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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 (1st), Data Center Networking (2nd), Blade Servers (4th)
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Rugged Servers (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 25.9%, down from 27.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is 1.6%, 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-Series25.9%
Dell PowerEdge XR-Series1.6%
Other72.5%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2776431 - PeerSpot reviewer
Supply Chain and Procurement Specialist at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Relied on consistent support and efficient hardware to streamline engineering test environments
Currently, it is sometimes challenging when a component gets out of fashion or is no longer available at end of life, to quickly get a drop-in replacement. I would appreciate an XE version of the server where we have some drop-in replacements lined up beforehand, and we already know how to validate them. Right now, when this happens, we have about three months to validate the new systems, and that is usually a little short notice for us. I am already happy we get the time we get. I do have something to say about customer service and support. From time to time, we need to get special licenses or extended warranties or other items, especially for end customers. I think that could be streamlined. Right now, there is a human factor in it; there is not a click and buy option. This could save Dell some time to iterate that as well. If we have a technical question, it can take a little time, especially if we are trying to reach the Dutch support line. Usually, we still get redirected to a UK representative, which is acceptable because I speak English, but some of our customers are a little less happy. It would be beneficial if there were more local technical support. All of our questions get answered usually within a day or two, which I consider pretty quick. If it is high priority or critical, it gets answered within a couple of hours.
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

"The system effectively meets our workload requirements."
"PowerEdge helped to reduce our customer’s data processing time."
"The pricing and licensing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very competitive."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is the ease of use, as it allows me to spin up different OSes on it without having to go through a bunch of hoops."
"I appreciate Dell solutions because they are reliable, and we know what we are getting; if we do need support, it is quick."
"Over the past three to four years, they have provided me with almost 99.999% uptime, which is a significant benchmark for our operations."
"I've been consistently impressed by the exceptional build quality of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."
"Dell PowerEdge servers are powerful. They don't break, and I love that. In my career of over 30 years now, all the Dell servers we've ever used out of the box have never broken."
"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."
"What I like the most about Dell PowerEdge R-Series is probably the Redfish manageability, which provides management, remote management, and remote configuration capabilities."
"Stability, good performance, and good tools to manage the system are the best features for me."
"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 best features in Dell PowerEdge XR-Series are all-flash storage, which is easy to implement and install, and it was also easy to upgrade."
"The scalability of the Dell XR2 Rugged Server is good and easy to do."
"Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is a super server, so compared to HP, I see big differences from the technical side."
 

Cons

"The accessibility when opening up the chassis could be improved."
"Customer service receives a rating of eight out of ten. A perfect ten cannot be given because there is always something that can be improved."
"They could improve the time between new versions of the product."
"The BIOS interface could be improved; it is very poor. PowerEdge is very good overall, but if you compare the BIOS interface with HPE, it is not very good."
"We have storage and would like to manage more backups without adding extra storage devices. Maybe it's already there. I need to look at it more."
"The scalability of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is a little tricky because it's a standalone server."
"We use PowerEdge servers in conjunction with VMware, a VCF Rack, and VxRail. That has worked out well. We are using it for firmware upgrades and other similar tasks. It's a one-stop shop, but it could be better when the servers aren't on a VCF stack. Profile handling and upgrading standalone servers could improve, but they have gotten better over the years."
"I would improve Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers by making their firmware upgrades easier. They do have Dell OpenManage Enterprise, which is easy, but when I am at remote sites, I have to download it locally to apply updates."
"The support could work faster, but that is the only small thing that could be better."
"Service is a specific aspect that could be improved, but it is nothing bad."
"Customization could be improved; more customization options are needed."
"It lacks a modular option to expand to a 16-bay system."
"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."
"Dell XR2 Rugged Server could improve if there was more customization allowed."
"Regarding the weakness of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I think the main drawback is that it is more expensive than other servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are fairly priced."
"The price of this solution is reasonable. It's very comparable to similar solutions."
"They seem to have become more expensive. I've not done a comparison with other vendors recently. If the price increases more, we would need to do a comparison next year just to make sure that we are benchmarking our server purchases correctly."
"The product is cheaper than HP servers, but the price could always be better."
"If price isn't a concern, I would recommend it."
"PowerEdge pricing is equivalent to that of all the others in the market."
"We weren't paying very much, but it was at the end of the lifecycle. We are now using the VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure, and the pricing was very similar for the same amount of power but with easier automation."
"The price is good for the quality of 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
11%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business95
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise112
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

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 am not the right person to talk about improvements for Dell PowerEdge R-Series because I am not related to the networking aspect; I am related to CAE. At my end, everything looks good for me. In ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
I am not certain if Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is financially beneficial to use. Recently, I received a quote from Dell, and the price is much cheaper.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
Regarding the weakness of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, I think the main drawback is that it is more expensive than other servers. The price of Dell PowerEdge XR-Series is expensive, and there are much...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC XR2 Rugged Server?
I usually use Dell PowerEdge XR-Series to build images and build code to image for deployment. I used to build code with Dell PowerEdge XR-Series, and the time it takes depends on the project scope...
 

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: February 2026.
881,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.