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Dell PowerEdge C- Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 7, 2025

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

Dell PowerEdge C- Series
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Blade Servers (7th)
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Density Optimized Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Rack Servers (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Density Optimized Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge C- Series is 25.3%, up from 24.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 17.4%, down from 24.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Density Optimized Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge C- Series25.3%
HPE Apollo Systems17.4%
Other57.3%
Density Optimized Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Naveen Radhwani - PeerSpot reviewer
Head IT at TO THE NEW Digital
Offers great performance and customization for application servers
There are a few bugs in PowerEdge C that require some configurational settings to be done with the help of a support team when we reconfigure the solution. This is one area where they can improve the performance of the server or implement some application improvements in the solution to make it easier for end users to implement properly.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the main features that attract customers to buy their products is the great management tool and almost zero failure rate, making it easy to use."
"PowerEdge C is the best server I have worked with. I like that it's user-friendly. PowerEdge C performs very well."
"The hybrid solution is much more stable than other products."
"The scalability of the solution met our needs."
"It provides the necessary infrastructure for our operations."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The most significant benefits, in my experience, are the configuration, reliability of the equipment, and the support of Dell."
"It's a good product. Virtualization on it is good."
"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."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."
"It enables us to implement software defined solutions very easily, because Apollo servers are certified for use with Linux systems"
"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."
"With HPE Apollo, we can propose configurations with many hard drives, making it suitable for large storage needs."
"The cost benefit of this solution is most valuable. It is quite effective for the work for which we are using it. We are mainly running video servers on these, and we are quite happy with the resilience, density storage, and streaming capacity of the system."
 

Cons

"An area where the product lacks and needs to consider improvement is by allowing it to integrate with some AI tool for monitoring."
"They could automate or simplify it more."
"We had a few minor issues with compatibility on the latest version during the installation process."
"It would be better if it worked with SMTP servers on the cloud. Right now, it only allows notifications via the SMTP server. In the next release, I would like to have a better processor."
"The price must be improved."
"The VxRail should be opened to allow other virtualization platforms to be used."
"The need to update the firmware and check if there is any bug in the product is one of the areas where Dell PowerEdge C falls short and needs to make improvements."
"The solution’s pricing could be cheaper."
"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."
"The technical support for HPE Apollo Systems could be improved."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"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."
"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"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."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on the configuration."
"The price could be reduced."
"I don't handle the financial aspects, so I don't know the exact costs, but in terms of the value it brings, it's worth it."
"Despite the slightly higher price, we prefer Dell due to the high quality of their products."
"When we talk about pricing it is the cheapest on the market that I have found."
"PowerEdge C is a reasonably priced product, and the pricing depends on how many years you need the product. The cost also includes the support."
"We buy licenses for the solution's advanced features."
"I would rate the pricing 4 out of 10, in terms of its cost expense."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Venture Capital & Private Equity Firm
11%
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PowerEdge C?
The solution provides good support and service.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PowerEdge C?
My experience with the pricing of this tool is that it's in mid-range. They have good competitors in the market who are offering better pricing, so there is scope for improvement in this area.
What needs improvement with PowerEdge C?
There are a few bugs in PowerEdge C that require some configurational settings to be done with the help of a support team when we reconfigure the solution. This is one area where they can improve t...
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 ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge C- Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.