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StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance and StarWind Virtual SAN are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is ranked #9 with an average rating of 10.0, while StarWind Virtual SAN is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.5. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance holds a 2.0% mindshare in SDS, compared to StarWind Virtual SAN’s 7.2% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of StarWind Virtual SAN users who would recommend it.
Sponsored
StarWind HyperConverged App...
Read 66 StarWind HyperConverged Appliance reviews
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  • 268 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
StarWind Virtual SAN
Read 192 StarWind Virtual SAN reviews
  • 3,017 Views
  • 1,140 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

StarWind Virtual SAN and StarWind HyperConverged Appliance compete in the virtual storage and hyper-converged infrastructure space. While both products have their merits, StarWind HyperConverged Appliance seems to have the upper hand with its integrated turnkey solution, providing a more comprehensive package that appeals to users seeking hassle-free deployments.

Features: StarWind Virtual SAN is known for storage virtualization, asynchronous replication, and high availability, allowing for performance improvements and redundancy. It is praised for its affordability and the capability to leverage existing hardware. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance offers a complete solution with hardware and software, known for exceptional flexibility and performance, making it ideal for anyone desiring a streamlined hyper-converged infrastructure.

Room for Improvement: StarWind Virtual SAN users suggest more comprehensive documentation and an improved management interface. Enhancing iSCSI automation and alternative system integration would also be beneficial. For StarWind HyperConverged Appliance, feedback requests better documentation and updates to reporting tools, along with more intuitive user interfaces to simplify complex configurations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: StarWind Virtual SAN is praised for its easy deployment, thanks to its software-defined nature, allowing versatility across various hardware. Customer support is proactive, ensuring successful implementations. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance provides simplicity with a pre-configured setup, supported by comprehensive customer service facilitating seamless deployment and troubleshooting.

Pricing and ROI: StarWind Virtual SAN is cost-effective, offering substantial savings for small to medium-sized businesses because of its software-only model, leading to positive ROI by reducing downtime and maintenance costs. Though StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is more expensive due to hardware inclusion, users recognize its competitive pricing for an all-encompassing solution, noting a quick ROI due to performance improvements and complexity reduction.

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To learn more, read our detailed StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs. StarWind Virtual SAN Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs. StarWind Virtual SAN
April 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.4
Pure Storage FlashBlade delivers cost savings, efficiency gains, and increased VM density, with returns seen within four years.
Sentiment score
6.8
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance reduced costs, improved stability, and streamlined operations, quickly achieving substantial ROI and enhancing management efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.4
StarWind Virtual SAN offers high performance, cost savings, and rapid ROI by maximizing existing hardware and ensuring operational efficiency.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report
We don't sell a lot of redundant servers, so it's not a massive ROI, but the ability to rely on their technical support and the software's ease of setup allows us to reduce labor costs and go to market competitively.
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.2
Pure Storage FlashBlade's customer service is praised for expertise but sometimes experiences slower responses due to growth challenges.
Sentiment score
8.5
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance's 24/7 customer service is praised for quick responses, proactive monitoring, and expertise despite language barriers.
Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN's support is efficient, knowledgeable, proactive, and highly rated for prompt responses and effective communication.
I would rate them an eight out of ten.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report
When we set it up, they validate our settings and configurations to ensure we don't miss anything.
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.9
Pure Storage FlashBlade is praised for its scalability and ease of expansion, satisfying various industries like banking and media.
Sentiment score
7.9
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance offers scalable options for SMBs, supporting expansion through nodes, RAM, or storage to align with cloud strategies.
Sentiment score
7.8
StarWind Virtual SAN offers seamless scalability and flexibility, accommodating diverse IT environments with high performance and adaptability.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report
I believe that scalability should be further improved, especially considering the possibility that environments may grow exponentially.
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.8
Pure Storage FlashBlade is highly rated for stability, reliability, and performance, with minimal downtime and swift recovery.
Sentiment score
8.7
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance offers exceptional stability, zero downtime, excellent support, and ease of use, ensuring reliable performance.
Sentiment score
8.6
StarWind Virtual SAN is praised for reliability, minimal downtime, handling updates smoothly, and requiring little administrative effort.
 

Room For Improvement

Users want better cloud integration, support, pricing, efficiency, and improvements in analytics, configuration, and backup for FlashBlade.
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance needs hardware, software, and management improvements, with focus on Linux support and streamlined scalability.
StarWind Virtual SAN needs improved documentation, integration, monitoring, automation, intuitive UI, simpler pricing, and enhanced cloud, security, and geolocation features.
Its configuration should be easier.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report
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.
Having more visibility on what's actually happening when an error occurs would be beneficial.
Initially, there was a bit of a learning curve for some of our users, but Microsoft's documentation was helpful.
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report
RE
WJHG - PeerSpot reviewer
KB
JP
 

Setup Cost

Pure Storage FlashBlade is costlier but valued for performance, ease, and reliability, justifying its comprehensive licensing with included software.
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance offers competitive, cost-effective pricing, significantly cheaper than competitors like Nutanix, with transparent, all-inclusive fees.
StarWind Virtual SAN offers cost-effective pricing and scalability with a perpetual license, minimizing setup and maintenance expenses.
 

Valuable Features

Pure Storage FlashBlade offers high performance, scalability, and ease of use with excellent data protection and seamless integration for large storage needs.
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance provides ease of use, high availability, flexible deployment, and cost-effective, reliable performance with excellent support.
StarWind Virtual SAN excels in support, integration, and performance, offering cost-effective, reliable storage using existing hardware and software.
We can plug in many blades, and we can have data up to one terabyte.
For more quotes and insights, download the Pure Storage FlashBlade report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report
StarWind Virtual SAN helps us keep customer satisfaction and provides the solutions we need without having to hire many IT specialists.
Thanks to its seamless integration with Proxmox, the implementation of high availability servers has drastically reduced downtime, which is crucial for our security-focused company.
The multi-factor authentication also adds a much-needed layer of security, especially with so many people working remotely these days.
For more quotes and insights, download the StarWind Virtual SAN report
RE
KB
WJHG - PeerSpot reviewer
JP
 

Categories and Ranking

Pure Storage FlashBlade
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (17th), File and Object Storage (6th)
StarWind HyperConverged App...
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (9th), HCI (14th)
StarWind Virtual SAN
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st), HCI (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Pure Storage FlashBlade is 4.2%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is 2.0%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 7.2%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

Eric Black - PeerSpot reviewer
The ability to leverage multi-tenancy along with immutability is a huge benefit for us
The only thing I feel FlashBlade is missing is the SOS API. If it had SOS API, that would put it well over the top. Veeam Backup specifically has started to streamline their API, and they are doing that with SOS API. They have optimized it. Any of the S3 devices out there that support this SOS API can have far more API calls at once. On our side, that translates to better restoration. With SOS API, it can leverage far more restorations at a single given time or read from the device in simple terms. That results in maximizing the output and throughput from the device itself.
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Russ Le Puill - PeerSpot reviewer
Proactive support with improved speed and resilience
There was a long delay with shipping, which we weren't expecting, but we were kept updated throughout. It wasn't made clear to us that we needed to provide our own SFP modules to connect to our infrastructure, so that could have been a bit clearer. It would be amazing if there was, perhaps, a more automated process for updating the hosts themselves, although the maintenance mode works well. Our StarWind command center doesn't seem to have all the options available currently, which support is investigating for us.
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WJHG - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Educational Organization
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure Storage FlashBlade?
The tool's most valuable feature is its fast performance, especially in handling snapshots. It helps during power out...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashBlade?
The pricing for FlashBlade is between cheap and moderate. FlashBlade is worth the money due to the experience and per...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashBlade?
Its configuration should be easier. There should be easier language for the configuration.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
It's not the cheapest, however, the solution works incredibly well and is so simple to licence and maintain.
See all answers
What needs improvement with StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
There was a long delay with shipping, which we weren't expecting, but we were kept updated throughout. It wasn't made...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
We desperately needed to update yet downsize our data centre. We had six hosts for only approximately 14 or so Virtua...
See all answers
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) combin...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
I can't give a sincere opinion on the installation and licensing costs because, as I have mentioned repeatedly, I am ...
See all answers
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
More comprehensive reporting and educational resources for error resolution would enhance the user experience. There ...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 21% of the time
VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
VAST Data vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
MinIO vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 11% of the time
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade Logo
Pure Storage FlashArray vs Pure Storage FlashBlade
Compared 8% of the time
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Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Logo
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Compared 30% of the time
StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Logo
StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Compared 20% of the time
VxRail vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Logo
VxRail vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Compared 13% of the time
Azure Stack HCI vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Logo
Azure Stack HCI vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Compared 12% of the time
Dell PowerFlex vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Logo
Dell PowerFlex vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Compared 9% of the time
More StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Competitors
VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN Logo
VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN
Compared 25% of the time
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN Logo
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN
Compared 17% of the time
StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN Logo
StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN
Compared 16% of the time
DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN Logo
DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN
Compared 11% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN
Compared 10% of the time
More StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashBlade
April 2025
Pure Storage FlashBlade reportDownload Pure Storage FlashBlade product report
Buyer's Guide
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
April 2025
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance reportDownload StarWind HyperConverged Appliance product report
Buyer's Guide
StarWind Virtual SAN
April 2025
StarWind Virtual SAN reportDownload StarWind Virtual SAN product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Overview

FlashBlade is the industry’s most advanced scale-out storage for unstructured data, powered by a modern, massively parallel architecture to consolidate complex data silos (like backup appliances and data lakes) and accelerate tomorrow’s discoveries and insights.

Pure Storage

For SMB, ROBO and Enterprises, who look to bring in quick deployment and operation simplicity to virtualization workloads and reduce related expenses, our solution is StarWind HyperConverged Appliance (HCA). It unifies commodity servers, disks and flash, hypervisor of choice, StarWind Virtual SAN, Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct or VMware Virtual SAN and associated software into a single manageable layer. The HCA supports scale-up by adding disks and flash, and scale-out by adding extra nodes.

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance consists of StarWind Virtual SAN, Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct or VMware Virtual SAN “Ready Nodes”, targeting those, who are building their virtualization infrastructure from scratch. In case there is an existing set of servers, we offer a “software only version”, which is essentially our years proven StarWind Virtual SAN. Basically, it’s the fuel powering StarWind HCA. 

StarWind

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

ServiceNow, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Dominos, Man AHL
Sears Home and Franchise Business
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Buyer's Guide
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs. StarWind Virtual SAN
April 2025
Free Report: StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs. StarWind Virtual SAN
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We monitor all Software Defined Storage (SDS) 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.