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Dell PowerScale vs NetApp Private Storage 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerScale
Ranking in NAS
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (1st)
NetApp Private Storage
Ranking in NAS
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale is 14.6%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Private Storage is 3.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NAS Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerScale14.6%
NetApp Private Storage3.0%
Other82.4%
NAS
 

Featured Reviews

SK
Solutions Architect at a university with 10,001+ employees
Operates seamlessly and minimizes downtime while meeting enterprise file share demands
The features of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) that I appreciate the most include the scale of architecture and the way it is designed. These features benefit my company by providing less downtime and less overhead. While I have not calculated an exact number regarding the reduction in downtime, we have always been using the product, so we have no baseline to compare it to. However, it is a very good product. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) scales very well with the growing needs of my company.
Atilla Celiloglu - PeerSpot reviewer
Broadcast Technology Director at tv8
Has supported continuous broadcasting with reliable performance and consistent operations
They can make more solutions for cloud integration in NetApp Private Storage. It should be easier to use the cloud S3 integration, maybe from a NetApp interface, where users can choose the type of storage before sending to S3. I would like to see more audit and performance logs via cloud integrations and ONTAP. Without the need for separate software.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I feel that the reliability and availability of Dell PowerScale have positively affected my company's data operations as it's running stably, and we haven't had service outages or anything of that nature, so it's been very helpful."
"What I like the most about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that the storage capacity is very high."
"It has allowed us to have more consistent quality controls. It has also allowed us to expand the number of servers in clients processing and accessing data, allowing us to get a lot bigger projects out the door."
"It is stable and very user-friendly."
"The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management."
"Dell PowerScale is very stable and scalable; when you are working at one hundred percent capacity without issues, I trust the product, the software, and the infrastructure here."
"The guaranteed performance, combined with the scalability through its scale-out capability, makes it an excellent choice."
"PowerScale helps our clients consolidate data storage and multiple applications onto a single platform for easier manageability."
"The most valuable feature of NetApp Private Storage is out-of-the-box integration with the SAN switches. They are much easier compared to Dell solutions. Additionally, the connector that comes with the solution that allows connection back to the Cisco SAN switches is very good. In Dell, I would need to use an FCIP or CIP port that is required."
"Its flexibility and ability to configure volumes is its most valuable aspect; I have no problem configuring the product for different kinds of use cases and configuring throughput or configuring some kind of logical volumes and so on."
"NetApp has its own dedicated operating system, so it will not be affected by any wireless piggybacking or malware."
"The most valuable feature of NetApp Private Storage is out-of-the-box integration with the SAN switches; they are much easier compared to Dell solutions, and the connector that comes with the solution that allows connection back to the Cisco SAN switches is very good."
"When it came time to replace, we evaluated EMC, NetApp, IBM again and chose NetApp and have not regretted it."
"Very stable and very scalable."
"NetApp is faster than other storage brands."
"The most valuable feature is integration."
 

Cons

"Additional metadata reporting would be great. We have to use a separate tool to report on that. We would like to view the age of data and how long it has been since someone has accessed a file."
"Dell PowerScale's deployment is not easy."
"The solution’s interface and pricing could be improved."
"Some improvements to the NFS support would be of interest to us."
"There is room for improvement with the updates. It can take a significant amount of time to do a major OS update. However, even though it takes multiple reboots, the cluster stays up. If we want to apply a newer version of the OS, we have to roll back some of the patches so that we can upgrade. It requires a few reboots just to do that. The cluster doesn't come down, everything is still running, but it's time-consuming, at times."
"The only thing that I think PowerScale could do better is improving the HTTP data access protocol."
"The UID mapping and how to configure mapping-related things is a struggle."
"The portal is really complicated to figure out features and functions, and it could be easier to navigate."
"We had to write a number of custom tools or scripts ourselves to use it as a staging area between our on-premises datacenter and our cloud installation."
"I think that it should work better with Microsoft solutions, more integrated with Microsoft. We also need integrated NAS and block storage."
"I would like to see the GUI management simplified in the next release."
"I would like to have the Active-Active feature. Some competitors, like Nutanix, already have it."
"This product is probably one of the most complex to set up on the market."
"I would like to have the Active-Active feature. Some competitors already have it. I would like NetApp to add it to stay competitive."
"There is room for improvement in the support. It has been a problem for our team."
"The solution could improve by having better support experts. For example, they do not have clear instructions on configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive; it is not the cheapest solution out there. If you look at it from a total cost of ownership perspective, then it is a very compelling solution. However, if you're looking at just dollar per terabyte and not looking at the big picture, then you could be distracted by the price. It is not an amazing price, but it's pretty good. It is also very good when you consider the total cost of ownership and ease of management."
"It is a really expensive solution."
"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"The price of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is reasonable."
"Pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"I always want things to be less expensive. However, I would say the pricing is fair. Their costs are in alignment with their competitors. It is a good value for the money."
"The only drawback for us is that it's a large upfront investment. This was a huge decision for a startup company to make. It took a bit for us to get over the line on it, but we have not regretted it."
"The price could be lower."
"In general, I am pleased with the pricing, though it is a little high."
"The price of NetApp Private Storage is similar to other solutions. There is typically an annual license required for this solution."
"We negotiate whatever deal we can get on the type of storage that it is, but it's totally under our control,."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The product is costly."
"NetApp Private Storage is cheaper here in India compared to other solutions, such as Dell."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
I believe the support engineers need to improve their skills. In our case, the engineer provides adequate hardware support, but they lack expertise in supporting Dell PowerScale's API and Kubernete...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?
Dell PowerScale's primary use case for our organization is server virtualization.
What needs improvement with NetApp Private Storage?
They can make more solutions for cloud integration in NetApp Private Storage. It should be easier to use the cloud S3 integration, maybe from a NetApp interface, where users can choose the type of ...
What is your primary use case for NetApp Private Storage?
It consists of a large production company and national television channels broadcasting 24/7. We wanted to choose a stable product with flawless SLA levels for an organization that broadcasts 24/7....
What advice do you have for others considering NetApp Private Storage?
I believe it will deliver the expected performance and stability for television channels and production studios. On a scale of 1-10, I rate NetApp Private Storage an 8.
 

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon
NPS
 

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,
ASE IT, Concerto Cloud
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerScale vs. NetApp Private Storage and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,692 professionals have used our research since 2012.