FlexPod XCS vs Rackspace OpenStack comparison

Why PeerSpot?

NetApp and Rackspace Technology are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. NetApp is ranked #2, while Rackspace Technology is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.7. NetApp holds a 12.7% mindshare in CI, compared to Rackspace Technology’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Rackspace Technology users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

12,603 Views
9,200 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Rackspace OpenStack

Read 18 Rackspace OpenStack reviews

2,811 Views
1,940 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

Rackspace OpenStack

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Rackspace OpenStack and FlexPod XCS are competing in the cloud infrastructure category. Rackspace OpenStack has the upper hand in scalability and flexibility due to its open-source nature, while FlexPod XCS shines in performance and integration through its pre-engineered solutions.

Features: Rackspace OpenStack offers an open-source architecture with a high degree of customization options, making it ideal for those needing extensive control over their cloud environments. It supports scalability and seamless integration with various third-party tools, enhancing cloud deployment flexibility. FlexPod XCS provides integrated infrastructure utilizing Cisco and NetApp technologies, ensuring performance optimization and reliability. Its design enables simplified deployment and excellent scalability, supporting robust performance for high-demand workloads.

Room for Improvement: Rackspace OpenStack could improve by simplifying its deployment process and enhancing user interface usability for less tech-savvy users. Supporting more out-of-the-box integrations with popular enterprise applications could also increase its attractiveness. Additionally, offering better documentation and educational resources might help users maximize the platform's capabilities. FlexPod XCS might benefit from more competitive pricing models to reach a broader audience. Its hardware dependence may limit customization options, suggesting potential enhancements towards software-defined configurations. Furthermore, expanding its integration capabilities with non-Cisco or NetApp solutions could also add value for diverse IT environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Rackspace OpenStack requires a more intricate deployment process due to its customization options; however, it excels in offering tailored customer support that helps users address specific needs. FlexPod XCS boasts a simpler deployment process due to its pre-integrated design, reducing the time and complexity involved in setup. Its customer service benefits from industry partnerships, providing a robust support network.

Pricing and ROI: Rackspace OpenStack typically features lower upfront costs owing to its open-source nature, presenting a favorable ROI for businesses capable of managing in-house solutions. On the other hand, FlexPod XCS demands a higher initial investment due to its engineered infrastructure but potentially offers better ROI over time by minimizing operational complexities and maximizing efficiency. Businesses should weigh the cost savings of OpenStack's flexibility against FlexPod's reduced management overhead and enhanced productivity.

To learn more, read our detailed FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

September 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

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

Rackspace OpenStack

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.7%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackspace OpenStack is 7.1%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS	12.7%
Rackspace OpenStack	7.1%
Other	80.2%

Converged Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

John Kevin

Infrastructure Director 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.

Read full review

Shbhaves Shbhaves

Manager Dev Ops at MSD

Private cloud control has deepened my DevOps automation and strengthened security practices

For improvement, I feel the documentation available for setting up and creating infrastructure using Rackspace OpenStack could be enhanced, as I personally find the existing documents are not sufficient for new learners or beginners. We can also work on improving the user interface; the Horizon dashboard is functional, but compared to AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, the UI feels somewhat dated. A more modern, intuitive interface with better navigation would enhance the overall user experience, especially for new users. Improving the documentation, including more real-world deployment examples, troubleshooting guides, and architecture best practices, would make onboarding much easier. Faster upgrades would also help; Rackspace OpenStack upgrades can sometimes be complex, so simplifying the upgrade process and minimizing downtime would assist organizations in maintaining their environments more easily. Additionally, improving monitoring capabilities would be beneficial, with advanced monitoring and analytics dashboards providing administrators deeper visibility into performance, capacity, and potential issues without relying heavily on third-party tools. Adding more managed services, similar to what public cloud providers offer, could reduce operational overhead while still allowing customers to retain the flexibility of a private cloud. Lastly, integrating AI could be valuable, with AI-driven recommendations for capacity planning, security monitoring, and automated troubleshooting improving platform management.

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

"It is a very well-thought-out solution with great virtualization. A good option we have is mapping a storage LUN onto an ESX cluster. That way, in case a particular ESX is down, it can migrate (using vMotion) to another host in the cluster, resulting in high-availability."

"The support is great; it's a validated solution and the best-of-breed of all the products that are in the FlexPod as well, making it a great solution for us."

"We have experienced about 28 to 30% improvement in application performance and in our industry that's actually a very significant improvement."

"Provides unified support: Being able to get a vendor from one company or another company on the line without having to go back through the call queue."

"The technical support is amazing."

"Any single point of failure has been removed from the FlexPods, so they all have multiple redundancies built-in."

"It just gave us everything in one box."

"It solved a big problem for us; it solved a big user contention issue that we had with file stores and user data all over the place, and now it's all centralized."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"The documentation was plentiful and very helpful."

"Customer Service: Top. Technical Support: Top"

"The most valuable feature is the customization, and with the customization you can really give the customers what they want."

"There are many services that can be directly used which are not available in VMware."

"It created a reusable library with OpenStack features."

"The solution is stable."

"In my experience, Rackspace OpenStack delivered a stable, flexible, and reliable private cloud environment."

"Rackspace OpenStack has positively impacted my organization by bringing us much closer to our customers based on the supportability this platform provides, and it has unique features which are very useful for our customers."

More Rackspace OpenStack pros

Cons

"We would like one-click upgrades."

"Areas for improvement would be the support for the engineering team, who seem to have no clue when you open a case, the communication with and recognition of resellers, and the documentation, with could be more detailed."

"There is room for improvement in the GUI for the NetApp side."

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

"On the storage side of things, of course, it can always be a little simpler, but that's why we were looking at SolidFire, just to take it a little bit more out of needing a storage engineer to be able to do anything."

"Add more automation into the Cisco UCS firmware upgrade process to make it more streamlined than it is today."

"There is a history of issues with hardware availability. It becomes this big process to try to figure out what we need to get, how it'll work, and how that'll integrate into the system."

"Make it cheaper."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"For improvement, I feel the documentation available for setting up and creating infrastructure using Rackspace OpenStack could be enhanced, as I personally find the existing documents are not sufficient for new learners or beginners."

"VMware has a side-to-side replication feature, which is still more mature than Rackspace OpenStack's which can't be used in a production environment."

"In terms of what needs to be improved, I would say the support. Rackspace might have some good support but the open source OpenStack doesn't have support because there are too many versions coming and too many people are customizing it."

"OpenStack is difficult for the novice in terms of beginning to use cloud tools."

"Rackspace OpenStack can be improved because it wasn't clear that you have to cancel 30 days before; otherwise they charge you for the month."

"The deployment process could be easy."

"The line migration is a problem."

"The seamless integration between MySQL services and the rabbitMQ database can be revised during the debugging phase."

More Rackspace OpenStack cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have seen a five to ten percent savings on new service deployments."

"The FlexPod licensing can adjust to your purse, i.e. there are different levels available for businesses of all sizes."

"We have seen our data center rack space collapse about 90 percent. We have a data center which only has two racks now out of the 20 that were there previously."

"The total cost of ownership with this solution is good."

"Coming from a rack and stack server model to FlexPod, it has saved us a lot of time (approximately hundreds to thousands of hours)."

"Everything is purchased, so we do not do any leasing with this product."

"We have saved money using FlexPod. We have saved time and money for new service deployments."

"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."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is low."

"I use it as an open-source tool."

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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

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Construction Company

12%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Outsourcing Company

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	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What needs improvement with Rackspace OpenStack?

I cannot comment comprehensively on how Rackspace OpenStack can be improved, as I do not find that much difference; however, some areas can be improved, such as support for OEMs deploying highly sp...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rackspace OpenStack?

My main use case for Rackspace OpenStack is that we are particularly using it for our OpenStack applications, where we are putting our applications on Rackspace OpenStack software day-to-day. A spe...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Rackspace OpenStack?

I rate Rackspace OpenStack an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. I chose 8 out of 10 for Rackspace OpenStack because every product has some space to improve. Regarding Rackspace OpenStack's AI capabilities, ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

IBM VersaStack vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 13% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 10% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 8% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 7% of the time

More Rackspace OpenStack Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

September 2026

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

Rackspace OpenStack

August 2026

Download Rackspace OpenStack product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpenStack

Overview

FlexPod XCS offers a seamless integration with existing IT systems, enhancing both scalability and usability. It simplifies complex IT environments with unified support and a pre-validated design, making it invaluable for mission-critical applications.

FlexPod XCS effectively manages diverse IT infrastructures by providing a comprehensive end-to-end solution. Its integration capabilities allow for efficient storage and compute operations, while users value its flexibility and high reliability. The platform ensures significant time savings and operational efficiency by reducing troubleshooting and facilitating seamless expansion. Known for supporting varied environments and workloads, FlexPod XCS optimizes resource management and is compatible with prominent cloud systems like AWS and Azure, thus supporting cloud, private, and multi-cloud strategies.

What are the key features of FlexPod XCS?

Integration: Connects efficiently with existing systems for smoother operations.
Scalability: Allows seamless expansion to accommodate growing demands.
End-to-End Solution: Reduces complexity via unified support and pre-validated designs.
Flexibility: Manages both storage and compute effectively.
Cloud Compatibility: Integrates with AWS, Azure, and other cloud environments.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating FlexPod XCS?

Reliability: High dependability ensures uninterrupted operations.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlined processes lead to time savings.
Resource Optimization: Better management across IT infrastructures.
Seamless Expansion: Easily scales without excessive reconfiguration.

FlexPod XCS is widely used in industries like finance, healthcare, and education for data center virtualization and telecom operations. It enhances IT consolidation, optimizes resource utilization, and supports efficient disaster recovery solutions in diverse environments, making it a favored choice for hosting data storage and hybrid cloud infrastructure.

NetApp

Rackspace OpenStack offers potent infrastructure concepts, customization options, and scalability with commodity servers, supporting microservices, virtualization, and numerous integrations, all beneficial for advanced IT deployments.

Known for its robust infrastructure and flexible deployments, Rackspace OpenStack caters to enterprises with complex IT management needs. It excels in virtualization and data analytics while enhancing server management with microservices architecture. Companies leverage it for effective infrastructure as code management, integrating tools like GitLab and Jenkins, offering a sought-after platform for deploying private clouds and managing diverse workloads efficiently.

What are the standout features of Rackspace OpenStack?

Infrastructure Flexibility: Easily configurable infrastructure with commodity servers.
Customization Options: Adaptable for unique enterprise needs.
Scalability: Supports increasing workloads effectively.
Integrations: Seamless integration with tools like GitLab and Jenkins.
Virtualization Capabilities: Lowers operational expenses and simplifies hardware changes.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Lower operational costs through virtualization.
Enhanced Flexibility: Microservices architecture offers advanced adaptability.
Data Management: Effective for big data services and data analytics.
Migration Support: Facilitates on-premises migration from the cloud.

Enterprises utilize Rackspace OpenStack across industries for tasks like large data management and private cloud deployment. It supports streamlined infrastructure management and eCommerce integration with Akamai. Often chosen for website development and deploying managed services, it meets diverse deployment needs efficiently.

Rackspace Technology

Sample Customers

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

X.commerce

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

September 2026

Free Report: FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

Find out what your peers are saying about FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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