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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 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 ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
156
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 ProLiant DL Servers is 21.6%, up from 21.8% 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.
SHIVAKUMAR A P - PeerSpot reviewer
With an easy setup phase in place, it is suitable for small and large-sized businesses
When you speak of any enhancements in the product, you need to shift to the tool's commercial mode. You get more features in the solution if you pour in more money. If a customer needs some features in the solution, they will have to buy it since certain features are not loaded by default in the server. With entry-level licenses, servers are shipped to customers free of cost. Customers need to pay if they want more and more features in the solution. Every OEM solution in the market, including HPE ProLiant DL, operates similarly. The overall cost of the product needs to be lower, as it is one of the areas of concern in the product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The core strength of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers lies in their expansive connectivity and seamless integration with other offerings within the Dell product ecosystem."
"Compared to the other vendors and generations, this one tends to be more user-friendly, so you spend less time trying to get where you want to go."
"The robustness of the hardware itself is valuable. We have had PowerEdge servers running even after they were out of their warranty timeline. For example, about four or five years ago, we updated the virtualization platform. One of the servers that we had on that platform was ten years old. These servers have a lot of durability. You can see that they are well-made."
"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."
"The active directory and file server are valuable features."
"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."
"The Xeon CPU makes the system work very well and fast. I like this type of CPU. It has helped to improve the performance of targeted workloads by 70%."
"The pricing of the product is fair and not too expensive."
"Its management, IOs, and stability are the most valuable features. It works fine. It has all the features of a typical server. All that can be done has already been done."
"It is a stable solution."
"It's very easy to set up."
"HP ProLiant servers provide redundant solutions for almost everything. You can set up multiple power supplies, with a primary power source and a secondary power supply connected on UPS. If the power goes out in the building, the UPS will supply power to the host at all times. The solution can run on batteries for many hours, depending on your battery and UPS capacity."
"The solution has always been very stable and reliable."
"It is stable and easy to set up."
"HPE offers the products we need. They come back with solutions. It's uncomplicated to deal with HPE."
 

Cons

"I do not have any qualms or problems with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. However, when it comes to the software, some of their competitors are already feeding a lot of performance and availability data to an online platform. We have not seen that with PowerEdge."
"When interacting with customer support, it defaults to Arabic because of our region. However, most of the experts here are not familiar with Arabic. We would like English as an alternative language for easy interaction."
"I want Dell to offer more virtualization platforms because the cost of VMware is getting too high."
"The solution can be improved in terms of firmware backward supportability. With the sixteenth generation servers I am using, slightly older kernels and drivers are not supported."
"Its price could be better."
"There can be more visibility on the equipment remotely."
"All of the servers are in cluster mode and when PowerEdge Server is down, others are affected."
"Since the start of COVID, there is a shortage of support resources and it is challenging to get queries resolved quickly."
"We have had issues with ProLiant's intelligent provisioning. Sometimes, the drivers do not come up, so we have to install them manually."
"A better option would be same day support, not next business day."
"The technical support response time has room for improvement."
"The cost of the solution is high and has room for improvement."
"The price in general, including the licensing fee, could be better."
"It has something called WorldView. They should do some enhancement over WorldView to run an operating system as a code. Such a feature would be amazing for running multiple servers. They are already working on this, and they can enhance the existing versions for this. It should also be cheaper. It is currently expensive."
"They can increase the controller cache. Currently, it has a controller cache of up to 4 GB. The RAID controller card comes with a maximum of 4 GB cache in HPE servers, whereas it comes with a maximum of 8 GB cache in Dell servers. They can also improve the port size. HP provides a 25 GB port on the server, whereas both Dell and Cisco provide a 100 GB port."
"Most of the servers we use are okay. However, sometimes, you need to change the parts. We'd like the solution to be more robust."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."
"Regarding the pricing, it seems fair."
"The pricing is very good because there are a lot of types of PowerEdge Rack Servers. You have the R540, R640, and R740. The prices are very scalable through the specific server, e.g., small businesses can take the R640 while large businesses can take the R740 or R840. Thus, Dell technologies touch on every organization."
"The pricing is good compared to other products."
"I wouldn't say the solution's pricing is the best, but it's very competitive."
"You can't have computed performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck."
"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."
"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The solution's pricing is high. It needs to be more flexible. The flexibility would be beneficial for our clients, especially in a competitive market. Adding additional features and addressing complex requirements on top of the price can be challenging for us as a reseller."
"They should reduce the prices as it is a significant concern for developing countries."
"This was a one-time purchase for us because it's hardware that we purchased from HPE. There aren't any licensing costs."
"The solution comes with a one time perpetual license which is included with the server."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers have a higher price than Dell servers. However, the Japanese counterpart has the lowerest priced servers. The price of the HPE ProLiant DL Servers could improve, it could be less expensive."
"I like the price of this product and the add-on components. It is cheaper than Dell and is a one-time hardware purchase with minimal ongoing costs."
"The price of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."
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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
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

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...
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...
What do you like most about HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The most valuable feature of the solution is HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The product is expensive. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. On the needs of the customers, the product offers a lot of suppor...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.