HPE StoreEasy vs StarWind Storage Appliance comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and StarWind are both solutions in the NAS category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8, while StarWind is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.5. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 4.8% mindshare in N, compared to StarWind’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of StarWind users who would recommend it.

HPE StoreEasy

Read 12 HPE StoreEasy reviews

1,404 Views
986 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

StarWind Storage Appliance

Read 10 StarWind Storage Appliance reviews

235 Views
174 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

HPE StoreEasy

StarWind Storage Appliance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

HPE StoreEasy and StarWind Storage Appliance are competing in the enterprise data management category. HPE StoreEasy seems to have the upper hand in Microsoft environment compatibility, while StarWind Storage Appliance excels in advanced features, offering flexibility and efficiency.

Features: HPE StoreEasy offers seamless integration with Windows environments, optimized data protection, and streamlined management. StarWind Storage Appliance provides robust virtualization support, high availability, and performance optimization capabilities.

Room for Improvement: HPE StoreEasy could improve its virtualization support, increase flexibility in deployment, and potentially offer better pricing scalability. StarWind Storage Appliance might enhance its configuration simplicity, increase Microsoft compatibility, and improve support satisfaction rates.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HPE StoreEasy is known for straightforward deployment and extensive documentation. StarWind Storage Appliance is noted for its flexible deployment options but has some complexity in configuration. HPE is praised for clear guidance and support consistency, whereas StarWind offers responsive support but with varied satisfaction.

Pricing and ROI: HPE StoreEasy provides competitive pricing and a strong ROI with predictable costs. StarWind Storage Appliance offers a pay-as-you-grow model, beneficial for scalable ROIs in virtualized environments, despite potentially higher initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE StoreEasy vs. StarWind Storage Appliance Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE StoreEasy vs. StarWind Storage Appliance

April 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

HPE StoreEasy

Ranking in NAS

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

StarWind Storage Appliance

Ranking in NAS

14th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (30th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the NAS category, the mindshare of HPE StoreEasy is 4.8%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Storage Appliance is 0.7%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS

Featured Reviews

Vinoth Bala

HPE Consultant at Mannai

Reliable, cost-effective, and easy to deploy and manage

I did not have any difficulties in deploying StoreEasy for the customers. It is user-friendly and easy to deploy. It has a Windows Server and a required license built in. For implementation, we follow the HPE documentation. We follow the Configuration guide and the Installation guide. For all HPE products, we follow the HPE documentation. For a single box, it takes a maximum of two days. It depends on the customer's availability. For different configurations, it can take two to three days. The number of people required varies from customer to customer, but generally, it requires three people. For mounting the storage, we always have three people to unbox, mount, and do other things. It does not require any maintenance. From the data center perspective, maintaining StoreEasy is very easy. No customer has complained about any difficulty in maintaining StoreEasy.

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Kishore CA

Senior Engineering Assistant at Bharat Electronics Limited

Offers stable performance even with a single node failure and manages everything with just two nodes.

The only drawback is that it takes a bit of time during initial synchronization, especially after restarting the environment. This is a potential area of improvement. There's a synchronization time, but it takes time. Initially, when we start the first environment deployment, it starts synchronizing between the storage. So, it is taking time. One thing is that even when you restart. Let's assume that the synchronization is completed and the storage is synchronized. Both storages are fully synchronized, and it is in sync mode. Now, if we want to restart both nodes, there is a case for maintenance purposes. You took both nodes for maintenance, and we rebooted it. Then, it should not synchronize again. It should be a checksum. And if there is a checksum match, there should be no synchronization again. So, one thing that should be taken care of. Another thing is that I used freeware- the community version, free license, which we deployed using PowerShare. In that case, it was very difficult to bring back another node when one node was faulty. Let's assume that both the nodes are working fine. And we found one node faulty. And we destroyed all the volumes in that and tried to bring it back. So that was a difficult factor. The final solution is that we were not able to bring back the failed node. So, we reconstructed a new data source for that. That is another drawback. In future releases, I would like to see the integration with VMware or some other things as a plugin model for VMware.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution allows me to better and more easily manage user data without impacting my primary storage."

"I like the user quotas, integrations, and separations for storage."

"HPE StoreEasy is a stable and high-performing solution that HPE supports effectively."

"The tool's data protection capabilities are robust."

"I can use both the on-premises and cloud storage options. I need to have an APR extension from StoreEasy, and it's that simple."

"StoreEasy offers reliable file services, which is a critical factor for customers looking for solid infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature of HPE StoreEasy is the storing of virtual machines."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the duplication."

More HPE StoreEasy pros

"It is very easy to use and very cost effective."

"The integration is excellent."

"Its user-friendly interface makes it an attractive option, especially for customers who may not be highly tech-savvy."

"They call us when monitoring shows a possible issue and are very flexible in working with our schedule to troubleshoot when it is convenient for us."

"The management interface is the most valuable feature for us."

"We saw an ROI. We have saved both time and money by using it."

"I would say data protection and easy management are the most valuable features of the product...I rate the technical support a nine out of ten."

"Having instant failover redundancy helps me sleep easier at night."

More StarWind Storage Appliance pros

Cons

"There could be improvements in providing more hardening options on the operating system side, similar to iLO's security scoreboard."

"When I configure the StoreEasy in a complex environment I have problems finding compatibility with all the software."

"It would be better if it were more scalable. In the next release, I would like to access some Microsoft Windows storage server features. I guess the newest version of Windows Server has some restrictions."

"I would like to improve the tool's technical support. I would also like to see the product's hybrid cloud version."

"The areas of HPE StoreEasy that need improvement are scalability and migration."

"The support of HPE StoreEasy can improve its responsiveness. Dell support is better."

"We need some monitoring tools and it would be helpful if they were included."

"There are some SKUs in StoreEasy that are built to order, and there are only limited options, such as StoreEasy 1670 and 1870, which can be configured to order based on customer preferences."

More HPE StoreEasy cons

"It needs more integration with backup vendors so there is native integration with it that will allow storage level backup/snapshots. I would love to see integration with Veeam and Commvault so it can be recognized by them directly and added as network storage."

"An improvement would be if they reached out to education customers with other available products."

"StarWind Storage Appliance's demo version should be similar to the paid one."

"The dashboard features are not in the free version."

"StarWind should improve the synchronization time of its product. There should be a standard operating procedure (SOP) for synchronization to reduce the time it takes."

"They could improve by providing integration with HP."

"They offered onsite installation, but we chose to do it ourselves. That took longer and was more work for us but saved us a ton of money in the end."

"With StarWind Storage Appliance, it would be better to have an overall easier setup with a little bit of configuration changes since, currently, even a small mistake may cause the setup process to go wrong."

More StarWind Storage Appliance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of HPE StoreEasy is approximately $15,000 to $20,000 and it is a one-time purchase. The price is similar to competitors, such as Dell."

"This is an economical solution for the company and I am satisfied with the pricing."

"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten. You need to pay additional costs for the solution."

"Based on what I hear from our customers, it is not very expensive. From the cost perspective, I see nobody complaining about its cost."

"It costs about 50,000 euros."

"With StarWind Storage Appliance, the payments made towards the licensing part of the product are on a per-node basis, making it cost-effective for us to use the solution in our company."

"I rate StarWind Storage Appliance's pricing an eight out of ten."

"We found that the price of StarWind was very good compared to VMware or Nutanix."

"StarWind by far provides the best bang for the buck."

"On the homepage, you can not see the pricing."

"The cost is determined by various factors, including the amount of terabyte storage you require, the number of nodes you want to purchase, and the duration of your maintenance agreement"

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE StoreEasy?

I like the tool's provisioning feature and OneView.

See all answers

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

HPE StoreEasy is competitively priced compared to competitors. It offers configuration options, such as different processor powers, to adapt to the client's needs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StoreEasy?

The product is stable, running on Windows Server ( /products/windows-server-reviews ) with updates from HPE, including those for iLO. There could be improvements in providing more hardening options...

See all answers

What do you like most about StarWind Storage Appliance?

I would say data protection and easy management are the most valuable features of the product...I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Storage Appliance?

I rate StarWind Storage Appliance's pricing an eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with StarWind Storage Appliance?

StarWind Storage Appliance's demo version should be similar to the paid one.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs HPE StoreEasy

Compared 57% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE StoreEasy

Compared 27% of the time

IBM Scale-out NAS vs HPE StoreEasy

Compared 8% of the time

FreeNAS vs HPE StoreEasy

Compared 5% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE StoreEasy

Compared 3% of the time

More HPE StoreEasy Competitors

FreeNAS vs StarWind Storage Appliance

Compared 32% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Storage Appliance

Compared 19% of the time

Scality RING vs StarWind Storage Appliance

Compared 17% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs StarWind Storage Appliance

Compared 17% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Storage Appliance

Compared 15% of the time

More StarWind Storage Appliance Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NAS

March 2025

Download HPE StoreEasy product report

Buyer's Guide

StarWind Storage Appliance

April 2025

Download StarWind Storage Appliance product report

Also Known As

HP StoreEasy

No data available

Overview

HP StoreEasy Storage is the #1 NAS product family under $15K USD range in units. Count on optimized, efficient, secure and highly available storage that simply addresses file and application storage challenges, no matter the size of your business. Straightforward features and new enhancements mean simpler installation and monitoring of utilization and health status.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

For SMB and Enterprises who are looking for high performance primary storage for server virtualization, VDI, database and Big Data scenarios, or inexpensive secondary backup tier, our solution is StarWind Storage Appliance. It unifies commodity servers, disks and flash, and associated software into an easily scalable storage platform.

Additionally, the appliance features an optional gateway to Azure public cloud, which helps to implement an effective Disaster Recovery plan or meet regulatory requirements. StarWind SA scales up by adding individual disks and flash modules, or JBODs, while adding ready controller nodes allows scaling out.

StarWind SA targets those, who need high-performance primary storage or secondary storage for backup. In case there is a whole virtualization infrastructure to build from scratch, StarWind HCA will come in handy. Otherwise, if all the required hardware is present, StarWind Virtual SAN will be enough to build a high-performance virtualization setup.

StarWind

Sample Customers

John Lewis, HPE IT, Comline AG, AmeriPride Services

Bosch, EC2 IT, Solid Earth Inc., Canon

Buyer's Guide

HPE StoreEasy vs. StarWind Storage Appliance

April 2025

Free Report: HPE StoreEasy vs. StarWind Storage Appliance

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE StoreEasy vs. StarWind Storage Appliance and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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