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HPE SimpliVity vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VxRail comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
HPE SimpliVity significantly reduces costs, offers quick ROI, and enhances performance for financial benefits and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.0
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers fast ROI with cost savings on hardware, maintenance, energy, and improved operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.6
VxRail streamlines management, reduces costs, enhances flexibility, and boosts performance, offering significant long-term value and operational efficiency.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
HPE SimpliVity's customer service is praised for knowledgeable support, despite transition challenges, with room for improved documentation.
Sentiment score
8.1
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's customer service is praised for responsive, expert support, offering swift solutions and 24/7 availability.
Sentiment score
8.0
VxRail customer service is highly rated for dedicated support, though experiences vary; centralized support is particularly appreciated.
The technical support from the HPE side is excellent, and I give them 10 out of 10.
The technical support from Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is excellent, deserving a nine out of ten rating.
A key area for improvement for VMware would be response time.
The support is all provided by Dell, and it is quite good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
HPE SimpliVity is scalable and suitable for small to medium businesses, but may not fit larger enterprises' needs.
Sentiment score
7.9
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is scalable, user-friendly, and flexible, though some note limited storage per node.
Sentiment score
7.8
VxRail offers scalable solutions for diverse workloads, enabling seamless growth across enterprises with efficient management and quick expansions.
With HPE, customers can scale up the HPE SimpliVity solution anytime.
The scalability of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) deserves an eight out of ten rating, as there is no solution that is 100% efficient and there is always room for improvement.
There are limitations, such as the inability to upgrade from a single to dual CPU in certain configurations.
The scalability is excellent.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
HPE SimpliVity offers stable, efficient performance with minimal disruptions, effective support, and reliable zero downtime even in large deployments.
Sentiment score
8.2
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers high stability and reliability, enabling seamless scalability and maintenance with minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
8.5
VxRail is highly praised for its stability, resilience, minimal disruptions, and effective updates, earning high customer satisfaction scores.
From HPE's side, it is stable, and customers find it easy to manage and easy to grow.
Compared to VM, we find it most stable.
Regarding stability, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) a seven out of ten.
It is a very stable and mature product, with centralized management and upgrades being perfect for us.
The product is very stable, and I rate its stability as nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

HPE SimpliVity struggles with limited integration, complex upgrades, slow restoration, costly pricing, and lacks flexibility in scaling and management.
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure needs improvements in cost, performance, integration, backup solutions, and simplifying licensing, installation, and GUI.
VxRail faces challenges with setup, compatibility, integration, support, and costs, suggesting improvements in automation, pricing, and scalability.
In the future, if HPE integrates HPE SimpliVity with VM essential, that will be a great combination.
I would suggest that Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) should develop their own P2V (physical to VM) tools instead of requiring users to rely on third-party solutions.
We hope Nutanix can integrate inside our current license module.
It requires a very clean environment to proceed without issues.
Stabilizing the update procedure further would make it better.
The major issue with VxRail is the razoring process, which can only be performed by Dell.
 

Setup Cost

HPE SimpliVity offers competitive pricing and value with straightforward licensing, appealing to organizations focused on efficiency and consolidation.
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers competitive pricing with favorable total cost of ownership, valued for its integrated solutions and features.
VxRail offers bundled pricing suitable for enterprises, balancing high initial costs with long-term savings and flexible payment options.
The pricing is renewed every year, at almost $100,000 per year.
It costs more compared to VMware due to different licensing areas.
The cost varies for us as a large company because we receive special offers from Dell.
Previously, the cost was higher, however, recent changes in VMware pricing have reduced it.
Purchasing VxRail is quite expensive compared to a simple Dell server.
 

Valuable Features

HPE SimpliVity offers efficient storage optimization, integrated backup, user-friendly management, and scalable performance with vSphere integration.
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure provides high-performance storage, easy management, flexibility, scalability, automation, and robust disaster recovery with redundancy.
VxRail provides seamless upgrades, centralized management, high availability, robust storage, and scalability, enhancing IT operations and performance.
The greatest benefit is that customers don't need multiple hardware solutions from other vendors. Virtualization comes in a single box.
When technology development or devops teams request server provisioning, the setup time has been reduced from hours to less than 20 minutes.
The replication method between Nutanix clusters is a valuable feature.
Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.
Another benefit is the fully automated upgrade process, which is completed with just one click through the VxRail Manager.
The features of VxRail that we find most useful for our customers include the easy update mechanism and the support for both VMware and hardware.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 8.6%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 8.9%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VxRail is 17.8%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Shaijith KB - PeerSpot reviewer
Hardware acceleration and enhanced performance but has support challenges
There are some problems with support from HPE. Tickets often go to Tunisian engineers who do not attend promptly. Updates are required when we have an update on vCenter or host level, and we must procure support from HPE SimpliVity team, which is complicated. Some IPs are not reachable due to subnet issues. Installation by the HPE support team can be messy.
Andrea Beccia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers satisfying data protection and workload movement features with exceptional stability
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure can be used up to 100% of its capacity, but our company is presently using 80% of the solution's resources. Our company manufactures iron casting products in the metal industry, and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is also used. For virtualization purposes, Nutanix Acropolis is used as a full-stack solution. For the Windows virtual machines in our company's server, Nutanix Acropolis is utilized instead of solutions like VMware Hypervisor. One of the main reasons our company adopted Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure was its data protection features. The solution is also used in disaster recovery through the automatic snapshots feature on the local site. Next year, our organization will try to join clusters in the network using the solution. Network clustering will help our organization's team move workloads into the geographical cluster automatically. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is considered an ideal solution for disaster recovery where data protection remains embedded. The solution is capable of even capturing auto snapshots for remote sites. Next year, our company plans to test new features of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure that will assist in automated workload movements on two sides at a distance of 60 kilometers. I would recommend others use the solution for its exceptional stability, performance, hardware compatibility, and overall flexibility. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure allows the use of varying hardware for the same cluster. I would rate the solution a nine out of ten overall.
Rami Jadallah - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline management and integration with seamless upgrades
The primary reasons customers choose VxRail include ease of management, ease of upgrades, and integration with VMware. The hyper-converged infrastructure simplifies software and hardware upgrades. Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
41%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
32%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We resea...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is...
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?
Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from ...
Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
How does HPE Nimble Storage compare to VxRail?
HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one, z...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an e...
What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not bein...
 

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI
Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis
VCE VxRail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
St. Lukes Health System, the City of Seattle, Yahoo! Japan, Sligro, Empire Life, Hyundai AUS, and many others.
World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: May 2025.
857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.