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HPE Synergy vs Lenovo Flex System comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 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 Synergy
Ranking in Blade Servers
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Composable Infrastructure (1st)
Lenovo Flex System
Ranking in Blade Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Blade Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Synergy is 12.7%, down from 21.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo Flex System is 4.7%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Blade Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HPE Synergy12.7%
Lenovo Flex System4.7%
Other82.6%
Blade Servers
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Works at Saudi Telecom Company
Manage servers efficiently with an integrated view while reducing downtime
My use case is to serve the complete IT environment of the telecom, including all cloud applications. I use HPE Synergy servers for my private cloud and for network management systems. 70% of my workload is running on HPE servers The integrated view, such as managing complete servers and…
FA
Senior System Administrator at Khushhali Microfinance Bank
Used to run the compute load on servers, but firmware and driver upgrades are a bit difficult
We use the solution for multiple purposes, such as in the virtualization cluster and the standalone applications We use the solution as a compute model to run the compute load on servers. The solution's firmware and driver upgrades are a bit difficult. I have been using Lenovo Flex System for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I love the satellite architecture for the Virtual Connect. I think this is great. I love the storage drawer, which you can present volumes to any compute node within the same frame."
"The solution has decreased the deployment time for a new blade, saving us three hours."
"Great data storage and very good for software defined solutions."
"The most valuable features are the evolution of our existing HPE portfolio, the integration with our existing tool sets, and the enhanced capabilities that OneView bring."
"The centralized management of HPE Synergy is beneficial because it is easy to manage and administer."
"We've found the scalability to be reasonable if you are ready to invest in it."
"The temporal value of it. If I only need a particular amount of compute for a specific period of time during business hours, then at night, I'm running a bunch of batch jobs, or doing something else, that ability to swap a profile, swap templates, and have compute assigned to something else, saves significant amount of money. As long as you are tying it into the automation and orchestration layers, it becomes much easier to do."
"It's very scalable. We like the idea that we can put four chassis in one of our racks, and we can connect up to 25 chassis, so the scalability to us, and being able to sync all those into one management portal, is unheard of. You can't really sync that many blades and chassis together in any other platform."
"The product is very user-friendly and has many resources at the enterprise level."
"We use the solution as a compute model to run the compute load on servers."
"It comes at a good price. We didn't face any problems with this product."
"Flex System's best features are its performance and stability."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The stability and speed are always good. The processor is good and it's still working with our loads."
"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo Flex System is the storage system."
"The functionality is reliable and requires minimal support."
 

Cons

"It has been in the external integrations to other platforms that we have, which aren't HPE, where some of our challenges have been. I would like to see some integrations with non-HPE platforms."
"I would like more storage with this solution, because we still need 3PAR or other storage outside the box for the amount of data that we have."
"The pricing can be improved as it is a costly solution due to sanctions in Iran."
"You can always improve some things."
"I would like the ability to have my storage components accessed from any other frame across the backplane. If we have a storage module and we run out of space in that frame, it'd be nice to be able to share it across the frames. You can do it with hyperconverged. Why can't you do it with Synergy?"
"This solution could be improved by increasing the speed on the conversion adapters. It should be 100 gigs."
"We had some challenges during the implementation and a few issues afterward, but they were all sort of related to how Synergy interacts with Nexus. Our Nexus on the network side is managed by another group, and they had just gotten Nexus, so they weren't really familiar with how Nexus even worked. Getting these two to interact well was the majority of our issues. It really didn't have anything to do with Synergy. It points to know the environment that you are putting it in and making sure you are dotting all your i's and crossing all your t's when you are figuring out what their requirements are to communicate."
"It would be nice if the updates were not accompanied by downtime."
"The product could improve its integration capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of the Lenovo Flex System is the storage system."
"Forced restarts due to free upgrades is an issue that needs to be resolved. We can manage this as we have high availability and redundancy, but without that it could be a real problem."
"The user-interface needs improvement, because they have an application from which we have to manage the whole system and all the infrastructure. This application is not working at our premises, because of some problem with the hardware itself. So although we brought it with our systems, and we used it to manage all the systems: the storage, the switches, and everything, nevertheless we have to support every part alone and enter the interface in one-by-one."
"It does not have the same module flexibility that was present in IBM Blade. On the Blade System, I was able to choose between the Cisco module, or BMC module. Since the switch to Lenovo, I have not had the same choice of modules, only the BMC modules."
"Continuing the production of this product is necessary. It is currently out of support, and we are seeking support from other sources besides Lenovo."
"I had some difficulties with the initial setup."
"Flex System's integration with the XClarity Management System could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution has reduced our IT infrastructure costs by 50 percent."
"The hardware licensing cost is reasonable."
"There is a perpetual license given when you purchase HPE Synergy."
"In our whole environment, the cost is in the millions. On this particular chassis, the annual cost is 12 blades times approximately $40,000."
"The Nutanix platform came in a little more expensive than the Synergy."
"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."
"The biggest cost is the VMware licensing."
"Our IT infrastructure costs have gone up each year by 20 percent."
"We have the whole maintenance for the 3 years, starting the deployment. We also have the VMware license for 3 years and I think we have another license to buy. There are no additional costs besides licensing."
"We are just paying the operational cost, which is not much."
"The price is interesting. I am able to quote a client based on their needs and offer them either Lenovo or Dell."
"The 14 blade server allows significant room for upscaling before having to invest in another chassis. You would have to purchase another chassis much sooner in the case of an eight or nine blade server."
"There is a one-off payment to buy the equipment and the support is purchased annually."
"The is an annual license cost to use the Lenovo Flex System. If the price was less expensive and flexible overall and for additional features, our customers would be happier."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise56
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Synergy?
As far as the prices are concerned, rack mount solutions are less expensive than HPE Synergy prices; however, HPE Synergy prices are higher but justify themselves as the solution accommodates all t...
What needs improvement with HPE Synergy?
In my opinion, for future improvements in HPE Synergy, there should be better management of power consumption complexity as well as an increase in the number of servers that can fit in a single Syn...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo Flex System?
Compared to its quality, the pricing is very reasonable and represents good value.
What needs improvement with Lenovo Flex System?
Continuing the production of this product is necessary. It is currently out of support, and we are seeking support from other sources besides Lenovo.
What is your primary use case for Lenovo Flex System?
We are using Lenovo Flex System on the server for our VMware environment, which includes our VMs and all our servers, Linux and Windows. It manages the daily operation efficiently.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Flex System Blade Servers, Flex System SN Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

HudsonAlpha, Virgin Media, EMIS, United
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Synergy vs. Lenovo Flex System and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.