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

Dell SC Series

VMAX [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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.

To learn more, read our detailed Frame-Based Disk Arrays Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Frame-Based Disk Arrays

May 2026

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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

Ranking in other categories

Frame-Based Disk Arrays (2nd), All-Flash Storage (18th)

VMAX [EOL]

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

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.

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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…

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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 solution is stable."

"With the hybrid storage approach, we can balance between cheap space and good performance."

"The most valuable feature is the customer support."

"There's some new stuff coming with 7.3, which just got released, where they're spreading the sparing across the whole array, rather than having a dedicated spare disk, and have it sit there and do nothing until one of them dies, and then it kicks in - and having to rebuild all of that. Now, they'll do the sparing across all the disks and they say that is going to add not only space but performance to the array, with 7.3."

"It is fast and performs well."

"It was very easy to install, maintain, and provides excellent manageability."

"Its leading feature is the price-performance ratio, which is very good."

"We see very low latency with very high IOPS for mixed workloads."

More Dell SC Series pros

"Customer Service: Excellent. Technical Support: Excellent."

"It works with our replication technology, which is not SRDF, which is native replication technology."

"The most valuable features are the interface and performance."

"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)."

"We have been able to present storage from the VMAX to hosts without any problems."

"This solution is resilient."

"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."

More VMAX [EOL] pros

Cons

"This product is too expensive compared to others, and I don't see any value in using it."

"The only issue with scaling up is that the pricing gets pretty high."

"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the lack of reporting would be the main issue."

"The cost of the solution could be better."

"I would like to improve the processing ability."

"Licensing, especially on the storage line, could use some simplification. It's not terrible, but, for example, with the Isilon series, they've gone to completely a la carte. A la carte is very difficult to traverse, as to what you need. It would be more beneficial, at least from my point of view as a customer, if they did it more like car companies do, where there are package lines"

"It's definitely affordable. Of course, it would be better if they made it cheaper, even more affordable."

"The price could be improved."

More Dell SC Series cons

"I would like to see support for high-availability."

"We are trying to scale a vintage VMAX. As far as increasing capacity, it is a real nightmare."

"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."

"Resilience replication, reporting, and performance need to be improved."

"The only draw back is you don’t get multiple point in time copies."

"The cluster support should be improved."

"I'm always interested in ways we can scale out and avoid monolithic migrations from one array to another every four to five years."

"Manageability is a bit of a challenge, as the user interface to access the array is not very user-friendly."

More VMAX [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is too expensive compared to others, and I don't see any value in using it."

"Support typically depends on the array. It can range anywhere from $7,000 to a couple of hundred thousand dollars."

"This solution could be better priced in comparison with other vendors."

"The scalability seems a bit more expensive than even buying a brand new one so far. That has been kind of a drawback."

"The pricing of Dell EMC Compellent is competitive."

"It's absolutely affordable. Again, not having to do a forklift upgrade like some of the others have had to do in the past, it's very affordable for our customers and they continue to buy."

"It's a very affordable solution."

"It is one of the most cost effective systems for us. We have been able to run it longer than most, getting the most benefit and money out of it."

More Dell SC Series pricing and cost advice

"Our licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis."

"There are additional costs to the standard licensing fee, and it just depends on the package."

"Our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Construction Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	20

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	17

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

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Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Dell SC Series

Compared 10% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell SC Series

Compared 8% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs Dell SC Series

Compared 7% of the time

Everpure FlashArray vs Dell SC Series

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Dell SC Series

Compared 5% of the time

More Dell SC Series Competitors

IBM System Storage DS8000 Series vs VMAX [EOL]

Compared 25% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs VMAX [EOL]

Compared 15% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs VMAX [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

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

Download Dell SC Series product report

Buyer's Guide

VMAX [EOL]

May 2026

Download 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

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Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi Vantara, Dell Technologies, IBM and others in Frame-Based Disk Arrays. Updated: May 2026.

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