Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

Red Hat and StarWind are both solutions in the HCI category. Red Hat is ranked #24, while StarWind is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.5. Red Hat holds a 0.8% mindshare in HCI, compared to StarWind’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Red Hat users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of StarWind users who would recommend it.

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infr...

Read 6 Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure reviews

505 Views
285 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

StarWind Virtual SAN

Read 193 StarWind Virtual SAN reviews

3,262 Views
825 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infr...

StarWind Virtual SAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

StarWind Virtual SAN and Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure compete in the virtualization storage solutions category. StarWind has an edge in pricing with its low-cost structure, while Red Hat offers more comprehensive features, justifying its higher cost.

Features: StarWind Virtual SAN offers streamlined management, high availability, and flexibility, ideal for small to medium businesses. Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure is known for its scalability, integration capabilities, and support for enterprise applications.

Room for Improvement: StarWind could enhance scalability, widen enterprise integration options, and expand its feature set. Red Hat could improve affordability, simplify its deployment process, and make customer documentation more accessible.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: StarWind is favored for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer support, ideal for businesses with limited IT resources. Red Hat, although more complex to deploy, provides robust support for enterprises with advanced needs.

Pricing and ROI: StarWind Virtual SAN offers a lower setup cost, making it attractive for smaller organizations with efficient resource use. Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure, despite higher initial costs, promises greater ROI for larger deployments due to its expansive capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 857,162 peers since 2012

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

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infr...

Ranking in HCI

24th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

StarWind Virtual SAN

Ranking in HCI

5th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

193

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

PaulSorelli

IBM Data & IA Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Consolidated management and good documentation but very complex and difficult to operate

It is not user-friendly, and it is very difficult to operate. You have to have a deep understanding of the technical details of the infrastructure to implement it. When you compare it with VMware, it is totally different because the graphical user interface is not that easy to understand. It is not intuitive. To use it, you have to read a lot of documentation and even understand what is going on behind the solution. It is not for someone who has a little bit of knowledge. Currently, it is too complex. I need something that is easy to implement. It should have a basic configuration as well as a complex configuration.

Read full review

WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

Seamless integrations, high availability, and offers a free version

Although I am generally satisfied with VSAN and its performance, there are some areas that could be improved to enhance its effectiveness even further. One area that could benefit from improvement is scalability. While the tool works well in its current configuration, allowing for greater ease and flexibility in adding new nodes to the cluster without complications would be very beneficial, especially in growing environments. Additionally, I would like to see additional features in the next version, such as better support for automated resource management. This could include proactive suggestions for optimizing storage and memory usage, as well as preventive alerts about the health status of the servers. A more intuitive interface or an improved dashboard for monitoring the cluster would also be helpful, as it would facilitate performance tracking and help identify potential issues before they affect services.

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

"The size of the hardware is what we need because it is very good for small configurations."

"I like that you can add other types of services."

"It is stable and scalable."

"Both the scalability and stability of this solution are excellent."

"The consolidation of the management in one control point is the most valuable. The whole infrastructure management is consolidated in just one console point. The documentation is also pretty good."

"The most useful feature is the solution's automation in terms of how we are able to spin up a certain workload in real-time when we are doing R&D."

"This product now allows us to migrate virtual machines between nodes as if we had a dedicated $100,000 SAN in the mix without the additional cost and management of the SAN."

"Using our own choice of HW allowed us to price our service to answer our customers' needs."

"The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget."

"Their support goes above and beyond with the integration of their software."

"I save both physical and virtual space."

"Training is also easy as it is just one system to learn."

"StarWind Virtual SAN can improve an organization's storage infrastructure by providing high availability, scalability, cost-effectiveness, performance, and ease of use."

"One of the standout features of StarWind.com is its remarkable ability to seamlessly integrate with Dell systems. This integration provides users with an unmatched level of convenience and compatibility, allowing for streamlined operations within a Dell environment. This compatibility factor alone can save significant time and effort for IT professionals, ensuring a smooth integration process and optimized performance."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pros

Cons

"It is not user-friendly, and it is very difficult to operate. You have to have a deep understanding of the technical details of the infrastructure to implement it. When you compare it with VMware, it is totally different because the graphical user interface is not that easy to understand. It is not intuitive. To use it, you have to read a lot of documentation and even understand what is going on behind the solution. It is not for someone who has a little bit of knowledge. Currently, it is too complex. I need something that is easy to implement. It should have a basic configuration as well as a complex configuration."

"The main issue is the initial investment. It is an expensive product, and it should be cheaper. It should also be easier to use and manage. The professional service for this solution is quite complex and expensive."

"The cloud deployment could be improved."

"This product is not so stable. Maybe it is just not mature enough in its development."

"The licensing policy needs to be improved. They have a licensing policy based on the number of CPU sockets. Nowadays what has happened is that the license they are trying to move is based on the number of CPU cores. With the advancement in technology there are now more cores in a single CPU. It's been very challenging in terms of managing the license around everything. Today we have a processor with 24 and 32 cores on the same physical CPU."

"It should be more user-friendly, in my opinion."

"Perhaps more reporting features on the utilization, usage, and performance of the configured high-availability images and underlying physical disks would be helpful."

"vSAN's free version does not have a graphical user interface."

"I'd love to see native export of metrics (via Prometheus or something of that nature) to allow us to get more metrics available on our existing dashboard software."

"A better overall view of the different deployments could be beneficial, although this is difficult due to how flexible the solution is."

"For improvement, I would like to see how the software determines which networks to use for which purpose. It seems like the naming terminology changes a bit from here to there."

"I would like an automated installation/configuration despite the fact that their service is very collaborative, a customer should be able to deploy the solution by themselves."

"The documentation is good yet is still lacking in a few areas."

"We would like the documentation to be more complete. Most items are covered, but if you don't know something, you may need to contact their support."

More StarWind Virtual SAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure is an open-sourced, low-cost solution with full features."

"It is quite pricey."

"Once you buy the license, you are free to build your own hardware solution based on your needs."

"Cost is affordable and licensing is smooth."

"We are happy with the price."

"This is a good, economical solution compared to data storage systems."

"The license is reusable. We can always rebuild it and apply the license. Then, boom, we get new servers, apply the license, and we're back up and running."

"There are two tiers of support and in my opinion, support is worth the cost."

"I think that purchasing StarWind Virtual SAN Professional Edition would be optimal for most."

"Licensing is easy and the whole package is cost-effective."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which HCI solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?

It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines flash and disks of the cluster and forms a virtual shared storage “pool” acce...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?

I have had no setup costs and no challenges with setup and installation for StarWind Virtual SAN. The costs are acceptable and very competitive compared to other hardware-only HCI solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?

There are times when the feedback in the event of an impending issue or an actual failure can be limited. The remediation steps are usually fairly simple to resolve the issue, but the management GU...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSAN vs Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Compared 32% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Compared 14% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Compared 12% of the time

Azure Stack HCI vs Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Compared 12% of the time

VxRail vs Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Compared 11% of the time

More Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure Competitors

VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 24% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 16% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 15% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 14% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 10% of the time

More StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

May 2025

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure report

Download Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure product report

Buyer's Guide

StarWind Virtual SAN

May 2025

Download StarWind Virtual SAN product report

Also Known As

Red Hat HCI, Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure for Virtualization

StarWind SAN & NAS

Overview

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure - based on our leading OpenStack and virtualization platforms - provides co-located, scalable, software-defined compute and storage, driven by Red Hat Ansible Automation on economical, industry-standard hardware.

Red Hat

StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

StarWind

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

June 2025

Free Report: Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure vs. StarWind Virtual SAN report.

See our list of best HCI vendors.

We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.