Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure comparison

Cisco and Sangfor are both solutions in the HCI category. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Sangfor users who would recommend it.

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Read 90 Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] reviews

89% willing to recommend

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converg...

Read 31 Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure reviews

3,558 Views
1,925 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converg...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] and Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI.

To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HCI

May 2025

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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

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [...

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converg...

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Management (17th), HCI (12th)

Featured Reviews

Nuno Mendes

IT Manager - Resp.Department at Parvalorem

High performance solution that makes it easy to efficiently manage VM resources

In our case as a credit recovery company working with the state, our infrastructure is fixed and stable as we don't have the same need for growth as other types of companies. That said, one of the biggest problems with HyperFlex HX is that if you want to adjust your solution in terms of processing power, memory, or disk capacity, you have to buy completely new hosts. From a financial perspective, it can be very expensive to do so, and from a legal perspective, there are all kinds of compliance issues we would have to sort out before buying any new solution or application. Since we as a company will only be operating for perhaps the next ten years, when our HyperFlex solution comes to its end-of-life in 2024 our next step will likely not be with HyperFlex or any other solution from Cisco. Instead, from a financial point of view, we will likely turn toward a cloud solution because, that way, we won't have to spend so much money on physical infrastructure. We are, after all, only a small company and HyperFlex can be very expensive for other companies of our size, whether in Portugal or elsewhere like the United States. One other area for improvement is in regard to HyperFlex's integration with VMware. HyperFlex integrates with a specific version of VMware in such a way that HyperFlex doesn't always resolve security issues with VMware at the same pace as what you see in native implementations of VMware. This has happened in one or two situations in the past. On the other hand, the integration is otherwise adequate, especially in terms of availability and virtualization features (such as being able to split up each of our four hosts within VMware).

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KashifAli

Project Head, Director of Sales and Operations at Core ISP Router

User-friendly GUI, capable technical support team but complicated license mechanism

Sangfor HCI's license mechanism is too complicated. The license agreement is a distributed license. Within the HCI platform, Sangfor HCI has multiple licenses in terms of services. Sangfor HCI has a separate license for the security services, a separate license for the Doctor services, and application services. They have multiple SKUs in separate forms. As per local market requirements, I think they need to couple up these or bundle up the license model.

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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

"Deduplication is a valuable feature available in Cisco HyperFlex."

"It's easy to get the tool started."

"We used to have a single customer-facing data center, which was vulnerable to failure. This product has allowed us to create high availability between two private data centers."

"The compression and deduplication are very high. Therefore, we can use the size of the product more efficiently than other storage solutions."

"The product is easy to manage and flexible for upgrading without major changes."

"It is helpful as a backup solution."

"The scalability of the product is quite good overall - as long as you plan correctly from the outset."

"Cisco HyperFlex HX has improved the way our organization functions on the storage side by having one big storage space for hosting VMs. We do not have to provision other ones. That's a positive aspect of it."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] pros

"Scalability is very good."

"It is a smart solution for virtualization"

"Sangfor has many solutions, and you can easily manage their machine servers with just one management. They're always striving for greatness, and they continuously update their products. For example, they have now built endpoint security within the firewall. They are continuously improving not only the security but also all other products."

"Sangfor HCI has a really good GUI. It allows us to monitor the temperature of the server and many other things."

"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten... Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The manageability feature is the most important aspect of the solution."

"The interface is very user-friendly."

"We find the topology feature of Sangfor HCI particularly valuable."

More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure pros

Cons

"Lacks some integration and documentation could be improved."

"The initial setup can be a bit complex."

"The infrastructure team thinks that there are a lot of issues."

"Cisco has to continue improve the management tools to provide a better command line interface with more functions. That would be better for administration."

"They should give us a little more information about how to use the CLI and offer more commands."

"The utilization needs to be better. It needs more options."

"The architecture separates data, computing, memory, and storage into different parts."

"We are working with a lot of different technologies and trying to manage them with one tool. The API could be improved for better integration with other systems."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] cons

"The cost must be improved."

"The error reporting needs to be improved."

"There are certain aspects of sizing of the solution that need improvement."

"One question that has come up frequently in the last week is whether or not the renewal cost for Sangfor's HCI solution is too high."

"I would like Sangfor to have a presence on some public cloud offerings, such as Azure or AWS, to build disaster recovery sites."

"Sangfor could improve its built-in CAP system. Right now, we need to use an external tool for CAP."

"Stability is also an area for improvement here as well."

"My company faced some issues with the product, as our virtual machines crashed, and we had to face some security issues."

More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a bit expensive."

"Its price is high. Cisco needs to work on the pricing model for this product. Nutanix or VMware are cheaper products, and they provide almost the same functionality. Its price is a big road blocker when we are working with an end customer, and Nutanix and VMware are in competition. If they can reduce its price, it is actually a better choice for customers."

"I would like the pricing to be cheaper."

"Its price is rather fair when compared with other solutions like VxRail, vSAN, and HPE SimpliVity. We got a fair amount of discount from Cisco for Cisco HyperFlex. It is cost-effective. We have renewed storage till next year, and we have already paid the vendor. When we talk about HyperFlex or any HCI solution, storage is the part where we can reduce a lot of costs. At the current moment, we are already using NetApp storage, which did not allow us to go for a full Cisco HyperFlex setup. We are planning to go to a larger scale next year. Then we will be able to see how cost-effective it really is for us."

"It's roughly $30,000 per Hyperflex license, so that would be about $60,000 a year."

"Our licensing costs are large, but it is combined between all of the Cisco products that we have."

"If you don't look at the costs of the systems, the scalability is quite good."

"Pricing is better if you buy more Cisco products."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"The solution is on-premise which does not have a subscription. However, there is a need to purchase support. The solution is on a perpetual license model. There is not any extra cost other than the standard licensing fees."

"Considering the capabilities provided, the product is expensive."

"From a business perspective, we use Sangfor HCI due to its competitive pricing compared to other competitors such as Nutanix."

"The pricing of Sangfor is very competitive."

"The product's pricing is less expensive and competitive than other alternatives. I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Its price should be better, but I don't think they will change the price list. You have to pay for licenses, and you have to pay for support, so you have an annual fee. You can use the product without the fee, but it's really dumb because you need support. We are an IT company. We provide the product, and we need the support too for our customers."

"The solution has a good initial cost but a high renewal cost."

"Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is a reasonably priced product."

More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?

Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from core to edge and multi-cloud environments. It helps IT and OT teams deploy hyper...

See all answers

How does VxRail compare with Cisco HyperFlex HX Series?

VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if you are working with a limited budget, this platform offer...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series?

It's easy to get the tool started.

See all answers

What do you like most about Sangfor HCI?

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten... Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor HCI?

I rate the pricing of Sangfor HCI at a five, as it is thirty to thirty-five percent more efficient than other solutions in terms of total cost of ownership.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sangfor HCI?

I would like Sangfor to have a presence on some public cloud offerings, such as Azure or AWS, to build disaster recovery sites. This functionality is currently missing in the Pakistani market.

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE SimpliVity vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 47% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 30% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

Compared 23% of the time

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Competitors

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

Compared 24% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

Compared 17% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

Compared 10% of the time

Huawei FusionCube Hyper-Converged Infrastructure vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

Compared 6% of the time

VxRail vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

Compared 5% of the time

More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]

June 2025

Download Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure

June 2025

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure report

Download Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure product report

Overview

The Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform is a purpose-built, high-performance, scale-out file system with a wide array of enterprise-class data management services. The data platform’s innovations redefine distributed storage technology, giving you complete hyper-convergence with enterprise storage features:

Enterprise-class data management
Continuous data optimization
Securely encrypted storage
Dynamic data placement
Clusterwide parallel data distribution
Linear and incremental scaling
API-based data platform architecture
A simplified approach

Cisco

Sangfor HCI is an IT infrastructure platform built on converged architecture. It integrates server virtualization, distributed storage, and networking. Sangfor HCI provides a unified management platform that converges compute, storage, networking, and security on a single software stack. This approach delivers a simplified architecture, ease of use, and reliability for business-critical applications.

Hyperconverged infrastructure is a unified system of data storage. HCI combines storage, computing, networking, and management, unlike traditional storage solutions. HCI systems enable you to build your private cloud, expand to a public cloud, or have your own true hybrid cloud. Sangfor HCI presents two product models: The Sangfor HCI server appliance is a hardware version that enables easy deployment. Sangfor HCI software is the digital version combined with a third-party server that enables flexible deployment.

Sangfor HCI supports Windows systems on desktop and is web-based. Its range of use cases cover a wide spectrum of industries, from healthcare to manufacturing. It is applicable for mid- and large-sized businesses. The software is customizable. Users can customize the logo and contact information in the user interface.

Benefits and Features

Stability: Sangfor HCI delivers high reliability and availability with 0 RPO and 99.99% availability. The infrastructure is fully redundant to ensure business continuity. This means no data is lost in the event of hardware failure.
Simplified infrastructure: The solution supports visual management, making it easier to use. The single platform provides a central control with access to resources.
High performance: One unit of HCI can support up to 100,000 IOPS. The solution supports data striping, data locality, SSD caching and AI-based DB optimization. It also supports linear expansion without bottlenecks.
Hyper-converged infrastructure that enables working with different scenarios. For instance, cloud transformation and data center consolidation. It is fully converged, which means it provides unified management, full resource visualization, and orchestration with SCP. The standardized HCI unit consolidates hardware appliances, a storage network, IP network, and server into a single unit.
Integration: Sangfor HCI offers deep integration with NFV components. Users can deploy complex SDN networks.
Pay-as-you-grow model: The pay-per-use model reduces operational expenses and total cost of ownership.

Use Cases

Sangfor HCI can be applied tin various scenarios:

Enterprise applications: Users can benefit from the reliability and performance of Sangfor HCI for business-critical processes. The system is optimized for enterprise applications to enhance their performance and stability.
Datacenter consolidation: The unified and software-defined technology simplifies the operational management and the architecture of data centers.
Cloud transformation: You can add a cloud management platform, transforming Sangfor HCI into a complete cloud computing solution. You can then run your cloud workloads and benefit from the automation features of Sangfor HCI.
Data protection and recovery: Sangfor HCI offers multiple data protection features, such as continuous data protection (CDP), which ensure the integrity of sensitive and user data. You can protect backup snapshots and take backups. It records virtual machine IO logs at frequent intervals. It offers disaster recovery capabilities that ensure business continuity.

Reviews from Real Users

Gabriele P., Senior Software and Systems Engineer at SAMU.IT, says "It is flexible like a hyper-convergence system. You can add nodes, and you can scale to have better performance and stability. I also like the backup feature, the recovery system, and the web interface GUI to handle everything."

A Junior Solutions Engineer at a tech services company adds that "Sangfor has many solutions, and you can easily manage their machine servers with just one management. They're always striving for greatness, and they continuously update their products. For example, they have now built endpoint security within the firewall. They are continuously improving not only the security but also all other products."

Sangfor

Sample Customers

BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Ready Pac Foods, Bryant University, Bellevue Group, KPIT Technologies, City Harvest

TOSHIBA TEC Singapore, J&T Express Indonesia, Crowne Plaza Vietnam, Hermina Hospital Indonesia

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: May 2025.

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