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HPE Apollo Systems vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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

HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
159
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is 20.2%, down from 21.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers20.2%
HPE Apollo Systems4.1%
Other75.7%
Rack Servers
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user1356702 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at IHiS
Nov 22, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.
ArifSheikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
High availability servers have boosted hosted payment services but still need better local support
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main components we are utilizing. Since these servers are fully dedicated to various high-end solutions, they have some embedded features that their kernel and applications are using, which are bound to that functionality. We may not provide an exact assessment on its usage, but we are considering those products for some AI solutions; however, we are currently in the review stage and have not concluded our evaluation on how those are utilized yet. We are aware of the pricing of HPE ProLiant DL servers, but not off the cuff. We have obviously acquired those solutions ex-Pakistan, so they are on the rise, and while we do not remember those prices offhand, they are generally better than the IBM series, although they are becoming slightly pricey in Pakistan due to processor shortages and demand. Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives. If pricing can be reduced, especially for DB servers, that could have a direct positive impact on the overall solution. Regarding reliability, it has been satisfactory so far, but since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers. They provide import-based services, necessitating us to over-invest in backup stock and offline servers. If there was a market presence from those players in Pakistan, it could benefit both clients and distributors by reducing the need for investment in backup inventory.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find HPE Apollo Systems to be scalable and efficient for AI initiatives, and the environmental efficiency has a significant impact on operational costs."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
"Taking into consideration the cost, HPE gave us the ability to actually do what we wanted to do."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance on that."
"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity."
"We've just found them so reliable and used them for so many years."
"The flexibility of using storage options would be one valuable feature, another would be competitive pricing, and yet another would be the quite high top speeds on the processor."
"I am impressed with the tool’s stability."
"Scalability Availability It’s robust Clustering Virtualization I can do with it almost everything within minutes."
"Compatibility is the best feature of the solution."
"We get good performance with HPE ProLiant DL Servers. They are really stable. We run all our applications smoothly. We have no problem at all."
"We've had other vendors trying to pitch similar hardware to us but it's something we don't even consider just because of the stability and the reliability of the HPE hardware."
"The reason we switched from Dell was because we felt that the HPE solution was far superior."
 

Cons

"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"Our first batch of Apollo servers that we got were so new that it was just hard to know kind of what to expect from HPE and what they wanted to deliver to us."
"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."
"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second -that would be outstanding."
"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."
"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."
"I would want to see the flexibility of being able to run various network protocols including InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, as well as iSCSI, with iSCSI going up to 100 gigabytes per second - that would be outstanding."
"Cloud is something we're interested in, but the solutions in New Zealand aren't really up to it."
"Its management console could be better."
"We've had issues where some components fail, but overall the system runs well."
"They should continue to maintain the stability that is there."
"We'd like to see better processors, better Intel processors."
"ProLiant servers could be more scalable. For example, some models can only contain four hard drives, but many of our customers expect six. If they were to add another extendable hard drive slot, it would be easier to sell the servers to our customers."
"Configurations could be simplified."
"I would like it if there's a possibility, even if you have to pay an additional license, to enable that technology on the DL360s."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"They need to work with Microsoft to make the licensing costs better and more efficient."
"The price is a little too high; it could be reduced."
"It's expensive."
"​If you have to include the warranty, enhance the warranty support.​"
"The solution comes with a one time perpetual license which is included with the server."
"The pricing of these servers is fair. It is in the mid-range."
"We have to pay for an annual license which is expensive."
"This is an expensive product and there is licensing required for iLO, which is the HPE monitoring system."
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Answers from the Community

it_user1356702 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at IHiS
Nov 22, 2021
Nov 22, 2021
It depends on your purpose. Apollo 4200 is usually used for Backup data, Software defined storage or Big data. And for others that doesn't require disk density, we should use DL360 for cost saving.
2 out of 4 answers
TW
Solutions Architect/Team Lead - Business Data and Data Protection at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
May 26, 2020
It depends on what you actually need to do. Apollo servers are designed for significantly more disk density. If these are hypervisor hosts, the DL360s will generally be more useful. If these are standalone servers running single applications that require a lot of storage (for example, a Veeam backup server), the Apollo servers would be better.
it_user1112820 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
May 27, 2020
What services do you want to serve on your servers? It's very dependent on your answer, is it maximum ten disks Ok for you (DL360) or you want more? Do you need many PCIe slots?
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise98
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
Some features could be added to HPE Apollo Systems in the future, and I feel that some capability is needed. HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability. Two f...
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
I have been distributing this product for three years. I don't have specific use cases, and everything about the major use case for HPE Apollo Systems is good. I don't know the purpose clients are ...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
I am not using these products today, and I do not work with some specific firewalls. My company is TD Synnex, a distributor company, and I work for this company. My email is , and my first name is ...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable. However, if you look at the technical caliber of the server, if a customer invests that additio...
What needs improvement with HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main compone...
 

Also Known As

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Weta Digital
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Apollo Systems vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.