there was something that was middle of the road, it would be well received."

"I want to use the expansion to its fullest extent, scaling by deploying 10 to 15 virtual missions in a given FlexPod."

"Some of the define features could use improvement."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"In the Hyper Converged environment, some of the brands only support the OS VMware and not Hyper-V from Microsoft or even Red Hat or KVM."

"The solution's pricing for the hardware and support could be reduced."

"The solution needs to add a module or plugin of vCenter for clear monitoring and insights."

"Data protection and optimization: It is really weak. They do not offer deduplication or compression."

"The product must provide more storage capability."

"There are some general issues around component failure and raising technical support. Overall, the stability is rated seven or eight out of ten."

"'ve heard from other people that maybe there could be some improvements around technical support."

"The improvements could be customization and backup efficiency."

More HPE Hyper Converged cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's pricing is high and I would rate it a nine out of ten."

"As a startup, for the amount of budget we have and the amount we spend, we are getting what we expected."

"As a whole, it is inexpensive, and it uses the least amount of parts."

"In terms of the cost, the last bill I saw was about $3.5 million, from the latest contract. That might have been for a five-year contract."

"We definitely saw a lot of operational cost savings using FlexPod. As far as capital outlay goes, that was a little bit too much for us to swallow and we weren't able to recognize enough savings in that area to afford it."

"The NetApp portion was a $5 million investment five years ago. That has served the customer well over five and a half years."

"We have seen an 80 percent improvement in application performance."

"Pricing and licensing is very affordable from a FlexPod perspective."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"Pricing with Dell EMC is double the price which I paid for HPE. However, in the end, Dell EMC is double in performance. This is not an apple to apple comparison though, as I have a four node from Dell EMC and a three node."

"The solution is expensive - not only the hardware costs but server costs too. And the more you scale, the more expensive it gets."

"I would rate the price at seven out of ten. There are no additional licensing fees, but it would be cheaper to go with a dHCI solution."

"The price per value compared to other solutions, like Nutanix and SimpliVity. (We made the deal before approval of HPE SimpliVity deal)."

"The solution is too expensive for our customers. The pricing should be lower."

"It is an expensive solution, however. If they could adjust the pricing, that would be helpful."

"The entire solution is packaged with all licenses and support."

"HPE Hyper Converged is an affordable solution."

More HPE Hyper Converged pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user244362

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

20%

Performing Arts

10%

Educational Organization

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	66
Large Enterprise	182

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	18

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FlexPod?

The system is designed for easy scaling. Because we define everything clearly. So when we plug the system in, we apply the profile, and it scales easily.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FlexPod?

The pricing is not cheaper, but stability is more important for us now. We focus on business gains, not static numbers. Following XCS rules ensures a stable environment, which is crucial. For me, C...

See all answers

What needs improvement with FlexPod?

FlexPod should focus more on automation. Integrating an automation tool with FlexPod would enable customers to leverage automation capabilities. More automation would be helpful. Currently, we cont...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE Hyper Converged?

The solution's most valuable features are scalability, easy migration, easy recovery, and flexible backup possibilities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Hyper Converged?

The product is intermediate in price, neither expensive nor cheap. We are talking about an on-premises solution without licensing for years. Currently, licensing is required for VMs and CPU cores. ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE Hyper Converged?

The initial setup of HPE Hyper Converged requires study and a comprehensive understanding of virtualization. The second step is to follow instructions step by step, as it can be complex to understa...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 17% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 10% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 9% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

Dell Vscale Architecture vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 7% of the time

More FlexPod XCS Competitors

VxRail vs HPE Hyper Converged

Compared 26% of the time

VMware vSAN vs HPE Hyper Converged

Compared 12% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs HPE Hyper Converged

Compared 11% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs HPE Hyper Converged

Compared 10% of the time

Huawei FusionCube Hyper-Converged Infrastructure vs HPE Hyper Converged

Compared 4% of the time

More HPE Hyper Converged Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

January 2026

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Hyper Converged

January 2026

Download HPE Hyper Converged product report

Also Known As

No data available

HPE Hyper Converged 380, HPE Hyper Converged 250, HPE Hyper Converged 250 for Microsoft CPS

Overview

FlexPod XCS is the secure platform your applications need from edge to cloud. Easily manage your suite of cloud-native, edge, and enterprise apps. Integrate advanced cloud services without compromising performance, security, reliability, or scale.

NetApp

HPE Hyper Converged solutions combine intuitive software with the reliability of a world class platform to deliver cloud-like simplicity to your business.

Now, IT can become an internal service provider to end-users by quickly delivering the resources they need for application development and consumption. With HPE Hyper Converged systems companies can operate with cloud efficiency to simplify IT operations with one comprehensive control panel to deploy, monitor, analyze and update – with a single generalist; consume with cloud flexibility to deliver a cloud-like experience, with multi-tenant workspaces that eliminate stranded resources and flexes on demand; and deploy at cloud speed to empower developers and lines-of-business with a self-service portal that can instantly compose and recompose VMs in minutes. Built-in enterprise grade features, such as performance and resiliency enable HPE Hyper Converged systems to easily handle a wide variety of virtualized workloads, including general purpose virtualization, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and cloud.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group

North Lindsey College, FireWhat?, HudsonAlpha

Buyer's Guide

Converged Infrastructure

January 2026

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