HPE Hyper Converged vs HPE SimpliVity comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HPE Hyper Converged and HPE SimpliVity based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two HCI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed HPE Hyper Converged vs. HPE SimpliVity Report (Updated: May 2023).
708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It has great free trials that allow end users to test a large variety of their products before deciding to buy the full product.""The most useful aspect is the hyper-converged SD SAN and the ease to expand it by just adding cheap SSD or NVME disks.""The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget.""In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems.""StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer.""As the client had acquired another company some distance away, they were concerned about having a single SAN in one location or the other. StarWind vSAN allowed us to keep a copy of the data local to each site without asking the client to pay for two SANs in addition to the two new servers they needed.""The ease of reaching the support team and their promptness for support is great.""StarWind allows us to move virtual machines from one physical host to another, which greatly reduces the downtime required for maintenance."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Pros →

"There are multiple advantages. Typically, being an all-flash storage, which is available through either SimpliVity or dHCI, the performance is much better because the IOPS goes high, so it's more powerful in terms of performance. Secondly, if I'm talking of SimpliVity Hyper Convergence solution from HPE, unlike the competition, even if three hard drives fail, you are still running the solution.""It provides unmatched performance, productivity and reliability.""Hyper Converge is easier to manage and performs better than traditional infrastructure.""The solution has good backup resolution updates.""No concerns or issues with stability.""It is easy to manage; the administration is simpler. It saves a lot of rack space in the data center because you can consolidate 20 servers into three to five nodes. The client will be able to benefit from power savings and cost savings as well."

More HPE Hyper Converged Pros →

"PCX card implementation improves speed.""The features I have found most valuable are the convergence of the infrastructure and multi-platform support, for example, VMware and Hyper-V""Its ease of use is valuable. It is being used in a mining company. They wanted their working nodes to be seamless, and they wanted ease of use. That's why they opted for SimpliVity. They are running VMware virtual machines on it.""Backups happen very quickly.""It's a very nice solution. It's a complete solution that we are looking for because we don't have personnel with expertise.""The solution is user-friendly.""We can scale the solution easily.""The initial setup was straightforward."

More HPE SimpliVity Pros →

Cons
"It took a bit of knowledge and support to put in place but once installed it works fine. Migration (HyperV) from one server to another sometimes takes longer than expected but there is no data loss even if the host crashes.""We have, in rare cases, received conflicting guidance between different support folks within StarWind.""There needs to be more visibility on how long the cloud replication will take as there is no current ETA.""We don't really have any issues with this product.""A better overall view of the different deployments could be beneficial, although this is difficult due to how flexible the solution is.""I would definitely like to see quite a bit more on the monitoring side of things.""I would like to see more user-friendly dashboards in future versions.""You have to do a "full" sync on write-back cache disks instead of a quick sync if there is an issue."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Cons →

"In the Hyper Converged environment, some of the brands only support the OS VMware and not Hyper-V from Microsoft or even Red Hat or KVM.""Installation and setup could be easier.""Could be more secure and more economical.""This solution is very costly.""Scalability is an issue because it becomes very expensive. When you need to upgrade memory, you have to upgrade memory across the nodes. Suppose a customer has gone with a three-node HCI solution, then to increase the memory, you have to do it across the three nodes.""We have faced some challenges when upgrading. With Hyper Converged, you have to fully upgrade because there are no incremental upgrades available in this solution. For example, let's say we have two nodes. If we want to upgrade storage, we also need to upgrade computing. That means a full upgrade EME."

More HPE Hyper Converged Cons →

"They can bring more awareness about this product. In this part of the world or this region, people normally don't know about SimpliVity and its capabilities. The company we have it sold to hasn't been able to fully utilize all the features or understand the features. So, product awareness should be improved.""SimpliVity has no file server services. That's one of the solution's biggest shortcomings.""Not a lean architecture in terms of anything.""The life-cycle management can be improved.""They could have better-specialized support for more countries.""Its deployment should be easier.""I wish to see an improved compute node selection, to allow us to select something other than merely the two socket system.""The technical, commercial, and marketing support is not at the level that it should be. They are not structured well. Other vendors provide better support, such as Dell."

More HPE SimpliVity Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We found that the pricing was perfect; simple and clear."
  • "For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
  • "If you are looking at a traditional SAN for a small cluster, give StarWind vSAN because you will save thousands without any compromise."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "If I'm comparing with Dell, HPE Hyper Converged is definitely cheaper in my experience."
  • "I would rate the price at seven out of ten. There are no additional licensing fees, but it would be cheaper to go with a dHCI solution."
  • More HPE Hyper Converged Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Customers always complain that SimpliVity is a little bit higher in price point as compared to other solutions available in the market."
  • "The solution is priced high. However, there are plenty of features as part of the package that other solutions do not have."
  • "There is not a license required for the solution."
  • "The price of the solution is reasonable. We have purchased a five-year license with all the support and upgrades."
  • "If we compare the price of HPE SimpliVity with other vendors that are selling the hyper-converged infrastructure, all of them are not cheap and are priced similarly. However, the price we pay and what we receive makes it a good price."
  • "We did get some quotes from Nutanix, and they were ballparks. So, it is not cheap, and there is nothing free, but those two were comparable."
  • "I think it's a complete package. We buy the license with support for five years. It's a subscription, I will say, but it's included when you buy the SimpliVity solution from HPE. You have a contract with the software warranty and upgrades."
  • "The solution is affordable and quite reasonably priced in terms of the product one gets."
  • More HPE SimpliVity Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I like StarWind's high availability. The failover is almost immediate, so the end users have no idea the guest VM moved… more »
    Top Answer:We underestimated how many guest VMs we would have running on these hypervisors after three years, and would have bought… more »
    Top Answer:The Command Center, a free guest VM for management and monitoring, leaves something to be desired. It could have more… more »
    Top Answer:It is easy to manage; the administration is simpler. It saves a lot of rack space in the data center because you can… more »
    Top Answer:I would rate the price at seven out of ten. There are no additional licensing fees, but it would be cheaper to go with a… more »
    Top Answer:Scalability is an issue because it becomes very expensive. When you need to upgrade memory, you have to upgrade memory… more »
    Top Answer:HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We… more »
    Top Answer:I like SimpliVity because it can be adapted for small clients or the biggest ones. It's flexible.
    Top Answer:SimpliVity's price is excellent. You can get a good discount on the price, which is important for a small client… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    HPE Hyper Converged 380, HPE Hyper Converged 250, HPE Hyper Converged 250 for Microsoft CPS
    SimpliVity, HPE HCI
    Learn More
    Overview

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    HPE Hyper Converged solutions combine intuitive software with the reliability of a world class platform to deliver cloud-like simplicity to your business.

    Now, IT can become an internal service provider to end-users by quickly delivering the resources they need for application development and consumption. With HPE Hyper Converged systems companies can operate with cloud efficiency to simplify IT operations with one comprehensive control panel to deploy, monitor, analyze and update – with a single generalist; consume with cloud flexibility to deliver a cloud-like experience, with multi-tenant workspaces that eliminate stranded resources and flexes on demand; and deploy at cloud speed to empower developers and lines-of-business with a self-service portal that can instantly compose and recompose VMs in minutes. Built-in enterprise grade features, such as performance and resiliency enable HPE Hyper Converged systems to easily handle a wide variety of virtualized workloads, including general purpose virtualization, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and cloud.

    HPE SimpliVity is an HCI software solution that provides powerful data protection, reducing data loss along with lowering the risk of ransomware attacks on your enterprise.

    HPE SimpliVity Features

    HPE SimpliVity has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Flexible, compact architecture
    • Centralized management
    • AI-driven intelligence
    • Built-in data protection and disaster recovery
    • VM-centric management and mobility
    • Simple to deploy, manage, and scale

    HPE SimpliVity Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing HPE SimpliVity. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Efficient: HPE SimpliVity helps reduce the number of devices in your data center while also decreasing the total cost of ownership.
    • Cloud benefits with enterprise capabilities: When your enterprise deploys HPE SimpliVity, you gain the agility, elasticity, and affordability offered by cloud computing.
    • Affordable and flexible: The solution provides IT teams with the performance, reliability, and resiliency of on-premises infrastructure. HPE SimpliVity allows them to start virtualizing their enterprise while also keeping sensitive data safe.
    • Reduced risk of data loss: Because HPE SimpliVity is a powerful solution with built-in resiliency, backup, and disaster recovery, it is able to provide advanced data protection that reduces your organization’s risk of data loss and also lowers the risk of ransomware attacks.
    • Speed: HPE SimpliVity gives you the ability to deploy blocks and manage VM environments quickly and easily by using the VMware interface. In addition, the solution allows you to quickly view all data centers and remote offices within a single interface.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by HPE SimpliVity users.

    Jeff S., Information Technology Manager at Troyer Foods, Inc. says the solution has “Phenomenal deduplication and compression, good support, and works on its own. SimpliVity is integrated with the hypervisor, and you have a single pane of glass. It is really hands-off. Once you set your backup schedules, you're done.

    A Senior Datacenter Consultant at a computer software company mentions, “The most valuable feature is the ease of use and the storage virtualization layer, together with the built-in backups. That's what makes SimpliVity really useful, and how you can replicate data between different sites without paying an extra license for that feature. All the features are built into the product.”

    PeerSpot user Doug C., IT Engineer at a government, comments, “Backups and restores occur very quickly. All SimpliVity management is done through vCenter, providing a single-pane of glass for all management and configuration functions. The advanced deduplication and compression greatly reduce the storage requirements, reducing the amount of expensive flash storage required.The 10G interfaces between the SimpliVity nodes greatly speeds up VM migrations between nodes. SimpliVity enables "stretched-cluster" operation with mirrored storage between the nodes, enabling automated failover. If a node or site goes down for any reason, the VMs on that node are automatically restarted on the other node.”

    German I., Solutions Architect Data Center Servers and Storage at Tecnologia informatica, explains, “The integration possibilities regarding the administration console are one of the best configurations and one of the best features that differentiates this product from others in the market. Also, you can add extra coverage protection that includes everything inside of the hard drives — similar products don't do this. You can use it directly from the hypervisor, which is great.”

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    Learn more about HPE Hyper Converged
    Learn more about HPE SimpliVity
    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    North Lindsey College, FireWhat?, HudsonAlpha
    Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Construction Company9%
    Educational Organization9%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company27%
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Marketing Services Firm9%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Government9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Retailer7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization27%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business63%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise15%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise60%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise40%
    Large Enterprise40%
    Buyer's Guide
    HPE Hyper Converged vs. HPE SimpliVity
    May 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Hyper Converged vs. HPE SimpliVity and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
    708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    HPE Hyper Converged is ranked 15th in HCI with 6 reviews while HPE SimpliVity is ranked 6th in HCI with 41 reviews. HPE Hyper Converged is rated 8.6, while HPE SimpliVity is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of HPE Hyper Converged writes "High performance that gives an advantage over traditional virtualization". On the other hand, the top reviewer of HPE SimpliVity writes "Phenomenal deduplication and compression, good support, and works on its own". HPE Hyper Converged is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, HPE Nimble Storage dHCI and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), whereas HPE SimpliVity is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE Nimble Storage dHCI and Dell PowerFlex. See our HPE Hyper Converged vs. HPE SimpliVity report.

    See our list of best HCI vendors.

    We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.