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HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Synergy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 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

HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
156
Ranking in other categories
Rack Servers (2nd)
HPE Synergy
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Blade Servers (1st), Composable Infrastructure (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are IT Hardware and Infrastructure solutions, they serve different purposes. HPE ProLiant DL Servers is designed for Rack Servers and holds a mindshare of 21.7%, up 21.8% compared to last year.
HPE Synergy, on the other hand, focuses on Blade Servers, holds 21.3% mindshare, down 21.8% since last year.
Rack Servers
Blade Servers
 

Featured Reviews

SHIVAKUMAR A P - PeerSpot reviewer
With an easy setup phase in place, it is suitable for small and large-sized businesses
When you speak of any enhancements in the product, you need to shift to the tool's commercial mode. You get more features in the solution if you pour in more money. If a customer needs some features in the solution, they will have to buy it since certain features are not loaded by default in the server. With entry-level licenses, servers are shipped to customers free of cost. Customers need to pay if they want more and more features in the solution. Every OEM solution in the market, including HPE ProLiant DL, operates similarly. The overall cost of the product needs to be lower, as it is one of the areas of concern in the product.
CarlosArdila - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps grow horizontally or vertically within one box or chassis
The initial setup is very easy. We deployed this in two days, including installation, system setup, firmware upgrades, configuration, and network connection. By the next day, we were already deploying virtual machines. We initially began with the Blade system. As the migration to SAP HANA approached, it seemed prudent to upgrade our hardware. Consequently, we facilitated their transition from the Blade system to Synergy. Subsequently, we collaborated closely with the SAP consultancy company to oversee the migration process, ensuring seamless integration of all workloads and sub-environments. We have four people working on the deployment, including a project manager, two specialists, and one tech support.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Where there is a need to actually expand on the capacity, it's easily done, especially when more memory is needed."
"This solution is perfect. From the time of purchase, it was state-of-the-art, and still, after five, 10 years, they still meet our demands extremely well."
"The most valuable feature is stability."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is scalability."
"I am impressed with the tool’s stability."
"The setup was easy and not complicated."
"It is stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Support is very helpful."
"As we purchase and install more Synergy chassis, then we will be able to manage them together as one entity, as opposed to multiple separate cabinets."
"It's a bit easier to manage than the C7000s."
"The single pane of glass management is huge, because in all our previous systems, depending on what we were managing, we would go to a different management point. Being able to go to one spot to get everything is helpful. I find that server profile creation is a lot easier in OneView than it was previously. We are able to stay compliant with firmware and updates, because we are assigning server profiles and reapplying them when there are changes. This makes everything a lot simpler."
"The Synergy environment provides us with one view. We're able to manage the entire stack, top to bottom, from that single view."
"We're able to provision different applications, different demonstrations, add cloud-like speeds on-prem, which is unheard of in the industry."
"It is helping us sort of bridge a gap that we are having moving off of old legacy systems, like HP-UX systems and trying to move over to x86. So, it is helping fill a hardware gap that a lot of our platforms have needed in the past."
"OneView is head and shoulders above the competition in this space."
 

Cons

"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are not scalable."
"The cost of the solution has room for improvement."
"The technical support could be a little faster."
"The speed of the solution could be increased."
"The price of the solution could be less expensive to be more competitive."
"Most of the servers we use are okay. However, sometimes, you need to change the parts. We'd like the solution to be more robust."
"They should work with Microsoft to make licensing costs better. That's because the physical servers have processors with all these cores, and Microsoft now licenses Windows virtual server desktops based on the number of cores and the serving servers. So, if you got to build 10 or 20 servers on that desktop, you got to license them all with Microsoft. They should have a partnership with Microsoft to decrease the virtual licensing of servers in partnerships so that when you purchase the servers, you also get licensing for Microsoft on top of them. That's because it gets very expensive to license virtual operating systems to run on physical servers."
"It would be great if HP could use a ProLiant Server to run HP-UX, the Unix build from HPE. Right now, HP-UX cannot run on the ProLiant architecture."
"Product documentation is disorganized."
"The pricing can be improved as it is a costly solution due to sanctions in Iran."
"We haven't seen any ROI, and it hasn't reduced our cost of operations."
"Gen 11 is being released. That's going to have a lot of advantages over Gen 10 and previous generations in terms of the cooling modules in the servers to keep them cooler and run with more efficiency and better performance. There are more management features with iLO 6 and the latest OneView management."
"The only issue that we had was our rack was too small. The product is heavy, so it took a lot to get it in there."
"The power consumption is very high, and there should be a more efficient way of reducing the power requirements while maintaining high performance."
"HPE Synergy could improve by developing the chassis to allow for more drives or disks. Currently, it supports only two drives in the blade server, which can be limiting."
"The main challenge we faced was that when it was installed it just did not work. There were faulty components and it took weeks of troubleshooting to find the faulty components, get them replaced. Getting help from HPE was difficult. Nobody knew about the product. It was a brand-new product and people had not been trained on it. That part was not a great experience."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is within our budget."
"The price is a little too high; it could be reduced."
"I give the pricing a six out of ten."
"The hardware should be cheaper."
"The solution's pricing is high. It needs to be more flexible. The flexibility would be beneficial for our clients, especially in a competitive market. Adding additional features and addressing complex requirements on top of the price can be challenging for us as a reseller."
"​An investment in DL380 is worth it."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are one of the best-selling solutions in this industry. There is not a license required for this solution."
"It is just too expensive."
"When we made the purchase of the hardware, we added Professional Services to it."
"We have already paid once. It is just the price for the permit and its use. It seems you don't have to keep paying for it, but I am not sure."
"There is a perpetual license given when you purchase HPE Synergy."
"The Nutanix platform came in a little more expensive than the Synergy."
"Nutanix was really hard to implement, and it was very pricey compared to what we get from Synergy."
"We are satisfied with its price."
"The licensing is more around the software for RGS, because we are deploying bare metal installs. It is mainly the operating system and any lights-out management. So, licensing is minimum. We are licensing it annually."
"We pay about £500 for the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The most valuable feature of the solution is HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The product is expensive. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. On the needs of the customers, the product offers a lot of suppor...
How would you choose between HPE's Bladesystem and Synergy?
For me, choosing between HPE’s Bladesystem and Synergy came down to which solution was more powerful, reliable, and stable. It turns out Bladesystem was the winner. Bladesystem is excellent because...
What do you like most about HPE Synergy?
It is a good product for hypervisors.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Synergy?
Pricing in the blade server market is very competitive, with HPE offering a competitive price. Competitor products include Dell's MX series and Cisco's UCS X series.
 

Also Known As

HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
HudsonAlpha, Virgin Media, EMIS, United
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