HPE SimpliVity vs VMware vSAN comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Broadcom are both solutions in the HCI category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.2, while Broadcom is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 6.3% mindshare in HCI, compared to Broadcom’s 8.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

HPE SimpliVity

Read 155 HPE SimpliVity reviews

10,046 Views
9,745 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

VMware vSAN

Read 234 VMware vSAN reviews

16,721 Views
10,701 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

HPE SimpliVity

VMware vSAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

HPE SimpliVity and VMware vSAN compete in the hyperconverged infrastructure space. HPE SimpliVity might have the upper hand due to its efficient storage management and rapid deployment, but VMware vSAN's seamless integration with VMware environments provides a strong case for robust performance.

Features: HPE SimpliVity offers inline deduplication, integrated data protection, and rapid data replication. It is known for its Data Virtualization Platform that simplifies management and fast deployment. VMware vSAN provides seamless integration with VMware, strong deduplication for all-flash configurations, and storage policy-based management that enhances its performance.

Room for Improvement: HPE SimpliVity could improve backup automation, increase hypervisor support, and enhance monitoring facilities. Users point to the need for more deployment flexibility and fixing non-optimized nodes. VMware vSAN needs to enhance deduplication capabilities, improve third-party tool compatibility, and streamline upgrade and monitoring processes. The pricing structure and hardware compatibility are also areas needing attention.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE SimpliVity is recognized for straightforward on-premises deployment and global support, though some users report slower response times after HPE's acquisition. VMware vSAN is easy to deploy within VMware ecosystems, offering both on-premises and hybrid cloud capabilities. Its customer service is strong, aiding seamless integration with VMware's suite despite occasional difficulties in managing updates.

Pricing and ROI: HPE SimpliVity includes all features at base cost, making it cost-efficient for those transitioning from traditional systems. Users value the reduced administrative overhead. VMware vSAN, while pricey, provides comprehensive storage and management benefits, favored for its ability to reduce operational costs through VMware integration. Both solutions have significant upfront costs, but users report satisfactory ROI from reduced infrastructure complexity and improved efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE SimpliVity vs. VMware vSAN Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HPE SimpliVity vs. VMware vSAN

April 2026

Download the complete report

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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

4.8

HPE SimpliVity offers varying ROI timelines, significant cost savings, reduced complexity, and easy VM expansion, reported by users.

Sentiment score

3.2

VMware vSAN reduces hardware costs, increases efficiency, and boosts ROI despite high operational expenses and upfront costs.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

I have seen a return on investment; it's satisfactory in the long run.

Ajith Varghese

Deputy Manager at Mannai

Starting with a smaller infrastructure and scaling as required allows us to save costs initially.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.7

HPE SimpliVity is praised for responsive, knowledgeable support, despite minor issues with response times and documentation accessibility.

Sentiment score

4.9

VMware vSAN support is knowledgeable but response times vary, with resources helping reduce direct contact needs for clients.

The technical support from the HPE side is excellent, and I give them 10 out of 10.

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

I would rate technical support from HPE SimpliVity eight out of ten.

Mohsin Rasheed

Presales engineer and consultant at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

I would rate their support nine points.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I am not satisfied with VMware support, particularly with the reaction times, SLAs, and those kinds of issues.

reviewer1687299

private cloud team at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

If we consider technical support from Broadcom, I would rate them an eight or nine now.

UlfWernersson

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.9

HPE SimpliVity offers easy scalability but may face limitations and flexibility issues in large enterprise environments.

Sentiment score

4.8

VMware vSAN offers seamless scalability, enabling efficient node addition and storage expansion to meet evolving business capacity demands.

With HPE, customers can scale up the HPE SimpliVity solution anytime.

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

HPE SimpliVity is scalable, as it can be scaled in terms of addition of nodes.

Mohsin Rasheed

Presales engineer and consultant at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

It supports up to 64 nodes in a cluster, allowing us to add nodes and expand the cluster as needed.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

If you have already bought it, you need specific servers, and it is easier with a SAN.

UlfWernersson

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.5

HPE SimpliVity is highly stable and reliable, with most issues linked to external factors, earning high user ratings.

Sentiment score

5.9

VMware vSAN reliability improves with updates, strong support, and adherence to hardware compatibility lists, ensuring stable performance.

From HPE's side, it is stable, and customers find it easy to manage and easy to grow.

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

When setting up a new installation, it is relatively stable.

UlfWernersson

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

In terms of stability, I give VMware vSAN nine points.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Room For Improvement

HPE SimpliVity requires improved integration, faster updates, enhanced features, simplified interface, better support, and expanded cloud compatibility.

VMware vSAN requires better management tools, integration, and hardware support, with improved stability, scalability, and enhanced disaster recovery features.

In the future, if HPE integrates HPE SimpliVity with VM essential, that will be a great combination.

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Pricing could be an area for improvement, as there are many other options that are very cost-effective compared to HPE SimpliVity or converged solutions.

Mohsin Rasheed

Presales engineer and consultant at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

A proper monitoring tool that encompasses both applications and infrastructure would help in quickly resolving issues.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Discussing the pricing model is significant as Broadcom creates many discussions worldwide regarding pricing.

UlfWernersson

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

I have recently used Nutanix, and I observed that Nutanix provides better performance than VMware vSAN due to its data locality features.

ShyamikaThamel

Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Setup Cost

HPE SimpliVity offers cost-effective hyper-converged solutions with competitive pricing and lower total ownership costs compared to alternatives.

VMware vSAN offers long-term savings, but initial costs and licensing complexity concern small businesses, especially post-Broadcom acquisition.

Standalone HPE SimpliVity is more expensive than other OEMs and solutions.

Mohsin Rasheed

Presales engineer and consultant at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

This has resulted in a slight cost increase.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Valuable Features

HPE SimpliVity provides efficient data management with deduplication, backup, and recovery, enhancing performance and reducing complexity and costs.

VMware vSAN provides high-performance, scalable storage with cost-effective integration, using existing hardware and offering advanced features.

HPE SimpliVity is the best solution for customers because its compression capacity meets customer requirements, and it is a very robust solution.

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

HPE SimpliVity is a complete solution for converged infrastructure, having its own local data store for the virtual machines and workloads.

Mohsin Rasheed

Presales engineer and consultant at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE SimpliVity report

The performance is excellent, handling workloads better than direct-attached or legacy storage solutions.

ShyamikaThamel

Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium

Hot add features are available by default in vSphere, allowing us to immediately increase memory, CPU, and hard drive without any downtime.

Pramod-Talekar

Sr Service Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Integration is very important because it makes VMware vSAN more valuable.

UlfWernersson

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vSAN report

Categories and Ranking

HPE SimpliVity

Ranking in HCI

6th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

155

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMware vSAN

Ranking in HCI

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

234

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 6.3%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSAN is 8.9%, down from 15.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
VMware vSAN	8.9%
HPE SimpliVity	6.3%
Other	84.8%

HCI

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Lokman Hossen

Senior Manager, Enterprise Technology Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Has integrated solutions and rapid recovery made management smoother and more reliable

There is the latest update from HPE regarding HPE SimpliVity. For virtualization, HPE has to depend on other manufacturers, OEMs such as VMware or Hyper-V. Recently, HPE declared the VM essential virtualization solution. In the future, if HPE integrates HPE SimpliVity with VM essential, that will be a great combination. Functionality-wise, I am totally satisfied with HPE SimpliVity, but for improvement, if HPE integrates its own virtualization solution, this combination and integration will be beneficial because this integration can be configured with the cloud-based system. A VM can be uploaded to the cloud from this, which will be advantageous for backup to other sites.

Read full review

ShyamikaThamel

Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium

Managing mixed RAID workloads has improved data protection and delivers strong performance

VMware vSAN can be improved in certain areas. In cases involving our large data stores with large VMs, we experience some latency, not during normal operation, but during database backup operations. We observed latency due to buffer issues from the top-of-the-rack switches. These issues are mostly network-related because all storage data traffic travels through the network. I have recently used Nutanix, and I observed that Nutanix provides better performance than VMware vSAN due to its data locality features. VMware vSAN is now providing data locality, but we did not use that option. If VMware vSAN provides additional features in the next release, such as the VM balancing feature called DRS on the cluster that VMware previously had, it would be beneficial. With DRS, VMs can move easily from one node to another within the same cluster. Nutanix does not provide that flexibility. When placing a VM on a cluster in Nutanix, the placement uses a balancing component. After that, the VM remains on the same host. If any contention occurs on the CPU or memory side, the VM stays in place until contention happens. If issues occur, the VM migrates to another host while transferring all objects to the same host. This is how their data locality is maintained. When a VM moves to any host, it moves with all VM objects. VMware vSAN does not currently offer this option. If a VM moves to another host, it accesses the disk object through the network, which increases latency. VMware vSAN now offers an option to select data locality, but it does not function like Nutanix. This is why some latency remains. If VMware vSAN can improve this feature, it would be very helpful and VMware would regain its top position.

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Answers from the Community

Netanya Carmi

Content Manager at PeerSpot

Mar 2, 2022

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?

See 2 answers

Leah Fainchtein Buenavida

Tech Blogger

Nov 1, 2021

HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has valuable features, but the most important thing for us is that it provides a complete solution. We could set it up very quickly, and the interface is intuitive. It has a central dashboard, and you can find everything from there. HPE SimpliVity made our virtualization stack so simple. You can combine it with an accelerator card, so the number of writes is reduced significantly. Cloning or backup VMs is a breeze because the system only changes the data you need to restore or clone. Additionally, it works well with Veeam, which we already have. Cost-wise, it is very reasonably priced. However, if you want to add more memory, you’ll need to pay additional licensing costs. We found the upgrades to be a bit complex. We tried VMware vSAN too. One of its advantages is the easy setup. VMware vSAN supports all-flash memory and integrates with all VMware products, which helps run operations smoothly. The best feature might be its scalability. VMware vSAN scales up and scales out very easily. It is easy to manage, too. There are downsides to VMware vSAN, though. For instance, support is very slow. It doesn’t work well with high IOP either. Finally, you cannot isolate virtual machines for deduplication and compression. So, if you are looking for high performance, we found VMware vSAN to be too expensive for the value it provides. Conclusions VMware provides good storage as a service for companies that already work with other VMware products or are looking for a reliable SAN. But their poor support and lack of virtual machine-level features made us decide on HPE SimpliVity for our hyper-convergence needs.

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reviewer1797342

Works

Mar 2, 2022

The answer depends on what is it that you are looking for in your solution... Both Simplivity & vSAB are software-defined storage technology-wise. Now the second important thing is both create a blob/object storage out of a set of disks. Ideally, both these solutions can't compare to real-world storage requirements where the need is block storage at the lowest latency. Most of the time both technologies are used for generalized VM workloads and not for specialized workloads. vSAN from VMware leverages Erasure code for maintaining the availability of data on the soft SAN. This architecture is referred to as RAIN - a minimum of 3 nodes are recommended in such architecture to run the storage show effectively. Simplivity, on the other hand, leverages a combination of RAID + RAIN wherein the storage availability is unimpacted even if you start with 2 Nodes. IOPS and latency are the issues with both solutions. Application performance is dependent on disk latency & throughput too. So, depending on the scenario, you need to tailor your solution. What my point is: it generally depends on workload type, data volume and performance of the VM platform that you are planning for. Both the technologies are great, People use vCloud Suite more as compared to Simplivity globally, that too is a proven fact. Then it depends on the size of a company and the workloads you wanna run... tools and processes around which your operation is defined and built.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	67
Midsize Enterprise	49
Large Enterprise	80

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	100
Midsize Enterprise	58
Large Enterprise	129

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 researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?

The solution's technical support is good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?

Standalone HPE SimpliVity is more expensive than other OEMs and solutions. Regarding the software side, VMware is costing significantly more nowadays compared to other solutions in the market. The ...

See all answers

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 engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...

See all answers

How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?

We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware vSAN?

Based on my experience, VMware vSAN's main points for improvement could be its price. Discussing the pricing model is significant as Broadcom creates many discussions worldwide regarding pricing. W...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 27% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs HPE SimpliVity

Compared 15% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs HPE SimpliVity

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs HPE SimpliVity

Compared 4% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs HPE SimpliVity

Compared 4% of the time

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VxRail vs VMware vSAN

Compared 14% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware vSAN

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp AFF vs VMware vSAN

Compared 6% of the time

Everpure FlashArray vs VMware vSAN

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs VMware vSAN

Compared 5% of the time

More VMware vSAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE SimpliVity

April 2026

Download HPE SimpliVity product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware vSAN

April 2026

Download VMware vSAN product report

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI

vSAN

Overview

HPE SimpliVity provides businesses with advanced features such as inline deduplication, compression, and instant recovery, enabling efficient backup and scalability. Its integration with VMware and centralized management fosters ease of use, establishing a streamlined IT infrastructure.

HPE SimpliVity stands as a comprehensive solution for organizations seeking a robust infrastructure capable of handling diverse workloads. Its features like integrated backup and disaster recovery ensure quick restores and high availability. Known for its efficient use of storage and data processing capabilities, it helps reduce operational costs. This system offers a reliable framework for virtualized environments, enhancing disaster recovery processes, IT operations, and application hosting while supporting workloads such as Oracle, SAP, and SQL.

What are HPE SimpliVity's key features?

Inline Deduplication: Minimizes data redundancy, enhancing storage efficiency.
Compression: Optimizes storage, reducing space requirements.
Instant Recovery: Facilitates rapid restoration of data and applications.
Centralized Management: Simplifies IT operations with unified management.
Scalable Architecture: Adapts to business growth seamlessly.

What benefits should users seek in HPE SimpliVity reviews?

Cost Reduction: Achieves savings through efficient data processing and storage utilization.
High Availability: Ensures consistent service and data accessibility.
VMware Integration: Provides compatibility and smooth operations in VMware environments.
Quick Disaster Recovery: Enables swift restoration processes for continued business operations.

Organizations deploy HPE SimpliVity mainly for virtualized environments, focusing on disaster recovery, IT operations, and application hosting. Extensively used in sectors for VDI, backups, and data center tasks, it supports major workloads like Oracle and SAP, simplifying infrastructure management while ensuring high availability.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

VMware vSAN is renowned for scalability, speed, and management ease. Its performance equals traditional SANs, offering fast speeds with diverse disk types at a reduced cost, ensuring VM access amidst hardware failures, and integrating effortlessly with VMware tools for straightforward setup.

As a leader in virtualization solutions, VMware vSAN offers high-performance storage comparable to traditional SANs, allowing SSD-like speeds with a mix of disk types. It integrates into VMware tools, leading to easy setup and policy-driven management, leveraging diverse storage policies, deduplication, and compression for enhanced efficiency. It's especially valued for its ability to scale storage and applications affordably, supporting growth without heavy initial investments. Despite the advantages, areas for improvement include encryption, UI, hardware compatibility, and affordability for SMBs, with notable resync and performance monitoring challenges. Compatibility issues with non-VMware environments and complex updates and support are critical points highlighting a need for improved management interfaces and troubleshooting to enhance user experience.

What are the key features of VMware vSAN?

Scalability: Allows easy scaling of storage and applications without significant initial investments.
Speed: Rivals traditional SANs, offering SSD-like speeds.
Management: Seamless management through integration with VMware tools and policy-driven frameworks.
Resilience: Ensures VM access during hardware failures.
Efficiency: Offers deduplication and compression to optimize storage use.

What benefits or ROI should organizations consider in reviews?

Cost-Effectiveness: Supports horizontal and vertical growth without heavy costs.
Integration: Enhances cloud infrastructure and VDI with easy integration.
Automation: Provides automation for storage and compute consolidation.
Availability: Ensures high availability for VMs and workloads.
Performance: Known for strong performance suited for diverse workloads.

VMware vSAN is implemented across industries for virtualization and cloud infrastructure enhancements, being a cornerstone for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and the management of VMs. It supports major workloads like ERP and hyperconverged infrastructure, widely respected for its performance, seamless integration into VMware's ecosystem, and cost-efficiency, particularly appealing to small and medium businesses without extensive storage infrastructure investments.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House

Read Some Case Studies At Home Cloud CaribCINgroupDiscovery Check out the Rest of our Customer Stories Here

Buyer's Guide

HPE SimpliVity vs. VMware vSAN

April 2026

Free Report: HPE SimpliVity vs. VMware vSAN

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. VMware vSAN and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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