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HPE Hyper Converged vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 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 Hyper Converged
Ranking in HCI
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE Hyper Converged is 3.2%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Ray Baruwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Advantageous from a sustainability perspective since the networking, storage, and compute are all located within one unit
Hyperconverged is used in an environment where the footprint in the data center is restricted. It is advantageous from a sustainability perspective since the networking, storage, and compute are all located within one unit The most beneficial feature is the life cycle management. I haven't had…
WJHG - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integrations, high availability, and offers a free version
Although I am generally satisfied with VSAN and its performance, there are some areas that could be improved to enhance its effectiveness even further. One area that could benefit from improvement is scalability. While the tool works well in its current configuration, allowing for greater ease and flexibility in adding new nodes to the cluster without complications would be very beneficial, especially in growing environments. Additionally, I would like to see additional features in the next version, such as better support for automated resource management. This could include proactive suggestions for optimizing storage and memory usage, as well as preventive alerts about the health status of the servers. A more intuitive interface or an improved dashboard for monitoring the cluster would also be helpful, as it would facilitate performance tracking and help identify potential issues before they affect services.

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 features are resiliency and data protection."
"It is a scalable solution."
"No concerns or issues with stability."
"The most valuable features of this solution are fast deployment, security, and it is easy to upgrade."
"Hyper Converge is easier to manage and performs better than traditional infrastructure."
"Reasonably priced and easy to manage for small to medium size companies that don't have an IT department."
"It is a scalable solution."
"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."
"I like StarWind's high availability. The failover is almost immediate, so the end users have no idea the guest VM moved at all. We can failover all guest VMs onto a single hypervisor, place it into maintenance mode, install updates, and reboot a hypervisor all during the daytime and remotely, with confidence the process will be successful."
"The ability to run a two-node cluster without a dedicated witness has made this an excellent product for small deployments, which is right on target for our needs in regional offices."
"Azure AD is much more user-friendly and has a better integration with our existing infrastructure."
"The ROI is great on this product."
"We have experienced multiple hardware failures at one site and the fault-tolerant volume worked exactly as expected with zero downtime."
"The best part is the easy way it operates with a very clear GUI without any unnecessary items."
"The solution is also quite flexible. As an example, other vSAN solutions that we looked at had more stringent requirements regarding mixed HDD/SSD storage which wouldn't have worked in our environment."
"It's quite easy to manage."
 

Cons

"The price can be improved. We would like to see support for some open source virtualization technology like for example KVM."
"Some improvement is required in the availability of the data and performance. The solution is too expensive for our customers. The pricing should be lower."
"The solution can be improved on the management side. More management features should be added to future releases."
"I would like to see a more intuitive, user-friendly UI."
"The product must provide more storage capability."
"'ve heard from other people that maybe there could be some improvements around technical support."
"Data protection and optimization: It is really weak. They do not offer deduplication or compression."
"A software-only version of the solution, without the hardware, would be nice."
"It would be helpful to have a little more insight into what kind of performance the VSAN cluster is utilizing; something that would be more proactive on our side, versus their ProActive Support."
"I would like to see more monitoring and alert tools."
"Some of the documentation seems to be a bit older and refers to deprecated items."
"In all areas the product could be made faster."
"It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery."
"I would like an automated installation/configuration despite the fact that their service is very collaborative, a customer should be able to deploy the solution by themselves."
"StarWind currently has a Windows native application that it uses for management. There is not a web-based GUI at this time."
"It would be great to have more automated tooling around managing the iSCSI connections in Windows"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price per value compared to other solutions, like Nutanix and SimpliVity. (We made the deal before approval of HPE SimpliVity deal)."
"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."
"With this solution, I buy everything together, pre-packaged, pre-installed, and in just 15 minutes, it's installed."
"If I'm comparing with Dell, HPE Hyper Converged is definitely cheaper in my experience."
"There are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"We have a very good return on investment due to data savings through compression and deduplication methods. It simplifies IT management and enhances security, including the end-to-end security of the IT data engine. The product is complete, simple, and provides visibility."
"The solution is too expensive for our customers. The pricing should be lower."
"The solution is expensive - not only the hardware costs but server costs too. And the more you scale, the more expensive it gets."
"I would suggest that you download the free version, deploy in your lab, and play with it."
"The free version is great to use for labs or test environments."
"The StarWind VSAN business model is very cost-effective."
"The support contract is well worth it. The price for it was very reasonable and their team has been very engaged whenever we reach out."
"Licensing is easy and the whole package is cost-effective."
"Licensing is based on nodes rather than TBs, which means that the users are free to increase storage capacity without putting thought into licensing."
"The licensing is straightforward, with free and trial versions available."
"The cost, including OPEX, is lower compared to other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Hyper Converged?
The solution's most valuable features are scalability, easy migration, easy recovery, and flexible backup possibilities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Hyper Converged?
The pricing is competitive. Initially, I misunderstood and rated it as higher, but on a scale of one to ten where one is cheap, I would rate it as a four.
What needs improvement with HPE Hyper Converged?
I haven't had issues personally. I've heard from other people that maybe there could be some improvements around technical support.
What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines flash and disks of the cluster and forms a virtual shared storage “pool” acce...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
I can't give a sincere opinion on the installation and licensing costs because, as I have mentioned repeatedly, I am currently using the free version. However, I can say that I have submitted a req...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
More comprehensive reporting and educational resources for error resolution would enhance the user experience. There have been cases where not understanding exactly what's failing on the Virtual SA...
 

Also Known As

HPE Hyper Converged 380, HPE Hyper Converged 250, HPE Hyper Converged 250 for Microsoft CPS
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

North Lindsey College, FireWhat?, HudsonAlpha
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Hyper Converged vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.