HPE SimpliVity vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
185
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
HPE SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
152
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
StarWind HyperConverged App...
Ranking in HCI
8th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 9.1%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
Unique Categories:
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
9.2%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Max Polanc - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 6, 2022
Free to use with great features and good reliability
vSAN's free version does not have a graphical user interface - all options are available from the command line. The graphical user interface is very important when we need to check the status and fix errors quickly, even if it is not a technical expert team. There are a few other limitations in vSAN's free version. They could release a few premium features to its free-use version, as we believe then there would not be so much of support tickets, and not everyone knows how to use Powershell. They add auto-update features, so you don't need to do it manually.
Xavier Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 3, 2024
Has a deployment phase that is straightforward but needs improvement in the area of scalability
The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology. HPE SimpliVity is an add-on from VMware. Nowadays, my company has a lot of concerns about VMware's licensing policy. Another big concern of the tool is related to security because one has to continuously update patch vulnerabilities that are appearing continuously in VMware's different versions. Actually, the foundation of all the architecture is VMware and that is one of the main issues with the tool. My company is analyzing our virtual infrastructure strategy to see if we can move to Nutanix because maybe it may work better and might have another approach. Nutanix is absolutely independent of VMware. I could add that since HPE SimpliVity is very precisely dependent on VMware, it is not open to containers unlike Nutanix, for example. The aforementioned area is a concern that needs to be resolved by HPE.
CS
Sep 19, 2022
Plug and play with a great support and lots of space saving
The solution is plug and play. I was very happy that everything was delivered all tested and setup ready to go. I simply racked the servers, plugged them in and called for setup. It's so simple. The simple two 1U server setup with all flash disks connected together with an ultrafast redundant Mellanox nics is great. It has saved us space and increased performance. It also reduced the noise pollution and energy costs. The proactive support is a very valuable feature. I have not yet had to use support for anything major, however, I have asked a few questions and there is always a prompt reply.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"StarWind SANs come with outstanding support."
"Recovery and maintenance are now less stressful and most importantly, it allows our users to keep working."
"The features that I found most valuable are ease of use of the software that StarWind offers - with the first setup being a bit painful."
"It has reduced the amount of switching, network connections, etc., because the converged StarWind Virtual SAN allows us to connect high-speed network interfaces between different boxes instead of having to connect SANs via the network, then connect those two clusters together."
"The install itself is easy as pie."
"It's quite easy to manage."
"StarWind is very easy to use, even if you have had no experience using a SAN before."
"It has given the company an almost zero possibility of downtime."
"It has a proven track record of stability."
"The simple management comes in handy since a standard VMware admin can manage it."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"It's a very nice solution. It's a complete solution that we are looking for because we don't have personnel with expertise."
"It comes all in one box."
"The compression and deduplication features are most valuable because they allow us to have a small footprint for storage. It is a very stable product, and we are also able to get all that we need in terms of reporting."
"Our clients are very comfortable with the single management of the complete stack. The creation of VM systems is also very fast."
"Improves backup time and DR solution."
"We opted for 24-hour monitoring and support, which has already paid for itself."
"The hardware footprint is perfect. It fits in our rack perfectly, and we were able to condense a lot of physical servers we had. It has greatly eliminated the excess stuff in our server rack..."
"The sales process is easy."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the redundancy and its cost. I used to have a SAN, a Dell EMC EqualLogic. Unfortunately, it was they call an "inverted pyramid of doom." It was two or three hosts, two switches, and one storage array at the very bottom. But the SAN, the storage array at the very bottom, is a single point of failure..."
"Their service is top-notch and if a node goes down they immediately are following up with us to make sure that everything is working smoothly."
"The support is the most valuable feature. The support has been amazing. It's around the clock. One of our hard disks accidentally ejected without me knowing or being onsite. They called and told me about it before I had a chance to see it myself."
"Repair efforts have been reduced to nearly nothing."
"The setup was easy to deploy, and management is simplified compared with traditional SAN solutions."
 

Cons

"We have, in rare cases, received conflicting guidance between different support folks within StarWind."
"StarWind relies on the underlying OS to manage the "SAN files" whether that would be a RAID volume, software RAID (such as LVM), etc. It would be useful if StarWind could incorporate the actual physical drive management inside of the solution, similar to Storage Spaces Direct."
"Proper training sessions should be included with the licensing."
"I would like additional documentation regarding possible networking configurations with 10GbE switching."
"It would be nice to add the ability to use raw partitions instead of file containers."
"It would be nice to see a new UI for the windows client, as it is not the easiest to find settings."
"The number of different ways you can set it up can make it a little daunting."
"Management tools could be improved, sometimes the usage seems to be slowed down and confusing. A native web interface could also be an option. I love to see in the future port of the software on a general Linux distribution like RedHat or Ubuntu in order to avoid windows license costs. I would also like to see features like erasure coding implemented. On the VSAN software, I would like to see some improvements in the storage pools (eliminate the usage of the file as a data container and use the raw partition)."
"The greatest disadvantage is the update process. Every patch or release update must be checked and deployed with the HPE solution, which sometimes is a little bit difficult. It is not difficult in terms of installation, but it is difficult to get the patches in time."
"I would like to see it able to restore item levels, especially for databases."
"The initial setup was complex because it was a new solution."
"Scalability is something that needs to be improved because if you need more storage then you have to add more nodes."
"The way that it handles the memory could be better."
"I think the licensing cost could be lower."
"The compatibility with other products needs an improvement."
"The stability and scalability of the product are areas of concern where improvements are required."
"I wish I understood what goes into the StarWind software a little bit better. To me, it's kind of magic the way some of it works. As an IT professional, you don't really want things to be magic. I do wish there was a little more "Here's how it works." There could be more documentation given to administrators..."
"The monitoring and reporting console can be improved in the sense that it can have more information on it."
"In the future, it would be nice to be able to migrate from the Windows vSAN to the Linux vSAN without having to do a full restore from backups."
"CSVs require the storage to be configured through iSCSI, even though the storage is local."
"Maybe they could have a support portal that you can have direct access to a current support representative."
"It would be nice to have some kind of GUI interface implemented to give you an overall view of the system's health at a glance."
"It would be nice if it were possible to do the ISCSI setup that you do on Windows directly in the management GUI of StarWind."
"We struggle a little with capacity management with the StarWind Hyperconverged appliance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would suggest that you download the free version, deploy in your lab, and play with it."
"StarWind is a low-cost, full-featured alternative to the traditional SAN environment, and their support will guide you every step of the setup."
"It's priced fairly. It was definitely cheaper than the competition. The licensing terms are straightforward and reasonable."
"The free version is great to use for labs or test environments."
"The pricing is more than reasonable."
"The pricing is fine for the work that it does."
"This is a good, economical solution compared to data storage systems."
"The premium support from StarWinds is a must have. The ability to have access to a storage engineer 24/7 is a must for a production environment."
"We spent $250,000 back in the day, and that was for two servers in my data center for that cluster. We then ran what they call an arbiter, and that took the place of a third server or the third node in the cluster. My DR site was one standalone server, and its horsepower was more than the two at my main site. It included my Cisco Switches that I needed to re-upgrade. It was comparable to what we were paying a year in VM."
"HPE SimpliVity is much more affordable than Nutanix or VMware vSAN...The first pair of servers was about 90,000 EUR, including three years of warranty. It is 30,000 EUR per year."
"This solution, while costly as all these solutions are, was in fact less expensive than upgrading my old SAN."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis. The licensing cost also includes vCenter at a cost in the cloud solution."
"It's a costly solution and is more expensive than VxRail."
"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."
"It is not too expensive, but it is quite expensive for me."
"There is a one-time purchase needed for the license for HPE SimpliVity. The solution is expensive, but it is worth the money."
"The Nutanix piece was about $45,000, getting close to $50,000 with all the licensing involved, whereas the StarWind was less than half of that, after Microsoft licensing and such."
"This was all completed at an affordable price point for an SMB, which was also a key element for an NPO."
"When I researched they came the most cost-effective."
"In terms of cost, a storage array is more expensive... For half the cost of Compellent, I got two hosts, more storage, and redundancy."
"We didn't have any issue with pricing or any of the sales process."
"I honestly feel that there's no one else in the market doing what they're doing for the price point that they're doing it at. That's why I asked them about investing in their company. I think that the options they're providing and the software that they have is sort of revolutionary for the price point... The total cost was $24,400."
"The other solutions we were looking at were priced much higher than this and they didn't necessarily have full redundancy... Nutanix and VxRail were in the final running... but it came down to our price point."
"It's an all in one package, making it very easy."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
53%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
18%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Make the most of your 30-day trial license, and if needed, you should contact the sales department of StarWind to ext...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
The dashboard is functional, but it could benefit from a more modern and visually appealing design. A facelift would ...
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?
HPE SimpliVity is much more affordable than Nutanix or VMware vSAN, which are HPE's typical competitors. I don't have...
What do you like most about StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
StarWind's proactive support is my favorite feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
Keep in mind that StarWind VMs for the vSAN will take up 24GB of memory per host. If you do decide to go with StarWin...
What needs improvement with StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
I honestly don't have anything to complain about. Nothing is perfect, though, over the past three years, there were t...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
SimpliVity, HPE HCI
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
Sears Home and Franchise Business
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.