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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems 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 XE-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 2.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.4%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series2.9%
HPE Apollo Systems5.4%
Other91.7%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

MW
Senior Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Flexible management has delivered reliable uptime and supported diverse workloads efficiently
There are some areas for improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series; it's more of a Dell issue. They've promised changes, but engaging with Dell sometimes means they will take the customer on a direct model and cut the partner out. This isn't a technical issue, but a business one. When architecting a solution and introducing Dell to a customer, you sometimes get an email saying the customer wants to buy directly from Dell, leaving all my hard work and introductions for nothing. I believe Dell could add new features to Dell PowerEdge XE-Series in the future. There are many more CPU variants available than just Intel and AMD, and it would be nice to have a major vendor introduce another option outside of those. While I know it's difficult due to supportability and changes, that would just be a preference.
Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has contributed positively to the development of our cloud services."
"The features of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series that I like the most are the performance and the GPU, and the benefits I have seen from running AI workloads on PowerEdge servers include high performance."
"Technical support from Dell is the best when compared to other vendors."
"Running AI workloads on Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has been good value and reliable, with no issues so far."
"The solution is working fine; it is stable and reliable, has been stable for a long time, and there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"The solution has almost everything."
"PowerEdge XE is quite stable."
"This solution has brought us a return on investment. It can store a lot of hard disks, which helps users to have a lot of capacity in smaller rack space."
"My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then this is a machine that should be considered instead of deploying multiple machines and multiple systems."
"HPE Apollo's most valuable feature is the ability to expand our storage capacity."
"It's allowed us to compete with cloud storage providers like AWS to put together a scalable on-premises solution of more than 20PB at a similar pricepoint."
"Taking into consideration the cost, HPE gave us the ability to actually do what we wanted to do."
"We usually use three blades for two-rack units, and with enough storage, it's really a small system with a powerful CPU, powerful hard drives, powerful disks."
"We had a PoC, as I said, and we were happy with it and decided to implement it, as it satisfies all our needs and is the perfect solution."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"It's pretty flexible."
 

Cons

"One requirement is the storage protocol, as the external storage protocol is not much used in the platform; only iSCSI is used and there is no support for FC or FC over NVMe."
"It is mostly stable, but the usual problem would be, for example, upgrading to a newer version of VMware or dealing with compatibility issues during the process."
"The support team must improve the speed of response."
"Current data centers are not ready to support heavy AI HPC clusters."
"It should be easier to extend PowerEdge XE servers. We haven't architected them with an eye toward scalability. They have a fixed number of slots for hard drives, which is enough for our present use case, However, we would have more options if we could extend that. We could deploy the servers in a broader range of use cases with different requirements. It's fine for our current deployment with only a few thousand users. We're exploring other solutions like such as VxRail or PowerFlex for larger public-facing use cases."
"What I found in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers is the disk reading; sometimes with heavy imagery, we find it to be slow."
"I don't think Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is very stable; there are many failures."
"I would like to have support for performing a detailed analysis of the server from a mobile device."
"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."
"If there could be some training for our team, we would be better equipped to promote and support HPE Apollo."
"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."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"The solution could improve the hardware, such as the motherboard or servers. We have had hardware faults in the past."
"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."
"The technical support for HPE Apollo Systems could be improved."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."
"Dell has competitive pricing."
"This solution is priced very reasonably."
"There are different types of licensing available, that works well for customers. The product is not very much to purchase."
"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."
"The pricing model is quite competitive."
"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
7%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is very helpful and saves us cost because previously we were managing our servers on AWS, and now we are managing them in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series. We are saving almost 60%...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
Customer awareness about air cooling compared to liquid cooling is an area that needs attention. Liquid cooling requires existing setups, and since AI workloads are significantly different from tra...
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
The use case is mainly AI for AI workloads, specifically for GPU-based platforms.
What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge XE Servers
HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING
Weta Digital
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs. HPE Apollo Systems and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
899,324 professionals have used our research since 2012.