IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe comparison

IBM and Pure Storage are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.5, while Pure Storage is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.6. IBM holds a 6.7% mindshare in AFS, compared to Pure Storage’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Pure Storage users who would recommend it.

IBM FlashSystem

Read 110 IBM FlashSystem reviews

7,761 Views
5,977 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Read 35 Pure FlashArray X NVMe reviews

1,532 Views
743 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM FlashSystem

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

IBM FlashSystem and Pure FlashArray X NVMe are two competitive storage solutions in the market. Pure FlashArray X NVMe stands out as a superior product overall due to its feature set.

Features: IBM FlashSystem is praised for its high performance, data compression capabilities, and integration with existing infrastructure. Pure FlashArray X NVMe is noted for its advanced NVMe protocol support, consistent performance, and ease of management. The main difference lies in Pure FlashArray's modern NVMe architecture, providing it a performance edge.

Room for Improvement: Users of IBM FlashSystem point out the need for better documentation, more intuitive configuration processes, and more user-friendly features. Reviews of Pure FlashArray X NVMe cite desires for improved reporting tools, lower costs, and additional support tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FlashSystem is considered straightforward to deploy with reliable customer support. Pure FlashArray X NVMe users highlight the simplicity of deployment and highly responsive customer service and find their support experience slightly superior.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FlashSystem users appreciate the competitive setup cost and favorable ROI. Pure FlashArray X NVMe's setup costs are perceived as higher, but users justify it with superior performance and long-term ROI. Pure FlashArray X NVMe is seen as more cost-effective over time despite a higher initial investment.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 847,772 peers since 2012

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

IBM FlashSystem

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

13th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

110

Ranking in other categories

NAS (4th), Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (4th)

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Ranking in All-Flash Storage

15th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of IBM FlashSystem is 6.7%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Q&A Highlights

reviewer1942008

Senior Storage Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 22, 2022

Which SAN product would you choose: IBM FlashSystem (FS9500) vs PureFlash Array/X NVMe vs PureFlash Array/XL NVMe?

Have you considered a NetApp FAS Storage for your NAS needs? I am sure it fits very well.

See all answers

Featured Reviews

Raanan Sitton

Vice President Sales at BELOCAL LTD

Offers cost-effective storage for small companies with budget constraints

IBM FlashSystem 5300 is offered at a very low cost in Israel, which is advantageous for small companies. However, other features like deduplication and compression do not perform effectively. The price sensitivity makes it a viable option for clients with budgetary constraints, as it allows us to secure deals based on the cost rather than advanced performance.

Read full review

Eugene Hemphill

Sales Manager at Multicomputos PR

Helps to save money and resources with the data compression feature

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. One way to improve the product is to add an operational assistant that doesn't depend on VMware. It could also establish more alliances with other operational systems.

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

"High availability and enhanced security; Proven dependability; Data compression with hardware acceleration; Advanced copy services features are all in this product."

"The most valuable feature in demand is virtualization and its support storage of virtualization features."

"IBM FlashSystem is a powerful effective storage solution. Additionally, it is user-friendly, anyone can use it."

"The most valuable features were the performance of the array, i.e., very low latency and high IOPS. Plus, the management interface is very easy to use."

"Flash disk with Easy Tier option"

"The performance is very good and we use this product to enhance our core system."

"IBM FlashSystem is flexible, quick, and has a solid design."

"The most valuable features are flexibility and performance."

More IBM FlashSystem pros

"The tool's valuable features are speed, security, data compression, and reliability. Its data compression feature is the best that we have ever seen. It helps us to save money and resources."

"The solution is scalable."

"One of the best features is the support, which is excellent."

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

"It offers competitive performance, and the Evergreen storage model of Pure fits well with my organization."

"FlashArray has some fresh efficiency features. I've never seen a storage solution with a compression rating this high before. It's at least 4-to-1 on Oracle databases. It's the best flash storage for Oracle."

"I use the tool for Oracle databases, Oracle virtual machines, and Oracle Linux databases. I'm on the storage side, not a database administrator."

"Pure FlashArray X NVMe has low latency and high Ops. It is an evergreen model."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

Cons

"IBM should improve its data reduction development."

"The initial setup is complex."

"Additional licenses might be added for the fundamental licenses, such as those for copying and flash copies."

"AHV is Acropolis Hypervisor – A relatively new Hypervisor, robust and stable as VMware vSphere, has built-in advanced analytics and powerful operations, Self Service Portal and components for DevOps included, managed by a single pane of glass (Prism) via HTML5 and it is free of charge – That is why Nutanix is so advanced and revolutionary."

"I have looked at a few pages of a report I download and I saw a graph there regarding software-defined vendors. IBM is not in a good position on this graph. I know that they are working very hard on this, to make it much better and to get to a level where it's not only hardware but also software to provide a complete solution."

"We use some open-source tools for monitoring, such as Grafana and it should be bundled along with IBM FlashSystem."

"The GUI needs some improvement. An additional function that could be helpful is reducing the time it takes to delete volumes, especially if they are compressed or deduplicated."

"The GUI for monitoring performance metrics could provide better visibility. For example, it doesn't let me segregate the IOPS per volume."

More IBM FlashSystem cons

"We've seen that when we create a POD in synchronous mode, it increases the latency."

"They could add more support for file storage and different types of storage."

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

"It feels more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses rather than enterprises."

"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."

"It is on the expensive side."

"Our use cases require more multi-tenant capabilities and additional VLAN interfaces for separating different customers. We currently use it to provide storage, sometimes shared storage, to different customers, but it is less flexible in comparison to a dedicated solution."

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

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are no licensing fees, it is a one-time purchase of the IBM FlashSystem."

"The pricing is competitive in our country."

"It pays to go back and get the best price you can from your supplier. The first offer is not always at the best discount."

"The pricing has been very competitive for the last few years. IBM got to the point where they changed the pricing model and we feel very comfortable with the pricing. It's very competitive. Over the last two years, IBM has been coming up with all kinds of interesting promos, especially for the SMB systems. That makes it very competitive price-wise and in terms of performance..."

"The price of IBM FlashSystem is a little high because you pay a premium because the solution is from IBM. We had paid for the SLA prior to using the solution."

"My customers got the IBM FlashSystem bundle offer. It was a one-time purchase for three years of service. The price would depend on the storage size and could reach between $25,000 to $55,000."

"The pricing may be a bit higher than other brands. If you compare the IBM FlashSystems in midrange with Dell EMC in midrange, IBM costs a bit more, but I prefer IBM because it has more specs that I can benefit from."

"The cost is pretty high in terms of licensing. We pay at least $100,000 USD in licensing fees for the storage."

More IBM FlashSystem pricing and cost advice

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"Given its price, Pure is not the first option."

"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."

"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."

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

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

"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."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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

See recommendations

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM FlashSystem?

It is simple to make an update.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FlashSystem?

Many factors affect purchasing directly from IBM, often involving a multi-step process. Customers, especially in banking, often use the latest devices as they are upgrading, indicating they do not ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FlashSystem?

The GUI needs some improvement. An additional function that could be helpful is reducing the time it takes to delete volumes, especially if they are compressed or deduplicated.

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?

Adding some functions to the product would be beneficial. Storage replication should be essential, and the analytics should not incur extra charges. This is one of the main things organizations need.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 24% of the time

Huawei OceanStor Dorado vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 8% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs IBM FlashSystem

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FlashSystem Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 32% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 14% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 7% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem

April 2025

Download IBM FlashSystem product report

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

March 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Also Known As

IBM Storwize

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

Overview

IBM FlashSystem products are enterprise computer data storage systems that store data on flash memory chips. Unlike storage systems that use standard solid-state drives, IBM FlashSystem products incorporate custom hardware based on technology from the 2012 acquisition of Texas Memory Systems. This hardware provides performance, reliability, and efficiency benefits versus competitive offerings.

IBM

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.

Pure Storage

Sample Customers

Celero, Friedhelm Loh Group, Clarks, Mingkang Natregro Health Food Group, Sofia, Etisalat Fights Fraud, UF Health Shands Hospital, Generali, Elecon Engineering Company Limited, Ventiv , Technology, CPFL Energia, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., SciQuest, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Paddy Power, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Interconnect Services, Severstal IP-Only AB, PVU Group GmbH

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Buyer's Guide

IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

April 2025

Free Report: IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM FlashSystem vs. Pure FlashArray X NVMe report.

See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.

We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.