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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

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 Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
166
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
156
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.8%, up from 28.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is 20.9%, down from 22.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Masuood - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently
We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.
SHIVAKUMAR A P - PeerSpot reviewer
With an easy setup phase in place, it is suitable for small and large-sized businesses
When you speak of any enhancements in the product, you need to shift to the tool's commercial mode. You get more features in the solution if you pour in more money. If a customer needs some features in the solution, they will have to buy it since certain features are not loaded by default in the server. With entry-level licenses, servers are shipped to customers free of cost. Customers need to pay if they want more and more features in the solution. Every OEM solution in the market, including HPE ProLiant DL, operates similarly. The overall cost of the product needs to be lower, as it is one of the areas of concern in the product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is reliable. We have not faced any issues."
"Their management tools are the most valuable. Our customers like the flexibility of being able to scale up and out. It is very easy for them to scale and add additional nodes and servers to their storage solutions, such as the ATI solution. It has very good quality and a great deployment model. Its warranty is also very good, and it is very stable. Their fixes have been quick if they have those."
"Technical support is very good."
"Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well."
"The robustness of the hardware itself is valuable. We have had PowerEdge servers running even after they were out of their warranty timeline. For example, about four or five years ago, we updated the virtualization platform. One of the servers that we had on that platform was ten years old. These servers have a lot of durability. You can see that they are well-made."
"Reliability is important for us. They are reliable, and the service is very good."
"The complete hyper-converged infrastructure of this solution has been most useful. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time by 20%."
"This solution keeps us up and running and reduces downtime. PowerEdge helped us to reduce data processing time. The PowerEdge systems management frameworks enabled us to progress towards full automation."
"Its management, IOs, and stability are the most valuable features. It works fine. It has all the features of a typical server. All that can be done has already been done."
"Compatibility is the best feature of the solution."
"The product is compatible and flexible for small and medium businesses."
"We decided to switch because this solution provides more memory density."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers have good performance and they support different types of applications."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are a great product. We don't have many complaints."
"Support is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"We have had no issues with the stability of the product."
 

Cons

"I would like them to be more flexible when implementing more capabilities."
"The solution should give us an option to add on the new hardware features."
"The vendor must provide cheaper versions of the tool for smaller use cases."
"They could improve on the processor and security for the next release of the solution."
"The specs for the benchmarks are very good, but the firmware and software are lacking. There are some issues with the Linux kernel and the long-term support (LTS) for some of the firmware's dependencies. It is causing the kernel to dump. The support for the Linux brands isn't optimal. We would like them to optimize the kernel drivers for benchmarks."
"The solution can be improved in terms of firmware backward supportability. With the sixteenth generation servers I am using, slightly older kernels and drivers are not supported."
"The price is the only thing that can be improved."
"They should reduce its size. Because the CPU power is more now, they can reduce the size of the servers. Currently, we have a 2U server. If possible, they can make a 1U server."
"The scalability of Gen8 models should be improved. They can also improve its price."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are not scalable."
"They should improve the solution's built-in quality."
"They can increase the controller cache. Currently, it has a controller cache of up to 4 GB. The RAID controller card comes with a maximum of 4 GB cache in HPE servers, whereas it comes with a maximum of 8 GB cache in Dell servers. They can also improve the port size. HP provides a 25 GB port on the server, whereas both Dell and Cisco provide a 100 GB port."
"We found that the extensions could be improved and the price could be a little lower."
"I want to improve hyper-converged sites."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"The support lifecycle for the product for the Telco application should be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"PowerEdge is not a cheap product. It's a quality product, but there is always competition. If you want to buy a server, you need an operating system, and most of it is Microsoft. A bundled solution costs less than a separate operating system and hardware."
"The pricing is great; very competitive. That's the reason we bought hundreds of them."
"Dell is somewhat more expensive than HPE."
"I don't know about the product's licensing part. Price-wise, it is an okay product. I believe that the cheaper the better, but I think that the product's price is okay."
"One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000."
"Dell is pretty good. good. I had a conversation with Dell a while ago due to a vendor. We got much better pricing from a competitor. When I looked at another company, Dell called me and asked why am I looking at someone else when they have a distributor. I told them that their pricing was not good, so Dell went back to the distributor, and we got much better pricing"
"It's abundantly clear that the specific licensing requirements will be dictated by the intricacies of the machinery we deploy."
"It's a bit of a shock when you have to find the money, but the pricing is very competitive, so I'm happy with that."
"This was a one-time purchase for us because it's hardware that we purchased from HPE. There aren't any licensing costs."
"We have to pay for an annual license which is expensive."
"The price of the product is a little high."
"The solution's pricing is high. It needs to be more flexible. The flexibility would be beneficial for our clients, especially in a competitive market. Adding additional features and addressing complex requirements on top of the price can be challenging for us as a reseller."
"I like the price of this product and the add-on components. It is cheaper than Dell and is a one-time hardware purchase with minimal ongoing costs."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"We did not need to pay for a license for the use of HP DL servers, just for normal hardcore support."
"​An investment in DL380 is worth it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
The solution can be improved in terms of firmware backward supportability. With the sixteenth generation servers I am using, slightly older kernels and drivers are not supported. I have to use the ...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
What do you like most about HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The most valuable feature of the solution is HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The product is expensive. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. On the needs of the customers, the product offers a lot of suppor...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,765 professionals have used our research since 2012.