FlexPod XCS vs HPE ConvergedSystem comparison

NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. NetApp is ranked #2, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #3. NetApp holds a 12.3% mindshare in CI, compared to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 11.7% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

3,863 Views
1,932 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

HPE ConvergedSystem

Read 21 HPE ConvergedSystem reviews

888 Views
799 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

HPE ConvergedSystem

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

FlexPod XCS and HPE ConvergedSystem compete in the Converged Infrastructure category. FlexPod XCS seems to have an upper hand due to its tighter integration with Cisco and NetApp, which offers significant advantages.

Features: FlexPod XCS offers comprehensive integration, validated designs, and a unified support model, enhancing deployment and support. It is highly scalable and guarantees compatibility. HPE ConvergedSystem, valued for its simplicity, reduces the IT footprint with its turnkey approach and provides excellent hardware support.

Room for Improvement: FlexPod XCS could improve its unified management interface and vendor coordination, and accelerate adoption of new technologies. HPE ConvergedSystem should enhance the speed of supporting the latest versions and improve its integration with newer infrastructure components.

Ease Of Deployment and Customer Service: FlexPod XCS excels in deployment through validated design and enjoys a strong vendor collaboration for support. HPE ConvergedSystem benefits from simplicity in setup and hardware support but may lag in version support. Its customer service is proactive and responsive.

Pricing and ROI: FlexPod XCS is seen as expensive but offers high ROI through reduced operational costs and efficient resource management. Its pricing is justified by stable and unified architecture. HPE ConvergedSystem offers competitive pricing with ROI linked to lower data center costs and simplified management. Both systems stress the necessity of a thorough cost-benefit analysis based on organizational requirements.

To learn more, read our detailed FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem

February 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

HPE ConvergedSystem

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure for SAP HANA (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.3%, up from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ConvergedSystem is 11.7%, down from 18.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Converged Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
FlexPod XCS	12.3%
HPE ConvergedSystem	11.7%
Other	76.0%

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

Pat Fogarty

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.

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 real benefit of this solution is that it is pre-architected with the ability to scale-up and scale-out."

"The most valuable feature of FlexPod is that it allows you to get the old compute storage and the network switch or the fabric of the network in one box. You can use pods to have a tiny cloud in the box, which is one of its best features."

"FlexPod impacted us by making things easier to deploy. The solution is a private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environment. That's very important to us. We're doing a lot of hybrid cloud."

"The solution's granular scalability and broad application support helps us to meet the needs of diverse workloads."

"It is innovative because it's bare metal and you can customize it easily. This brings a lot of benefits to the solution."

"Integration is most valuable. This is a reference architecture. So, we don't have to design something from scratch and figure out how it is going to work."

"It simplifies the management of our entire system."

"I can leverage its multiple storage abilities. We have various kinds of storage in our environment, like IBM or NetApp. We can mix those types of storage with the FlexPod environment."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are the flexibility and the availability of the machines."

"This is a scalable solution. Our customers begin with an initial configuration and later add more servers, memory and other options to meet the demands of increased processing."

"The solution's technical support was good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."

"The user interface, reporting, and management are good, and we are quite happy with the performance."

"Consolidation and duplications features."

"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."

"We use the solution for DDI."

"This solution is very simple to use."

More HPE ConvergedSystem pros

Cons

"FlexPod XCS needs to improve its pricing."

"The cost may be high compared to other solutions."

"It would be very helpful if the upgrades for Cisco, VMware, and NetApp could be bundled together and performed at the same time."

"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."

"I would like to see programmability into a SaaS-based offering, as I know Cisco's going in a lot of directions with their Intersight application."

"It is not as easy as a hyperconverged solution, but you are going to have a hard time finding that anywhere, where you can just plugin and run a deployment app."

"We haven't seen ROI yet."

"I'd like to see a little more on the provisioning and the replication piece... Also, I don't want to say analytics are lacking but I'd like to see more analytics."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"HPE ConvergedSystem needs to improve its price."

"I would like to see better manageability and integration with third-party tools."

"There is some scope for improvement in support. The response time could be better."

"Features that should be addressed concern the HPE functionality and the interaction with VMware."

"I would like to see monitoring solutions included, as well as brand support."

"It could be enhanced by improving the built-in backup solution."

"The tool has shortcomings in its performance monitoring part."

"The solution needs to add NFS features."

More HPE ConvergedSystem cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The investment has been great. We put our money into it and it has given us something that we have been able to rely on for years."

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

"I have saved time on new service deployments. I've done deployments in under a week, and if it's a cloud-based deployment, it's even faster."

"We have absolutely seen ROI. We have saved between two to four million dollars on travel alone over the past 24 months."

"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 have a lease for approximately $10,000 USD per month."

"It is cost-effective."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is sensitive."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"This is an expensive system and not every customer has the kind of budget to support it."

"There are some extra costs in addition to the licensing costs for the yearly maintenance from professional third-party services."

"The pricing is competitive. Not a major problem. We have a subscription model."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More HPE ConvergedSystem 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

Marketing Services Firm

31%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Performing Arts

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

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	10
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	13

Comparisons

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 15% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

Fujitsu PRIMEFLEX vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

More FlexPod XCS Competitors

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs HPE ConvergedSystem

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle SuperCluster vs HPE ConvergedSystem

Compared 16% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs HPE ConvergedSystem

Compared 15% of the time

Rackspace OpenStack vs HPE ConvergedSystem

Compared 14% of the time

VxRail vs HPE ConvergedSystem

Compared 12% of the time

More HPE ConvergedSystem Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

January 2026

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE ConvergedSystem

January 2026

Download HPE ConvergedSystem product report

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

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 ConvergedSystem is designed for high availability, scalability, and seamless integration with HPE software and devices. It is valued for its stability, performance, and cost-efficiency, especially in areas such as power and cooling, making it suitable for diverse IT environments.

HPE ConvergedSystem offers a flexible and compact design, making it manageable even for IT novices. It serves multiple purposes, including server provisioning, container hosting, and recovery and backup operations. Users appreciate its capability to optimize virtual environments and its compatibility with VMware hosting and on-premises deployments. The system's seamless operation with HPE software and devices like Serviceguard, Synergy, and SimpliVity supports complex IT tasks. However, challenges include pricing and compatibility with new software versions, with room for improvements in scalability, full flash arrays, and monitoring tools. Enhancements in integration with third-party tools, remote copy functionality in low-bandwidth environments, and cloud management features are desired for better performance.

What are the key features of HPE ConvergedSystem?

High Availability: Ensures continuous operation of IT environments.
Scalability: Allows easy expansion to meet growing IT demands.
Easy Integration: Seamlessly works with HPE and third-party software.
Simplicity and Flexibility: User-friendly for IT novices with adaptable configurations.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating HPE ConvergedSystem?

Cost-Efficiency: Reduces expenses in power and cooling.
Performance: Provides stable and efficient IT operations.
Backup Capabilities: Supports robust data recovery processes.
Security: Delivers secure IT environments for complex tasks.

HPE ConvergedSystem is implemented in industries such as government, healthcare, and education. Consulting firms, resellers, and integrators use it to meet diverse client requirements, benefiting from its efficiency in virtual machine scaling and exceptional user experience delivery.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem

February 2026

Free Report: FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem

Find out what your peers are saying about FlexPod XCS vs. HPE ConvergedSystem and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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