Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs SteelFusion comparison

Nutanix and Riverbed are both solutions in the HCI category. Nutanix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7, while Riverbed is ranked #31. Nutanix holds a 9.1% mindshare in HCI, compared to Riverbed’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Nutanix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Riverbed users who would recommend it.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

Read 200 Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) reviews

17,408 Views
9,400 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

SteelFusion

Read 2 SteelFusion reviews

611 Views
574 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

SteelFusion

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure and SteelFusion compete in enterprise IT, focusing on data management and cloud infrastructure. Nutanix is noted for its competitive pricing and robust support, while SteelFusion is superior in advanced features, justifying its higher cost for many enterprises.

Features: Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure includes hyper-converged infrastructure capabilities, seamless cloud integration, and simplified management tasks. SteelFusion offers edge computing capabilities, enhanced data access, and protection at remote sites, making it ideal for enterprises needing remote data protection and rapid recovery.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nutanix delivers a straightforward deployment process with excellent customer support, facilitating smooth platform transitions. SteelFusion's deployment is more complex, but its comprehensive customer service provides effective guidance, making up for the complexity.

Pricing and ROI: Nutanix offers cost-effective solutions with competitive pricing, yielding favorable ROI for budget-conscious businesses. SteelFusion's higher initial costs reflect its premium features and capabilities, resulting in substantial ROI for companies prioritizing data protection and remote access.

To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCI

April 2026

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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

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

Ranking in HCI

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

200

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (6th), Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (1st), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (4th)

SteelFusion

Ranking in HCI

31st

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 9.1%, up from 8.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelFusion is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)	9.1%
SteelFusion	1.0%
Other	89.9%

HCI

Featured Reviews

Obasanjo Biliaminu

Head Systems Administration/Security at Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC

Infrastructure efficiency has improved significantly with quick server provisioning, though physical to virtual migrations need a streamlined in-house tool

From my experience with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), there is one area that needs improvement. When moving a critical infrastructure from a physical machine to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), we currently have to use a third-party tool to convert the physical machine to a VM. We have to use VMware converter to perform this conversion before moving it to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). I would suggest that Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) should develop their own P2V (physical to VM) tools instead of requiring users to rely on third-party solutions.

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it_user866178

Chief Technology Officer at MAZZETTI+GBA

Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices

The level of tech support depends on who you get. There are some techs that just read the script and ask you if you’ve rebooted, but once you get past that - or if you have a very technical issue - the support is great. They really know the product and get you up and running again ASAP.

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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

"Flexibility. We're able to mix performance nodes with storage nodes easily. Unlike other vendors where, if we start a hyperconverged solution with them, we have to stick to a specific model, to a specific series with specific capabilities, with Nutanix it's very easy to mix and match the best solution, especially for a dynamic infrastructure like ours."

"The solution is well integrated with other vendors."

"Customer service is awesome. I would rate it ten out of ten."

"My advice to others is this solution is great and I highly recommend it, as it is much better than the other technology or the deployed traditional solutions."

"Acropolis has a great interface and lots of management features packaged with it at an affordable price."

"General observation, Nutanix documentation is very well written with an elegant font and format; very easy to read and understand."

"We deployed Nutanix three years ago and now we see all benefits of AOS."

"The technical support on offer is the best part of the product; they are excellent and we are extremely satisfied with their level of service."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) pros

"Sync to Central and edge protection mitigate my risk in our branch offices. All services that need to be local to the user exist on local servers. Users run applications and access data locally while the data is constantly being synced to Central, and protected. If an edge device fails, we can recover quickly."

"That is why Riverbed SteelFusion has delivered a masterclass technology that not only abstracted and virtualized the storage vendors’ unique logical storage structures, it has made it logically closer and seamless to the branch applications from a performance and experience perspective."

"All services that need to be local to the user exist on local servers, so users run applications and access data locally while the data is constantly being synced to Central and protected, and if an edge device fails, we can recover quickly."

Cons

"I would like to see more Kubernetes and container-related workflows and multiple cloud-partner management. I would also like to see how they will synergize all these AI/ML functionalities that are available on other platforms."

"One of the very important things that I would like to see in Nutanix, but I'm not sure if it's in the roadmap or not, is to have some kind of caching optimization at remote sites, to build active-active data centers more easily."

"It would be great if it could emulate some of the features that their competitor VMware has, for example port mirroring or Netflow output at hypervisor level."

"USB dongle-based licenses do not allow us to directly locate the USB ports on Nutanix."

"They could improve the graphical user interface."

"This product would be improved if it included a hybrid cloud solution."

"From an administration perspective, the software's pretty big; it would be great if they could add more features and API integrations to the higher-level products."

"The initial setup can be a bit difficult."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) cons

"Setting up disks for use is a multi-step process that could use some refinement. Setting up a core-to-core replication or DR strategy is also cumbersome."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less expensive than the VMware alternative."

"They offer multiple tier licensing which means that lower level licensing will have less features."

"While cost may seem higher than your traditional 3-tier architecture, you need to look at the bigger picture. You're not just buying hardware here. You're buying a complete environment."

"NCI is quite expensive compared to other products. It would help us if Nutanix considered affordability when releasing new products. We have an annual license and are considering extending it for another year."

"They should lower the price. If they did they would fall into a more competitive market because the price does scare a lot of potential customers away when they get the quote."

"It's a bit expensive, but it's worth it."

"The price of the solution is expensive. However, the price to performance is good. The cost for development and installation is very low."

"Cost-wise, it is very good. It is like the hypervisor cost is not there. We only need to pay for the system and AOS licenses."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) pricing and cost advice

"Price is an issue – this is expensive stuff. My advice is to beat up Riverbed as much as possible on price. These things are expensive and there is room for negotiation."

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Comparison Review

it_user244362

Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees

Aug 30, 2015

Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod

Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	92
Midsize Enterprise	77
Large Enterprise	82

No data available

Questions from the Community

How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?

Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from core to edge and multi-cloud environments. It helps IT and OT teams deploy hyper...

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What makes Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) worth using?

NCI is a product with many tools and services but the one that, in my opinion, makes it better than similar products and worth using, is the full-stack lifecycle management. This capacity allows u...

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Have you received reliable help from Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's support when you contacted them?

NCI is one of the best out there. For any software, no matter how good it is, technical support makes it or breaks it for me. You may have an amazing product but if there is not anyone to help you ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

VxRail vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 7% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 6% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 4% of the time

Azure Local vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 4% of the time

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HPE SimpliVity vs SteelFusion

Compared 12% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs SteelFusion

Compared 10% of the time

Pivot3 vs SteelFusion

Compared 8% of the time

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs SteelFusion

Compared 8% of the time

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs SteelFusion

Compared 7% of the time

More SteelFusion Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

April 2026

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) report

Download Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) product report

Buyer's Guide

HCI

April 2026

Download SteelFusion product report

Also Known As

Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis

No data available

Overview

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure delivers high performance and scalability with central management and one-click upgrades. It enhances data protection and reduces deployment complexities, perfect for businesses seeking efficient virtualization.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers a comprehensive platform integrating compute, storage, and network for optimal infrastructure management. It supports multiple hypervisors, offering flexibility, efficiency, and ease of use. With features like Prism for centralized management, organizations can manage resources effectively while benefiting from data protection enhancements such as deduplication and compression. Hyper-convergence enables seamless integration, reducing operational costs and increasing scalability. Though the pricing is high, and setup and administration can be complex, the ability to support hybrid cloud implementations and critical infrastructures like VDI and databases provides notable advantages.

What are the key features of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure?

Prism for Centralized Management: Simplifies resource management with a single control interface.
High Performance: Offers efficient I/O operations to enhance processing efficiency.
Scalability: Easily adjusts to growing business needs with one-click upgrades.
Data Protection: Uses deduplication and compression for secure data handling.
Hyper-Convergence: Integrates compute, storage, and network to optimize infrastructure.
Multi-Hypervisor Support: Provides flexibility to choose preferred hypervisors.

What benefits should users look for in Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure?

Cost Effectiveness: Reduces operational costs through resource optimization.
Ease of Management: Centralized control enhances administrative efficiency.
Scalability: Grows seamlessly with business demand.
Data Protection: Increases security and reliability of data management.
Performance Improvement: Streamlines server provisioning and resource management.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure finds adoption across industries for virtualization, cloud services, and infrastructure consolidation. Organizations utilize it for hybrid clouds and virtual server hosting, supporting applications like databases and virtual desktop infrastructures. They report enhanced data protection, disaster recovery capabilities, and improved performance, facilitating effective resource management.

Nutanix

Riverbed SteelFusion is the first and only hyper-converged infrastructure for branch IT, enables 100% consolidation of branch data and servers from remote sites into data centers, delivering complete data security and centralized data protection, without compromising on any of the benefits of running branch services locally for your users. SteelFusion eliminates the need for physical servers, storage and backup infrastructure at branch locations, creates the ability to instantly provision and recover branch services, and provides full visibility and superior performance of on-premises and cloud-based applications, leading to dramatic increases in data security, business continuity, agility and operational efficiency.

Riverbed

Sample Customers

St. Lukes Health System, the City of Seattle, Yahoo! Japan, Sligro, Empire Life, Hyundai AUS, and many others.

Roxtec, Engen, Bobst, CBP, IUCN, Mahoning County, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Broadcom, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: April 2026.

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