Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind Virtual SAN

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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

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Ranking in HCI

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

StarWind Virtual SAN

Ranking in HCI

4th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

191

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.0%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

Genesis Dapoza

Email Administrator at Technopaq, Inc.

simplifies management for clients familiar with VMware, and offers a user-friendly management and configuration experience

With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers. The drawback is that the hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) are shared among all the VMs running on the VX Series. If the server's processor is underpowered for the VMs, many of the VMs might have performance issues. An improvement could be to have more granular control over resource allocation to VMs.

Read full review

WJHG

Soporte IT at Sildan Security

Seamless integrations, high availability, and offers a free version

Although I am generally satisfied with VSAN and its performance, there are some areas that could be improved to enhance its effectiveness even further. One area that could benefit from improvement is scalability. While the tool works well in its current configuration, allowing for greater ease and flexibility in adding new nodes to the cluster without complications would be very beneficial, especially in growing environments. Additionally, I would like to see additional features in the next version, such as better support for automated resource management. This could include proactive suggestions for optimizing storage and memory usage, as well as preventive alerts about the health status of the servers. A more intuitive interface or an improved dashboard for monitoring the cluster would also be helpful, as it would facilitate performance tracking and help identify potential issues before they affect services.

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

"The VX machines are scalable."

"We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy."

"Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."

"The clients like the solution’s simplicity."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations."

"Virtualizing data infrastructure with StarWind Virtual SAN improves efficiency and reduces operational costs."

"Using our own choice of HW allowed us to price our service to answer our customers' needs."

"The iSCSI protocol is quite simple to configure."

"The customer support provided by StarWind is excellent."

"We went from "no way DB applications would have good performance" to "Wow! We can now actually have a DB running and have some VMs running at the same time.""

"It has reduced our overall maintenance and overhead by having to only maintain physical boxes for one cluster instead of having to manage physical boxes for two clusters."

"The solution provides great performance for the price it is listed with."

"The most useful aspect is the hyper-converged SD SAN and the ease to expand it by just adding cheap SSD or NVME disks."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pros

Cons

"The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."

"With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers."

"The product must provide AI features."

"Support could be better."

"The software could benefit from more tooling to help with initial deployment."

"It would be great if the Linux version of the management console offered the same features as Windows."

"Maybe in the future, the replication will be supported in more cloud providers."

"Perhaps the developer should refine the product management through PowerShell."

"We have found this product to suit our needs."

"Our company was hoping for deduplication and encryption across HCI. That is currently not supported."

"The Command Center, a free guest VM for management and monitoring, leaves something to be desired. It could have more accurate real-time information and better reporting visuals, which seem to be an afterthought."

"We would like the documentation to be more complete. Most items are covered, but if you don't know something, you may need to contact their support."

More StarWind Virtual SAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is competitive."

"You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them."

"The tool is expensive."

"There is room for improvement in the licensing structure, maybe. Regarding sizing the resources, sometimes it's difficult to calculate/compute them based on the client's requirements."

"This solution is very accessible and the pro-level for support is well worth the cost."

"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."

"The Price/Performance ratio for this solution is outstanding!"

"This is the best priced solution for an SMB."

"It's priced fairly. It was definitely cheaper than the competition. The licensing terms are straightforward and reasonable."

"The StarWind VSAN business model is very cost-effective."

"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."

"This solution has a great price for the functionality."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The VX machines are scalable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The licensing model is moderately complex. The tool is expensive. It is VMware’s fault, though.

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The product must provide AI features. It depends on VMware since the core is software. The solution must provide a more detailed plan to enable simplicity of use.

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?

I can't give a sincere opinion on the installation and licensing costs because, as I have mentioned repeatedly, I am currently using the free version. However, I can say that I have submitted a req...

What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?

More comprehensive reporting and educational resources for error resolution would enhance the user experience. There have been cases where not understanding exactly what's failing on the Virtual SA...

VxRail vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Comparisons

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Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

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Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 15% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 26% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

HCI

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series product report

StarWind Virtual SAN

Download StarWind Virtual SAN product report

Also Known As

Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series

StarWind SAN & NAS

Overview

Differentiating yourself from the competition is vital in today’s fast-moving business environment. To support your business, IT systems must be simple, agile, and cost-effective so you can meet your customers’ requirements to be ever online. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series enables you to meet these requirements by focusing on the business outcome you require, rather than on building your infrastructure.

ThinkAgile VX Series, powered by VMware vSAN, is available in several models. Each is preconfigured, pretested, and optimized to provide the simplest way to bring a new VMware hyperconverged environment online. If you have an existing VMware environment, the VX Series can integrate into it easily.

Designed for any size business from SMBs through large enterprises, VX Series can be used as infrastructure for remote office/branch office (ROBO) and retail stores as well as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and enterprise applications.

Lenovo

StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

StarWind

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind Virtual SAN