FlexPod XCS vs Oracle Private Cloud Appliance comparison

NetApp and Oracle are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. NetApp is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Oracle is ranked #2 with an average rating of 10.0. NetApp holds a 10.3% mindshare in CI, compared to Oracle’s 14.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

2,096 Views
859 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Read 6 Oracle Private Cloud Appliance reviews

690 Views
656 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

FlexPod XCS and Oracle Private Cloud Appliance compete in the private cloud infrastructure category. FlexPod XCS is advantageous with pricing and support satisfaction, while Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is highlighted for its feature set that many find justifies its cost.

Features: FlexPod XCS is notable for scalability, versatile integration, and robust data management systems. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance features powerful automation, streamlined configuration, and comprehensive solution orchestration.

Room for Improvement: FlexPod XCS could enhance its setup process and streamline deployment. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance might benefit from improving initial cost barriers and expanding support for a wider range of integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle Private Cloud Appliance offers a simplified deployment model with efficient customer service, while FlexPod XCS provides a more extensive setup process with responsive support services.

Pricing and ROI: FlexPod XCS ensures competitive setup costs and attractive ROI through cost-effective scaling. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance, though higher in initial investment, offers substantial returns by handling demanding workloads, promising long-term savings.

To learn more, read our detailed FlexPod XCS vs. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

September 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

FlexPod XCS

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

295

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 10.3%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is 14.2%, up from 11.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Converged Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance	14.2%
FlexPod XCS	10.3%
Other	75.5%

Converged Infrastructure

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

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Offers comprehensive support and performance but initial deployment requires expertise

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is a complete solution that includes built-in hypervisor management and Appliance Manager, and integrates with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It simplifies the management of virtual machines, networking, compute, and storage, allowing me to create multiple virtual machines easily without logging into the storage system. It offers free licensing of Oracle Linux and Solaris, and provides high-performance capabilities through extreme performance storage options. Additionally, the product ensures comprehensive customer support.

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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 agility is probably the most valuable feature for us. It's very easy to send out resources."

"You can just take out blades and replace them, and you're back up and running in no time."

"It has had a big, positive impact, because now everything is centralized."

"It has simplified our support."

"When you open the box, they give you a very nice diagram. Which was my initial guide through setting up any NetApp SAN. It worked itself out pretty well."

"The guides that we use to install FlexPods are always up-to-date. This is really helpful, especially if there is a new product with NetApp moving so far forward and Cisco as well. For them to join together and update a centralized document for the install process, it is really good. It helps us understand if there are features from the first version that we installed while upgrading that we need to implement. Those are in the document. So, we find that document useful and helpful when moving forward."

"The virtual environment is a lot more efficient than physical boxes."

"The solution is resilient, because it has good scalability, and other products in the market don't have this. It has scalable storage and service."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"It has helped us to reduce Oracle licensing costs for database and applications."

"Supports connection to most of network topology, such as VLAN and network segmentation."

"The most valuable features include distinct storage within the Oracle PCA."

"You will find the high availability and License Team with Oracle very valuable."

"It is scalable as the box can be increased by one compute node, if required."

"Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is a complete solution that includes built-in hypervisor management and Appliance Manager, and integrates with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure."

Cons

"I think they are working on it, but I would like to be able to log into a portal and see the end-to-end solution and understand where it stands, from a supportability perspective."

"I'd like to see better integrations with some of the third-party tools, like Terraform. That would be good. We use Ansible to deploy and that's good, but it's slower than it needs to be."

"The upgrades should be improved. We would like to have the ability to do unified upgrades of the whole infrastructure from beginning to end."

"I'd like to see some more Ansible integration for automation purposes. We automate everything else with Ansible, so it would be great if we could automate our FlexPod with Ansible as well."

"Hyper-V is not as well supported by NetApp and Cisco as VMware is, which is something that should be improved."

"Mainly, the interface needs improvement. I'm not a big fan of UCS Manager, sometimes. I believe they released the new one, and it seems like in every version something changes and something else doesn't work. When they switched to HTML5, I believe we had issues in version 3.2. They fixed it in the next version. The amount of work to upgrade a system for change control is tedious to have issues every time. I would recommend more regression testing, then testing the different browsers in that."

"Not a ten because it could always be cheaper, it could always be faster."

"Not a perfect ten because it could use better integration on the network side between UCS and the switching layer. The fact that LACP is not supported on UCS blades isn't so great. It would be nice if it was."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"The deployment process of Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is complicated and requires significant knowledge for initial configuration."

"Patching processing takes a long time. Only one compute node is patched at a time."

"The initial setup was very complex."

"OVM Manager Interface is using HTML5. It should be reconverted to be a Java interface."

"In comparison to competitors like VMware, there's a perceived need for Oracle to enhance OVM, making it more flexible and user-friendly."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased from CDW•G. They are great partners on the government side."

"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."

"We have saved time, money, space, and power consumption on new service deployments. We have a data center in Toronto which had ten racks on one of the new servers. This was all reduced to two racks with six chassis, which is amazing."

"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."

"Overall, the solution works pretty well. The biggest complaint I have from customers is the cost."

"The pricing and licensing are quite expensive. However, compared to other solutions, it is okay."

"Pricing is always tough. We need to get to a point where the customer's happy. Then, as partners, we are also happy."

"The scalability is very good. I wish it was a more cost-effective, but you get what you pay for."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"It is more expensive than the normal solution or the hyper-converged system."

"If you have many Oracle products, such as databases, middleware, and apps, it will help you reduce Oracle app licences and support costs."

"No licenses for the shipped software or firmware."

"It is relatively cost-effective."

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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

22%

Performing Arts

10%

Educational Organization

Government

Computer Software Company

21%

Government

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Performing Arts

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	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	1

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.

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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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Oracle Private Cloud Appliance?

The most valuable features include distinct storage within the Oracle PCA.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Oracle Private Cloud Appliance?

The deployment process of Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is complicated and requires significant knowledge for initial configuration. Streamlining and simplifying the deployment process would make ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Oracle Private Cloud Appliance?

I use Oracle Private Cloud Appliance ( /products/oracle-private-cloud-appliance-reviews ) as a complete solution for hypervisor management. It includes a built-in hypervisor, Appliance Manager, and...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 24% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 14% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 11% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Compared 21% of the time

Rackspace OpenStack vs Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle SuperCluster vs Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

Compared 18% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

October 2025

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

October 2025

Download Oracle Private Cloud Appliance product report

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

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance, is an integrated infrastructure system engineered to enable rapid deployment of converged compute, network, and storage technologies for hosting applications or workloads on a guest OS. It is a data center-class system that provides incremental and scalable performance optimized for consolidation of mixed workloads.

Oracle

Sample Customers

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

Agnitum Information Technologies, Mediacloud, Xait AS, Atos Global Managed Services, CaixaBI, ICA AB, BT Spain, Secure-24, Xait

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

September 2025

Free Report: FlexPod XCS vs. Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

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