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HPE Apollo Systems vs IBM Power Systems comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
IBM Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.7%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 6.4%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Power Systems6.4%
HPE Apollo Systems5.7%
Other87.9%
Rack Servers
 

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.
Foluso  Jibowo - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Hiperdist Ltd
Has empowered enterprises with secure and cost-effective solutions
When discussing disadvantages, I do not see many areas for improvement because we have received good testimonies from every client. IBM gives customers peace of mind. One challenge, which I would not really call a challenge, is that initially people have the notion that IBM Power Systems is quite expensive. However, IBM does not lose deals based on price. This is a message we need to keep communicating to people who feel that IBM is on the high side in terms of cost. We encourage them to have a discussion with us about their total cost of ownership over three or five years. There is a notion in the market that IBM is expensive, which is false. However, once we engage and show them their return on investments and their total cost of ownership savings, they tend to embrace IBM.

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 amount of programming storage available."
"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."
"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."
"It's very hard for a professor to amass the supercomputing resources, so I've been very fortunate to have that level of supercomputing at our disposal and that has really enabled us to do the world's leading superhuman AI research."
"It's pretty flexible."
"Taking into consideration the cost, HPE gave us the ability to actually do what we wanted to do."
"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."
"Stability has been extremely good."
"We found working with IBM Power Systems that LPM is the most valuable feature."
"The solution is the best product on the market."
"The performance and stability are great."
"When it comes to reliability, availability and profitability, nothing can beat IBM Power Systems."
"It's outstanding, it's so reliable, I have customers that run it that never touch it, and it runs for 20 years by itself in a closet running their entire business."
"It has very good stability."
"It scales a lot, you can just keep on adding frames, you can add on CPUs, you get capacity on demand, you can tune the machine very easily to handle different workloads."
"In terms of the upgrades from previous versions, we definitely see a return on investment, as we get more processor, more CPW, and it's basically the same price."
 

Cons

"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."
"If there's anything that hasn't been that stable, then it is the Lustre file system."
"We are struggling a little bit with some of the configuration we need to do, particularly with write capability to drives."
"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."
"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."
"Big stability issues with the CPU on the first generation which made them virtually unusable."
"Everyone likes speed. Not that speed has been an issue up until now but you can never be too fast."
"Software testing and the compatibility of software products that are available in the market should be addressed."
"It does not offer the ability to run any X86 or X64 Intel architecture-based application on Power Systems. There are a lot of applications, lots of business use cases that do not support this architecture as of now. If somehow application tasks can be ported on to IBM Power Systems, that would be a big improvement."
"If you're not in the Advocate Program you have to go through the series of the lower-level tech support, and usually they're not really helpful."
"The licensing could be simplified."
"One of the features that we would like, and I think they are also adapting to the latest trends in the market, is to make it more open, more flexible... With VMware, anybody can create a virtual machine without any knowledge of the server side. But with AIX it's a bit difficult."
"Regarding the OpenPOWER Foundation, at first I was kind of skeptical."
"IBM could perhaps be a bit more aggressive in terms of marketing, and let customers really know that they're out there and can offer a helping hand to move them along, to implement all these great features."
 

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."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"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."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"I give the cost a one out of ten."
"The price of IBM Power Systems is expensive and could improve."
"The pricing of the solution is very good because we can beat any other competitor with the pricing. Lately, they have offered good pricing for their customer."
"Its price is too high."
"It's more about the value you get for the price. Considering its stability and performance, the pricing is good."
"Why should I be charged for that use rather than a single CPU, a single socket?"
"Power Systems is a bit more costly than other products in the market, but in terms of ROI and the longevity, performance, and reliability that Power Systems provides, it's worth it in the long run."
"Its price depends on the sizing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise42
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
In my opinion, the product can be improved by maintaining it and not sunsetting it; that would be my recommendation for IBM. I used to work for IBM for nineteen years, and I know, unfortunately, I ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
I am an architect and system administrator, and I'm responsible for anything related to IBM Power Systems. In IBM Power Systems, I have found a lot of valuable features such as LVM, TCP, ODM, RSCT,...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Power Systems?
I would recommend IBM Power Systems to others. I have given this review a rating of ten out of ten.
 

Also Known As

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
IBM OpenPOWER LC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Weta Digital
Cipher
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Apollo Systems vs. IBM Power Systems and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.