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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
7.0
Number of Reviews
309
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (2nd)
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 21.8%, down from 27.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 7.7%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series21.8%
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers7.7%
Other70.5%
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.
Mike Bellemans - PeerSpot reviewer
Project manager at Sopraco NV
One of the products in the market that is the easiest to set up and maintain
Performance and scalability-wise, there are certain areas where the product lacks and needs improvement as it does not provide a lot of fancy features presently. In general, it is a normal product that is good enough for our company. For the time being, my company does not need any extra features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The complete hyper-converged infrastructure of this solution has been most useful. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time by 20%."
"Dell's PowerEdge Rack Server is the best solution that I've seen, compared to other vendors."
"The remote management control is a valuable feature."
"Over the past three to four years, they have provided me with almost 99.999% uptime, which is a significant benchmark for our operations."
"We can pull out elements and change them ourselves."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge R-Series server is the processing speed; the processing speed is the most important thing that we are looking for in a server, and we want it to function fast as the latency is the most important between the end user and our servers to get the application and to get the feedback from the application."
"A company of any size needs servers, and Dell PowerEdge ranges are very good."
"Overall, operations flexibility has increased, and the performance has been increased."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are scalable."
"The solution is very simple to install."
"The initial setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is straightforward. The process of implementation took me approximately two to three days. We only had to install the hardware for the installation."
"Easy integration with UPS systems provides added convenience and efficiency for our operations."
"It is stable and reliable, and we find the performance to be good."
"The hardware performance is very valuable."
"The product is designed to make adding RAM and disk space easier for users."
"They have taken a lot of technology from IBM, and IBM always delivered very powerful hardware to the IT industry compared to Dell EMC or anyone else."
 

Cons

"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."
"My first experience with Dell was not performant, but I replaced it while staying with Dell by purchasing reliable machines."
"The pricing could be better, as budget is always a huge thing for us. Anytime we can get better pricing, it helps convince the business to adopt it."
"The aftermarket price for RAM modules and CPU cores is expensive. If I want to switch out a CPU or processor inside of my Dell PowerEdge to gain more cores, which increases my performance for VMware, the aftermarket price is so expensive that we typically take that box, retire an older Dell PowerEdge, and then buy a brand new one."
"They could make the service tags larger as I get older."
"Currently, the solution does not have the in-process memory encryption technology."
"Dell needs to focus more on SMBs, helping us get the most out of our products."
"I recommend not locking the GPU behind a different license for iDRAC. We've talked to the product team, and it hasn't changed yet."
"There are other solutions that are less expensive."
"From a user's perspective, it not so straightforward if you want to add some features."
"It should have tools for integration with the cloud. We should be able to transmit data from our on-premises server to the servers in the cloud."
"I do not have any notes for improvements."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers does a very good job. However, what could be improved can be their Configurator because it's very bulky and it sometimes gives logical errors."
"Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo."
"IBM hardware takes time for building/assembling."
"I definitely suggest potential users skip Lenovo and go for Dell EMC, which has good hardware, and great internal security components."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The licensing is expensive and inflexible."
"It is expensive. The price needs to be more competitive. Additional licenses are required to enable some of the features for scalability."
"The pricing and licensing are fair."
"This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire."
"The product is cheaper than HP servers, but the price could always be better."
"It's not a very expensive solution."
"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."
"I don't know the exact amount of money, but when I compared it to Dell or HPE, Lenovo was the best when it comes to price and equipment."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"The licensing cost is the same as HP. It doesn't have any additional cost. However, the price, for example, for the memory option, does not match other vendors such as HP or Dell. They should work on the pricing of Lenovo. It is a great competitor, and it should compete with the price."
"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers can be categorized as a product falling under an affordable price range but more expensive than its competitors."
"Its pricing is very competitive."
"The cost of the solution depends entirely on the client. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."
"Your budget determines the scalability."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business112
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise129
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

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 needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Regarding how Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved, something personal to me is the number of PCI Express slots in the back; however, that is an engineering choice. Otherwise, I am happy with th...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers serve as IO machines for talking to PCI Express devices. The use cases change over time, and I push data to the network for in-flight compute.
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
 

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo Rack Servers,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.