Dell PowerStore vs Dell PowerVault comparison

Dell PowerStore and Dell PowerVault are both solutions in the Enterprise SAN category. Dell PowerStore is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8, while Dell PowerVault is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Dell PowerStore holds a 33.6% mindshare in ES, compared to Dell PowerVault’s 32.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Dell PowerStore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Dell PowerVault users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerStore

Read 119 Dell PowerStore reviews

1,469 Views
868 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell PowerVault

Read 23 Dell PowerVault reviews

1,158 Views
145 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerStore

Dell PowerVault

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Dell PowerVault and Dell PowerStore compete in the storage solutions category, targeting small to medium businesses and enterprises seeking advanced scalability and performance, respectively. PowerStore appears to have the upper hand due to its performance, adaptability, and integration capabilities.

Features: Dell PowerVault provides reliable storage with RAID systems and data deduplication software, making it cost-effective for basic needs. Its lack of standout features limits it to smaller operations. Dell PowerStore excels with NVMe storage, high compression, and excellent scalability, catering to varied workloads and providing robust VMware integration.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerVault needs enhancements in memory cache, protocol support, and scalability. Its deduplication and compression features are missing, necessitating better integration with existing IT infrastructure. Dell PowerStore faces challenges with its complex upgrade process, high pricing, and limited replication capabilities, suggesting a need for improved software updates and cybersecurity features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both PowerVault and PowerStore are easy to deploy in on-premises settings, but PowerStore also offers cloud compatibility. Customer service is highly rated for both, though PowerVault's technical support response times are slower than PowerStore's more satisfactory service.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerVault is affordable, offering a substantial ROI for small businesses. In contrast, Dell PowerStore, though more expensive, justifies its cost with advanced features and performance, positioning itself as a valuable investment for scalable, robust storage needs. Both products yield considerable returns, with PowerVault focusing on cost-effectiveness and PowerStore on advanced features and flexibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerStore vs. Dell PowerVault Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Dell PowerVault

June 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 PowerStore

Ranking in Enterprise SAN

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (4th), NAS (1st), All-Flash Storage (1st), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (1st)

Dell PowerVault

Ranking in Enterprise SAN

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Fibre Channel (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 33.6%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerVault is 32.2%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise SAN

Featured Reviews

Hassan_Zaki

Senior Presales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Integrated AI and clustering enhance storage operations effectively

I promote and recommend Dell PowerStore for all workloads to my clients and customers. Most of my customers have one appliance per site. Approximately 80% of my customers have Dell PowerStore implemented in their data centers. We always use CLS as another Dell solution for cybersecurity and data security. The CLS is integrated with the Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain, not with Dell PowerStore. Windows, Linux, and some customers use Red Hat or SUSE. We have many operating systems working with Dell PowerStore in the same environments and data centers. CloudIQ and Storage IQ are used by some customers, but Apex AIOps has not been widely adopted yet. Dell PowerStore has integration with VMware and Kubernetes. Most workloads work fine and have very good integration with Dell PowerStore, except for one or two specific workloads in the market. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a nine.

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SigfridCecillon

Director at Arsium

Offers good stability and simplicity

The room for improvement lies in the responsiveness and real-time feedback of the web server setup. We could set up the installation through a web server, but it's not very reactive on the web server. For example, when you launch a task, and you don't know exactly if the task has begun or if the task is in progress, or if it's finished. You have to wait for three to five to ten minutes to be sure that the task is running or in progress or finished. So at that point, it's not very good. For the rest, we have a good organization for the platform. And it's working everywhere. Another area of improvement is duplication.

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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

"The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"We find NAS to be the most impactful feature of Dell PowerStore. The compression and deduplication technology is very important and essential, and this was one of the reasons that we decided to go with Dell PowerStore."

"PowerStore is robust compared to the previous models like Unity, and it provides excellent compression and deduplication."

"Updates come with enhancements. Each time we do an update, there is an enhancement, like new features, which is extraordinary. Other companies would try to charge for all that, but the enhancements just come with it."

"The data encryption is good and available in a standard license. There are snapshot and backup capabilities."

"A particularly valuable feature is its simplicity."

"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is Metro Volumes."

More Dell PowerStore pros

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"It is an inexpensive storage solution."

"The Dell warranty is the most valuable feature."

"For us, the initial setup was easy."

"Dell PowerVault is cheap."

"The storage has been good."

"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerVault is its ability to provide small to medium-range storage. It doesn't have any specific standout features, but it's great for applications, such as surveillance where a large number of videos need to be recorded and performance isn't a priority."

"The stability is quite good. Once you deploy all the equipment, it's very stable."

More Dell PowerVault pros

Cons

"To improve, they could enhance their attitude and empathy by putting themselves in the shoes of the other person when providing support."

"The design needs to be something similar to Pure Storage. It would be beneficial if there are different color or lighting options for different product casings. Different colors are helpful when working in the data center server room."

"Dell PowerStore is a very expensive storage solution. That said, the speed for recovering information is amazing. I would make the product cheaper. The discounts from Dell to South America are not sufficient because we need better pricing. The discounts for small PowerStores are not enough to close deals since I'm a distributor. As both a user and seller, it's challenging to sell Dell PowerStore to the channel or final customers because we don't have enough discount from Dell."

"The data resiliency and cybersecurity features of Dell PowerStore are just normal and would be considered medium; we need additional components such as cybersecurity vault for increased resilience."

"There seems to be a lack of a price range in the small company, small medium company segment."

"Sometimes, you have to go back and forth with the technical support team, where they want you to do something you've already done."

"Dell PowerStore does not have features that specifically cater to the needs of our company or industry that are outstanding among others, but reliability is crucial, and ease of management is also important."

"We have not seen an ROI and it would be good to have an ROI calculator made available by Dell."

More Dell PowerStore cons

"The tool needs to improve its UI."

"We could set up the installation through a web server, but it's not very reactive on the web server. For example, when you launch a task, and you don't know exactly if the task has begun or if the task is in progress, or if it's finished. You have to wait for three to five to ten minutes to be sure that the task is running or in progress or finished. So at that point, it's not very good."

"PowerVault could be improved by increasing its memory cache capacity and adding the ability to export data to the cloud."

"In the next release, I would like the deduplication and compression included, as well as the flash technology. It doesn't currently use it."

"The high prices of the solution are an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The product could support an NVMe hard disk."

"The price of the solution could be lower."

"There have been situations when our customers requested professional support and the price of that feature is quite high."

More Dell PowerVault cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As compared to others, PowerStore is cheaper."

"There's still a cap on the upgrade path, where you can consume all the engines within the frame before you have to go to another frame... Normally, we exceed the IOPS on the frames before we can ever exhaust the storage, so anything they can do to help us avoid stranded storage capacity, capacity that we couldn't get to, would be beneficial."

"In terms of licensing, my organization has Dell Technologies End User License Agreement (EULA), but I don't know exactly how it works, though it is a big bundle of licenses for Dell Data Domain, Dell EMC Unity XT, Dell PowerStore, Dell ECS, and all such kinds of storage arrays."

"The solution is expensive."

"The software features are included in the pricing without any additional purchase requirements."

"The solution’s pricing is always too high."

"PowerStore's pricing is reasonable."

"Dealing with the licensing part of the product is very simple, especially considering the fact that we don't have many licenses associated with the tool."

More Dell PowerStore pricing and cost advice

"The solution is more cost-effective than the competitors. It’s an affordable option for small businesses."

"They are offering a wide range of support models for the customers such as basic support that is budget-friendly, but they also provide a professional support solution that is a bit costly"

"I would rate the pricing model a nine out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap."

"The price of Dell PowerVault could be reduced. It is more expensive than some IBM solutions."

"I rate the solution's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."

"I rate Dell PowerVault a six or seven out of ten for pricing."

"I rate the price of Dell PowerVault a nine out of ten."

"Dell PowerVault's price is the tool's main attraction."

More Dell PowerVault pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you think about Dell EMC PowerStore? Is it actually a new product?

PowerStore is flexible, scalable, simple, and performant with market-leading economics for a wide range of legacy and next-gen apps. It is only Flash and can support many workloads from today's app...

See all answers

How does Dell's EMC PowerStore compare with its EMC Unity XT?

Dell EMC PowerStore is a unified storage platform that has the added benefit of being scalable. The automated management of resources feature provides a more simple administration. I found the flex...

See all answers

What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?

Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell offerings and integrated into the PowerStoreOS. The installation and setup have a ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell PowerVault?

Dell PowerVault offers valuable full flash storage.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerVault?

I rate the solution's pricing a seven to eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell PowerVault?

The product is generally stable, but there have been instances, to my knowledge, where we faced issues in the controller during software upgrades. The availability is not at the desired level durin...

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE Alletra Storage vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 15% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 13% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 8% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashArray vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell PowerStore Competitors

HPE StoreOnce vs Dell PowerVault

Compared 14% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Dell PowerVault

Compared 10% of the time

Lenovo Storage V Series vs Dell PowerVault

Compared 4% of the time

ExaGrid EX vs Dell PowerVault

Compared 2% of the time

Huawei OceanStor SNS vs Dell PowerVault

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell PowerVault Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore

June 2025

Download Dell PowerStore product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerVault

June 2025

Download Dell PowerVault product report

Also Known As

PowerStore

PowerVault

Overview

Dell PowerStore stands out for its high performance, flexibility, and easy integration with VMware. It offers notable data compression and deduplication capabilities while providing powerful NVMe support and machine learning to optimize IT operations.

Dell PowerStore is designed to offer a comprehensive approach to IT infrastructure by enhancing performance and simplifying management. It is particularly suitable for companies that require scalable solutions to increase compute or capacity independently. Featuring built-in intelligence, PowerStore allows efficient storage consolidation and reduced footprint, while integration with CloudIQ enhances monitoring and analytics. However, there are areas for improvement, such as stability, enterprise features, and the user interface. Pricing is high, and support responsiveness needs attention. Organizations primarily use PowerStore for VMware environments, storage, and data protection, supporting high-performance databases and VMware workloads. It is utilized in data centers for disaster recovery and hybrid setups.

What are the key features of Dell PowerStore?

Flexibility: Independently scales compute or capacity
High Performance: Offers powerful NVMe support and machine learning
Integration: Easily integrates with VMware
Data Efficiency: Provides data compression and deduplication
Simplified Management: Built-in intelligence for efficient storage management

What benefits should users consider?

Performance Optimization: Enhance IT operations with machine learning
Scalability: Increase compute or storage capacity as needed
Integration Potential: Improve efficiency with VMware and CloudIQ
Data Protection: Reliable for disaster recovery and hybrid environments

In industries like IT, finance, and healthcare, Dell PowerStore supports efficient data management and enhances infrastructure performance. Organizations leverage it to manage extensive data, streamline virtualization processes, and facilitate migration from legacy systems, while integrating cloud and on-premises infrastructures for improved operations.

Dell Technologies

PowerVault MD3 storage arrays help you cost-effectively address the challenges of data growth with versatile solutions that are optimized for smaller-scale storage consolidation, flexible virtualization projects and high business continuity.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Dayco, FAW Foundry, University of Cambridge, Finder, Stadtwerke Pforzheim GmbH & Co.

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Dell PowerVault

June 2025

Free Report: Dell PowerStore vs. Dell PowerVault

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerStore vs. Dell PowerVault and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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