Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe comparison

Dell Technologies and Pure Storage are both solutions in the NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Pure Storage is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.6. Dell Technologies holds a 24.4% mindshare in N, compared to Pure Storage’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerStore

Read 78 Dell PowerStore reviews

6,760 Views
3,865 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Read 34 Pure FlashArray X NVMe reviews

780 Views
429 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerStore

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Pure FlashArray X NVMe and Dell PowerStore are competing storage solutions. Dell PowerStore seems to have the upper hand due to its robust features like built-in machine learning and extensive automation, while Pure FlashArray X NVMe is distinguished for its intuitive management and low latency.

Features: Pure FlashArray X NVMe is noted for high performance, ease of management, and non-disruptive upgrades. Dell PowerStore provides superior data reduction capabilities, integration with VMware, and powerful automation features.

Room for Improvement: Pure FlashArray X NVMe could improve in reporting and long-term data retention. Dell PowerStore users request enhancements in the documentation and initial setup guides.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Pure FlashArray X NVMe is favored for straightforward deployment and reliable support. Dell PowerStore has a more complex setup but offers comprehensive support.

Pricing and ROI: Pure FlashArray X NVMe users find the pricing competitive with a good return on investment. Dell PowerStore, while more expensive, is considered worth the cost due to its advanced features and performance benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerStore vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe Report (Updated: November 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

November 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerStore

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

1st

Ranking in NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (4th), NAS (2nd), Enterprise SAN (1st)

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

16th

Ranking in NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

7th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays category, the mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 24.4%, down from 29.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 2.4%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

Featured Reviews

Ken Boyer

Associate Director, Systems & Engineer at IQVIA

Reduces the footprint, is easy to use, and can handle heavy workloads

The systems I currently have in place are old, and their support is running out. They're at the end of their life cycle. One of the key improvements that PowerStore is going to bring is that it will enable me to shrink the physical footprint. I'll be going from 5 physical HP arrays, which are about 12 racks in size, down to 4 PowerStores, which can fit on one rack. As a result, I'll be able to shrink the footprint, save power, cooling, etc. I will also be able to improve the existing performance and longevity of the platform. When we put the PowerStore in for the Oracle database, it was previously on NetApp. The staff wanted to do snapshots but also clone, and then be able to clone from a clone to add it to another system. PowerStore enabled them to do just that. They not only got their performance back to where it needed to be from previously being on the NetApp array but also got some of the feature functions that they require for the application.

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Paul Pearson

Storage and Backup Architect at Concentrix

Works well, is easy to implement, and has upgrade analysis capabilities

We love the product. Pure Storage works really well. The CAT tool and also the ability to upgrade the unit's place grades are great. It allows for in-place control or upgrades. It's a very simple implementation. They have a good tool to analyze upgrades. The stability is good. Technical support has been excellent.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is highly flexible and offers efficient online compression capabilities."

"Currently, the features of replication and deduplication have been very important to us."

"When compared to Pure Storage, Dell PowerStore's cost was quite attractive."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for me is the deduplication part, especially since most of the servers in our organization are Windows-based servers."

"PowerStore is easy to use, powerful, reliable, and highly customizable to customer's needs."

"It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization."

"Has a great mapping feature."

"There is no complicated configuration for queries and calls. You just create a model and go."

More Dell PowerStore pros

"It's incredibly easy to use and greatly simplified our ability to both deploy and manage our storage subsystems."

"I appreciate the performance."

"We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."

"The duplication algorithm allows us to get a lot more use out of less storage. We're running a five terabyte array right now and we're running probably about 30 terabytes on it. So the duplication rate is pretty phenomenal, without a cost to performance. It still runs pretty smoothly."

"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ease of use."

"The standout features for us in Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its robust DDoS protection, seamless transparent failover, and failback capabilities ensuring high availability."

"Technical support has been helpful and responsive."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

Cons

"Other products have better management and analytics features."

"It would be helpful for us to have support for the S3 protocol because our main competitor has the S3 protocol in their system."

"You cannot delegate permissions."

"AI will be a challenge and we must manage different kinds of data with more performance and security."

"When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with...making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements."

"Where the system needs to improve is by adding more enterprise features like replication on other sites. We would also like it to be much more aligned with the VMware version. For example, today we have two different versions of VMware ESXi running to keep the PowerStore online. It would be better if the software cycling was faster."

"Data reduction needs improvement."

"The UI should be a little more user-friendly to manage."

More Dell PowerStore cons

"Right now, the box itself is just strictly working as a backend storage system. It would be fantastic if we could access it directly like a NAS device through network access or SIS drives. I think they have an interface, but I am not sure how good it is. If we could address a box directly on the network without having to go through a server, it would be great. The replication schemas could be improved. We are not using replication on the storage level right now. We use a different type of replication. If their replication would be as good as the one that we have, I would probably run the replication schema because it might be faster, but I don't know that for a fact. So, I cannot say that they have good replication. All I can say is that they need to inform us better."

"I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"One point I'd like to improve is that the tool should start selling small boxes again. It discontinued some products and is focusing on bigger, more capable boxes, neglecting the SMB market. Even though it's not a big market, it shouldn't have removed them."

"Maybe the price can be reduced since the solution is very expensive."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"It's more multi-tenant functionality in their Pure1 manage portal that is lacking."

"I would like to see replication and DR features in the next release of this solution."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of licensing, my organization has Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA), but I don't know exactly how it works, though it is a big bundle of licenses for Dell Data Domain, Dell EMC Unity XT, Dell PowerStore, Dell ECS, and all such kinds of storage arrays."

"Pricing depends on the model and negotiation. Sometimes we manage to get good discounts, sometimes not."

"The licensing for this solution is good and is in the mid-range tier."

"It is very expensive though when you get to this point of using the 3000 with a client. They will start to think about using another vendor. There are a lot of solutions similar to PowerStore in regards to networking capacity and their prices are very cheap compared to PowerStore."

"PowerStore's pricing is reasonable."

"The pricing is good. There's no need to pay for a license; it's all-inclusive."

"The price is not cheap, but it's worth it for the features you get from the storage. If you can afford it, you are probably buying the best solution that you can have for this virtual environment."

"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are very good and I like it. We chose it because it was reasonably priced and met our requirements"

More Dell PowerStore pricing and cost advice

"Pretty much everything that you need is licensed when you buy the product. Licensing to me is different than the maintenance cost, but they can bleed into one another. We buy the product, and we expect three years of support bundled into what we negotiate on our storage arrays. I would start to see maintenance costs going into the fourth year, but we're not there yet."

"They can tout the functionality and cutting edge technology that they have, but that's where the price tag comes in. The cost is high, but I think as they grow their business and get more customers that it will probably go down a little bit."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"As far as the licensing costs, everything is included in the license."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you think about Dell EMC PowerStore? Is it actually a new product?

PowerStore is flexible, scalable, simple, and performant with market-leading economics for a wide range of legacy and next-gen apps. It is only Flash and can support many workloads from today's app...

See all answers

How does Dell's EMC PowerStore compare with its EMC Unity XT?

Dell EMC PowerStore is a unified storage platform that has the added benefit of being scalable. The automated management of resources feature provides a more simple administration. I found the flex...

See all answers

What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?

Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell offerings and integrated into the PowerStoreOS. The installation and setup have a ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I am an engineer and am not aware of the setup cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

After implementation, there are limitations, such as the number of paths, file systems, and replication options. It feels more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses rather than enterprises.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell Unity XT vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 20% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 11% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 10% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell PowerStore Competitors

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 16% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 15% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

Dell PowerMax NVMe vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore

December 2024

Download Dell PowerStore product report

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

November 2024

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Also Known As

PowerStore

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

Learn More

Dell Technologies

Pure Storage

Overview

Dell EMC PowerStore is a midrange next-generation data storage solution. It is designed with a data-centric, intelligent, and adaptable infrastructure and helps consolidate storage and virtual server environments. The Dell EMC PowerStore platform includes two major configurations, including PowerStore T and PowerStore X. Dell EMC PowerStore enables you to deploy the appliance and consolidate data and applications and supports both flash and SCM Optane devices.

Dell EMC PowerStore Offers:

Value
Flexibility
Simplicity

Dell EMC PowerStore Features

Some of the most powerful Dell EMC PowerStore features include:

Data-centric design: Dell EMC PowerStore is designed to optimize system performance, scalability, and storage efficiency to support any workload.
Intelligent automation: Intelligent automation helps simplify management as well as optimize system resources. Through a programmable infrastructure, it also enables you to easily monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot the environment.
Adaptable architecture: Because it has an adaptable architecture, Dell EMC PowerStore is able to provide speed and application mobility and offer flexible deployment models.
Scalability: Dell EMC PowerStore can be scaled up and scaled out.
Data-in-place upgrades: By providing data-in-place upgrades, you gain a modernized infrastructure without any downtime involved and without impacting applications.

Dell EMC PowerStore Benefits

Some of the benefits of using Dell EMC PowerStore include:

Flexible deployment: Dell EMC PowerStore is made to modernize the core, edge, and cloud without disruption, leading to flexible deployment.
Pay-per-use: Dell EMC PowerStore offers a range of flexible purchase options.
Any workload: Because Dell EMC PowerStore is designed to leverage next-gen innovations, it can work with any workload.
Programmable infrastructure: Dell EMC PowerStore streamlines application development and also automates storage workflows through integration with VMware and a broad ecosystem of leading management and orchestration frameworks, enabling you to provision services directly from the application tool sets that you use most frequently.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Dell EMC PowerStore users who are currently using the solution.

PeerSpot user Maurizio D., who is a CTO at Universita' degli Studi di Pisa, says it "Gives us flexibility, performance, and ease of use. It also has some very good compression capabilities. We were looking for a solution that was easy to install in our VMware environment, that was flexible. PowerStore X is a type of a VMware cluster that you install inside your environment. If you have a VMware environment, like we have in production, it's easy to install and use."

Another PeerSpot user, Jorg L., who is an IT Administrator at a construction company, mentions "For access from virtual machines, iSCSI, and NFS, it is very good. It helps increase performance."

"The administration tools take advantage of machine learning and make recommendations to the admins, and that makes the administration easier," says a Chief Information Officer at a computer software company. He also comments that “Overall, we've benefited from the dedupe, compression, and replication, the advanced technology, of this frame. It's all better than what we had in the previous generation of XtremIO appliances, and above what we were getting in the Dell EMC Unitys.”

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

November 2024

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