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Dell PowerEdge VRTX [EOL] vs FlexPod XCS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 26, 2025

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

Dell PowerEdge VRTX [EOL]
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FlexPod XCS
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

KA
Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd
Enables continued support and efficient data management in IT infrastructure
Dell PowerEdge VRTX is mainly used for virtual environments and is beneficial for IT infrastructure. It offers scalability, allowing customers to scale up as needed, which is crucial for maintaining hardware without purchasing new products. Its integrated storage solutions improve data management by providing the flexibility and ease of scaling up.
John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy IT Manager at MBBank
Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems
The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Dell PowerEdge VRTX supports a lot of memory which has allowed us to keep our system size smaller."
"We were satisfied after we upgraded to a professional next-day on-site support."
"Dell PowerEdge VRTX's most valuable feature is its reliability. It offers a good experience for my IT teams."
"The most valuable feature is the combined management in one box."
"It's a good solution when you don't need a lot of IT."
"We started off with a base because we started our infrastructure with Dell and we always propose or prefer Dell which is easier to manage the warranty than with different vendors."
"In my view, the only aspect that could be enhanced in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution is the pricing. Apart from that, the overall performance and features of the solution are flawless."
"It is pretty easy to install."
"We’ve seen an improvement in application performance."
"ONTAP is the core of FlexPod, so its most valuable features are: FlexClone, Snapshot, and SnapCenter."
"All of our main applications run on this solution, and it has done a stellar job."
"The overall versatility and validate designs are great. We previously used a different platform, but we gained a lot of utilization with FlexPod."
"The ability to create vDisks on NFS exports is an added advantage. This is very helpful when we reach RDM limit."
"Our downtime has significantly been reduced."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the flexibility in configuration and the setup."
"UCS Profiles enable recovering a physical server in less than 15 minutes."
 

Cons

"The scalability is limited with one chassis and the amount of storage it will give you, but it is mainly used for small offices."
"The problem is with our configuration. We know we can use PowerEdge for hyper-convergence if we have PowerEdge and configure vSAN. We will be able to achieve what VxRail is being able to provide, but we need to migrate it to a new infrastructure instead of changing our existing. It will be much more difficult for us."
"When we first started with this product, we had some difficulty with it."
"The storage can be improved."
"Dell PowerEdge VRTX can improve by providing support for M2 drives."
"Management of storage and networking is web-based, slow, and difficult."
"A disadvantage could be the price."
"I'd like to be able to increase capacity."
"There are too many drivers and software combined all together, and we need to have compatibility between all of them."
"We have had bugs which have been released, even though they have been minor."
"I think they can always improve, whether it's dedupe or compression, those algorithms; and flash through better SSDs."
"The GPU based VDA solutions could use improvement."
"Mainly, the interface needs improvement. I'm not a big fan of UCS Manager, sometimes. I believe they released the new one, and it seems like in every version something changes and something else doesn't work. When they switched to HTML5, I believe we had issues in version 3.2. They fixed it in the next version. The amount of work to upgrade a system for change control is tedious to have issues every time. I would recommend more regression testing, then testing the different browsers in that."
"I would like to see improvements in the documentation. I understanding how things are coming together and a lot of that is from the UCS side."
"The FlexPod service and support could be improved."
"We would like to have more monitoring and reporting, because today some of the reporting, and if you purchase it separately is expensive. We use OnCommand Unified Manager today, which is great, but we are looking for more of that."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are renewing the support and we are purchasing the license for the software."
"The tool's pricing is fine."
"The solution price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX could be reduced. However, when comparing the price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX to other solutions, such as HP and Lenovo, it was the best price for what they offer."
"On the scale of pricing, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I would rate it as a three. I am familiar with the overall cost, which involves licenses from Dell and VMware, among others, making it a combination of various license types."
"This product is more reasonably-priced than similar solutions by HPE."
"The solution is less expensive than competitors."
"Fully configured, it costs about $50,000 or $55,000. I did purchase a used one or refurbished one. I have been very happy with it so far. Even if it is an older unit, it doesn't look like its age, and I would say it has been a great choice so far for me. Obviously, I would have thought twice if I had to pay for a brand new one because it is still an older technology with the risk of being discontinued. I talked to Dell, and they're still selling it, but they're not promoting it. They're promoting another line of products right now for hyper-converged, which are much more expensive."
"We bought a license for seven years."
"Everything is purchased, so we do not do any leasing with this product."
"Our licensing costs are about $50,000 per year."
"Licensing can be interesting with the new version because of the Intersight integration. I don't know what that looks like yet. I have seen some of the different licensing models, but with the new purchasing, all customers are going to have to buy some sort of Intersight licensing with the Blades or FlexPod. I am curious to see how that option shakes out. Previous to the UCS X-Series, the licensing was the same."
"We immediately saw a return on investment due to the fact that replacing our legacy storage arrays with the new AFFs reduced the footprint and maintenance costs. Overall, we saw an almost immediate ROI."
"It is cost-effective."
"The product is kind of expensive even from an entry-level standpoint. I would say FlexPod would be the way to go if you are a larger business or one with large data volume."
"The investment has been great. We put our money into it and it has given us something that we have been able to rely on for years."
"Pricing is always tough. We need to get to a point where the customer's happy. Then, as partners, we are also happy."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Marketing Services Firm
31%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Performing Arts
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise182
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerEdge VRTX?
The cost of Dell PowerEdge VRTX is high, making it difficult for small and medium businesses to bear. I would rate the pricing as seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge VRTX?
It would be much better for customers if Dell could provide firmware updates even after the end of the product's life, enabling them to manage and keep their hardware for a longer time.
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Dundee, GE Healthcare Japan
University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
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