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HPE Alletra dHCI vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 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

HPE Alletra dHCI
Ranking in HCI
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
204
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE Alletra dHCI is 4.0%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
StarWind Virtual SAN2.1%
HPE Alletra dHCI4.0%
Other93.9%
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

TW
IT Consultant at Autonubil System GmbH
Synchronous replication and strong support enhance storage and data protection
The most valuable features of HPE Alletra dHCI are the synchronous replication, the easy extension for more storage, and its strong support. Data protection is very good, offering features such as virtual lock for snapshots, multi-factor authentication, and encryption for volumes. The solution handles workload variability very well without any performance issues even for demanding applications like SAP, SQL, and Citrix.
Jccerong Heron - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Support team has guided us through deploying virtual storage on legacy hardware and reducing operational costs
The reason I chose StarWind Virtual SAN for this particular scenario is really the features, the ease of use, and most importantly, the price. In my opinion, the best features StarWind Virtual SAN offers are easy integration with the system installed in the data center. The integration with my existing systems in the data center works well, especially with VMware, as we already have a big cluster in VMware, and the easy integration with that is helpful to solve some problems with the platform. StarWind Virtual SAN has positively impacted my organization by reducing OPEX costs. My OPEX costs have gone down as we reutilize some old servers, and this reduces the CAPEX of hardware in the data center.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"So far, the solution's performance is very good."
"The latency is very low."
"The integration of AI tools for predictive analysis sets it apart from competitors."
"The nice thing about it is that it truly integrates with the cloud, so I can move my volumes bi-directionally in and out of the cloud."
"HPE Nimble Storage dHCI's user interface is very easy to work with."
"Very good in-line compression."
"Nimble is easy to use, but hard to install. Once it's installed, it's user-friendly. Reporting is another advantage because we get a lot of statistical forecasting. It helps us see into the future with that."
"I love InfoSite. That gets you a lot of good detailed information."
"The most important feature is the ability to experience the loss of one node or one storage device, and not lose the entire cluster."
"The product's core feature of virtualizing our storage is by far the most valuable."
"The performance of the solution is accurate and concise."
"It allows you to use ANY consumer or enterprise HDDs and SSDs, and that's a really great thing!"
"You can turn your local disk storage into high-availability iSCSI storage."
"The best features are the software's ease of setup and the excellent technical support."
"In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems."
"The installation of StarWind Virtual SAN was pretty easy, and the configuration was done in no time."
 

Cons

"The product’s performance needs improvement. It could also help with more environment monitoring and AI technologies to improve the performance and thresholds."
"The deployment of a new server could be improved."
"They should improve just the support."
"I would like the HPE Alletra dHCI to provide options to install products separately."
"I can tier my data in different storage on the cloud, but I cannot tier the data with HPE Alletra dHCI."
"HPE Nimble Storage dHCI's website does not open properly or work consistently."
"I'm not sure if there are features lacking."
"Lacking integration to the cloud."
"There is one issue as far as licensing goes and that is a lack of documentation online for users when transitioning from the free version to the paid version, or vice versa."
"I'd love to see more clarification for us folks who are smart enough to do some damage yet not smart enough to use CLI."
"It would be great to have more automated tooling around managing the iSCSI connections in Windows"
"I think the setup could be streamlined a bit."
"I wish there was online support because email return takes a long time and a faster solution should be found."
"Having more support plan options would be nice."
"There is no Italian-language version of the software available."
"I wish they would improve the documentation for the beginner level as it's not very clear on the web page."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think it's priced right and it's extremely intelligent."
"The customers have found the solution to be expensive. However, when compared to the competition the price is reasonable."
"The cost of the licensing is reasonable."
"The price of HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is expensive."
"The solution’s pricing was very good."
"The product licensing costs vary depending on whether VMware or other solutions are used."
"The product is very affordable."
"I would rate the licensing model a three out of ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is cheap."
"For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
"This solution has a great price for the functionality."
"The licensing is a bit weird. If you license the standard version of StarWind, it allows you four terabytes. Then, they have a pro version, but with the pro version, the only difference is it doubles the terabytes to eight."
"This solution has competitive prices and the implementation is very easy."
"The scalability limitation for us is its licensing. At some point in the fairly near future, we will probably have to upgrade our license so we can store eight terabytes instead of four. We are currently at four terabytes, but we're starting to knock on the door of that capacity."
"Cost is affordable and licensing is smooth."
"I think that purchasing StarWind Virtual SAN Professional Edition would be optimal for most."
"StarWind is best price/performance for SMB."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business165
Midsize Enterprise54
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Nimble Storage dHCI?
Pricing is rated at six, which is normal. The price is appropriate for the capabilities and features that the customers receive.
What needs improvement with HPE Nimble Storage dHCI?
I would like the HPE Alletra dHCI to provide options to install products separately. When extending or when servers are already present, normal Alletra systems are more suitable. dHCI projects ofte...
What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines flash and disks of the cluster and forms a virtual shared storage “pool” acce...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was very good. We were able to get the software at a good cost. I did most of the setup, so there wasn't really any cost there. The professiona...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
The only thing that I would say about documentation is there are some aspects of the documentation that are a little bit unclear. However, when I worked through those issues with their professional...
 

Also Known As

HPE Nimble Storage dHCI
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Alletra dHCI vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.