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IBM Power Systems vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

IBM Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 6.6%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 7.0%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Power Systems6.6%
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers7.0%
Other86.4%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Foluso  Jibowo - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Hiperdist Ltd
Has empowered enterprises with secure and cost-effective solutions
When discussing disadvantages, I do not see many areas for improvement because we have received good testimonies from every client. IBM gives customers peace of mind. One challenge, which I would not really call a challenge, is that initially people have the notion that IBM Power Systems is quite expensive. However, IBM does not lose deals based on price. This is a message we need to keep communicating to people who feel that IBM is on the high side in terms of cost. We encourage them to have a discussion with us about their total cost of ownership over three or five years. There is a notion in the market that IBM is expensive, which is false. However, once we engage and show them their return on investments and their total cost of ownership savings, they tend to embrace IBM.
Mike Bellemans - PeerSpot reviewer
Project manager at Sopraco NV
One of the products in the market that is the easiest to set up and maintain
Performance and scalability-wise, there are certain areas where the product lacks and needs improvement as it does not provide a lot of fancy features presently. In general, it is a normal product that is good enough for our company. For the time being, my company does not need any extra features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use it to run our important systems and applications."
"Additionally, the processing power is far superior, especially with the RSA feature for reliability, serviceability, and availability."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"Compared to similar solutions, IBM Power Systems has a proven record."
"I definitely think that IBM is a market leader in the server sector."
"Active Memory Expansion allows you to compress your memory on the run time to allow you to have less physical memory available, but provision more memory to your partitions, as everything will be compressed on the fly."
"The uptime feature is great."
"The performance and stability are great."
"It is a stable solution."
"The initial setup is easy."
"We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines. We have some direct connections with IBM, Lenovo, and other companies, and we get close support from them."
"Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"The product scales well."
"The initial setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is straightforward. The process of implementation took me approximately two to three days. We only had to install the hardware for the installation."
"The solution is very simple to install."
 

Cons

"The number of times IBM refreshes its operating system appears to be very slow."
"I think IBM needs a little more work on managing the overall environment with eliminating Systems Director."
"They could improve responsiveness, ownership of problems, and technical acumen on the first level."
"Licensing is always going to be a problem, because it used to be based on, "This is a CPU, this is the memory, this is your footprint." Now, with virtualization, that one CPU can be carved up 100 different ways, so why should I be charged for that use rather than a single CPU, a single socket?"
"It does not offer the ability to run any X86 or X64 Intel architecture-based application on Power Systems. There are a lot of applications, lots of business use cases that do not support this architecture as of now. If somehow application tasks can be ported on to IBM Power Systems, that would be a big improvement."
"The pricing is high."
"The scalability process should be simplified."
"Price and complexity related to the management of the solution are areas of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
"The cost is a bit pricey."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."
"I definitely suggest potential users skip Lenovo and go for Dell EMC, which has good hardware, and great internal security components."
"Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients."
"To be frank, the technical support from Lenovo's team needs improvement. There seems to be a lack of support, and it is important for Lenovo to address this issue."
"The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."
"The GUI of the system is really bad. HP has a very good UI for smart memories and everything inside, but in Lenovo, we have a black-and-white UI."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I give the cost a one out of ten."
"IBM Power Systems is a really expensive product."
"It is designed for a large workload, as opposed to a small workload. For our circumstances, and even as an independent, I can't buy a Power system to experiment on. It can't happen. You cannot buy them."
"There is a yearly licensing cost, and it's an expensive solution."
"IBM Power Systems is very expensive."
"The machine is good and has a comparatively good price."
"The solution's pricing is very, very high compared to other platforms."
"The additional software costs are high."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"It is too expensive. Because we are a university and we have to look for our money, many times we buy some refurbished machines or equipment at reasonable prices from IBM or Lenovo. We are a little bit limited in terms of money, and we buy as much as we can. If they were cheaper, we would buy more."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers can be categorized as a product falling under an affordable price range but more expensive than its competitors."
"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year."
"The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is highly competitive. Many customers prefer this solution because of the price. However, the price could be reduced."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are cheaper than HPE...It is a good product that offers value for money."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise42
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
In my opinion, the product can be improved by maintaining it and not sunsetting it; that would be my recommendation for IBM. I used to work for IBM for nineteen years, and I know, unfortunately, I ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
I am an architect and system administrator, and I'm responsible for anything related to IBM Power Systems. In IBM Power Systems, I have found a lot of valuable features such as LVM, TCP, ODM, RSCT,...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Power Systems?
I would recommend IBM Power Systems to others. I have given this review a rating of ten out of ten.
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
 

Also Known As

IBM OpenPOWER LC
SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo Rack Servers,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cipher
immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Power Systems vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.