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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

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
4.3
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
211
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is 5.0%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.5%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Berthold Manz - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless server transitions enhance IT infrastructure for AI projects and improve management capabilities
If you are integrated into the Cisco management solution, it is very easy to handle. The performance aspects of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers are very strong. The ability to move from one server to another without changing anything is excellent. We can transfer all the identity of the servers between the servers.
Syed Masuood - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The VIC card is the most important feature."
"Its hardware is really reliable. We also like Cisco for its support."
"The hardware customization capabilities are great."
"The product doesn't take up too much space on the rack and I like that."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is performance."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the expansion and replacement of parts."
"Cisco rack servers are very easy to integrate with other products from different vendors."
"The solution is stable."
"I like a feature they call iDRAC. It's a feature that allows you remotely power on and off the server."
"I find Dell PowerEdge Servers to handle diverse applications and evolving needs effectively, but we have to upgrade the hardware periodically."
"Customers share with us their experiences, highlighting reliability, ease of use, maintenance, and lifecycle management. They frequently mention that this equipment doesn't break, stating it works and functions reliably."
"It operates without any downtime. It runs 24 hours and 365 days. The downtime is there for an hour or two only when I do an upgrade, but it is within the SLA."
"The MX7000 gives us the most concentrated amount of compute in the smallest area possible."
"It works perfectly, especially in terms of availability and reliability, without any type of issue, which is why we are very happy with it."
"The solution is easy to use and very stable, and we are happy with it."
"It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%."
 

Cons

"The pricing is too high and no discounts are available for our country."
"There is very little scalability for the cluster. If you need a higher availability, there is a user limitation. So that is the low side."
"Definitely the support area needs improving. Especially the time response in case of hardware failure."
"I think the pricing is high. Cisco has to look for bundling this solutions with other applications."
"Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers could improve integration with third-party solutions."
"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 solution needs more capacity and more scalability."
"In terms of the iDRAC software, when selecting systems, especially multiple systems to upgrade, there's really no way to confirm that specific systems are selected."
"One of the things that I've noticed is that over time, the system degrades, meaning that little things don't work. For example, the hard drive would need to be replaced or iDRAC would not be functioning properly. We may have to flash the firmware. It is not like some other hardware where it just runs without issues for four or five years. With Dell, generally, there are little hiccups here and there."
"Power consumption is probably on everyone's top of mind regarding Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers; they use a lot of power and create a lot of heat."
"The vendor must provide cheaper versions of the tool for smaller use cases."
"A feature that would enhance Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is the ability to get multiple servers up and running quickly versus having to do one at a time."
"In terms of energy use, it takes up a lot."
"I'd like to take the complexities out of all the different tools that surround it, like OpenManage."
"The versions that I work with, they used to max out on memory, on RAM, quickly, so I'd want to think in the newer versions, they actually allocate more processing power and more RAM to them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have to pay for the VMware and Cisco licenses."
"Cisco is expensive, but we didn't look at the cost of the product. We were looking at reliability and support."
"The price of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is approximately 20 percent more than other solutions."
"The server itself isn't costly at all, but the CPU and the RAM can be pretty expensive. You can buy a UCS for $2,000, but the RAM and CPU can cost up to $80,000. The most expensive asset is the intel processor, but it depends on how many cores you want and the technology you want to use on your CPU, like Hyper-V, etc."
"​Best to buy all the blades configured for the same purposes of load balancing and failover or load shifting.​"
"The solution requires an annual licensing fee."
"My company has an agreement with Cisco to get discounted rates. It is one of the reasons why we chose the product."
"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."
"I don't know about the product's licensing part. Price-wise, it is an okay product. I believe that the cheaper the better, but I think that the product's price is okay."
"Dell is somewhat more expensive than HPE."
"I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine."
"The cost structure associated with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers presents itself as a potential point of contention for budget-conscious consumers, as it could be more strategically positioned to compete within the broader marketplace."
"This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire."
"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."
"This is an expensive solution."
"I'd like them to be cheaper, but that's not the world we live in and that's not where the pound is at."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers?
I may not be the right person to comment on advanced improvements because we are just using basic functionalities. We are getting all the functionalities which we used to get in other OEM rack serv...
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....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Mainly, I would like to improve the speed of storage response. We would like to improve our performance by using disks without rotation. The price is better now, and I think it will be better in th...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.