Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs VMware vSAN comparison

Lenovo and Broadcom are both solutions in the HCI category. Lenovo is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.0, while Broadcom is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.9. Lenovo holds a 1.2% mindshare in HCI, compared to Broadcom’s 12.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lenovo users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Read 3 Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series reviews

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675 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

VMware vSAN

Read 234 VMware vSAN reviews

14,315 Views
8,875 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

VMware vSAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

VMware vSAN and Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series offer hyper-converged infrastructure solutions. VMware vSAN has an edge in scalability and integration, while Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is stronger in performance and hardware efficiency.

Features: VMware vSAN integrates well with VMware environments, supports advanced data management, and provides efficient storage features. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series offers hardware-specific optimizations, pre-configured solutions for faster deployments, and improved performance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series benefits users with its simplified deployment process and strong vendor support. VMware vSAN is better suited for existing VMware users due to potential deployment complexities for new environments.

Pricing and ROI: VMware vSAN can be cost-effective for VMware environments, offering flexible licensing with potential ROI through resource utilization. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, despite higher initial costs, provides high ROI from its performance and resource efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. VMware vSAN Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. VMware vSAN

December 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

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Ranking in HCI

19th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

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 December 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSAN is 12.0%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VMware vSAN	12.0%
Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series	1.2%
Other	86.8%

HCI

Featured Reviews

Adeel Hashmi

IT Technical Advisor at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees

With an easy deployment phase, the tool offers good scalability and stability

Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the product, then everything is pretty standard, so I cannot pinpoint any areas of issue in particular. With Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, the firmware from VMware or Nutanix takes time to be made available compared to other products that we use in our company's IT environment. If you want to go to a certain version of VMware and check what Nutanix offers, you see that both the offerings don't go hand in hand, and you have to wait for a quarter or two quarters until you see the same versions of both being made available for the other products, like Dell or HPE. There is a delay in the availability of similar versions of firmware from both the products, which are VMware and Nutanix for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, due to the delayed releases from both products, maybe by a quarter or so. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in a solution. In future releases of the product, I may want some improvements to be made in the products from Nutanix and VMware.

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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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is simple. We were able to deliver the hyper-convergence solution in a very good time."

"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series are the ease of use and simple configuration."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy."

"Very good VCG notification feature."

"It is scalable, overall. If you need to add storage, it makes it easy to scale by adding additional hard drives into the existing servers or you can add storage by just adding more servers."

"It uncoupled the idea of proprietary technology and component capabilities. It is basically a proprietary technology for a cost-effective infrastructure."

"The scalability of the solution is most valuable."

"Technical support has been very good. They respond pretty fast, especially if we have a critical issue. Their responses have been great."

"Being hyperconverged, it simplifies what equipment we have to buy."

"While we haven't made major changes to our disaster recovery and business continuity processes yet, moving towards stretch vSAN across sites will simplify and expedite our DR processes in the future."

"The product’s most valuable features are performance and expandability."

More VMware vSAN pros

Cons

"Here in Nigeria, the only challenge that we have, which I think is also experienced globally is the delay in bringing in the spare parts. This is a challenge facing our country, such as the Forex market. However, this is beyond the control of Lenovo themselves."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series could improve by having better integration with the solutions from VMware and vCenter"

"There is a delay in the availability of similar versions of firmware from both the products, which are VMware and Nutanix for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, due to the delayed releases from both products, maybe by a quarter or so."

"Currently, one of the available features is shareable VMBKs. You can create the VMBK disc and you can make them shareable between the ends. But as soon as you start using this feature, you lose the ability to create snapshots."

"One of the things that we've had challenges with are when we place hosts into maintenance mode. Sometimes doing so triggers large re-sync processes which can be time-consuming and which have, at times, pushed the capacity to the threshold. I definitely think making some changes in that area would provide some big improvements."

"It should be easier to use."

"Maybe incorporation of automation to build clusters in a more automated way would be beneficial."

"The server files are larger than before."

"We have encountered some challenges related to administrative tasks and licensing issues for the product."

"It doesn't seem like it gives the performance that an actual SAN would give for heavy IOPS, read/writes."

"If the support could be provided more quickly, it would be very helpful."

More VMware vSAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose it over the other products in the market."

"When comparing this solution to other OEM solutions it is relatively inexpensive."

"The cost is expensive. I purchased two servers. The hardware cost was $19,000. The software cost for these two servers, including the vSAN, was $30,000, which is $11,000 more than the hardware. Then I had to pay another $5,000 for installation and implementation for professional services. In total, it was $54,000 for two vSAN Servers."

"We pay a yearly licensing fee."

"It is not a subscription model. It is a purchase model, but it is very important that you also buy technical support from VMware. This is probably the only disadvantage of vSAN. It depends on the use case, but it can be very expensive."

"It is too expensive."

"The first 1-2 years of purchasing vSAN will be expensive. Thereafter, the longer you are running it, the more cost savings you will have."

"I would rate the licensing model a three out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."

"The product’s pricing is a bit higher than other solutions."

"vSAN has many versions with standard and advanced including Enterprise and Enterprise Plus. Regarding the Enterprise and the Advanced, it could be lower."

More VMware vSAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Retailer

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

Questions from the Community

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What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?

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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 ...

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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...

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Comparisons

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 26% of the time

VxRail vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 12% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 11% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 10% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node vs Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series

Compared 10% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series Competitors

VxRail vs VMware vSAN

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs VMware vSAN

Compared 13% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs VMware vSAN

Compared 7% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware vSAN

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs VMware vSAN

Compared 6% of the time

More VMware vSAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

December 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware vSAN

December 2025

Download VMware vSAN product report

Also Known As

Lenovo HX Series, ThinkAgile HX Series

vSAN

Overview

Designed for easy deployment and manageability in scale-out clusters, the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series combines Nutanix software with Lenovo’s highly reliable and scalable servers. These appliances ship fully integrated, tested, and configured so that you can dramatically accelerate your time to value and reduce your infrastructure maintenance.

Lenovo

VMware vSAN is a software-defined storage product that is used in collaboration with VMware ESXi hypervisor and that provisions and manages storage based on policies, regardless of the underlying hardware. The solution enables you to prime your business for growth through its seamless evolution (it is integrated with vSphere and requires no new tools), its flexibility, and its multi-cloud capabilities. As an industry-leading software, VMware vSAN provides high levels of performance with minimal impact on CPU and memory.

VMware vSAN Features

VMware vSAN has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Storage policy-based management (SPBM): VMware vSAN supports storage policy-based management for automated management of storage profiles.

Software-defined data-at-rest encryption: With this VMware vSAN feature, you can prevent unauthorized access of data at rest.

Multiple nodes: VMware vSAN provides clusters that can include as few as 2 nodes or as many as 64 nodes.

High security and availability: VMware vSAN offers stretched clusters, allowing more than one virtualization host server to be used in the same setup, promoting higher security as well as availability.

Deduplication: VMware vSAN’s deduplication compresses data to ensure efficient storage management and security.

HCI mesh updates: VMware vSAN clusters can share storage capacity with non-HCI Sphere clusters and can adopt HCI without having to scale computing resources and storage or replace existing servers.

Simplified file services: With VMware vSAN’s file services, backup of file shares is simplified. You can use APIs that allow backup and recovery software vendors to integrate with your VMware vSAN file services, which enables backup software to track new data and add scalability enhancements to files.

VMware vSAN Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing VMware vSAN. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO): VMware vSAN helps you reduce upfront costs for businesses because it can be easily deployed on inexpensive x86 servers. In addition, its highly scalable infrastructure and quick deployment also save organizations time and money, making it an efficient storage solution.

Good manageability: VMWare vSAN is easy to set up, manage, and provision, without sacrificing performance.

Scalability: VMware vSAN is agile and allows administrators to scale storage on demand, quickly, and efficiently via policies and rules.

Simplicity: VMWare vSAN is simple to configure since it is embedded in the vSphere hypervisor. Installing it using the vSphere Web Client can be done quickly.

Reduced risk: VMWare vSAN reduces the risk associated with digital transformations by utilizing existing tools, skill sets, and solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the VMware vSAN solution.

PeerSpot user Yves S., CEO, Cloud Evangelist at Comdivision Consulting GmbH, says, “vSAN gives us a lot of advantages when we need to expand resources. We have an overall larger host infrastructure, and we split that up for specific customer test and use cases. In that specific scenario, we can easily add more hosts or reduce the number of hosts in the environment.”

A reviewer who works in Infrastructure Security explains, “The ease of use is great. The initial setup and upgrade process was pretty straightforward. And, technical support is great.”

Laurent N., Director at Softlogic, comments, "The feature that I have found most valuable is that it is easy to deploy. It is easy to create and delete virtual servers. It is easy to create the load balancing and the clustering."

Broadcom

Sample Customers

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Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. VMware vSAN

December 2025

Free Report: Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. VMware vSAN

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