Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays comparison

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

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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

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Everpure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is 1.9%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.6%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series	1.9%
NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays	1.0%
Other	95.5%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

Read full review

Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

Complicated deployment and poor support persist, affecting overall satisfaction

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many customers have lost data while configuring it, indicating a need for improvement. The after-sales service is also very poor. Furthermore, it does not offer basic features like deduplication, and the service is generally considered to be very bad.

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Tayo Olubanke

Managing Director at GCET

Offers flexibility and top-notch technology

You can go to bed peacefully if you have a NetApp. If you have NetApp within your data center, you get to know about power failure if you are using it. Your NetApp will still come alive. Even if it does not come alive, I can say that it is not like other tools when it comes to dealing with power failure. The tool is affordable, and the technology is top-notch. It is the only technology that has software for what we call inline compression and deduplication. All the products under NetApp are aiming to use AI. I know that you can achieve whatever you want to do with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Speed has definitely been a big improvement for us; we were running a bunch of iSCSI to EMC VNX and that had a gigabyte bottleneck, and now, since we're running through a true fiber channel to the Pure array, we're getting 32-gigabyte bandwidth, which means the speed and accessibility for our users and our customers have definitely improved."

"The administration and the stability are very good."

"Its speed is superior to our existing Unity x00 model and it has performed substantially better than our x00 model and a little bit better than our x50 model."

"What I really like about this program, is that it is easy to use and easy to configurate."

"The system allows for seamless learning experiences, facilitating quick and easy cloning of environments within minutes."

"Being able to have broken files on-site on the same appliance is quite useful."

"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."

"It offers competitive performance, and the Evergreen storage model of Pure fits well with my organization."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"We are satisfied with the stability."

"The Lenovo ThinkSystem is used for everything in our company from ERP to BI, for production, PLM, CAD for designing, and everything else."

"One of the most valuable features of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is the snapshot feature."

"The value we derive from using it is greater than other alternatives like HPE and Dell."

"The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload."

"The FlexClone feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"It has been a perfect fit for the workload that our customer is doing."

"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series pros

"The product's initial setup phase can be managed easily and completed in 20 to 30 minutes. It is one of the fastest storage tools that you can implement."

"Its performance is most valuable. This solution is much faster than other as well as older storage solutions. The performance of the system is very good. We are getting 50 times better experience than the older storages. We are using AFF 300. It also has native cloud integration and most of the features."

"The benefits are better up-time, better response time."

"The most valuable feature is its speed; we had a bake off with another product in our data center, and it blew it away, without any question, being about 100% faster than the XtremIO, just pure speed."

"Our batch processing time went down from 14 hours to seven hours with this solution."

"The management software is very good."

"Go with the NetApp EF-series All Flash Arrays, if you want good quality, reliability, speed and size."

"The main advantage of this solution is performance."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pros

Cons

"We would like to see VNC integration or be able to use Pure Storage with VNC."

"I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"The software layer has to improve."

"We would like to see more visibility into garbage collection and CPU performance in the GUI."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"I'd like to see the product implement active replication for vehicles such as VMware."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"It takes a very long time to enter the management console, as well as to restart the system, and these are things that should be improved."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is not stable. If I have sold fifty boxes, about fifty percent of them experienced failure."

"The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series was very hard to configure. Installation of the product was very hard. These are its areas for improvement."

"The tool's pricing is high."

"I would rate the support of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series a four out of five."

"It takes a very long time to enter the management console, as well as to restart the system, and these are things that should be improved."

"The solution needs a simpler licensing theme around the DM series. The problem is if you only need one of the features, you still have to buy the whole thing. The licensing needs to be more granular or flexible so you have the option to only license FlexCone or Inline Compression features."

"Many people do not realize that Lenovo has a storage solution, so better marketing from the vendor is needed."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series cons

"Their problems are on the software and the controlling of the storage where they lack segmentation and federation."

"The support of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"Better integration with other brands is important so we would like to see it easier to integrate."

"I would like to have the ability to replicate data between All Flash and other NetApp storage systems."

"It's very difficult to manage the CLI."

"The management interface, while very reliable, it seems a little old now and could maybe use a little modernization."

"We need a center related to NetApp in Egypt so that we can deal with them directly."

"From a manageability perspective, I like the look and the feel of the FAS series better than the EF. I think it's more straightforward and simplistic."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The support cost per array is about $20,000 a year for 24/7 support."

"The product is expensive."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe’s pricing is cheaper than other products."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"The solution is highly-priced."

"The solution's pricing is similar to Dell and HPE."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is good."

"Lenovo offers two software tiers for the DM Series: basic and premium. If you need more features like the MetroCluster, you must buy the premium version. You can stick to the basic software if you don't need MetroCluster or features like asynchronous replication. That makes DM Series a little cheaper."

"Most of my customers pay for the license on a yearly basis. It can be expensive depending on the capacity number."

"The pricing is comparable with other competitors and similar in mid-range solutions, and for high range solutions, it would depend on our requirements or needs."

"Cheaper pricing is always good. NetApp has been doing everything the right way. They've been figuring out things really well, going in the right direction."

"It's a lot cheaper than what the other vendors have for the same type of environment. It saves us money."

"Its cost-effectiveness is a major selling point. Compared to other storage vendors, the EF-Series offers excellent value for its price. It's truly a leading product in the industry."

"They need to improve its pricing. The storage market is dying. So, they need to improve the price because it should reach all people. NetApp is one of the top ones, and they are charging a little bit of royalty as compared to other storage solutions."

"They provide licenses upon purchase, so there's no need for additional licenses. Regarding additional expenses apart from the standard licensing fees, such as for support or maintenance, there aren't any. Updates take around twenty to thirty minutes, including rebooting the systems, and we haven't faced any problems with the NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays. We utilize various other storages like Fujitsu, IBM, and Dalian SIP, but the NetApp EF-Series stands out as we've had no issues throughout the entire year of usage."

"he price point that we're getting is very competitive in the market. Since we are buying in such a large quantity, they gave us a huge discount."

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays pricing and cost advice

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which All-Flash Storage solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

10%

Performing Arts

10%

Marketing Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	18

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

There are extra expenses beyond the standard licensing fee for features such as replication and deduplication, which ...

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many cus...

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

My primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series ( /products/lenovo-thinksystem-dm-series-reviews ) is for storag...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

One has to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model for one year or three years. After three years, you need to rene...

What needs improvement with NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

The support of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required. I want NetApp's supp...

What is your primary use case for NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays?

There are so many things to talk about around the use cases associated with the tool. There are so many reasons why I...

Dell PowerStore vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparisons

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

More Everpure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 26% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 9% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 7% of the time

Everpure FlashBlade vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 3% of the time

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NetApp AFF vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 12% of the time

Dell XtremIO vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Compared 7% of the time

More NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays Competitors

Product Reports

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe

Download Everpure FlashArray X NVMe product report

All-Flash Storage

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays

Download NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays product report

NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X, Pure FlashArray X NVMe

ThinkSystem DM Series

NetApp EF540, NetApp EF-Series

Overview

Everpure FlashArray X NVMe delivers high performance, reliability, and low latency, making it ideal for block storage in private cloud infrastructures and mission-critical applications.

Boasting robust data reduction, high availability, and seamless scalability, Everpure FlashArray X NVMe supports databases, VMware environments, and machine learning analytics. Known for its intuitive interface, superior support, volume snapshots, and AI-powered analytics, it efficiently manages storage needs, often deployed to replace outdated systems. Users highlight its simplistic management and easy configuration, although opportunities exist to enhance pricing, replication features, VNC integration, and storage capabilities.

What are the key features?

Data Reduction: Effective compression and deduplication improve storage efficiency.
Seamless Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing demands without downtime.
Volume Snapshots: Quickly create snapshots for data protection and recovery.
VMware Compatibility: Integrates smoothly with VMware environments for optimal performance.
AI-Powered Analytics: Provides insights for enhanced storage management and efficiency.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Low Latency and High Availability: Ensures rapid data access and uninterrupted service.
Easy Management: Intuitive interface simplifies configuration and monitoring.
Evergreen Model: Continuous upgrades without disruptive migrations.
Enhanced Support: Reliable service and support for critical applications.

Organizations in industries such as finance and healthcare implement Everpure FlashArray X NVMe to bolster data performance and reliability. They leverage its integration capabilities with Oracle databases and SQL workloads, supporting machine learning and virtualization. It's often chosen to upgrade legacy storage systems, ensuring high availability and speed for demanding environments.

Everpure (formerly Pure Storage)

To meet enterprise storage requirements, ThinkSystem All-Flash DM Series systems provide high performance, superior flexibility, and best-in-class data management. DM Series runs on ONTAP data management software, which gives customers unified storage across block-and-file workloads. It accelerates your business while improving the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of your IT operations.

Lenovo

The NetApp EF560 all-flash array is an all-SSD storage system for applications that demand extremely high levels of performance and reliability. Requiring just 2U of rack space, the EF560 all-flash array combines extreme IOPS, microsecond response times, and up to 12GBps of bandwidth with leading, enterprise-proven availability features.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

RP Data, Western Oregon University, Toei Animation

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays