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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Dell PowerEdge XR-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 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

Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
268
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (2nd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (4th)
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Rugged Servers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 26.4%, down from 27.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is 1.3%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series26.4%
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series1.3%
Other72.3%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.
Igor Tiskov - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Virtualization Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Redfish manageability has supported remote site operations and consistent private cloud deployment
I think Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved in appearance. I would say that the improvement opportunity is probably on the monitoring side, the overall monitoring side. I would love to see closer integration with different vendors. As a company, we are still using a multi-vendor approach and cannot go all-in with one single vendor. What we struggle with is that we cannot afford to have three different monitoring systems, management systems, or lifecycle management systems for different environments. I would love to see in the future how that integrates with other vendors as well. Perhaps not as a primary tool, but at least some features and functions from other vendors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like a feature they call iDRAC. It's a feature that allows you remotely power on and off the server."
"What distinguishes Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers compared to others is their reliability, as we have very few failures; apart from a disk from time to time or a memory stick from time to time, we never have failures on the servers."
"The lifecycle has been expanded because it is useful to use the older hardware that we have decommissioned for new use cases; they do not go immediately into e-waste."
"The feature of Dell PowerEdge R-Series that I appreciate the most is the flexibility, the expansions, and the resiliency—these features benefit my company because fewer hardware problems result in more uptime for the users, which helps everyone in a 24/7 operational environment."
"Over the past three to four years, they have provided me with almost 99.999% uptime, which is a significant benchmark for our operations."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series product is overall very stable, very mature, and support is excellent."
"The OpenMange console is effective."
"I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers overall about a nine out of ten as nothing is truly perfect, leaving opportunities for improvement."
"The scalability of the Dell XR2 Rugged Server is good and easy to do."
"What I like the most about Dell PowerEdge R-Series is probably the Redfish manageability, which provides management, remote management, and remote configuration capabilities."
"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is better compared to other servers and runs more efficiently, with stability and reliability that have been good so far."
"The storage and the disc performance in terms of IOPS is great."
"I appreciate the management tool, iDRAC, in Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, as it is convenient for administrators to use when managing Dell PowerEdge XR-Series."
"Stability, good performance, and good tools to manage the system are the best features for me."
 

Cons

"The iDRAC Telemetry that monitors PowerEdge system data and provides analytics could be a little bit more in-depth. Someone wanted more information on the RAM and the hard drives and we couldn't retrieve this information."
"If there are areas where Dell PowerEdge R-Series could still be improved, I find it a bit cumbersome because we have a contact in sales through whom we can order Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers, but storage is only available via certain partners."
"One area where PowerEdge could improve is the challenge of keeping technology consistent over the years."
"The only aspect that could be improved is the price."
"I have not seen a return on investment."
"When integrating the PowerEdge rack, we needed help from all the different companies to combine it with the servers. Each company has a system, and things must align with the server."
"The maintenance for this solution could be improved."
"Dell can improve or speed up the deployment process with more intuitive dashboards, a more intuitive installing process, and maybe more detailed guides that can help the end user to install and implement their servers and racks."
"Dell XR2 Rugged Server could improve if there was more customization allowed."
"I think Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved in appearance. I would say that the improvement opportunity is probably on the monitoring side, the overall monitoring side."
"It lacks a modular option to expand to a 16-bay system."
"The support could work faster, but that is the only small thing that could be better."
"Regarding the weakness of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I think the main drawback is that it is more expensive than other servers."
"Service is a specific aspect that could be improved, but it is nothing bad."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I personally think the pricing and licensing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is actually fairly decent, though the way the business runs leads to sticker shock anytime we give them a quote."
"I am satisfied with the pricing of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and would rate the cost as seven out of ten, with ten being the best."
"They are affordable. Even during our recent procurement, the cost of Dell servers was lower than that of HPE."
"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."
"The product's pricing is not good."
"Dell is priced better than alternative solutions."
"The solution’s pricing is competitive with other products."
"We have a contract with the OEM of the equipment for licenses, so we possess all OEM licenses for the Dell software. We have licenses for Linux and VMware software, with a special price and an annual contract for updates of Linux and VMware. Additionally, we have an Oracle database on the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."
"The price of one Dell XR2 Rugged Server is approximately $10,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business95
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise112
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
I do not have anything that I believe could be improved about Dell servers. However, I would like to see a range for AI that is more accessible for companies that do not have significant budgets. T...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
The pricing, the setup cost, and the licensing of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is competitive. It is based on the deal and everything involved. I will say that because Dell is a partner of choice for us...
What needs improvement with Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
There is always room for improvement. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is acceptable and will work. Service is a specific aspect that could be improved, but it is nothing bad. The service is better than ba...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
In the data center, Dell PowerEdge XR-Series runs through the router and the switch.Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is beginning to play a role in AI initiatives in the company. The server will be turned ...
 

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
XR2 Rugged Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
DIGISTOR - Secure Data Storage
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Dell PowerEdge XR-Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.