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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE Apollo Systems comparison

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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
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is 3.4%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 6.0%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series3.4%
HPE Apollo Systems6.0%
Other90.6%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer991842 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director, Information Technology at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Reliable data platform has supported continuous R&D and 24/7 manufacturing operations
The after-sales support is one factor for improvement, and the cost to extend the support and warranty of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is the main factor in whether we want to continue using the product or transition to another solution in the future. Dell PowerEdge XE-Series consumes a lot of power, so we have to really plan before deploying more Dell PowerEdge XE-Series in our environment; that is something we have to consider. Based on my experience so far, I am quite satisfied and do not see any other improvements needed for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series. My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is that they are a bit costly. If Dell can work on the pricing, that would be good, making Dell more competitive over other products.
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

"The resource management features are valuable."
"The biggest advantage for the clients is that it is an enterprise AI interface, which means it reduces the time to market and has support for growth from enterprise AI projects to large-scale GenAI deployments."
"This is a very stable product; we have implemented more than 60 servers over the past three years and we have not come across any issues with stability, making it a very reliable server."
"The main reason for using Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is its GPU capacity, which is far above the regular PowerEdge servers."
"Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has contributed positively to the development of our cloud services."
"The most valuable feature is the trusted platform module."
"In Dell PowerEdge XE-Series servers, the control is good, and they are very adaptable, affordable, and easy to learn."
"The most valuable feature of these servers is the ability to store a lot—the capacity and the number of hard disk drives."
"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."
"We are running Apollo with SL-series servers and the best thing about them is the density of the storage area available."
"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."
"The technical support from HPE has always been good in my experience."
"The solution is well documented in a data sheet."
"It's pretty flexible."
"We previously used the DL380s; compared to those, Apollo has roughly four times the amount of space per server, which means we can really do a lot."
 

Cons

"A negative is the compatibility issues with newer models."
"In future releases, there should be more support options for the latest processor."
"Dell PowerEdge XE Servers can improve by adapting HCI technology."
"The big problem with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is the volatility in pricing, so trying to find stability is pretty important to us."
"Overall, Dell PowerEdge XE-Series has worked well, but I just do not know exactly how to measure it, although I have the impression that other servers on the network respond somewhat faster and have slightly better performance."
"Dell PowerEdge XE-Series can be improved by having more documentation about known errors."
"Current data centers are not ready to support heavy AI HPC clusters."
"In terms of disadvantages and improvements, we can say it has highly initial cost, as I mentioned for the MX series as well."
"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."
"HPE Apollo's after-sales support and technical support should be improved."
"If the workload is not purely sequential, then performance in the IO is less than optimal because it's optimized for streaming processing."
"HPE Apollo Systems is a bit expensive, and there are some issues with scalability."
"What's coming out in Gen 10 is very strong in terms of additional security."
"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 are quite happy with it, but its price and storage density can be better."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."
"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."
"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."
"Dell has competitive pricing."
"The pricing model is quite competitive."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
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?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series was very good. We see that most of our customers tend to not buy the AI Enterprise license from NVIDIA, mainly ...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series can be improved by having more documentation about known errors. I rate it an eight because if it had better documentation, I could consider it a ten.
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is GPU training and AI training, specifically running workload AI models. For example, we ran an open source AI model using Dell PowerEdge XE-Series. W...
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: September 2026.
920,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.