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Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs FreeNAS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.4
Dell PowerScale support is generally effective, but experiences variability in responsiveness, especially with initial and first-line contacts.
No sentiment score available
FreeNAS technical support is praised for excellence, stability, reliability, and effective issue resolution with consistent quality assistance.
Dell provides support within four hours, and they always fulfill their promises.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
5.0
Dell PowerScale needs improvements in pricing, cloud integration, usability, performance, security, support, and better handling of small files.
Sentiment score
3.4
FreeNAS needs improved Hyper-V cluster support, documentation clarity, better dashboard, S3, PSA integrations, and efficiency for backups.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Dell PowerScale offers scalable storage, easily integrates, and supports enterprise growth, efficiently managing extensive and unpredictable data demands.
Sentiment score
7.3
FreeNAS scales well for some users, though challenges with hardware costs and storage expansion are noted by others.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Dell PowerScale offers justifiable pricing with features and management ease, making it a competitive long-term investment.
No sentiment score available
FreeNAS is a free, open-source solution with significant hardware costs, suitable for enterprises with technical expertise.
The pricing of Dell solutions is higher than that of Huawei.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Dell PowerScale offers exceptional reliability and minimal downtime, with high uptime and low management needs even during challenges.
Sentiment score
8.3
FreeNAS offers high stability and reliability, efficiently handling drive failures and maintaining 99.9% uptime with proper hardware.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.0
Dell PowerScale is lauded for its scalability, seamless data management, high performance, and user-friendly interface enhancing efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.6
FreeNAS provides reliable, user-friendly storage with seamless integration, robust management, and effective data protection across multiple platforms.
Dell PowerScale offers high scalability and stability as well, making it a valuable solution for enterprises.
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)
Ranking in NAS
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (3rd)
FreeNAS
Ranking in NAS
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 23.5%, up from 21.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FreeNAS is 3.0%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

Jack Vo - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures that data is safely stored and easily accessible, providing peace of mind with robust security measures
The solution can be integrated with an automation system. Dell uses another framework developed in-house. They can integrate it with machines. Sometimes, Dell PowerScale can have issues with ID, window, or mapping errors. For example, a shareholder or user might not fully understand what they're doing, which can cause problems. Occasionally, we experience connection issues, requiring us to remap the folder. Dell PowerScale might need to remap or update the credentials in such cases. For instance, if you have many shared folders already mapped, it might take time to remap or redo the credentials.
Vincenzo D'Aniello - PeerSpot reviewer
Open-source with great disk management and task synchronization
The system itself allows you to add any feature. The only bad thing is that this maybe depends on FreeBSD, and sometimes finding documentation is difficult. For example, we knew that previous versions automatically enabled the Linux kernel, yet with the recent version, this was no longer the case. Now, there was the possibility of being able to create Debian-based jails, and finding the documentation was not easy or fast. That said, in the end, we succeeded. If you find the documentation, it is always incomplete and fragmented.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
22%
Government
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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)?
The pricing of Dell PowerScale is reasonable. However, it is on the pricier side. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees.
What do you like most about FreeNAS?
The ease of use of the 'jail', the management of backups, and copies to easily create test and pre-production scenarios have speeded up the development and distribution of business apps.
What needs improvement with FreeNAS?
The system itself allows you to add any feature. The only bad thing is that this maybe depends on FreeBSD, and sometimes finding documentation is difficult. For example, we knew that previous versi...
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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,
Morroni Technologies Inc., Creative Integrations
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. FreeNAS and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.