HPE Apollo Systems vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

HPE Apollo Systems vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

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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 Apollo Systems

Ranking in Rack Servers

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (2nd)

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...

Ranking in Rack Servers

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.2%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 16.0%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Gayan Senadheera

Director at Tyax Pvt Ltd

Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs

In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

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Adalberto Giaretta

Technology director at Infodive Representações e Serviços ltda

Reliable with an easy setup and good support

These are rack servers. We use them for applications. It stores everything including VM servers, application servers, Windows, et cetera The reliability is great. The solution is like any other commodity like Dell or HPE. These are all very similar. Setting up the solution is easy. It is stable.…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."

"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."

"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance."

"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."

"we can use the same platform for several use cases: Hadoop, Ceph, and we are considering the server for another use case right now. It's a single solution, we only have to integrate it once and we can use it for several technologies."

"It's going to meet our needs moving forward, it is scalable."

"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."

"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."

More HPE Apollo Systems pros

"I like everything about this solution. It is a very good server, with excellent availability. The size of the power is adequate and the low heating is beneficial."

"I would say the stability of the system itself would be the biggest advantage."

"One of the main advantages of this tool is its ease of use, as it is a GUI-based tool needing a simple and easy configuration...It is a stable solution."

"It is a stable solution."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The product scales well."

"We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines. We have some direct connections with IBM, Lenovo, and other companies, and we get close support from them."

"The hardware is good."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers pros

Cons

"We would like to see SimpliVity on top of the Apollo."

"The solution's deployment, security, and scalability need improvement."

"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."

"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."

"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."

"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."

"We could, perhaps, use more GPUs in the future, go from eight to 16 GPUs per instance. That could run head-to-head against the DGX-1, the DGX-2 that NVIDIA has developed in their own chassis. That would be interesting to see."

"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."

More HPE Apollo Systems cons

"It was complex to get this started because the Lenovo and VMware are not very compatible. We had to get some updates in order for it to be implemented."

"For the price my company pays for Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers, we can have more from other vendors offering the same functionalities that are present in Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers at a lower price."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers does a very good job. However, what could be improved can be their Configurator because it's very bulky and it sometimes gives logical errors."

"It is quite an expensive product. Its price can be improved."

"HP has a riser inside, but Lenovo does not have a riser. It would be good to have a riser with Lenovo. The GUI of the system is really bad. HP has a very good UI for smart memories and everything inside, but in Lenovo, we have a black-and-white UI. HP right now manufactures a server with scalable SP1 and SP2 on a single machine, which is not the case with Lenovo. They are changing the machine. For SP 1, there is one server, and for SP2, there is another server, which is really bad. In HP, we can use two models of processors in a single case. Lenovo should also be improved to have SP1 and SP2 scalable processors simultaneously on a single machine. They should not release another machine. This issue is also there in H3650 severs. They are all inside, but only V3 CPU or only v4 CPU can work, whereas, in HBG9, we can deploy V3 and V4 simultaneously. Lenovo also needs to advertise more because I can't see advertisements anywhere."

"The power consumption needs to be optimized in Lenovo."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."

"From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."

"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."

"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."

"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."

"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."

"Your budget determines the scalability."

"In India, the solution is cheap compared to its competitors."

"It is the cheapest solution we have seen on the market."

"It is expensive compared to other vendors."

"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."

"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm."

"The cost of the solution depends entirely on the client. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."

"It is too expensive. Because we are a university and we have to look for our money, many times we buy some refurbished machines or equipment at reasonable prices from IBM or Lenovo. We are a little bit limited in terms of money, and we buy as much as we can. If they were cheaper, we would buy more."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

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848,989 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

University

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?

HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.

What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?

We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.

How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?

Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is the easiest product to set up and maintain.

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems

Comparisons

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Dell PowerEdge FX vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Synergy vs HPE Apollo Systems

Compared 6% of the time

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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

Compared 54% of the time

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

Compared 34% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

Compared 3% of the time

Dell PowerEdge FX vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

Compared 3% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

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Product Reports

HPE Apollo Systems

Download HPE Apollo Systems product report

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers product report

Also Known As

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo

SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo Rack Servers,

Overview

The HPE Apollo high-density server family is built for the highest levels of performance and efficiency. They are rack-scale compute, storage, networking, power and cooling – massively scale-up and scale-out – solutions for your big data analytics, object storage and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. From water-cooling that’s 1,000X more efficient than air, to “right-sized scaling” with 2X the compute density for workgroup and private cloud workloads, the HPE Apollo line is a dense, high-performance, tiered approach for organisations of all sizes.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

From growing small businesses to enterprise workloads, Lenovo rack servers offer the unmatched value, flexibility and industry-leading efficiency to meet mission-critical demands with legendary quality and reliability.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Weta Digital

immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports

HPE Apollo Systems vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers