Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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
5th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
196
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE Alletra dHCI is 5.0%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Antonin Pavlik - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortless upgrades with one-click feature while new server deployment needs a smoother process
I have a data center, and all the servers are connected to HPE Alletra dHCI. I use it for data management with VMware running on the servers The most valuable feature of HPE Alletra dHCI is the one-click upgrade function, which allows all drivers and services to be downloaded to all servers…
Vladimir Simion - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieving seamless cost-saving implementation with exceptional support
The best features that StarWind Virtual SAN offers include the price because comparing to other virtual SAN solutions, this one is the best, and it also has a great support team behind it. My experience with their support has been positive, as their guides regarding the integration are very useful. They have some awesome guides online that show you exactly how to configure the product, how to do the initial setup, and you can speak with them directly. They will be able to connect and verify your setup, run its parameters and see exactly what's working and what is not, and they really help you with that. StarWind Virtual SAN has positively impacted my organization and my customer through initial cost saving. They use this product in a dark site, so I'm not able to provide any additional details about this, but they were really glad about it, they're still using it, and they asked for extending the capacity for it and the support. They really want to use it and are enjoying using it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HPE Alletra dHCI is very comfortable with high performance and quick installation."
"I love InfoSite. That gets you a lot of good detailed information."
"The most valuable feature of HPE Alletra dHCI is the one-click upgrade function, which allows all drivers and services to be downloaded to all servers easily."
"Nimble DHCI is really user friendly and not complex"
"HPE Nimble Storage dHCI has the most valuable features for performance, resilience, and scalability."
"We have the ability to increase the storage without any additional costs."
"Simply being able to move objects and the duplication feature have been quite effective."
"With regards to performance, configuration, and longevity it is upgradeable, which means it has a good TCO rate. These are valuable aspects to me."
"We have experienced multiple hardware failures at one site and the fault-tolerant volume worked exactly as expected with zero downtime."
"It has allowed us to save a lot of time and money by letting us create a vSAN within a Windows VM on the environment it controls."
"Azure AD is much more user-friendly and has a better integration with our existing infrastructure."
"This was a great implementation for a small to mid-size business."
"They offer top-tier support."
"Ten gigabit Ethernet compatibility, support, ease of use, and management are some positive features."
"It's very easy to resize disks and they show up in VMware almost instantly."
"It allows you to use ANY consumer or enterprise HDDs and SSDs, and that's a really great thing!"
 

Cons

"The deployment of a new server could be improved."
"Software upgrade is still more complicated than the competitors, so that's an area of improvement."
"The solution must be hypervisor-agnostic."
"The performance of HPE Nimble Storage dHCI could improve. Other solutions, such as Cisco, are better."
"Companies in small countries face problems with spare parts."
"The solution could improve by providing better file-level restoration and DVX system options."
"The initial setup is a little bit complicated."
"The implementation process was problematic due to firmware incompatibilities and lengthy support intervention."
"I wish the sync after a failure, such as hardware failure or power-related issues, for example, was faster."
"The only way I can see this product needing improvement is the consultation level of the StarWind sales and engineers."
"It would be nice if we could designate pools, or tiers, for storage of different speeds, and then assign rules to new VMs that would automatically place them into the proper pool."
"Performance when in storage-separate configuration needs to be improved."
"I wish they would improve the documentation for the beginner level as it's not very clear on the web page."
"Management of VSAN itself could be improved. A Web UI for management would be great rather than an application installation. StarWind is testing a command center virtual appliance that I have installed in my environment."
"Some configuration options still demand service restarting."
"I wish there was online support because email return takes a long time and a faster solution should be found."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The prices are very high."
"The product is very affordable."
"HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is much cheaper than the competition and has value proposition. Customers can see an ROI in three months. There are no additional costs, and VMware licenses can be reutilized."
"The customers have found the solution to be expensive. However, when compared to the competition the price is reasonable."
"The product is costly."
"The product licensing costs vary depending on whether VMware or other solutions are used."
"I think it's priced right and it's extremely intelligent."
"The price of HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is expensive."
"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."
"When we did all the analysis for StarWind, it was approximately 20 percent less than any of the other solutions that we looked at."
"The premium support from StarWinds is a must have. The ability to have access to a storage engineer 24/7 is a must for a production environment."
"The support contract is well worth it. The price for it was very reasonable and their team has been very engaged whenever we reach out."
"Cost is affordable and licensing is smooth."
"The license is reusable. We can always rebuild it and apply the license. Then, boom, we get new servers, apply the license, and we're back up and running."
"For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
"The Price/Performance ratio for this solution is outstanding!"
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which HCI solutions are best for your needs.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 that it was easy to implement, license, and the cost was very good.
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
StarWind Virtual SAN could be improved, and I wish the management GUI worked better.
 

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: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.