No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 PowerFlex
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
HCI (7th)
FlexPod XCS
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Solutions solutions, they serve different purposes. Dell PowerFlex is designed for HCI and holds a mindshare of 5.8%, down 10.0% compared to last year.
FlexPod XCS, on the other hand, focuses on Converged Infrastructure, holds 12.7% mindshare, up 10.0% since last year.
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerFlex5.8%
VxRail9.6%
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)8.9%
Other75.7%
HCI
Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS12.7%
HPE ConvergedSystem11.1%
Dell VxBlock System9.8%
Other66.4%
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Serdar De - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at ÜÇGE Shopfitting & Design
Initial setup has been straightforward and it has reasonable pricing
We are new to this, so we are still learning about the valuable features The solution is okay overall. It could be easier to learn. We haven't had any issues. They could have more AI functionality in the future.  I have been using the solution for six months. I have not encountered any problems…
John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Director at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
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

"The solution is scalable."
"We are planning to upgrade this system in three years, but in the meantime, we are happy with VxFlex."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is integration."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the storage space it offers."
"The tool's most valuable features are its price and flexibility. It has high performance."
"Dell PowerFlex is a highly scalable solution."
"Dell PowerFlex is a complete hyperconverge that makes automation easy to manage and extremely stable."
"The program is stable."
"It’s top notch because of that single point of contact."
"It's an all-in-one validated design; we don't have to worry about making sure that thing A supports thing B, as it's all top-down, integrated, and validated, which means for us, it's going to just work."
"FlexPod simplifies infrastructure from edge to core to cloud, and that is one of the main reasons we chose FlexPod."
"The agility is probably the most valuable feature for us. It's very easy to send out resources."
"The solution can be innovative when it comes to cloud computing storage and networking."
"I have run four FlexPod environments, and they have all been phenomenal."
"The All Flash FlexPod allowed exponential speed increase, so we can get our work done faster"
"I run all the critical applications for the university on my FlexPod solution; it needs to be up 24/7, 365, I don't need "five nines," I need "eight nines" - and it stays up."
 

Cons

"In terms of improvements, I think it would help to have easier access to the cost of installing VxRack infrastructure."
"The installation is complex."
"The tool needs to improve its storage. It should also make migration to the cloud easier."
"The level of support needs improvement as the front-line support staff lack knowledge when we raise cases."
"The biggest issue with the solution is that it doesn't support Hyper V. It's a big problem."
"Compared to similar solutions, Dell PowerFlex is not cost-effective and has room for improvement."
"I think there might be some room for improvement when it comes to pricing, because although I know how to convert customers, at the end of day, it's quite expensive. Sometimes your feature architecture is still coming out much cheaper than hardware costs for your infrastructure."
"The storage capability must be improved."
"Hyper-V is not as well supported by NetApp and Cisco as VMware is, which is something that should be improved."
"I think right now, that's probably a little complicated for us."
"It is not a one button thing, and there are some things like that."
"We don't see the much DR capability within the FlexPod so for that, we have to maintain our own DR capability with DSRM."
"With us being Oracle service providers for Oracle databases and applications, it's a niche area, and FlexPod still isn't there."
"I don't think we've embraced the current solution fully, so we're I think two OSs behind right now."
"I have noticed a lot of customers, they will kick it over the fence. It is FlexPod; it is that mystery animal. The room for improvement is to better present it to those users, so they will not have to be afraid of it."
"I would like it to be cheaper but other than that nothing to add. As much as I can try to get the price lower, why should I have to negotiate in the first place?"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a good contact in Dell and he prepared all the information and provided everything to us."
"The price could be improved."
"From my perspective, pricing is expensive. If they can reduce the pricing or offer more customer incentives, it would attract more users."
"The cost of this solution is fair."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"The price of the solution is fair, it is priced in the average range amongst competitors."
"The product is expensive."
"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the price as eight and a half. The tool is expensive."
"The scalability is very expensive."
"Overall, the solution works pretty well. The biggest complaint I have from customers is the cost."
"Make sure you are buying for performance, not just capacity."
"The pricing and licensing are quite expensive. However, compared to other solutions, it is okay."
"FlexPod has saved data center costs, due to the fact that we reduced our footprint for storage in a big way. We went from three complete racks down to a 2U storage array for more than 300 terabytes of storage."
"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."
"We have seen a five to ten percent savings on new service deployments."
"We have saved time with Snapshots, SnapMirrors, and backup and DR capabilities versus other platforms that we have looked at in the past."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which HCI solutions are best for your needs.
913,654 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise182
 

Questions from the Community

What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if the user is working with a l...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerFlex?
Dell PowerFlex is a premium software-defined infrastructure solution and while the initial investment may seem higher than traditional SAN or mid-tier HCI solutions, the long-term TCO is competitive.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerFlex?
Area of Improvement: While PowerFlex Manager is powerful, the UI could be more intuitive, especially for first-time users or non-technical admins. Streamlined navigation, contextual help and guided...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

VxFlex, VxRack FLEX, PowerFlex
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Canopy, 8x8Inc., Atos, Canadian Pacific, City of Denton, CenturyLink, BNP Paribas, Asyaport, EDF, CSC, Fox Sports, Insight, Hunter, KPIT, Paetec, Rosetta Stone, Sonda, Xerox
University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Nutanix, Broadcom and others in HCI. Updated: August 2026.
913,654 professionals have used our research since 2012.