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Dell SC Series vs NetApp AFF comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.3
Everpure FlashArray boosts efficiency, cuts resource use, and ensures cost-effective, up-to-date performance with long-term operational savings.
Sentiment score
9.3
Dell SC Series offers cost-effective virtualization, ease of management, and significant savings through flash disks, boosting ROI and user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.0
NetApp AFF cut costs, boosted reliability and performance, enhanced data processing speed, and delivered substantial ROI through efficiency.
Operational tasks such as provisioning storage and monitoring performance happen faster, and less downtime risk and hardware consolidation mean we support more workloads with fewer resources and less data center overhead.
System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We have never had an outage in my four and a half years, but in our company's ten or eleven years, there has never been any planned upgrades that required downtime.
System Engineer at Data Sciences Corporation
In the long term, spanning three to five years, the total cost of ownership becomes cheaper, considering power consumption, data center footprint, and NVMe technology usage.
Manager, Infrastructure Services Storage & Backup Vmware UNIX at Mphasis
Users were very happy when I bought it, as it significantly lowered disk response times.
It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees
I have seen a return on investment with NetApp AFF, as the storage footprint has been reduced significantly due to deduplication and compression, leading to substantial cost savings.
Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
Everpure FlashArray's customer service excels with proactive, responsive support and knowledgeable staff, ensuring minimal downtime and seamless operation.
Sentiment score
7.2
Dell SC Series support is highly rated for its responsiveness, knowledgeable staff, and effective issue resolution globally.
Sentiment score
7.8
NetApp AFF support is praised for responsive, knowledgeable service, with some noted delays at Tier 1 but strong resolutions.
Pure's support organization is responsive with minimal bureaucracy, making support a key factor in customer retention.
Director of Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate the technical support an 11 out of 10.
Cyber Security Consultant at Jonkoping Energi AB
Everpure FlashArray is probably not cheap storage, but it provides great performance, scalability, and everything a customer needs.
Sr. Engineer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Advanced support offers instant replacement without delays.
System Administrator at Lovely Professional University
Compared to other companies, Dell SC Series offers one of the best support experiences in my career.
Architect Engineer, IT INFRASTRUCTURES Project Manager at Vilavi
The support for NetApp AFF is comprehensive—not just the documentation for self-guided reading, but for simple questions, spare parts, or urgent needs, you can have a contract that enables delivery the next business day or within four hours, depending on your process requirements.
Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have communicated with them, and they are effective and responsive.
Presales Manager at Spartec
It is among the best in the enterprise environment.
Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Everpure FlashArray offers scalable, modular storage with seamless upgrades, ideal for many businesses despite potential initial costs.
Sentiment score
6.1
Dell SC Series offers flexible, scalable storage for businesses of all sizes, though some note cost and controller limitations.
Sentiment score
7.6
NetApp AFF is praised for adaptability and scalability, though some users note cost implications and occasional configuration challenges.
A big banking client had around 300 petabytes of data on Pure Storage.
Manager, Infrastructure Services Storage & Backup Vmware UNIX at Mphasis
Our customers can scale up or scale out, raise the performance, and expand the storage spaces by investing every year.
Senior Ai Architect at Logicalis
We have successfully upgraded the controllers, scaled capacity, and scaled arrays without much impact on the system and with seamless planning.
Platform Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
You can add more disks, more disk shelves, or migrate the data seamlessly.
Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would assess the scalability of NetApp AFF as excellent in handling massive data volumes.
Presales Manager at Spartec
NetApp AFF has strong scalability, especially for enterprise workloads, as I can start with a small cluster and then add more controllers as demand grows.
Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Everpure FlashArray is highly stable, reliable, with minimal downtime, and boasts robust performance, ideal for critical applications.
Sentiment score
8.9
Dell SC Series is stable, cost-effective, with minimal downtime and maintenance, praised for replication and reliable performance despite setup complexities.
Sentiment score
8.4
NetApp AFF is acclaimed for its reliability, offering 100% uptime, effective data management, and swift support issue resolution.
For stability, I rate it a ten out of ten.
Senior Storage Administrator at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have continuous 99.9% uptime and do not experience any users reporting performance issues due to latency.
Senior Storage Engineer at Ensono
The vision Pure Storage FlashArray offers through the GUI is clearer; we can discern the status, what is cabled, and how direct flash is enabled.
Technical Lead at Wipro Limited
In storages, stability is the most important aspect, even before performance.
It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees
They have always been upgrading very fast and implementing patches to resolve these issues.
Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Everpure FlashArray requires enhancements in deduplication, cloud integration, scalability, pricing, UI, performance, encryption, support, and analytics.
Dell SC Series needs improved user-friendliness, technical support, integration, scalability, and features like compression, automation, and cloud compatibility.
NetApp AFF needs pricing adjustments, improved scalability, user interfaces, and support for better performance and seamless data management.
Integrating object storage into the FlashArray would benefit entry-level and SMB customers by offering a more unified solution.
Lead Technical Architect at ePlus Technology, inc.
Storing cold data on expensive arrays doesn't make financial sense, and tiering to any of the big three cloud providers would be advantageous.
Director of Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
As a technical professional, I lack visibility into the system logs.
Senior Network Engineer at Holy Redeemer Health System, Inc.
Dell PowerStore, which supports NVMe over TCP, is different and not very affordable.
It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees
In the future, I want any box that comes on-premises to have the provision to integrate with cloud storage.
System Administrator at Lovely Professional University
I rate NetApp AFF 9 out of 10 because I feel the licensing and product portfolio is somewhat complex, and it sometimes costs higher compared to competing solutions, along with the learning curve for new administrators being somewhat steep.
Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
The GUI of ONTAP Command Manager could be better, but the CLI is perfect.
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Our backup system, Commvault, has an amazing capacity to do compression and deduplication better than NetApp AFF by itself.
Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Everpure FlashArray's premium pricing is justified by comprehensive features, valuable support, and competitive benefits for reliable storage solutions.
Dell SC Series offers competitive and scalable enterprise storage, with varied pricing and discounts for partnering users.
NetApp AFF is seen as premium due to high expansion costs, but bundling and discounts can improve affordability.
They're expensive.
Director of Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
While they say it's free, we actually pay for support upfront.
Senior Network Engineer at Holy Redeemer Health System, Inc.
Some smaller organizations may find it slightly expensive, but for enterprises, when considering performance, future hardware investments, and overall benefits, it is a very cost-effective solution for mid and enterprise organizations.
Senior Storage Engineer at Ensono
Sometimes Dell offers better performance for less money.
It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees
NetApp support is cheaper than Dell support.
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
While it is not cheap, they have introduced a new series of AFF that are more affordable.
Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The licensing cost of the product is expensive, and when combined with support, it becomes quite costly.
Presales Manager at Spartec
 

Valuable Features

Everpure FlashArray offers high performance, low latency, easy management, seamless upgrades, and strong integration, enhancing operational and storage efficiency.
Dell SC Series provides performance, auto-tiering, and replication with ease of management, scalability, high availability, and strong support.
NetApp AFF excels with high-speed flash storage, efficient data reduction, seamless integration, and robust data recovery and management features.
FlashArray's integration with the Pure One instrument provides a centralized platform for efficient management of all arrays.
Presales Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Another noteworthy aspect is their platform, Pure One, a cloud-based analytics platform that automatically creates a case and sends out a part if a disk or controller fails.
Lead Technical Architect at ePlus Technology, inc.
It handles internal data migration seamlessly in the background without going offline, achieving a hundred percent uptime.
Director of Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The storage also lowered the response time of disks across the entire farm, making it a great product for operational efficiency.
It adviser at a security firm with 201-500 employees
I can mix and match the drives, using older mechanical devices and the latest SFP drives in a single solution with different enclosures.
System Administrator at Lovely Professional University
You can even download the ONTAP simulator and deploy it on your virtualization platform and test almost all features.
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Data reduction capabilities such as deduplication, compression, and compaction are standard features included with the license in NetApp AFF.
Presales Manager at Spartec
They have 4:1 data reduction techniques, which is really very high. If you have a size of 100 terabytes, you will get 400 terabytes of usable capacity when applying compression, deduplication, or other data reduction technologies.
IT Manager at Synergy Computers
 

Categories and Ranking

Everpure FlashArray
Sponsored
Ranking in All-Flash Storage
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
233
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell SC Series
Ranking in All-Flash Storage
20th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Frame-Based Disk Arrays (2nd)
NetApp AFF
Ranking in All-Flash Storage
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
315
Ranking in other categories
NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Everpure FlashArray is 6.4%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell SC Series is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp AFF is 6.8%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
All-Flash Storage Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Everpure FlashArray6.4%
NetApp AFF6.8%
Dell SC Series1.6%
Other85.2%
All-Flash Storage
 

Featured Reviews

Cristian Ion - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Technology Engineer at Eta2u
All-flash storage has unified my clients’ workloads and has reduced TCO through efficient data services
The pricing and licensing of Everpure FlashArray is a problem because Everpure is considered more expensive than competitors. IBM, Lenovo, and Dell are more aggressive on prices. It is a very complicated market, especially now, and I understand the prices are higher at Everpure because of the software and all the enhancements it has. However, in this competitive market, we have a big problem selling to customers that are on a tight budget. A product with better pricing would be a win in the end. The RC or C20, for example, was a very good product that I could sell more easily than other options. Everpure FlashArray//C is sufficient for most workloads and virtualization workloads if you do not have very large databases. A product like that helps, and perhaps a new product in the future that is a little cheaper than the current options would be a possibility to gain more market share. I see the return on investment clearly from using Everpure FlashArray, but the challenge is selling it to customers for the first time. There are many customers who fall in the sweet spot where they are too small for an X or even a C model. They need something a little cheaper, they have the money for a cheaper version, and they need the performance of a Pure system. These customers could be more easily approached if Everpure offers a version of a local device in the future that is even cheaper than the C-class. I am trying now to help customers understand the concept behind AG1. I know that AG1 is not profitable if capacity is less than 50 terabytes. However, some customers would be very willing to pay for 25 terabytes in a cloud operated by Pure and to have it accessible with very good speed. We will see what the future brings.
RK
System Administrator at Lovely Professional University
Storage solutions accommodate diverse drives and offers good resiliency
Technical support is good. I can log complaints online through the portal and have engineers in line. I can also take dedicated engineers if needed, although this involves a different support cost. As far as my requirements are concerned, it is working fine. There are two or three types of support. Standard support involves logging a complaint and receiving a call from the OEM on the same day, but hardware replacement takes two to three days. Advanced support offers instant replacement without delays. Hardware support terms include calling or emailing the company or logging the call in the portal to receive remote support, or getting a dedicated engineer or account manager from Dell.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Synergy Computers
Unified storage has delivered efficient AI analytics and low latency for critical workloads
There might be some lag or response time with respect to support cases, but even then I will rate it 8.5 out of 10. All of this is the same for all product ranges, whether E-series, NetApp AFF, or FAS series, because they are very efficient to respond. The only reason I rated it 8.5 is because the warehouse for spare parts, when a problem comes, a spare is needed to replace it, for example, a disk. In Pakistan, they have only one warehouse in Karachi. This warehouse manages all the problems when a problem comes. They ship the part based on the customer use case and customer service request. That is the only reason I rate it 8.5 because they have only one warehouse in Pakistan, which is in Karachi. For example, if a problem comes in Islamabad, it will take time to deliver the spare because the part will be shipped from Karachi to Islamabad, which will take around maybe a day. Other OEMs have their warehouses in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi also. In terms of part replacement requirements, they are very efficient in that area because they have warehouses in multiple cities of Pakistan.
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Comparison Review

it_user186357 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect with 51-200 employees
Jan 28, 2015
NetApp vs. XtremIO
Is there another storage platform as feature rich as NetApp FAS? I think it is fair to say that NetApp FAS running Clustered Data ONTAP is a very feature rich platform – the move to the clustered version of ONTAP has brought many next-generation features including Scale-out and Non-disruptive…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise161
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise242
 

Questions from the Community

Which should I choose: HPE 3PAR StoreServ or Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series?
Both are great platforms, but if you are considering all flash solutions, I would recommend you to consider Pure Stor...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure Storage FlashArray?
When comparing cost, I find that the cost is either the same or slightly higher, but that is returned by the ease of ...
What needs improvement with Pure Storage FlashArray?
The only thing I think could be improved is price. The price is the main concern for our customers.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell SC Series?
In our case, we received favorable pricing with Dell because of our strong partnership. While I acknowledge that Dell...
What needs improvement with Dell SC Series?
For us, it is a great product. The deduplication and compression could potentially be improved, though they are alrea...
What is your primary use case for Dell SC Series?
We use Dell SC Series in a VMware environment.
What is the Biggest Difference Between Dell EMC Unity and NetApp AFF?
Well, Is one thing NetApp Storage has vs other brand is the mix of protocol CIFS with NFS booth working together in t...
What is the Biggest Difference Between Dell EMC Unity and NetApp AFF?
This question is very dependent on your requirements. Both are among the best in the field. Of course, the intended c...
What is the Biggest Difference Between Dell EMC Unity and NetApp AFF?
The answer depends on your needs and budget. If you want high performance (who doesn't) or let's say the latency matt...
 

Also Known As

Pure Storage FlashArray
SC Series Storage, Compellent
NetApp All Flash FAS, NetApp AFF, NetApp Flash FAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nielsen, Lamar Advertising, LinkedIn, Betfair, UT-Dallas
TGen, Frost Science, Gerrie Electric
DreamWorks Animation, FICO, Yahoo! Japan
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell SC Series vs. NetApp AFF and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,523 professionals have used our research since 2012.