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IBM Power Systems vs Intel Server System comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 2026

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 Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Intel Server System
Ranking in Rack Servers
11th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 6.4%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Intel Server System is 4.1%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Power Systems6.4%
Intel Server System4.1%
Other89.5%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Foluso  Jibowo - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Hiperdist Ltd
Has empowered enterprises with secure and cost-effective solutions
When discussing disadvantages, I do not see many areas for improvement because we have received good testimonies from every client. IBM gives customers peace of mind. One challenge, which I would not really call a challenge, is that initially people have the notion that IBM Power Systems is quite expensive. However, IBM does not lose deals based on price. This is a message we need to keep communicating to people who feel that IBM is on the high side in terms of cost. We encourage them to have a discussion with us about their total cost of ownership over three or five years. There is a notion in the market that IBM is expensive, which is false. However, once we engage and show them their return on investments and their total cost of ownership savings, they tend to embrace IBM.
SA
Servers Senior Network Administrator at Dukat d.d.
A stable product that constantly enhances its functionalities like multithreading and caching
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is more stable than AMD for VMware. Intel Server System has a good track record for the last 20 years. Multithreading and caching are areas where improvements keep increasing. If you look at the last four years, you will see a big difference when it comes to the area concerning processors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I can have what they call multi-tenancy, meaning that I can have multiple tenants within the same server."
"With IBM Power11, downtime is virtually eliminated because the system has been fully optimized."
"What we like the most is the ability to upgrade the scaling of the system itself. Whenever we need extra storage, we can do that. Whenever we need extra memory, we can do that as well. It's fast and it's available."
"The virtualization and the quality you get from it is one reason we like the solution."
"Power uniquely positions our company in the industry because of the unlimited growth."
"The solution is the best product on the market."
"We are very happy with Power's performance."
"IBM Power Systems are secure and have fast processing."
"The price is competitive and it uses well known architecture and it's easy to develop for."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is more stable than AMD for VMware."
"I would recommend this product; it is stable with good performance, and we are satisfied with Intel's products."
"It is stable and easy to manage."
 

Cons

"Because you still get into the expense of going to the Power hardware, but if you're already on the Power hardware, I don't see the issue."
"They are very knowledgeable but there's some bureaucracy as far as the time to respond goes, as far as getting back to us with what we need."
"It does not offer the ability to run any X86 or X64 Intel architecture-based application on Power Systems. There are a lot of applications, lots of business use cases that do not support this architecture as of now. If somehow application tasks can be ported on to IBM Power Systems, that would be a big improvement."
"IBM Power Systems need to improve aspects such as power outage handling, simplifying the setup, and possibly lowering the price."
"It's not the hardware itself that's unstable as much as it is the software. The hardware is stable enough."
"Support is good. I think it used to be much better."
"I think the cost should be cheaper."
"The lack of software vendors moving onto the platform, as opposed to fleeing the platform, is an issue."
"I give it five out of 10 because, although they're well known, the system isn't really advanced compared to some of the competitors."
"We have to scale it ourselves but it scales. It depends on the software because it's mostly the hardware platform that Intel is managing."
"The shipment time can be improved. When we order Intel products, we have to wait for a long time. They can increase the local services and engineers in China. Local engineers will be able to know and understand customer problems much better."
"When you have an Intel Server System, the prices may be much higher since it is a different processor, making the solution's pricing part one of its shortcomings where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a yearly licensing cost, and it's an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution could be somewhat better and this is what lowers my rating of it to a seven or eight out of ten."
"Its price depends on the sizing."
"I give the cost a one out of ten."
"Why should I be charged for that use rather than a single CPU, a single socket?"
"Power Systems is very cheap and provides good value for money."
"IBM Power is more expensive than other rack-mount servers, and you have to have a license for everything, including cores and memory."
"Price-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten."
"The price is competitive."
"It is not expensive."
"I rate the pricing a ten on a scale from one to ten, where one is inexpensive, and ten is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise42
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
In my opinion, the product can be improved by maintaining it and not sunsetting it; that would be my recommendation for IBM. I used to work for IBM for nineteen years, and I know, unfortunately, I ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
I am an architect and system administrator, and I'm responsible for anything related to IBM Power Systems. In IBM Power Systems, I have found a lot of valuable features such as LVM, TCP, ODM, RSCT,...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Power Systems?
I would recommend IBM Power Systems to others. I have given this review a rating of ten out of ten.
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Also Known As

IBM OpenPOWER LC
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cipher
Emerson, Baosight, Pentamaster
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Power Systems vs. Intel Server System and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,654 professionals have used our research since 2012.