Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Rack Servers category. Cisco is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.8, while Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.9. Cisco holds a 4.6% mindshare in Rack Servers, compared to Dell Technologies’s 27.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Ser...

Read 29 Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers reviews

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1,842 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Read 171 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers reviews

15,316 Views
10,699 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Ser...

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 2025

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers compete in the server market, known for advanced management and scalability features. Based on pricing and ROI, Dell PowerEdge has a slight advantage due to its competitive pricing model, even though both solutions offer excellent value.

Features: Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers provide advanced hardware customization, remote management via iDRAC, and a wide range of hardware configurations to tailor solutions for various business needs. Cisco UCS C-Series Servers are valued for agility, comprehensive manageability via UCS Manager, and integration capabilities with other Cisco products.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerEdge faces challenges with scalability, particularly in disk speed issues, and requires improvements in centralized management analytics. Cisco UCS C-Series Servers are critiqued for higher costs and limited hardware options, with calls for better integration and competitive pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerEdge is praised for its cloud compatibility and efficient customer service, though there are suggestions for faster part replacements. Cisco UCS C-Series excels in deployment but needs more efficient support management while maintaining robust assistance in proper channels.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerEdge is recognized for its competitive pricing and transparent licensing structure, providing good value and consistent utilization in educational and enterprise environments. While Cisco UCS C-Series is reliable and feature-rich, its higher costs pose challenges, leading users to seek more cost-effective alternatives. Both products offer considerable ROI through stability, support, and operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

April 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 UCS C-Series Rack Ser...

Ranking in Rack Servers

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Density Optimized Servers (5th)

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Ranking in Rack Servers

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

171

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 4.6%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.7%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rack Servers

Featured Reviews

Ehsan Emad

Head of IT at Synnapex

The VIC card is the most important feature.

I rate Cisco USC C-Series Rack Servers 10 out 10. If you plan to buy a C-Series, you should be clear about why you want to use it because the uses vary. different. Whether you're using Cisco, HPE, Dell or any other brand, it's essential to define your use case. For example, are you using it for a simulation graphics, calculations, etc.? Depending on the use case, you might want to go with a small server with more CPU. Sometimes you need a light CPU with a powerful GPU. For example, if we have a C-Series with four CPUs at the same time, or we have a server that's handled two CPUs at the same time—the purpose is crucial. C-Series is good enough compared to other competitors like HPE and the other ones. The HPE C20 is one unit and has a lot of RAM support, but the C-series is number one, in my opinion.

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Syed Masuood

Country manager at Asta Innosys

Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently

We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.

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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

"The C-series is the most valuable."

"The solution is reliable and easy to use."

"What I really like about the Cisco USC Server is its service profile."

"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are integration and customization."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is server management."

"It has centralized our server management and allows us to treat servers like a pool of resources instead of discrete devices."

"In most cases, computes compute, and there isn't much differentiation, but one point of differentiation is Intersight cloud management."

"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are agileness, ease of operation, and manageability."

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers pros

"This is a stable solution."

"It's allowing us to scale out a lot faster than before."

"Technical support is very good."

"They are very stable. They are rock solid. I am happy with them."

"We used to have HPE. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are much easier to use and manage."

"The standout feature is the remote control accessibility, which allows our team to access and manage the servers locally or remotely."

"Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well."

"The most valuable feature is reliability. We rarely have any issues and because of this, Dell is our go-to for servers."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pros

Cons

"The initial setup could be easier."

"Technical support could be more responsive."

"The solution needs more capacity and more scalability."

"In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment."

"Its accessibility and manageability can be improved. Currently, we have to visit the office to manage it. It should be manageable outside our network. I would like it to be on the cloud."

"The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support."

"The product must add customer-friendly monitoring features."

"Some customers have complained about delivery time. So, the main weakness is the lead time."

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers cons

"Dell needs to focus more on SMBs, helping us get the most out of our products. For example, at events, there should be very specific SMB sessions where there are Dell technicians, engineers, and Dell executives meeting with us and finding out what we need. Dell is big on promoting the fact that they're part of our team and that they want to be our partners, and I would like to see them actually partner with us. Do it less with the big Fortune 500 companies and do a little bit more with us SMBs."

"I would like to see better IOPS, i.e. the disc speed. That is the main limitation for scaling up the number of users."

"We are working with national markets, and HP Enterprise is cheaper. Dell could have made an effort there."

"It is hard to make a comparison without any technical factsheets for the other servers to compare with but like everyone else, it is about the pricing."

"They should improve the centralized management interface. When you are going to deploy something, for example, VMware or RedHat, it should be easier to deploy a lot of servers. Now you have to do one at a time."

"The equipment is very good, but the price is a bit too high. In addition, their support for parts can be better."

"Currently, the solution does not have the in-process memory encryption technology."

"The servers get slower at the end of their life cycle. The technology needs to evolve."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution could be better when compared to other solutions. However, when we purchased the solution we received Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers in a bundle with other hardware, such as IP phones and networking switches."

"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."

"The prices of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are higher compared to the competition. When we try and sell against the competition, then it becomes quite difficult to sell"

"The price of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack could improve. It's a little more expensive in comparison with Dell or HPE solutions."

"My company has an agreement with Cisco to get discounted rates. It is one of the reasons why we chose the product."

"Cisco is expensive, but we didn't look at the cost of the product. We were looking at reliability and support."

"This solution is a little expensive."

"The price for Cisco is a bit higher than its competitors. We paid 40k for one server."

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

"The solution’s pricing is competitive with other products."

"The price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."

"It's a one-time licensing fee for the device and we pay a quota per year for the support."

"The price is reasonable. You have to pay if you want quality. When we purchase something, we have to do some market analysis, and I haven't seen a significant difference compared to other solutions."

"The solution is expensive."

"I don't see any issues with respect to licensing. It's power-efficient, so it's beneficial to the customers price-wise. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fee."

"The pricing for this solution is competitive compared to others on the market."

"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The C-series is the most valuable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The solution is moderately priced.

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What needs improvement with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?

The improvement should be done as per customer requirements.

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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....

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have pretty much progressed a lot if we look at what features are on them now. I don't know what more could be asked for, perhaps just faster performance. Every ( /produ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 24% of the time

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

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Synergy vs Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

Compared 3% of the time

Dell XR2 Rugged Server vs Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

Compared 2% of the time

HPE Moonshot vs Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers Competitors

HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 41% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 31% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 6% of the time

Huawei FusionServer RH Series Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 5% of the time

HPE Apollo Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

Compared 3% of the time

More Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

May 2025

Download Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

May 2025

Download Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers product report

Also Known As

Unified Computing System C-Series, Cisco UCS C-Series

PowerEdge R

Overview

UCS C-Series Rack Servers deliver unified computing in an industry-standard form factor to reduce TCO and increase agility. Each server addresses varying workload challenges through a balance of processing, memory, I/O, and internal storage resources.

Cisco

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are designed to optimize performance and efficiency in a data center environment, supporting various applications. Dell stands as the leading vendor in accelerated servers for AI, commanding a 33.8% revenue share. Based on user reviews, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers supporting tasks from basic web hosting to more demanding applications like data analytics and virtualization. They are engineered to offer high performance, reliability, and scalability. With a focus on automation and integrated security, these servers simplify operations and protect against threats, making them a smart choice for businesses of all sizes.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a robust, secure, and scalable solution that can meet the diverse needs of businesses, backed by comprehensive support. Benefits to look for in reviews include performance, reliability, scalability, and customer support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers key features include:

Scalability: These servers can easily scale to meet growing business needs, supporting more workloads and processing power.
Integrated Security: From hardware to firmware to the operating system, Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with security in mind, offering layers of protection.
Energy Efficiency: Advanced thermal design and energy-smart technology help reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Automation: With Dell EMC OpenManage, the management of servers is streamlined, allowing for automated deployment, monitoring, and updates.

In terms of implementation, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are used across various industries, from small businesses to large enterprises. They serve as the foundation for IT infrastructure, powering critical applications in healthcare, finance, education, and more. The adaptability of these servers means they can be tailored to specific industry needs, from handling large datasets in research institutions to supporting high-transaction databases in financial services.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Aegean Motorway, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Artoni Transporti, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, City of Mississauga, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Kind en Gezin, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Nationwide, Quest, Talbots, University of St. Gallen

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers

April 2025

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