No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Dell SC Series vs VMAX [EOL] comparison

Dell SC Series and VMAX [EOL] are both solutions in the Frame-Based Disk Arrays category. Additionally, 94% of Dell SC Series users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of VMAX [EOL] users who would recommend it.
Dell SC Series
Read 55 Dell SC Series reviews
  • 3,091 Views
  • 371 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
VMAX [EOL]
Read 16 VMAX [EOL] reviews
    84% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

    Download the report
    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between Dell SC Series and VMAX [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

    Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi Vantara, Dell Technologies, IBM and others in Frame-Based Disk Arrays.

    DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
    To learn more, read our detailed Frame-Based Disk Arrays Report (Updated: May 2026).
    Buyer's Guide
    Frame-Based Disk Arrays
    May 2026
    Download the complete report
    Helped 900,644 peers since 2012

    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 SC Series
    Average Rating
    8.4
    Reviews Sentiment
    7.5
    Number of Reviews
    55
    Ranking in other categories
    Frame-Based Disk Arrays (2nd), All-Flash Storage (18th)
    VMAX [EOL]
    Average Rating
    9.0
    Number of Reviews
    16
    Ranking in other categories
    No ranking in other categories
     

    Featured Reviews

    RafaelGamaluis - PeerSpot reviewer
    RafaelGamaluis
    Architect Engineer, IT INFRASTRUCTURES Project Manager at Vilavi
    User interface offers clarity and detailed information while technical support consistently delivers
    The best features of Dell SC Series are stability and replication. The replication solution is excellent, and they have a solution named Live Migration. It is a robust platform. The interface and the GUI (graphical user interface) for administrating the Compellent are exceptional, with abundant information that is very clear. The management capabilities are excellent, and the stability of our storage hardware is remarkable.
    Read full review
    Ali Yazıcı - PeerSpot reviewer
    Ali Yazıcı
    IT Service Manager at Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank
    Good interface that is customizable, and the technical support is good
    Our primary use of this product is for our core banking servers over FC It is a high end storage, minimal downtime, reliable, good performance, get speedy support when we need. The user interface is good, and it is also customizable. snap and clone operations easy.  Stability and availability…
    Read full review

    Quotes from Members

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

    Pros

    "I definitely recommend Compellent to my customers because it is a very good product that is very scalable, it is easy to use, and Dell offers a good warranty."
    "The most valuable feature is the customer support."
    "With federation, you can have multiple systems across sites. You can treat them as one, and with a live migration, volumes don't go down. You can move them from site to site, doing maintenance, and keep your environment up."
    "Overall, the underlying technology they are using is really great."
    "The most valuable feature is the ability to replicate. We are running a financial company and it needs to be available 24/7. We can't afford any downtime."
    "With auto-tiering, it's easier to understand than most arrays, knowing that all of your writes go to the tier that you specify, with easy-to-create storage profiles."
    "The technical support is great, we have 24/7 support with a four-hour response, they are responsive and they stay to help until the problem is resolved."
    "With mixed workloads, we are seeing at least a 15 to 20 percent improvement."
    More Dell SC Series pros
    "The most valuable features are the interface and performance."
    "Customer Service: Excellent. Technical Support: Excellent."
    "I like the many new features, especially the all-flash solution."
    "Furthermore, EMC support is second to none, EMC engineers will visit your site to replace a disk or component before you are even aware that there is a problem (via ESRS – see below)."
    "VMAX is more scalable and has better performance (gives more IOPS, more front end ports...)."
    "If someone is looking for a product that can give the best performance under heavy load then this is the product they must go for."
    "We have been able to present storage from the VMAX to hosts without any problems."
    "It is a high end storage, minimal downtime, reliable, good performance, get speedy support when we need."
    More VMAX [EOL] pros
     

    Cons

    "This solution could be improved if overall performance was improved and operated with a higher speed and supported a higher volume of RAM."
    "We have seen some degraded throughput with mixed workloads. We have been working with Dell EMC to correct some of these latency issues."
    "We can definitely see a need for it being a multi-controller system for customers who want to scale beyond the current capability. That's always a downside. A lot of the new systems are scaling vertically, they scale out, and the Compellent, of course, is controllers with shelves under it, so you don't scale out with it, unless you add another one. But if you do, they don't talk to each other, like some of the other solutions that we sell."
    "We can definitely see a need for it being a multi-controller system for customers who want to scale beyond the current capability."
    "There's always room for improvement in the operating code."
    "The lower model, the 3000, should have duplication. It doesn't right now. It's only from 5000 that this is offered, but it depends on the performance. It could be they don't offer it on lower models because the duplication is too much of a burden to the performance."
    "Compared to other solutions out there, it's affordable. It would be nice if the cost was even lower."
    "Matching color coding during zoning is sometimes a little bit annoying."
    More Dell SC Series cons
    "The cluster support should be improved."
    "I'd like to see improvements where we can scale out an existing array and remove older controllers\drives\etc., within the same subsystem."
    "The way you configure larger size volumes needs improvement."
    "The pricing is a bit expensive. That is the reason we are now currently we are looking for other solutions. That's the reason we are looking at AFF and Unity. We are also considering PowerStore."
    "Better speed to release new features that have become industry standards. EMC created so many standards in the past. Now, it seems they are playing a me-too game and lagging behind in some areas, specifically data reduction."
    "Be aware that buying a Symmetrix VMAX is like owning a McLaren F1 race car; consider yourself lucky to drive it at the track since everything else must be performed by McLaren."
    "Cost of the hardware tends to be high, however, you do get what you pay for."
    "Stability and availability should be improved."
    More VMAX [EOL] cons
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "The scalability seems a bit more expensive than even buying a brand new one so far. That has been kind of a drawback."
    "Compared to other solutions out there, it's affordable."
    "The SC Series was priced fairly. I wouldn't call it either expensive or cheap because we had a very tight budget, so if they were able to fit in that type of budget, they met our expectations."
    "We have reviewed many platforms over the years. It is probably the best solution for its value."
    "This solution could be better priced in comparison with other vendors."
    "The maintenance is usually pretty good. It's not like some of the others where they increase it in the fourth, fifth, or sixth years."
    "It's a very affordable solution."
    "It has a good price point and offers some value-added enterprise features."
    More Dell SC Series pricing and cost advice
    "Our licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis."
    "Our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
    "There are additional costs to the standard licensing fee, and it just depends on the package."
    report
    See which vendors are best for you
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Frame-Based Disk Arrays solutions are best for your needs.
    See recommendations
    900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
     

    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Financial Services Firm
    16%
    Construction Company
    11%
    Outsourcing Company
    9%
    Manufacturing Company
    6%
    No data available
     

    Company Size

    By reviewers
    Large Enterprise
    Midsize Enterprise
    Small Business
    By reviewers
    Company SizeCount
    Small Business26
    Midsize Enterprise10
    Large Enterprise20
    By reviewers
    Company SizeCount
    Small Business2
    Midsize Enterprise6
    Large Enterprise17
     

    Questions from the Community

    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell SC Series?
    In our case, we received favorable pricing with Dell because of our strong partnership. While I acknowledge that Dell SC Series can be expensive for many companies, we received good discounts. The ...
    See all answers
    What needs improvement with Dell SC Series?
    For us, it is a great product. The deduplication and compression could potentially be improved, though they are already good. We cannot identify any significant areas that need improvement.
    See all answers
    What is your primary use case for Dell SC Series?
    We use Dell SC Series in a VMware environment.
    See all answers
    Ask a question
    Earn 20 points
     

    Comparisons

    Dell PowerStore vs Dell SC Series Logo
    Dell PowerStore vs Dell SC Series
    Compared 10% of the time
    Dell Unity XT vs Dell SC Series Logo
    Dell Unity XT vs Dell SC Series
    Compared 8% of the time
    HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Dell SC Series Logo
    HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Dell SC Series
    Compared 7% of the time
    Everpure FlashArray vs Dell SC Series Logo
    Everpure FlashArray vs Dell SC Series
    Compared 6% of the time
    Dell PowerMax vs Dell SC Series Logo
    Dell PowerMax vs Dell SC Series
    Compared 5% of the time
    More Dell SC Series Competitors
    IBM System Storage DS8000 Series vs VMAX [EOL] Logo
    IBM System Storage DS8000 Series vs VMAX [EOL]
    Compared 25% of the time
    Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs VMAX [EOL] Logo
    Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs VMAX [EOL]
    Compared 15% of the time
    HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs VMAX [EOL] Logo
    HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs VMAX [EOL]
    Compared 14% of the time
    Huawei OceanStor V3 Storage System vs VMAX [EOL] Logo
    Huawei OceanStor V3 Storage System vs VMAX [EOL]
    Compared 13% of the time
    More VMAX [EOL] Competitors
     

    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    Dell SC Series
    June 2026
    Dell SC Series reportDownload Dell SC Series product report
    Buyer's Guide
    VMAX [EOL]
    May 2026
    VMAX [EOL] reportDownload VMAX [EOL] product report
     

    Also Known As

    SC Series Storage, Compellent
    Symmetrix VMAX
     

    Overview

    Dell SC Series provides a high-performance, cost-effective storage solution with ease of management and robust support. Users appreciate its scalability, flexibility, and efficient storage management, making it a reliable platform for diverse environments.

    Renowned for its key attributes such as auto-tiering, replication, compression, and deduplication, Dell SC Series enhances scalability through Live Migrate and high availability features. Its efficient management with thin provisioning and data progression enhances resource utilization. The series is favored for stability, reliability, and integration capabilities, making it suitable for diverse deployments like private and public clouds, production workloads, virtual environments, large databases, and more.

    What are the key features of Dell SC Series?
    • Auto-tiering: Optimizes performance by automatically moving data between storage tiers.
    • Replication: Ensures data protection and disaster recovery.
    • Compression and deduplication: Reduces storage costs and optimizes space.
    • Live Migrate: Facilitates seamless data movement without downtime.
    • High availability: Provides continuous access and performance.
    • Thin provisioning and data progression: Increases efficiency in managing storage resources.
    What benefits should users look for in reviews?
    • Cost-effectiveness: Reduces overall storage expenses.
    • Ease of management: Simplifies administration through intuitive control.
    • Scalability: Expands to meet growing data needs seamlessly.
    • Flexibility: Integrates with different environments, supporting varied use cases.
    • Reliability: Delivers stable performance and dependable service.

    Dell SC Series serves as a versatile storage solution across industries, supporting applications in converged infrastructure, disaster recovery, and VMware environments. Users rely on its performance for critical business applications such as Oracle and SQL file systems, maintaining its relevance and effectiveness in ever-changing technological landscapes.

    Dell Technologies
    Symmetrix VMAX accelerate your transformation to the software-defined data center with the world's most powerful, trusted, and smart family of storage products.
    Dell Technologies
     

    Sample Customers

    TGen, Frost Science, Gerrie Electric
    Wentworth-Douglas Hospital, Kindred Healthcare, Cosentry, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company, Shriners, BZWBK
    Buyer's Guide
    Frame-Based Disk Arrays
    May 2026
    Download Free Report
    Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi Vantara, Dell Technologies, IBM and others in Frame-Based Disk Arrays. Updated: May 2026.
    DOWNLOAD NOW
    900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    See our list of best Frame-Based Disk Arrays vendors.

    We monitor all Frame-Based Disk Arrays reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.