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DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

DataCore SANsymphony
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
4th
Ranking in HCI
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Storage Software (1st), Storage Performance (1st)
StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
1st
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
189
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 7.1%, up from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 9.1%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

TempreviewerD - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 11, 2024
Robust with good replication and access protection
I needed to protect the storage of my virtual machines in my VMware vSphere cluster. The simplicity of management and the increase in its capacity were a mandatory technological choice. I don't have a large infrastructure; I wanted to secure it on two sites. This choice allowed me not to invest in…
Ahmed Hosni - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 24, 2024
Provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor
You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost-effective point. Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems, it has always done exactly what it set out to do. It provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V. It's simple and easy to use, The software monitoring should be web-based to be reachable from any VLAN workstation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Continuous data protection (CDP), can be used to "protect" again ransomware by recording all write on disk in a log. You can recover your data with incredible time granularity."
"The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress)."
"The features I have found most valuable are the active-active, or so-called grid technology, and the integration into our VMware-vCenter."
"Our system is designed to be scalable and flexible, so it can grow and adapt to meet the changing needs of our clients."
"It allows data to be available from two DataCore servers."
"Oracle OLTP benchmark to test how it improves the performance while using flash drive NVMe."
"The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are many counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress)."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its versatility, with there being support for all new hardware technologies and platforms, disc mirroring and very effective auto tiering."
"StarWind Virtual SAN is a very mature software that supersedes its capabilities with my use cases."
"The main benefit is that StarWind is almost maintenance-free."
"This software lets us maintain storage redundancy across both of our Hyper-V hosts, so if one goes down the environment fails over to the other and we have minimal to no downtime."
"The most valuable feature is the managed service, which has been an important part of monitoring our critical infrastructure."
"The best feature is its ease of installation and integration within a current infrastructure."
"It has great free trials that allow end users to test a large variety of their products before deciding to buy the full product."
"StarWind vSAN has allowed us to grow rapidly while still providing flexibility and reliability."
"Integration with virtualization platforms helped us to resolve many issues we were facing while using the physical storage."
 

Cons

"If it could integrate to a cloud gateway, then we could carry it directly to storage, instead of having middleware in between the storage and the cloud."
"I'd like to see the company make the renewal of the software cheaper."
"Management could be improved. The management console sometimes reacts very slowly."
"Right now, the version used is run on Microsoft Windows Server. Having a Linux version or even an appliance would be better as it would eliminate the use of additional licensing for another piece of hardware."
"The solution could be better packaged and marketed."
"When I sometimes reboot for maintenance, the connectivity from the iSCSI initiator host could be improved."
"I would like for it to improve into a more ergonomic management console and a translation into the French language. It should have some process for a shutdown of a VM properly in case of a problem."
"Its interface could be better."
"It runs until it does not - and disaster recovery documentation is sparse and mostly unclear."
"I think the setup could be streamlined a bit."
"The system failovers properly on its own without too much worry."
"A web management interface would be good, especially for those coming from other solutions that have one."
"I would like to see some additional, and possibly clearer, implementation videos with some slower and possibly more detailed descriptions of what the various steps of implementation are for someone who is unfamiliar with high availability and failover clustering in Windows."
"Maybe in the future, the replication will be supported in more cloud providers."
"We don't really have any issues with this product."
"Feature-wise we are only waiting for the release of a "planned disaster" feature that would allow us to patch a hypervisor node without having to take the full storage offline."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing has improved but it is still expensive."
"The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing."
"This solution allows the use of off-the-shelf hardware and charges by the TB of storage."
"The pricing and licensing are better with DataCore."
"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."
"It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers."
"In my case, the licensing per terabytes is very high and it must be licensed for each extra functionality."
"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."
"The StarWind VSAN business model is very cost-effective."
"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."
"I would suggest that you download the free version, deploy in your lab, and play with it."
"The Price/Performance ratio for this solution is outstanding!"
"This solution has competitive prices and the implementation is very easy."
"The pricing is excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
"I think the bang for the buck is much better with StarWind Virtual SAN."
"We found that the pricing was perfect; simple and clear."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
I rate the pricing of this solution as an eight. It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers.
What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
It's difficult to say if something is missing in this solution. Maybe we'd like to manage the raid on the disk directly in SanSymphony. We essentially use RAID5 for our SAS disk and SSD, and now we...
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?
If you are comfortable with the solution and you feel that you don't need support, you can begin with the free licences for three nodes.
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
Areas for improvement in StarWind Virtual SAN include simplifying the setup process, especially for users with limited vSphere expertise. Future releases could benefit from an enhanced configuratio...
 

Also Known As

DataCore Virtual SAN
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Find out what your peers are saying about DataCore SANsymphony vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.