Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs FreeNAS comparison

Dell Technologies and FreeNAS are both solutions in the NAS category. Dell Technologies is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while FreeNAS is ranked #15. Dell Technologies holds a 15.1% mindshare in N, compared to FreeNAS’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of FreeNAS users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Read 76 Dell PowerScale (Isilon) reviews

10,615 Views
5,201 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

FreeNAS

Read 9 FreeNAS reviews

762 Views
762 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

FreeNAS

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

FreeNAS and Dell PowerScale compete in the network-attached storage category. Dell PowerScale appears to have the upper hand due to its enhanced scalability and enterprise features, appealing to large-scale environments.

Features: FreeNAS is appreciated for its support of the ZFS file system, data protection features, and flexibility in hardware deployment. Dell PowerScale offers advanced data management, seamless scalability, and high-performance tuning options suitable for significant storage demands.

Room for Improvement: FreeNAS could improve in terms of their user interface design, automated updates, and increasing official support options. Dell PowerScale might enhance integration with lower-tier storage solutions, reduce hardware costs, and provide better licensing transparency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FreeNAS is known for its straightforward setup on diverse hardware and a supportive community, although it may necessitate more technical expertise. Dell PowerScale is favored for its smooth integration processes and comprehensive support services, easing enterprise-level deployments.

Pricing and ROI: FreeNAS presents an economical setup due to its open-source nature, promising substantial ROI for smaller deployments. Dell PowerScale demands higher initial investment but offers long-term value and performance, appealing to enterprises with larger financial plans aiming for extended returns.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. FreeNAS Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. FreeNAS

December 2025

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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 PowerScale (Isilon)

Ranking in NAS

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (2nd)

FreeNAS

Ranking in NAS

15th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is 15.1%, down from 17.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FreeNAS is 2.7%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerScale (Isilon)	15.1%
FreeNAS	2.7%
Other	82.2%

NAS

Featured Reviews

Bill Engelmeyer

Systems Engineer at Unisity LLC

Flexibility and reliability have supported seamless data growth

I cannot think of anything to improve about Dell PowerScale (Isilon). The hardest challenge we have is due to how we've bought things over time. The way that we moved to the PowerEdge platform for the newer systems creates a scale problem as I still buy the older style systems, which are more dense storage. They're different chassis, so the problem we run into in the data center is the depth of the actual equipment. The newer equipment, if we buy an FX910 or a 900, it's a lot shorter in scale than if I buy an 83,000, which is much bigger. This makes it more complicated for deployment.

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Vincenzo D'Aniello

Software developer at TREXON S.R.L.

Open-source with great disk management and task synchronization

The system itself allows you to add any feature. The only bad thing is that this maybe depends on FreeBSD, and sometimes finding documentation is difficult. For example, we knew that previous versions automatically enabled the Linux kernel, yet with the recent version, this was no longer the case. Now, there was the possibility of being able to create Debian-based jails, and finding the documentation was not easy or fast. That said, in the end, we succeeded. If you find the documentation, it is always incomplete and fragmented.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) definitely deserves ten out of ten for scalability."

"My advice to other companies considering Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that it takes a little time to understand the product, but once you have it set up and running, it will run stable for all its lifetime."

"The reliability and stability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is good, with no downtime."

"Dell PowerScale has the SmartConnect and SmartConnect Pro features. That's why I like the product."

"It is stable and very user-friendly."

"Since it can scale so easily, as long as I have money to buy more nodes, I can grow it as big as I need to. That is important in our business. As sequencing technologies continue to evolve, and as those technologies evolve, the amount of data generation never gets smaller. It just always seems to get bigger. This is one of the absolute key aspects: We can grow on demand without having to forklift stuff."

"This has been a valuable solution for our business overall. It offers business continuity and replication features."

"I don't have to rebuild the cluster to add a node."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pros

"The solution has been very stable so far."

"The ease of use of the 'jail', the management of backups, and copies to easily create test and pre-production scenarios have speeded up the development and distribution of business apps."

"It integrates well into either Windows or Linux environments."

"FreeNAS is much simpler and easier to use than other solutions, but we don't have the complete range of features that come with the full version."

"Its stability is the most valuable. It is reliable, and we don't have to worry too much about it."

"It has the best storage capacity."

"What I like about it is that I can work on it from any computer or any device. The initial setup is very simple. The setup wizard is really helpful."

Cons

"They could improve implementation, as we had to rack and stack it ourselves."

"The downside of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that if we are replacing a drive, sometimes in the worst-case scenarios, some of the other drives will also go to the SmartFail state."

"Data storage performance needs to be improved."

"Improvements could be made to reduce the costs and the high level of knowledge needed to maintain and use them. We had old hard drives with moving parts in Dell PowerScale, and due to this, we must switch to a more efficient environment with all-flash."

"Dell PowerScale can improve on its multi-tenant part because as a service provider, we have bigger clusters in data centers where we can serve multiple customers and grant them dedicated management points and automation features that can be managed in a multi-tenant environment."

"We lost our technical sales reps about two years ago. We haven't gotten one assigned to us and we'd love to have one."

"The solution’s interface and pricing could be improved."

"We're still fairly new with it. It's been a pretty positive experience thus far. However, they could improve implementation, as we had to rack and stack it ourselves."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) cons

"If you find the documentation, it is always incomplete and fragmented."

"They should include clustering for the solution."

"The one thing that I find difficult to do which is very time-consuming is that I like to have a backup of the important files."

"They can improve the integration with PSA systems. This functionality could be better."

"The latest version of the dashboard doesn't work as good as the previous version."

"FreeNAS should be better prepared for clustering."

"The support for S3 needs to be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The general cost for a system like this is expensive. The total cost depends on your use case. You need to pay for every additional feature that you use."

"Dell PowerScale is an expensive solution compared to other products like Qumulo."

"It is an expensive product with a high storage capacity suitable for large data requirements."

"Dell PowerScale is expensive on the start-up side but we can recoup those costs quickly by not having to reapply the savings to other equipment."

"The pricing is expensive, but I think it's a fair value because it does manage itself. It definitely is much simpler than any of the other scale-out storage platforms that we've looked at in the past."

"The price of the solution can fluctuate. The price can be competitive or other times not. The price of the solution could be better."

"We use the TNA approach which is a great opportunity for us to better manage the licenses based on how much consumption is available for the different customers so we can use that approach and scalability."

"We paid an additional fee to have Dell's ProDeploy Plus team implement it."

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) pricing and cost advice

"Its licensing cost is based on the hardware capacity."

"We use the free version of the program."

"Its price is okay. It suits our needs."

"For our configuration, we pay a little bit less than €10,000 ($12,000 USD) per year."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Comms Service Provider

16%

Performing Arts

12%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	42

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

The solution provides massive performance, scalability, efficiency, and ease of management.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

As for my experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing, we have had Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for a while now, so we are basically on the renewal track all the time. We did not find it to ...

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What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

I think Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is very good right now. Perhaps improvements could be made on the CPU level with a better CPU. I haven't used the NVIDIA yet, but a better Intel CPU would be benefi...

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Comparisons

NetApp FAS Series vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 18% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 10% of the time

Qumulo vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 7% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 5% of the time

HPE StoreEasy vs Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

Compared 4% of the time

More Dell PowerScale (Isilon) Competitors

NetApp FAS Series vs FreeNAS

Compared 11% of the time

QNAP NAS Storage vs FreeNAS

Compared 11% of the time

StarWind Storage Appliance vs FreeNAS

Compared 10% of the time

Buurst SoftNAS vs FreeNAS

Compared 9% of the time

Cloudian HyperFile NAS Storage vs FreeNAS

Compared 8% of the time

More FreeNAS Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)

January 2026

Download Dell PowerScale (Isilon) product report

Buyer's Guide

FreeNAS

January 2026

Download FreeNAS product report

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon

No data available

Overview

Dell PowerScale leads in unstructured data management with unified file and object storage, massive scalability, security, and cloud adaptability, enhancing AI, analytics, and enterprise applications with exceptional performance and resilience.

Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.

What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Single-pane management: Simplifies data control and monitoring through a unified interface.
SyncIQ: Ensures efficient data replication for business continuity.
SmartQuotas: Provides intelligent quota management for optimized storage allocation.
Multi-protocol support: Facilitates cross-platform data access and integration.
Seamless storage expansion: Allows effortless scaling to accommodate growing data needs.

What benefits should users consider when reviewing Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Operational efficiency: Reduces workload with easy management and automation.
Enhanced security: Offers comprehensive data protection and recovery options.
Scalability: Supports large-scale data storage with flexible growth capabilities.
Performance: Delivers high-speed data processing for demanding applications.
Integration flexibility: Adapts to on-prem and hybrid cloud environments for diverse deployment needs.

Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.

Dell Technologies

FreeNAS is an operating system that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. FreeNAS is the simplest way to create a centralized and easily accessible place for your data. Use FreeNAS with ZFS to protect, store, backup, all of your data. FreeNAS is used everywhere, for the home, small business, and the enterprise.

FreeNAS

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,

Morroni Technologies Inc., Creative Integrations

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs. FreeNAS

December 2025

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