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Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.2
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series enhances ROI with efficient AI, data management, and cost-effective infrastructure, offering significant savings.
Sentiment score
3.1
ROI varies widely, with quick returns for some and up to 10% savings, influenced by deployment and downtime support.
GPU at the end of the day is about good data in and good data out; garbage in results in garbage out.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would say we regularly see return on investment with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series around four years.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
If ROI was solely hardware-based, I would say Dell is top tier.
Senior Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
In terms of percentage, I am saving from 5 to 10%.
IT Consultant at SPE
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
The Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is praised for reliable technical support, quick responses, and professional issue resolution despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
6.7
HPE ProLiant DL Servers' support is responsive and knowledgeable, though experiences vary by region and initial contact challenges.
What matters is reliability, response time, solving issues quickly, and the professionalism in deployment.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The technical support provided by Dell is excellent.
CEO at Matrix ITS
The best features of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series are the support and product build quality.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
I feel very confident with HPE ProLiant DL Servers regarding reliability.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
We do not communicate directly with HPE's technical support because our local support company is primarily responsible.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.2
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series offers exceptional scalability and flexibility, ideal for AI/ML workloads and medium to large enterprises.
Sentiment score
5.7
HPE ProLiant DL Servers offer scalable and modular expansion with some constraints depending on organizational needs and older models.
For example, if I connect two systems, it will allow me 16 GPUs, and similarly for three or four units, multiplying the available GPUs, which is great for AI/ML workloads.
Server Validation Engineer at UST Global
I find Dell PowerEdge XE-Series to be very scalable; there are no limitations on the scalability side.
Senior Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
From our usage point of view, we rely less on onboard storage, depending instead on SANs and NAS, and the fiber connections and throughput are satisfactory.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
I cannot give high marks for scalability since servers are designed to be standalone.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series offers high stability and reliability, with minor issues and minimal downtime in enterprise settings.
Sentiment score
5.8
HPE ProLiant DL Servers are praised for their reliability, minimal downtime, and consistent performance, preferred by many organizations.
Since we are speaking about enterprise production, we make sure that stability is number one priority.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It has high availability, 24/7 for 365 days, most of the time without any power failure.
Server Validation Engineer at UST Global
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is a solution that is stable and reliable, hitting around 99.9% stability.
Senior Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I can give HPE ProLiant DL Servers a rating of 10 for stability and reliability.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
 

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series needs better cooling, compatibility, support, scalability, storage options, upgrade flexibility, and improved management tools.
HPE ProLiant DL Servers face challenges with iLO, storage, noise, efficiency, pricing, scalability, support, software, and cloud solutions.
Some of our workloads utilize heavy imagery, which could be several terabytes or gigabytes in size, so when accessing imagery, we find disk read to be a bit slow.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
Current data centers are not ready to support heavy AI HPC clusters.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would like to see improvements in Dell PowerEdge XE-Series because there are many GPU malfunctions.
Manager at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
Dell is much better, especially when configuring the internal storage of the server.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series offers competitive pricing and flexible licensing, with significant savings compared to cloud solutions like AWS.
Enterprise evaluations find HPE ProLiant DL Server pricing either costly or competitive, with discounts and valued cost-to-benefit ratio.
We are saving almost 60% of our cost yearly with Dell PowerEdge XE-Series.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
 

Valuable Features

Dell PowerEdge XE-Series offers excellent GPU support, high storage, scalability, and performance, ideal for AI and virtualization.
HPE ProLiant DL Servers are reliable, scalable, and cost-effective, offering enhanced management and efficiency for diverse IT infrastructures.
The initial setup for Dell PowerEdge XE-Series is easy, and management is also easy, which is why the team prefers it.
Lead Solution Architect at Avineon India Private Limited
There is an OEM version of NVIDIA servers that provides much more flexibility and is more cost-effective compared to NVIDIA's direct offering.
Pre Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The best features of Dell PowerEdge XE-Series are the support and product build quality, which we use the most.
IT Lead at Meditab Software, Inc.
The price-performance ratio is better than IBM counterparts, which is why we have opted for these solutions.
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
The most useful functions in HPE ProLiant DL Servers are its reliability and quick availability.
Technical Support at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

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 ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 ProLiant DL Servers is 17.8%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers17.8%
Dell PowerEdge XE-Series2.9%
Other79.3%
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.
ArifSheikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
High availability servers have boosted hosted payment services but still need better local support
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main components we are utilizing. Since these servers are fully dedicated to various high-end solutions, they have some embedded features that their kernel and applications are using, which are bound to that functionality. We may not provide an exact assessment on its usage, but we are considering those products for some AI solutions; however, we are currently in the review stage and have not concluded our evaluation on how those are utilized yet. We are aware of the pricing of HPE ProLiant DL servers, but not off the cuff. We have obviously acquired those solutions ex-Pakistan, so they are on the rise, and while we do not remember those prices offhand, they are generally better than the IBM series, although they are becoming slightly pricey in Pakistan due to processor shortages and demand. Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives. If pricing can be reduced, especially for DB servers, that could have a direct positive impact on the overall solution. Regarding reliability, it has been satisfactory so far, but since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers. They provide import-based services, necessitating us to over-invest in backup stock and offline servers. If there was a market presence from those players in Pakistan, it could benefit both clients and distributors by reducing the need for investment in backup inventory.
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Top Industries

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

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 Business56
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise98
 

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.
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable. However, if you look at the technical caliber of the server, if a customer invests that additio...
What needs improvement with HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
If I had to choose between HP and Dell, I would choose Dell's iDRAC over iLO. iLO is adequate, but Dell is much better, especially when configuring the internal storage of the server. Mostly when w...
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge XE Servers
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge XE-Series vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.