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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs IBM Power Systems comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 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
208
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
IBM Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.4%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 9.1%, up from 8.5% 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.
Rohintan-Karanjia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers security features, including HIPs, Postgres, intrusion prevention systems, and AI for specific tasks
We've found that sometimes, certain setups require better servers. Ideally, the next level of model that IBM offers would be perfect for those situations. Sometimes, the availability of additional services can be a challenge for some software. Certain IBM software takes time to deliver to the client. It can be slow. So deployment is an area for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's required for our business. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers benefit our organization as we build satellites and use images from Earth to check the planet's health and constellation for telecommunication purposes."
"We haven't faced any problems with the power supplies. The consumption of power is robust. We still have slots for the new hard discs for availability and upgrading RAM, but the machine itself has been working nonstop for ten years."
"The newer servers are more energy-efficient compared to older ones."
"It is quite stable. We didn't have a single downtime of failure. Nor have we ever experienced any downtime in electrical components or the hardware. In this way, the server is reliable."
"Using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has helped me to reduce unplanned production downtime by 100%."
"The price-to-performance ratio of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good, and performance is great."
"We constantly upgrade to newer hardware, and everything stays the same but with updated architecture. This consistency is good for our technicians on the data center side. We also appreciate the integration with VMware. It keeps things simple for us."
"We receive Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vSAN-ready, making it quite easy to install the ESXi software and get a VMware cluster up and running."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the hardware is really good and reliable."
"BM Power Systems get updated every two years and are scalable and stable."
"We've been using it for a long time, and it's stable."
"Power Systems' best features include its user-friendliness and self-checking/self-healing abilities."
"The SMT that they've improved has really helped open up boundaries for other applications that can use it."
"When it comes to reliability, availability and profitability, nothing can beat IBM Power Systems."
"We value the stability and technology capability of this solution the most. It is very stable, and the processor technology of IBM is very good. When you have a CIO and you are dealing with C-level every day, you can, without any doubt, support the core banking or critical applications with this solution."
"The most valuable features of the solution are disaster recovery, replication, and the ability to migrate to another location."
 

Cons

"The only challenge we have with the product is keeping it in line with VMware, knowing that VMware has now gone with a different provider."
"Its pricing could be better."
"The solution should give us an option to add on the new hardware features."
"Dell hardware is not as stable as HP. I have not seen any issues with HP in five years, but with Dell, I am getting multiple issues. It's not stable. They need to verify why it has multiple issues and why Dell hardware is not as stable as HP hardware."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have higher hardware costs compared to HPE ProLiant servers, which are cheaper."
"In terms of the iDRAC software, when selecting systems, especially multiple systems to upgrade, there's really no way to confirm that specific systems are selected."
"The dispatch services are outsourced to small and medium companies, so we don't get consistent support."
"All of the marketing terminologies from Dell are very complicated as they have names that sometimes involve the same technology."
"The price is a bit high and could be improved."
"The price has room for improvement."
"IBM should provide a platform where users can learn about the storage and security of IBM Power Systems."
"I know lab services does a lot of work but systems, if they could include some kind of lab services and bundling of services to get you to the greatest and latest feature at the already included cost"
"The pricing is high."
"I would like to see the scaling model improved so it's not just either tiny or huge."
"The solution could improve the memory database for better integration with SAP HANA."
"Its pricing could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The overall pricing and licensing are fair according to the market."
"We have not compared them with others. The price is okay, but they can always be a little bit cheaper."
"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."
"The pricing is great; very competitive. That's the reason we bought hundreds of them."
"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."
"It has generally been very competitive. It is not the best, but it is very competitive."
"The price of this solution is reasonable. It's very comparable to similar solutions."
"The pricing could always be better."
"Power Systems is very cheap and provides good value for money."
"IBM Power Systems is a really expensive product."
"It's more about the value you get for the price. Considering its stability and performance, the pricing is good."
"The pricing of the solution is very good because we can beat any other competitor with the pricing. Lately, they have offered good pricing for their customer."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The additional software costs are high."
"The solution's pricing is very, very high compared to other platforms."
"It is designed for a large workload, as opposed to a small workload. For our circumstances, and even as an independent, I can't buy a Power system to experiment on. It can't happen. You cannot buy them."
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Answers from the Community

LS
Jan 16, 2022
Jan 16, 2022
IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Server IBM Power Systems is a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) system that contains 8 threads or over per core. This processor performs super-fast due to the RISC algorithm technology than any other Intel-based hardware (e.g., Dell, HPE, Cisco). In Intel, there are only 2 or 4 threads per core and it performs according to CISC (Complex Instructi...
2 out of 3 answers
SR
Aug 16, 2021
IBM Power Systems vs Dell PowerEdge Rack Server IBM Power Systems is a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) system that contains 8 threads or over per core. This processor performs super-fast due to the RISC algorithm technology than any other Intel-based hardware (e.g., Dell, HPE, Cisco).  In Intel, there are only 2 or 4 threads per core and it performs according to CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer). IBM Power system is a sustainable, reliable and obviously costly solution compared to any other Intel-based solution.  Generally, IBM Power system is used in mission-critical systems. 
Nicolae - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2022
IBM Power comes with virtualization integrated (PowerVM), highly optimized (practically with no performance impact) - no need for VMWare, HyperV etc.  For database it is the recomended platform - even is Hana, Oracle (best combination with AIX) or DB2 (DB2 for me is the most autonomous database that you can have).  The downside of IBM Power could be the lack of support for Windows and the initial cost. 
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
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 higher hardware costs compared to HPE ProLiant servers, which are cheaper. From reliability, performance, and sustainability perspectives, Dell PowerEdge Rack Serve...
What do you like most about IBM Power Systems?
IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared to other brands or processors.
What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
IBM should provide a platform where users can learn about the storage and security of IBM Power Systems.
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
In my company, we use the system for the data center and our IBM Cloud Pak System.
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
IBM OpenPOWER LC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Cipher
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. IBM Power Systems and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.