Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Dell ECS Logo

Dell ECS Reviews

Vendor: Dell Technologies
4.1 out of 5
641 followers
Start review

What is Dell ECS?

Enterprise-ready. Future-proof. Data-first.

Get the Dell ECS Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about Dell ECS, Red Hat Ceph Storage, MinIO and more!
Dell ECS is the #5 ranked solution in top File and Object Storage solutions. PeerSpot users give Dell ECS an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Dell ECS is most commonly compared to Red Hat Ceph Storage: Dell ECS vs Red Hat Ceph Storage. Dell ECS is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 70% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 21% of all views.
Buyer's Guide
Dell ECS
May 2025
Get the report
Helped 851,491 peers since 2012

Featured Dell ECS reviews

Read more reviews

Dell ECS mindshare

As of May 2025, the mindshare of Dell ECS in the File and Object Storage category stands at 7.8%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage

PeerResearch reports based on Dell ECS reviews

TypeTitleDate
CategoryFile and Object StorageMay 19, 2025Download
ProductReviews, tips, and advice from real usersMay 19, 2025Download
ComparisonDell ECS vs MinIOMay 19, 2025Download
ComparisonDell ECS vs Red Hat Ceph StorageMay 19, 2025Download
ComparisonDell ECS vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)May 19, 2025Download
Suggested products
TitleRatingMindshareRecommending
Red Hat Ceph Storage4.119.5%81%25 interviewsAdd to research
MinIO4.019.8%100%24 interviewsAdd to research
 
 
Key learnings from peers

Valuable Features

Dell ECS stands out for its S3 protocol, seamless integration with Dell EMC products, robust stability, ease of scalability, and cost-effectiveness. It excels with data compression abilities, simplifying backup tasks. Known for its reliable performance, easy handling, and supportive web UI, it efficiently manages large-scale unstructured data. Its support for S3 APIs, compliance modes, and integration capabilities with platforms like PowerScale and data domain enhance its flexibility.
  • "Dell ECS is a very stable solution and most of the S3 APIs are supported."
  • "The most valuable features of Dell ECS are its capability to integrate multiple protocols seamlessly with other Dell solutions like PowerScale and data domain."
  • "Dell ECS is very easy to handle, primarily because the web UI dashboard and everything is very easy to manage for every customer."

Room for Improvement

Dell ECS requires enhanced compatibility with external systems, improved technical support, and seamless scalability. Costs could be lowered, documentation strengthened, and integration with third-party services enhanced. Memory issues need addressing, as well as garbage collection processes. The user interface should be more intuitive with better reporting capabilities. Performance, security, and disaster recovery solutions should also improve. Users find the setup complex and seek better pricing, cloud options, and training opportunities to facilitate easier deployment and management.
  • "Dell ECS is not fully compatible with S3, as it supports around ninety percent of S3 APIs, which can be improved. Additionally, sometimes there is an issue with memory where it hangs, and they can improve garbage collection, which takes up a lot of space during cleanup."
  • "However, hardware failures can impact the cluster, making it read-only."
  • "The deployment is not easy, and some expertise is required to configure the virtual data center and replication groups."

ROI

Organizations report that Dell ECS provides significant return on investment through good data availability and lower costs when operating systems and applications. ROI is achieved more quickly depending on the project. As a crucial part of the technology stack, some focus less on ROI and more on its stability and reliability. Both cost-saving and time-saving benefits are highlighted by users, indicating it is highly beneficial in various deployments.

Pricing

Dell ECS pricing experiences are mixed; some users find it expensive while others see it as cost-effective and competitive. It's often described as capacity-based with options for annual subscriptions and different licensing models. Discounts can vary, impacting cost perceptions. Hardware is typically bundled with the solution, contributing to overall expenses. There is feedback that early payments and flexibility in pricing models could be improved. Total ownership costs are seen as reasonable given its features and scalability.
  • "The solution's cost is quite reasonable."
  • "It is an expensive solution. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
  • "Dell ECS is a cost-effective solution."

Popular Use Cases

Dell ECS is primarily used for cloud-based object storage, supporting archiving, backups, and long-term retention. Enterprises integrate it with existing storage systems for data access and disaster recovery. Organizations utilize it internally and for customer-facing services, managing unstructured data, images, and videos. System integrators deploy ECS for archiving solutions, CCTV integrations, and HCI environments. It serves various industries, like healthcare, by efficiently handling large datasets and diverse applications.

Service and Support

Dell ECS customer service is praised for quick responses and being generally good. Users appreciate the local service, though some note issues due to the Dell and EMC merger. There are concerns with support from India due to time differences and Taiwan's poor support channel. Technical support is rated highly, especially when paying for premium levels. The team is often helpful, though complex issues can delay resolutions. A few mention the need for broader expertise among engineers.

Deployment

Dell ECS's initial setup is generally straightforward, though experiences vary. Some report easy installations with assistance from Dell and qualified staff, while others find complexity for newcomers or without external help. Timeframes for deployments differ from days to weeks, influenced by project size and expertise. Dell provides support services and useful guides. Skills, familiarity with storage, and remote deployment options also play significant roles in the ease or difficulty faced by users.

Scalability

Dell ECS is scalable, favored by various users from multiple types of organizations, including small to large enterprises. It supports thousands of users and expansive storage requirements. Scaling is straightforward. However, new versions are needed for some enhancements. Adding nodes and increasing capacity is easy, though expansion typically occurs in blocks. Users have praised its scalability, rating it highly, despite some indicating a preference for alternative capacity solutions.

Stability

Dell ECS is reported as highly stable with many users confirming no problems in their environments. It offers consistent performance without bugs or crashes. While hardware issues exist, they rarely affect stability. Users give high ratings for stability, appreciating its reliability and longevity without significant incidents. Even with potential drive failures, it remains dependable over multiple years, evident from uninterrupted performance and strong support from Dell. Stability ratings often range from seven to nine out of ten.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
Download our Dell ECS Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers
By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
5%
Retailer
4%
University
4%
Healthcare Company
3%
Insurance Company
3%
Energy/Utilities Company
3%
Non Profit
2%
Comms Service Provider
2%
Construction Company
2%
Transportation Company
2%
Legal Firm
2%
Real Estate/Law Firm
1%
Wholesaler/Distributor
1%
Media Company
1%
Performing Arts
1%
Hospitality Company
1%
Consumer Goods Company
1%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
1%
Outsourcing Company
1%
Recruiting/Hr Firm
1%

Compare Dell ECS with alternative products

Go!

Learn more about Dell ECS

Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) is a file and object storage solution from Dell EMC. ECS has been created to support both traditional and next-generation ecosystems equally. ECS boasts unrivaled economics, manageability, resilience, and scalability to satisfy the demands of today's next-gen, robust business enterprise ecosystems. ECS can easily be deployed in a software-defined model or as a turn-key appliance. ECS is software-defined and multi-layered for unlimited scalability. Every layer is abstracted and scalable with no single point of failure.

  • Data service layer: Provides S3 access along with access to SWIFT, CAZ, NFS, HDFS.
  • Storage service layer: Stores, retrieves and protects data.
  • Fabric layer: Provides clustering, configuration management, health monitoring.

Everything is done within the software, which is containerized, using docker.

ECS is currently deployed using basic commodity hardware, which can easily be federated across as many as eight different locations and managed as a single resource. Additionally, ECS can also protect data at the site level, locally, disk, node, and rack levels. The federation enables a single global namespace with everywhere access to content. Applications can quickly rewrite in an active/active or everywhere active manner.

ECS is also able to be used as secondary storage or archival storage. This will free up valuable primary storage of data that is stale, redundant, or used infrequently, and the data will remain easily accessible. ECS uses policy-based tiering such as Data Domain, Cloud tiering, Isilon using cloud polls, and Geodrive, which give Windows systems direct access to ECS. Windows users can still use server message block (SMB) while leveraging the more expansive ECS storage.

ECS is enterprise-grade and offers valuable features such as retention, multi-tenancy, metering, monitoring, quotas, and more. ECS builds in robust security from the ground up and encrypts data. ECS is compliant with STIG guidelines and adheres to SEC rule 17A-4F.

ECS is an enterprise-ready solution that allows organizations to easily simplify object storage management and visualize information in intuitive new ways, and empowers your business to do even more with data. With ECS, enterprise organizations can deliver cloud-scale economics in-house that will lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and scale, creating greater levels of productivity and profitability.

Reviews from Real Users

One user, who is a deputy director at a tech service company, says ECS offers “good performance, reliability, and technical support”.

Dell EMC ECS is “a stable solution which is easy to scale, install and manage”, relates another user, who is a senior buyer at a tech service company.

"What I like best about this product is that it is a complete solution, both hardware, and software, by the same vendor," summarizes a system engineer at a tech services company. 














Dell ECS was previously known as EMC ECS, Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage, EMC Elastic Cloud Storage.

Dell ECS customers

Atos

Related questions

  • 6
When evaluating File and Object Storage, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
  • 3
Why is File and Object Storage important for companies?

Product Categories

Product Categories
File and Object Storage

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell ECS Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell ECS
MinIO vs Dell ECS Logo
MinIO vs Dell ECS
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Dell ECS Logo
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs Dell ECS
Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Dell ECS Logo
Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Dell ECS
VAST Data vs Dell ECS Logo
VAST Data vs Dell ECS
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Dell ECS Logo
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Dell ECS
NetApp StorageGRID vs Dell ECS Logo
NetApp StorageGRID vs Dell ECS
Qumulo vs Dell ECS Logo
Qumulo vs Dell ECS
Scality RING vs Dell ECS Logo
Scality RING vs Dell ECS
Cloudian HyperStore vs Dell ECS Logo
Cloudian HyperStore vs Dell ECS
Zadara vs Dell ECS Logo
Zadara vs Dell ECS
IBM Cloud Object Storage vs Dell ECS Logo
IBM Cloud Object Storage vs Dell ECS
Hitachi Content Platform vs Dell ECS Logo
Hitachi Content Platform vs Dell ECS
Huawei FusionStorage vs Dell ECS Logo
Huawei FusionStorage vs Dell ECS
DataCore Swarm vs Dell ECS Logo
DataCore Swarm vs Dell ECS
See all alternatives
 

Dell ECS reviews

Sort by:
MA
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Verified user of Dell ECS
Mar 4, 2025
Offers seamless protocol integration for diverse solutions with flexible API communication

Pros

"The most valuable features of Dell ECS are its capability to integrate multiple protocols seamlessly with other Dell solutions like PowerScale and data domain."

Cons

"However, hardware failures can impact the cluster, making it read-only."

What is our primary use case?

We are a partner and system integrator with Dell, selling Dell ECS to our customers for integration with archiving solutions, long-term retention solutions, CCTV integration solutions, and as an S3 object for archive files or mailboxes. Additionally, it serves as an extension for Isilon or PowerScale to extend the retention of data, especially for CCTV solutions.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Dell ECS are its capability to integrate multiple protocols seamlessly with other Dell solutions like PowerScale and data domain. It uses S3 objects, similar to AWS S3, acting as an API to communicate with other applications. This integration flexibility is highly appreciated.
*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Read full review (519 words)
AM
Associate Vice President at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
Verified user of Dell ECS
Mar 21, 2025
Solution provides stable and efficient object storage with extensive API support

Pros

"Dell ECS is a very stable solution and most of the S3 APIs are supported."

Cons

"Dell ECS is not fully compatible with S3, as it supports around ninety percent of S3 APIs, which can be improved. Additionally, sometimes there is an issue with memory where it hangs, and they can improve garbage collection, which takes up a lot of space during cleanup."

What is our primary use case?

We have huge data of image and video files and we needed a solution for our customers. We were looking for object storage and found Dell ECS to be a very good solution.

What is most valuable?

Dell ECS is a very stable solution and most of the S3 APIs are supported. It is power-efficient and fits into a small space due to its low footprint. The stability of this solution is a major advantage, as we've not experienced any outages in the last four years.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (453 words)
Buyer's Guide
Dell ECS
Download free report
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell ECS. Updated May 2025
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Senior Datacenter Consultant at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Verified user of Dell ECS
Nov 15, 2024
Efficient replication enhances archiving and backup processes with helpful support

Pros

"The support is good. "

Cons

"We have had issues when the ECS is expiring or the NetBackup is expiring images. "

What is our primary use case?

We use Dell ECS primarily for archiving and backups. NetBackup is used in the front, backing up files to ECS.

How has it helped my organization?

Moving old data to the archive saves money in the front end.

*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Read full review (339 words)
SamuelThomas - PeerSpot user
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
Verified user of Dell ECS
Feb 27, 2025
Managing efficiently with user-friendly interfaces for monitoring and managing resources

Pros

"Dell ECS is very easy to handle, primarily because the web UI dashboard and everything is very easy to manage for every customer."

Cons

"The deployment is not easy, and some expertise is required to configure the virtual data center and replication groups."

What is our primary use case?

We normally recommend Dell ECS to enterprise customers and government customers.

What is most valuable?

Dell ECS is very easy to handle, primarily because the web UI dashboard and everything is very easy to manage for every customer. They can monitor the DPS, access failures, bandwidth, failed requests, and latency.
*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Read full review (352 words)
PeerSpot user
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Verified user of Dell ECS
Nov 6, 2024
Strong performance with excellent support and room for GUI enhancements

Pros

"The performance and support from Dell EMC are very good."

Cons

"The graphical user interface should offer more options, and the documentation with respect to administration could be improved, as it is quite weak in this product."

What is our primary use case?

It's our internal application, which is using ECS as an object storage. ECS is primarily used for storing objects securely.

How has it helped my organization?

The cost of storage is cheaper since the active objects are now stored outside the database, reducing the amount of data stored in the online database. This provides cost savings for massive storage requirements, like four hundred to six hundred terabytes.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (404 words)
MB
Head of IT Operations at NCC BANK LIMITED
Verified user of Dell ECS
Feb 2, 2024
Enables multiple protocol support, but its IOPS functionality needs improvement in terms of performance

Pros

"It is a stable platform. "

Cons

"They could provide centralized reports."

What is our primary use case?

We use Dell ECS to store and integrate data.

How has it helped my organization?

Dell ECS is a very useful platform. We have deployed and integrated all the servers through this storage application. All of them are working well.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (330 words)
MS
System Administrator at Data Edge Limited
Verified user of Dell ECS
Sep 16, 2024
Efficient storage solution with a valuable data compression capability

Pros

"The setup was straightforward."

Cons

"One area for product improvement would be the garbage collection process. It takes longer than expected, so speeding up that process would be beneficial. "

What is our primary use case?

In our organization, the main use cases for the platform are long-term archiving of backup solutions and sharing space with some applications. The appliance stores backups and retains them for a long time, integrating well with Dell NetWorker.

What is most valuable?

The solution's most valuable features are its excellent data compression capability and its ability to integrate with Dell’s data domain. It minimizes the backup size, so we don’t need to back up all the original data sizes onto the appliance.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (545 words)
PeerSpot user
Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Verified user of Dell ECS
Nov 16, 2021
Product version discussed: 3
Has load balancing facility, and good for unstructured data and DR

Pros

"It's definitely good for unstructured data. In earlier days, we had Centera, so for the DR it's really good. It has load balancing facility, and we're using it with the Kemp Load Balancer."

Cons

"The disaster recovery could be improved because there should be something in-built within the ECS. Search and recovery should be in-built. Right now, we have to use some external tools for performing the recovery itself. For example, we're using Atempo or deploying Golden Superna, so it has dependency on the external third party vendors."

What is our primary use case?

We are using version 3. It's deployed on-premises. We are using it as a DR as of now. We have the Isilon in our environment, so we are taking the tertiary backups to this ECS just for disaster recovery purposes. It's secondary storage.

We are increasing our usage. Our primary storage is growing, so we have to go to secondary storage to cope with the data. We refresh it almost every six months or one year at least.

Because it's secondary storage, users don't have direct access to it. Only the storage administrators have access to it for any DR or any recovery, but the primary storage itself is used by around 17,000 people. It's one of the largest Isilon clusters in the UK. It's around 106 nodes.

What is most valuable?

It's definitely good for unstructured data. In earlier days, we had Centera, so for the DR, it's really good. It has a load balancing facility, and we're using it with the Kemp Load Balancer.

*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Read full review (970 words)