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StarWind Virtual SAN vs VxRail comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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
7.4
StarWind Virtual SAN offers high performance, cost savings, and rapid ROI by maximizing existing hardware and ensuring operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.6
VxRail streamlines management, reduces costs, enhances flexibility, and boosts performance, offering significant long-term value and operational efficiency.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.4
StarWind Virtual SAN's support is efficient, knowledgeable, proactive, and highly rated for prompt responses and effective communication.
Sentiment score
8.0
VxRail customer service is highly rated for dedicated support, though experiences vary; centralized support is particularly appreciated.
When we set it up, they validate our settings and configurations to ensure we don't miss anything.
A key area for improvement for VMware would be response time.
The support is all provided by Dell, and it is quite good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
StarWind Virtual SAN offers seamless scalability and flexibility, accommodating diverse IT environments with high performance and adaptability.
Sentiment score
7.8
VxRail offers scalable solutions for diverse workloads, enabling seamless growth across enterprises with efficient management and quick expansions.
I believe that scalability should be further improved, especially considering the possibility that environments may grow exponentially.
There are limitations, such as the inability to upgrade from a single to dual CPU in certain configurations.
Scalability is easy with VxRail.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
StarWind Virtual SAN is praised for reliability, minimal downtime, handling updates smoothly, and requiring little administrative effort.
Sentiment score
8.5
VxRail is highly praised for its stability, resilience, minimal disruptions, and effective updates, earning high customer satisfaction scores.
It is a very stable and mature product, with centralized management and upgrades being perfect for us.
The product is very stable, and I rate its stability as nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

StarWind Virtual SAN needs improved documentation, integration, monitoring, automation, intuitive UI, simpler pricing, and enhanced cloud, security, and geolocation features.
VxRail faces challenges with setup, compatibility, integration, support, and costs, suggesting improvements in automation, pricing, and scalability.
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.
There have been cases where not understanding exactly what's failing on the Virtual SAN has been an issue.
Initially, there was a bit of a learning curve for some of our users, but Microsoft's documentation was helpful.
It requires a very clean environment to proceed without issues.
Stabilizing the update procedure further would make it better.
The major issue with VxRail is the razoring process, which can only be performed by Dell.
 

Setup Cost

StarWind Virtual SAN offers cost-effective pricing and scalability with a perpetual license, minimizing setup and maintenance expenses.
VxRail offers bundled pricing suitable for enterprises, balancing high initial costs with long-term savings and flexible payment options.
The pricing can be a bit complex depending on the features you need.
Previously, the cost was higher, however, recent changes in VMware pricing have reduced it.
Purchasing VxRail is quite expensive compared to a simple Dell server.
The cost varies for us as a large company because we receive special offers from Dell.
 

Valuable Features

StarWind Virtual SAN excels in support, integration, and performance, offering cost-effective, reliable storage using existing hardware and software.
VxRail provides seamless upgrades, centralized management, high availability, robust storage, and scalability, enhancing IT operations and performance.
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.
StarWind Virtual SAN helps us keep customer satisfaction and provides the solutions we need without having to hire many IT specialists.
The multi-factor authentication also adds a much-needed layer of security, especially with so many people working remotely these days.
Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.
The most valuable feature of VxRail is the VxRail Manager, which centralizes resources like storage built with vSAN.
The features of VxRail that we find most useful for our customers include the easy update mechanism and the support for both VMware and hardware.
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
VxRail
Ranking in HCI
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
132
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VxRail is 18.4%, down from 21.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Rami Jadallah - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline management and integration with seamless upgrades
The primary reasons customers choose VxRail include ease of management, ease of upgrades, and integration with VMware. The hyper-converged infrastructure simplifies software and hardware upgrades. Customers prefer the single pane of glass management and integration with VMware, which makes it easier for them to proceed with decisions involving VMware products.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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 currently using the free version. However, I can say that I have submitted a req...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
More comprehensive reporting and educational resources for error resolution would enhance the user experience. There have been cases where not understanding exactly what's failing on the Virtual SA...
How does HPE Nimble Storage compare to VxRail?
HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one, zero rule. That means I need three copies of my data on two different types of me...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...
What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if the user is working with a l...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
VCE VxRail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox
Find out what your peers are saying about StarWind Virtual SAN vs. VxRail and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.