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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Dell XR-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 4, 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
7.5
Number of Reviews
211
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (4th), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (4th)
Dell XR-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
13th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 27.6%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell XR-Series is 0.5%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series27.6%
Dell XR2 Rugged Server0.5%
Other71.9%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Jesse_B - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple to scale, high availability, and top level service and support
Dell XR2 Rugged Server's technology is always on the competitive edge, with the most current technology. They have proven reliability. If you're looking for a mission-critical system and support is important to you, then this is something a solution you should consider. I rate Dell XR2 Rugged Server a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature, when I compare Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers with other brands available, is the price versus performance, as I get more for what I pay, and mostly, we use this for our CAD workloads."
"The solution deserves a rating of 10 out of 10."
"Using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has helped me to reduce unplanned production downtime by 100%."
"The user interface is very simple, and the support team is always happy to answer any questions we have. They are very easy to contact."
"It's a very user-friendly solution."
"It's helped us reduce unplanned downtime."
"The solution's lifecycle management with iDRAC works really well, and it is a valuable feature because it helps with maintenance and keeping track of what we have in our company."
"It's allowing us to scale out a lot faster than before."
"The scalability of the Dell XR2 Rugged Server is good and easy to do."
"The storage and the disc performance in terms of IOPS is great."
 

Cons

"The only aspect that could be improved is the price."
"I have used these servers in a government project along with Nutanix, and there is a security restriction. I do not know if it is from Dell's side or Nutanix's side. From the host, you cannot read the external hard drive data inside a VM."
"Its price could be better."
"The quality of support for this solution varies. Sometimes you get agents who are amazing and other times you get agents who take a long time to resolve your query."
"It would be easier if the remote connection to the server could be done through the USB port. From the server, we should be able to connect to a laptop or a management workstation through a USB port."
"The response time could be better."
"It would be nice if it were all included as a part of PowerEdge so you can check your server's performance and availability online."
"The limited connectivity of the Rack Servers, due to having only three USB ports, is an area of improvement for Dell."
"It lacks a modular option to expand to a 16-bay system."
"Dell XR2 Rugged Server could improve if there was more customization allowed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's prices are good, especially considering what you get to use...The licensing aspect of the solution is also fine."
"The pricing could always be better."
"The solution is expensive."
"One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000."
"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."
"The product is cheaper than HP servers, but the price could always be better."
"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."
"The pricing and licensing are fair."
"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
21%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise51
Large Enterprise85
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 don't have any issues or complaints with the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, but they could make the service tags larger as I get older. It's not that they aren't customizable; you can actually use ...
Ask a question
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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 XR-Series and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
866,561 professionals have used our research since 2012.