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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 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 Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
171
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.7%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 4.1%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Gayan Senadheera - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers higher capacities compared to other solutions, making it suitable for handling large storage needs
In terms of improvement, we could benefit from some training. If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo. Currently, we haven't received any specific training related to HPE Apollo throughout my career. If HPE Apollo provides training, we can share the knowledge with our partners, which could lead to more opportunities for HPE Apollo in the market. Deal protection and other support measures would also be beneficial, as they could help us achieve better results in this market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the Dell EMC management and we have a great management interface. They are very reliable and we can trust the server. It's very reliable and easy to manage."
"The solution is very strong and reliable."
"When it comes to energy consumption they're also very good. They don't use power because they're power-hungry, but because we use them very hard."
"PowerEdge helped to reduce our customer’s data processing time."
"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is powerful."
"I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten."
"Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well."
"The initial setup is very good, not complex at all."
"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."
"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"It's pretty flexible. You can choose how much storage you put on the server. You can have one to three nodes, depending on whether you want more CPU or storage."
"When we moved to the Apollo and all flash drives, we gained a lot of performance."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"They could improve the time between new versions of the product."
"I do not have any input as such. There can be a bit more expansive AI portfolio, but I have not worked on any AI projects with Dell, so I might not be up to date in knowledge."
"I do not have any input. My servers are quite old. Newer systems are more sustainable in terms of energy consumption. I need to consider more power-saving and sustainable options."
"We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in the data center. We put the racks in bays. They can improve the compactness so that we can put more of them."
"As the disks and memory should be expandable, I would highlight scalability as an issue."
"Their support can be better. The speed of their support is not always great because the access to the data centers is sometimes complicated, so there is back and forth."
"Newer systems are more sustainable in terms of energy consumption. I need to consider more power-saving and sustainable options."
"Although PowerEdge's price is high."
"We would like to see improved cooling because that is quite an issue. If you put that much compute power into a single rack, cooling really becomes an issue. And there is room for improvement there."
"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."
"There is a shared battery for all cache controllers in the node. When you have to replace that element, you have to take down all three nodes and not just one."
"We have tried to used standardization using Ubuntu Linux and it's been hard. They had some difficulties getting the RAID configuration up and running because there are no drivers for it. It's not supported by HPE."
"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
"The support from HPE Apollo could be better, they are making knowledgeable."
"We are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"At present, the pricing seems a bit high for us."
"This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire."
"The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by at least 30%."
"PowerEdge is not a cheap product. It's a quality product, but there is always competition. If you want to buy a server, you need an operating system, and most of it is Microsoft. A bundled solution costs less than a separate operating system and hardware."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."
"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 price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have pretty much progressed a lot if we look at what features are on them now. I don't know what more could be asked for, perhaps just faster performance. Every ( /produ...
What do you like most about HPE Apollo?
HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products.
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved. The solution should provide fast delivery when it comes to replacing a particular product that is under warranty.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
We use HPE Apollo for specific requirements of Linux servers.
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.