Dell PowerStore vs FreeNAS comparison

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Dell PowerStore

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

FreeNAS and Dell PowerStore both compete in the network-attached storage domain. FreeNAS seems to have the upper hand for cost-effective and flexible solutions, while Dell PowerStore is preferred in environments needing advanced features and robust performance.

Features: FreeNAS provides open-source software, customizable storage solutions, and broad data protection capabilities, enhancing its flexibility and usability. Dell PowerStore stands out with integrated AI operations, a data-centric design, and scalable architecture, which supports complex data management tasks seamlessly.

Room for Improvement: FreeNAS could enhance its support services, offer more streamlined scaling options, and improve its user interface for non-tech users. Meanwhile, Dell PowerStore might focus on reducing its pricing to appeal to mid-sized companies, offer more straightforward integration with existing smaller IT setups, and refine initial setup procedures to require less technical expertise.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FreeNAS offers a do-it-yourself deployment that suits tech-savvy users who enjoy hands-on control but might lack extensive customer support. In contrast, Dell PowerStore simplifies deployment with strong customer support, easing the adoption process for larger businesses.

Pricing and ROI: FreeNAS requires minimal initial investment, maximizing ROI for budget-conscious organizations by delivering cost-saving storage solutions. Dell PowerStore involves a higher upfront cost, justified by its performance and feature set, potentially offering greater long-term ROI for companies with complex storage needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerStore vs. FreeNAS Report (Updated: September 2026).

Dell PowerStore vs. FreeNAS

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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 NAS

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

238

Ranking in other categories

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

FreeNAS

Ranking in NAS

14th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 7.3%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FreeNAS is 3.9%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Dell PowerStore	7.3%
FreeNAS	3.9%
Other	88.8%

NAS

Featured Reviews

reviewer2304864

Vmware Windows Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Resilience has supported proactive management and secured audit readiness across multiple sites

The resilience in Dell PowerStore benefits my company from an auditing perspective because we know we have that resilience in place. I see Dell PowerStore playing a bigger role in the future because we are starting to use it more, and that is pushing it. The biggest return on investment for me when using Dell PowerStore is scalability. Scalability is key. I can amplify that scalability is the biggest return on investment because we have redundancy between two sites; if something goes down, we have to manage it, but we want to do it proactively.

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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

"This solution allowed us to consolidate our storage efforts and operate with less of a footprint."

"Dell PowerStore as a product has a sufficient quantity of functionalities and is more functional than other storages in the mid or top tier."

"The product is reliable and stable."

"The most valuable features of PowerStore are its density and data reduction."

"Dell PowerStore has been used for around three or four years, and the experience with Dell PowerStore has been positive."

"In terms of performance, we don't have any issue on Dell PowerStore, helping us achieve higher performance and operational efficiency."

"The feature I value most is the additional speed."

"Dell PowerStore's compression and deduplication technologies are a big help for our organization. It's saving us a lot of storage compared to what we were previously using."

More Dell PowerStore pros

"After using FreeNAS I will never spend money for commercial products like Dell or 3Par."

"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."

"The fact that no data are lost when a hard drive fails is extremely reassuring, as I have had two of five drives fail at one time and no data were lost."

"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."

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

"The program is fast, fun to work on and easy."

"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."

More FreeNAS pros

Cons

"It could be improved to be cheaper for us. Cost versus performance is crucial, and it has to have the performance and capabilities that we need for that price point."

"If Dell PowerStore had more controllers, making it more reliable and resilient, it would be better."

"I would have preferred if Dell PowerStore could have a common operating system across all their products, as that would be of great advantage."

"The cost always has room for improvement."

"I think efficiency in the operation for Dell PowerStore sometimes requires opening new cases with Dell to troubleshoot some upgrades, and I need a faster response from the support team."

"The responsiveness could be faster, but once you reach the higher tier engineering for major problems, they are very good."

"During my initial setups, when you initially deploy those, you have to choose between block-only storage or unified mode, where it has block storage and NAS storage."

"The replication part needs improvement, particularly the integration of RecoverPoint."

More Dell PowerStore cons

"The latest version of the dashboard doesn't work as good as the previous version. Sometimes we change our dashboard back to the previous version because the latest version just doesn't work as good."

"The support for S3 needs to be improved."

"FreeNAS should be better prepared for clustering."

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

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

"One of my hard drives has failed and the documentation that I've been able to find has not helped."

"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 should include clustering for the solution."

More FreeNAS cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"There are no separate licenses required as all the basic licenses are included in the bundle."

"The rate is always too high. Nobody likes paying for it. I have not seen a client yet who says that the price should be higher. Initially, people look at it, but when they see what the benefits are, it is a no-brainer. We can give them good pricing at the outset."

"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are very good and I like it. We chose it because it was reasonably priced and met our requirements"

"We are happy with the pricing that we get from Dell."

"If we use the 500 or 1000, the licensing and pricing are reasonable. PowerStore can compete with any vendor and the price isn't that expensive."

"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."

"The licensing for this solution is good and is in the mid-range tier."

More Dell PowerStore pricing and cost advice

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

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

"We use the free version of the program."

"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

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

18%

Performing Arts

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	79
Midsize Enterprise	45
Large Enterprise	119

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	2

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

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Comparisons

Dell Unity XT vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 13% of the time

CTERA Intelligent Data Platform vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 6% of the time

Everpure FlashArray vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 6% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

StarWind Storage Appliance vs FreeNAS

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerScale vs FreeNAS

Compared 8% of the time

NetApp Private Storage vs FreeNAS

Compared 7% of the time

Buurst SoftNAS vs FreeNAS

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Dell PowerStore

Download Dell PowerStore product report

Download FreeNAS product report

Also Known As

PowerStore

No data available

Overview

Dell PowerStore is a scalable, high-performance platform supporting both modern and traditional workloads, enhancing IT operations with AI-driven automation and advanced data reduction features.

Designed for flexibility, Dell PowerStore integrates seamlessly with VMware, providing robust security and high IOPS. Users benefit from fast NVMe storage, intelligent data management, and scalable performance to handle diverse workload demands. However, improvements are needed in replication, enterprise functionalities, and UI complexity. Stability and support issues highlight the need for enhanced monitoring and pricing strategies.

What are the key features of Dell PowerStore?

Advanced Compression: Optimizes storage capacity effectively.
Data Deduplication: Reduces redundant data, improving efficiency.
Scalability: Easily adjusts to growing business needs.
VMware Integration: Enhances virtualization performance.
AI-Driven Management: Simplifies IT operations.
NVMe Storage: Provides fast, reliable access to data.
Robust Security: Ensures data protection.

What benefits does Dell PowerStore offer?

High Performance: Supports demanding applications with high IOPS.
Flexible Design: Adapts to changing workload requirements.
Cost Efficiency: Promotes ROI through data reduction and scaling.
Enhanced Management: Streamlines operations with AI and integrations.
Improved Data Handling: Efficiently manages databases and storage.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and IT, Dell PowerStore is critical for VMware virtualization, high-performance databases, and backup storage. It supports hosting virtual machines, mirroring storage, and handling SAP and Oracle databases effectively. Its role in hybrid and on-premises setups showcases its adaptability and integration capabilities for mission-critical tasks.

Dell Technologies

FreeNAS, an open-source storage platform, offers easy setup with intuitive management for network-attached storage. It's known for stability and compatibility across Windows and Linux. FreeNAS integrates with CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI while maintaining efficient virtual machine support.

FreeNAS stands out in the realm of network-attached storage by providing robust performance with dynamic disk management and task synchronization. Its container integration enhances versatility, coupled with comprehensive storage options like CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI. Users find value in its capabilities to manage virtual machines and integrated services such as SMB and S3. A vital feature includes data protection during drive failures, maintaining compatibility with both Windows and Linux environments. However, users encounter challenges with backing up large files due to slow network speeds, fragmented documentation, and integration with PSA systems or Hyper-V clusters. Scalability and clearer guidance are areas for improvement. Despite these, FreeNAS is widely utilized for its simplicity in creating users, managing permissions, and offering privacy-focused storage, especially beneficial for organizations with significant data handling needs.

What are some of the key features of FreeNAS?

Easy Setup: Streamlined installation process with minimal technical barriers.
Stability: Reliable performance in managing storage needs.
Dynamic Disk Management: Flexible handling of storage configurations.
Task Synchronization: Efficient task management for optimized operations.
Container Integration: Supports diverse applications effortlessly.
Comprehensive Storage Options: Integrates CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI for varied storage needs.
Virtual Machine Support: Efficient management of virtual environments.
Data Protection: Ensures security during drive failures.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Use: Intuitive interfaces for managing large-scale storage.
Compatibility: Seamless integration with Windows and Linux systems.
Scalability: Potential to expand storage capabilities as needs grow.
Cost Efficiency: Open-source nature reduces license expenses.
Security: Protects sensitive data in research and corporate settings.

FreeNAS is implemented across diverse industries for network-attached storage, primarily serving as a backup for massive files like video files and research data. Organizations employ it for transferring and storing large datasets, and some utilize its 'jail' services for hosting applications such as JavaEE, nodejs, and GitLab. Researchers appreciate the privacy-focused storage and interim backups offered by FreeNAS, suiting their needs for both large-scale data handling and practical application hosting.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Morroni Technologies Inc., Creative Integrations

Dell PowerStore vs. FreeNAS