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Dell ObjectScale vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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
6.0
Dell ObjectScale offers seamless integration, cost-effectiveness, and reliability, delivering quick returns and efficiencies in time and cost.
Sentiment score
6.2
Organizations benefit from Dell PowerScale's efficiency, scalability, cost savings, improved performance, and reliable data management without extra staffing.
I have seen both time savings and cost savings, so there is definitely a return on investment with Dell ECS, along with peace of mind.
IT Infrastructure Manager at Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal
Despite being more expensive than Huawei, it is stable and most enterprises accept the price due to its stability.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
In terms of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) specifically, we have seen a return on investment due to faster performance than our last few storage arrays, and the general usability is a lot better.
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
The second cluster of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) gives us flexibility for small things like code upgrades, all the way to scenarios where we have lost this data center or data, allowing us to check if data is still intact on the other side.
Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Dell ObjectScale customer service is well-regarded but varies in efficiency due to time zones and integration issues.
Sentiment score
7.3
Dell PowerScale users generally find support satisfactory, noting responsiveness and knowledge, but highlight inconsistencies and areas for improvement.
There is a lack of SUSE Linux experts which affects the level of support.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
The response time and quality of the technical support are satisfactory.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Customer support is generally good but sometimes struggles with complex issues.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Support online is definitely a ten out of ten.
Pre-Sale Engineer at Arab Operators
When we face issues, we raise a ticket through the valid portal, and they respond immediately and assign a local engineer to coordinate the support process.
Senior System Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Dell provides support within four hours, and they always fulfill their promises.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Dell ObjectScale is praised for its scalability, supporting many users and data without extra costs, fitting various enterprise sizes.
Sentiment score
7.2
Dell PowerScale offers seamless scalability, supporting diverse storage types and accommodating significant workloads to meet future storage demands.
Through the fabrics, it provides the clustering, allowing us to add nodes easily.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
It allows scale-out processes by adding extra nodes, providing flexibility for customers to increase capacity on demand.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
I would rate scalability between eight or nine, as it provides a good ability to scale and expand storage.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
We started on PowerScale with around about 300 terabytes and are now two and a half petabytes, still on the same file system.
Storage Architect at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
That's really saved us in certain areas as we didn't have funding to expand Dell PowerScale (Isilon) until next year, which is why we utilized the cloud pools functionality to offload.
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
As an unstructured data storage solution, writing into it and accessing it from the other nodes is highly scalable with no issues.
Senior Technical Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Dell ObjectScale is praised for its stability and reliability, consistently performing well in large-scale deployments despite minor issues.
Sentiment score
8.1
Dell PowerScale is praised for stability, reliability, easy management, and high uptime, with infrequent, manageable hardware issues.
We have not experienced any outages in the last four years.
Associate Vice President at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
We use it in very critical areas inside Saudi Arabia with critical customers.
Solution arhitect at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
I'd rate stability maybe 9.5 out of ten.
Senior Datacenter Consultant at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Since we have good protection levels, the data is secured and replicated across the disks.
Pre-Sale Engineer at Arab Operators
Even if a node goes down, other nodes can respond and provide data back to the user without issues.
Storage Platform Engineer at Expedia Group
I assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) as perfect.
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
 

Room For Improvement

Dell ObjectScale struggles with integration, scalability, and performance, needing better support, documentation, security, and usability enhancements.
Dell PowerScale (Isilon) users face integration, usability, and scaling challenges, with needs for improved support, security, and AI features.
Live logs should be viewable through the GUI like with Logstash or Elasticsearch.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The deployment is not easy, and some expertise is required to configure the virtual data center and replication groups.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
Incorporating extra integrations beyond S3, like Hadoop file systems, and being well aligned with trends like AI solutions would be beneficial.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline.
Senior Engineer at Continental Tire
I would want to see more AI features with Dell PowerScale (Isilon).
Storage & Data Protection Specialist at General Dynamics Land Systems
If I could improve one thing on Dell PowerScale (Isilon), it would be better object storage as it recently breached into S3, and that capability could be broadened.
Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Dell ObjectScale offers flexible pricing with cost efficiency over time, but some users find it expensive compared to competitors.
Dell PowerScale is costly but valued for its features, flexible licensing, scalability, and long-term cost efficiency.
It relies on nearline SAS drives, which are cheaper than flash or SSDs.
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
The pricing model is on the higher side compared to other vendors.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The price is reasonable given the abundance of features, including managing, control, host resources, dockers, and containers.
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
It's quite expensive for the amount of storage we have.
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Cheaper nodes will cost less, while higher performance nodes will be pricier.
Storage Platform Engineer at Expedia Group
Costs align well with what it delivers, making it a fair price for a powerful tool that meets all our needs.
Tv Systems Technical Supervisor at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Dell ObjectScale excels in S3 protocol, integration with Dell EMC, offering scalability, stability, reliability, and enterprise-friendly features.
Dell PowerScale provides scalable, efficient storage with strong integration, data protection, and easy administration to enhance operational efficiency.
The stability of this solution is a major advantage, as we've not experienced any outages in the last four years.
Associate Vice President at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
Dell ECS helps with managing storage requirements since it's S3 kind of object storage with all needed enterprise features such as immutability, snapshotting, and application management, which are nice sets of features usually required.
IT Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The impact of Dell ECS on my organization has been positive, improving user experience, security, and reliability.
IT Infrastructure Manager at Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal
Dell PowerScale offers high scalability and stability as well, making it a valuable solution for enterprises.
Senior System Engineer at Atlas Security
In our AI initiatives, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) plays a significant role in data analysis, data fusion; principally, it is involved in data analysis, data extraction, and statistical analysis.
Senior Technologist at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Single files are limited to four terabytes in our configuration, however, the system can support up to 16 terabytes, so we can scale based on that too.
Systems Engineer at Unisity LLC
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell ObjectScale
Ranking in File and Object Storage
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in File and Object Storage
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
NAS (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of Dell ObjectScale is 5.4%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 6.7%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)6.7%
Dell ObjectScale5.4%
Other87.9%
File and Object Storage
 

Featured Reviews

MA
Manager, Technical Services at AXS
Offers seamless protocol integration for diverse solutions with flexible API communication
We recommend Dell ECS to customers looking for GeoDrive, archiving, long-term retention solutions, or S3 protocol. It is proposed to sectors like government, education, and banking. Overall, I would rate Dell ECS eight out of ten, as it has shown a lot of enhancement compared to previous solutions like Centera and Atmos.
BE
Systems Engineer at Unisity LLC
Flexibility and reliability have supported seamless data growth
I cannot think of anything to improve about Dell PowerScale (Isilon). The hardest challenge we have is due to how we've bought things over time. The way that we moved to the PowerEdge platform for the newer systems creates a scale problem as I still buy the older style systems, which are more dense storage. They're different chassis, so the problem we run into in the data center is the depth of the actual equipment. The newer equipment, if we buy an FX910 or a 900, it's a lot shorter in scale than if I buy an 83,000, which is much bigger. This makes it more complicated for deployment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC ECS?
The pricing is moderate and at par with the market. As a service provider, we receive good margins, indicating a favorable price point.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC ECS?
I cannot think of anything as an area for improvement with Dell ECS. I do not see any pricing or usability concerns.
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
As I mentioned before, we did not purchase Dell PowerScale (Isilon) directly. Since our organization is a government entity, the country policy does not allow direct purchases; it goes through a fo...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
I have experienced a RAM failure in some of the nodes of Dell PowerScale (Isilon), and that required hardware replacement. For large file replication from site to site, it takes a long time. This l...
 

Also Known As

EMC ECS, Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS)
PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Atos
OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell ObjectScale vs. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,328 professionals have used our research since 2012.