Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) comparison

Dell Technologies and Nutanix are both solutions in the HCI category. Dell Technologies is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.5, while Nutanix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5. Dell Technologies holds a 2.6% mindshare in HCI, compared to Nutanix’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Nutanix users who would recommend it.

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Read 17 Dell vSAN Ready Nodes reviews

2,412 Views
1,904 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

Read 198 Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) reviews

11,619 Views
5,415 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are competing solutions in the cloud infrastructure market. NCI has a competitive edge due to its more feature-rich platform and better customer support.

Features: NCI is known for its one-click upgrades, data locality, deduplication, compression, scalability, and disaster recovery. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes emphasize storage solutions with features like storage auto-tiering and redundancy, along with a distributed file system and scalability.

Room for Improvement: NCI could enhance integration with software-defined networking, improve cloud feature offerings, provide better pricing transparency, and add support for external storage solutions. Dell could benefit from improvements in automation capabilities, further scalability, pricing flexibility, and better cloud environment integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NCI offers versatile deployment options with on-premises, hybrid, and private cloud environments, backed by a responsive and knowledgeable customer support team. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes focus on on-premises and private cloud deployments but receive mixed feedback on deployment ease and customer service consistency.

Pricing and ROI: NCI pricing is premium due to its extensive features and excellent support, leading to significant long-term ROI through reduced operational costs. Dell vSAN Ready Nodes are perceived as expensive with less flexible pricing but both solutions report positive ROI by improving storage and hardware maintenance cost-efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

April 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 vSAN Ready Nodes

Ranking in HCI

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

Ranking in HCI

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

198

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (4th), Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (1st), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is 2.6%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 8.6%, up from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

Saleh Khalid

college student at Imam University

Efficient consolidated storage and plug-and-play with room for more flexibility

The initial setup was straightforward. However, there is a need for detailed steps, and missing any step could result in the solution not working. The whole environment, including designing and preparation, took around two weeks, and the deployments, including shipping of the servers and everything, took another two weeks to make it production ready. It was around four weeks in total from starting design to being production ready.

Read full review

MahendraPanchotiya

Infrastructure Manager at ER Tech Pros

Offers a unified platform, reduces downtime, and simple updates

Nutanix offers a unified platform for managing databases, virtual machines, and applications. This simplifies management by consolidating everything into a single interface. While Nutanix may have a higher upfront cost compared to other hypervisors, it can significantly reduce the resources needed for infrastructure management. With our previous hypervisor, we needed nearly ten IT personnel. Nutanix has allowed us to streamline our team to just three members. We use a combination of database technologies, including SQL databases and web servers such as IIS, BHP, and NGINX. Nutanix features helped our organization reduce downtime. I don't recall the last time we had downtime related to Nutanix because it is such a stable product. Nutanix, a reliable product, helps us streamline our processes, which in turn improves company revenue. We began to see the benefits after two years, with a 40 percent reduction in operational costs. We migrated 200 servers from AWS to Nutanix. Nutanix may not consolidate applications, but it helps us run them more efficiently on its platform. Updating is simple with one click. I would rate the updating processes 10 out of 10. Adding compute and storage on demand is not difficult. However, we need to factor in the existing and new firmware and software requirements.

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 have found the most important features of Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes are the capacity to manage the storage because the storage is built in the servers. The type of profiles you can attribute to the storage is a benefit. You can manage the storage by profiles. Overall the solution is a good speed and performance."

"You don't have to spend much time evaluating the hardware. It can be deployed in a short time. The tool is also easy to upgrade."

"I rate vSAN ReadyNodes as a nine out of ten."

"Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes is scalable"

"It is easy to install."

"The most valuable feature of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is the flexibility of the nodes. Additionally, if there are any critical issues they update us through emails. The issues are taken care of remotely on the system."

"No concerns regarding the footprint in the data center."

"vSAN ReadyNodes offer easy scalability, which has proven beneficial for storage needs."

Cons

"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required. The price of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes could be lowered."

"Although vSAN ReadyNodes work well, a faster firmware lifecycle with the release of validated firmware catalogs more quickly would be a desired improvement."

"We have experienced some issues with performance."

"This product is not sufficiently scalable."

"The solution should provide daily task alerts for data recovery maintenance, usage, and other instructions to ensure the systems are in a good status."

"Scalability is an area that could be improved. We are looking at a maximum of 32 nodes now in a cluster, but going to 64 or 128 would be a major advantage."

"There is room for improvement in the maintenance pricing. Maintenance isn't difficult, but the prices are high and ridiculous. Some customers feel it is better to go with a new solution rather than renew this one."

"Compatibility with other hardware nodes needs to be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Comparing the price of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes to other solutions it is not expensive."

"There is a problem, which is the lack of an integrated price structure."

"The tool's pricing is competitive compared to others. The tool's licensing is based on annual subscriptions."

"The price of the solution was reasonable."

"The solution is more expensive than a traditional array. The prices are skyrocketing."

"My company makes yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the solution. The solution is expensive."

"We have a four-year contract to use Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes."

"It is slightly more expensive compared to a standard, on-prem, bare-metal configuration. There is about a 30 percent overhead there."

"The pricing is quite good in comparison with HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix Scale, and even traditional architecture."

"Nutanix is cheaper than Cisco HyperFlex, although it depends on the configuration because Nutanix can also be expensive."

"Many of my customers have issues with Acropolis' licensing model because they are charging the customers based on two things— the CPUs and the capacity in the solid stack disk — and that's a problem. Nutanix's competitors are not licensing that layer, so this is something that they should change. They should abandon this licensing model because it's too complex. Technical support is bundled with the subscription."

"Our licensing fee on the total setup up was about R900 000."

"Able to grow with smaller, more linear increments of investment"

"NCI is quite expensive compared to other products. It would help us if Nutanix considered affordability when releasing new products. We have an annual license and are considering extending it for another year."

"We just have a support license for Nutanix."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user244362

Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees

Aug 30, 2015

Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod

Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

39%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and stability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

There is no specific licensing model for vSAN ReadyNodes as it is linked with Broadcom VMware's solutions rather than Dell's. As a group under Comcast, we receive very good pricing from Dell due to...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?

Although vSAN ReadyNodes work well, a faster firmware lifecycle with the release of validated firmware catalogs more quickly would be a desired improvement.

See all answers

What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?

We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...

See all answers

How do I choose between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and Nutanix Acropolis AOS?

Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions from core to edge and multi-cloud environments. It helps IT and OT teams deploy hyper...

See all answers

Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?

See all answers

Comparisons

VxRail vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 37% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 13% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 11% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 9% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

Compared 2% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes

May 2025

Download Dell vSAN Ready Nodes product report

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

May 2025

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) report

Download Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) product report

Also Known As

vSAN Ready Nodes

Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis

Overview

Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes are pre-configured building blocks that reduce deployment
risks with certified configurations, improve storage efficiency by up to 50%1
, and can help
you build or scale your vSAN cluster faster.14 Whether you're just getting started, and/or
expanding your existing VMware environment, Dell EMC is here for you every step of the
way with consulting, education, deployment and support services for the entire solution.

Dell Technologies

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is a top-ranking HCI software, cloud management tool, and Software Defined Storage (SDS) tool that is marketed as the foundation for users' hybrid clouds. It offers a powerful and secure hyperconverged infrastructure to deliver all data and applications at any scale and on any cloud. The solution offers a complete software stack that allows users to unify their hybrid cloud infrastructure.

NCI’s services include computer, storage and network, hypervisors and containers, and deployment in public or in private clouds. The product also comes with built-in resilience, disaster recovery capabilities, self-healing, and high-security capacities. It provides further deployment flexibility through several software and hardware options and platforms. NCI includes a full set of enterprise capabilities. It can also be deployed on a wide range of servers from popular manufacturers.

The capabilities of the product are categorized into three main groups:

AOS storage
Flexible and open compute
Automated and secure networking

Outside of these categories, NCI also offers other capabilities:

Integrated disaster recovery
Full-stack lifecycle management
VMware with Nutanix
Intelligent operations

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Features

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) offers its customers various features and tools in each of the previously mentioned categories. The available features for users currently include:

High-performance: This set of features utilizes hardware advances such as NVMe and RDMA to accelerate users' most demanding applications with consistent performance. The tools in this feature category work alongside data locality to ensure successful results.
Foolproof resiliency: These Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure features protect data and keep it available by facilitating advanced distributed consistency algorithms. Users can utilize these features to protect their data from issues like bit rot, hardware failures, and even entire site failure.
Flexibility: This set of features allows storage to be sized for the needs of each organization and expanded promptly and easily so that the organization and its data can grow. The features offer flexibility to users in terms of applying storage policies logically on a pre-workload basis, instead of being tied to hardware.
Hypervisor choice: Users can choose from the leading hypervisors - Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware ESXi. They can also leverage the built-in hypervisor AHV that Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) provides.
Integrated virtualization: These features offer simplified automation and AHV streamlined operations. The services in this category are optimized for high performance and reliability.
Kubernetes: Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) offers features to build and deploy cloud-native applications on intelligent distributed infrastructure. Apps can be integrated with cloud-compatible storage and both building and deployment can be achieved within the same platform.
Microsegmentation: Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) offers features to prevent malware spread and reduce attack surfaces by leveraging machine learning (ML).
Virtual networking: This set of features allows users to easily implement multi-tenancy in their environment or stretch networks across clouds.
Centralized network management: Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) provides organizations with a way to manage networking configurations centrally. Users can utilize it across their human-computer interaction (HCI) environment with simple virtual switch management.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Benefits

The product offers various benefits to users who utilize its capacities. Some of these include:

NCI reduces technology sprawl and frees up technical resources to allow organizations to focus on other activities, potentially reducing costs for the business.
The product allows customers to deploy, scale, and bridge to the public cloud to be able to react in evolving business environments.
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure improves data availability while simultaneously protecting it against several kinds of failures and attacks.
The solution offers high-performance, resilient distributed storage for all workloads.
Working alongside Nutanix Cloud Platform, NCI offers simple management of data from one console.
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure works by the zero trust philosophy, protecting users' apps and data through specially designed security protocols.

Reviews from Real Users

According to Gerhard J., an IT manager at Q4 Fuel, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) provides serious reliability and stability across the entire system makes for ROI.

A solutions architect at a computer software company describes NCI as a stable, straightforward to set up, and scalable solution.

Nutanix

Sample Customers

Rackspace

St. Lukes Health System, the City of Seattle, Yahoo! Japan, Sligro, Empire Life, Hyundai AUS, and many others.

Buyer's Guide

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

April 2025

Free Report: Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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