Dell XC Appliance vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) comparison

Dell Technologies and Nutanix are both solutions in the HCI category. Dell Technologies is ranked #19 with an average rating of 9.0, while Nutanix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. Dell Technologies holds a 0.5% mindshare in HCI, compared to Nutanix’s 9.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Nutanix users who would recommend it.

Dell XC Appliance

Read 8 Dell XC Appliance reviews

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100% willing to recommend

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

Read 198 Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) reviews

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4,342 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Dell XC Appliance

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructur...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure and Dell XC Appliance compete in the hyper-converged infrastructure category. Nutanix seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set, ease of management, and competitive pricing, which results in a quicker ROI.

Features: Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers features such as data deduplication, compression, and one-click upgrades that simplify scalability and management. It provides extensive hypervisor capabilities and automation that improve operational efficiency and cost savings. The Dell XC Appliance features a distributed storage fabric that integrates well with VMware environments, offering robust storage and high performance. Its ease of installation and good performance are notable, but Nutanix’s feature set is more comprehensive for complex virtual environments.

Room for Improvement: Nutanix could improve support for multi-tenant environments, expand third-party integrations, and simplify configurations that currently require command-line interface use. Dell XC Appliance could enhance storage provisioning capabilities and multi-cloud interoperability. While Dell finds lifecycle upgrades complex, Nutanix receives feedback for more consistent updates based on user suggestions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nutanix offers diverse deployment options, praised for its easy setup and responsive support team. The technical support is fast and efficient. Dell XC Appliance, mostly deployed on-premises, has dedicated support, yet features longer resolution times due to dependence on separate technical support systems. Nutanix is seen as having a more integrated and proactive support service compared to Dell's less streamlined support.

Pricing and ROI: Nutanix provides competitive pricing with benefits in cost savings due to reduced infrastructure needs and enhanced efficiency, despite being more expensive than some competitors. Its flexible licensing model simplifies management and cuts down additional licensing costs. Dell XC Appliance’s pricing varies by configuration and is often viewed as expensive for small to medium-sized businesses. Nutanix users report quicker ROI through reduced operational costs, while Dell XC users recognize ROI but cite higher initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell XC Appliance vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell XC Appliance vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

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 XC Appliance

Ranking in HCI

19th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

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) (5th), Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (1st), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Dell XC Appliance is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is 9.1%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Featured Reviews

reviewer2644977

Works

Enables seamless integration with multiple software and outstanding AI tools

The main issue with the DirectVXL appliance is that it only supports a single orchestrator or hypervisor. If multi-hypervisor support is required and VMware does not provide it, then Dell's appliance won't support it. I find it overly reliant on VMware. In cases of company mergers involving different platforms, software that can handle a multi-hypervisor environment would facilitate quicker integration.

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Andrea Beccia

IT Systems Architect at Cividale S.p.A.

Offers satisfying data protection and workload movement features with exceptional stability

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure can be used up to 100% of its capacity, but our company is presently using 80% of the solution's resources. Our company manufactures iron casting products in the metal industry, and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is also used. For virtualization purposes, Nutanix Acropolis is used as a full-stack solution. For the Windows virtual machines in our company's server, Nutanix Acropolis is utilized instead of solutions like VMware Hypervisor. One of the main reasons our company adopted Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure was its data protection features. The solution is also used in disaster recovery through the automatic snapshots feature on the local site. Next year, our organization will try to join clusters in the network using the solution. Network clustering will help our organization's team move workloads into the geographical cluster automatically. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is considered an ideal solution for disaster recovery where data protection remains embedded. The solution is capable of even capturing auto snapshots for remote sites. Next year, our company plans to test new features of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure that will assist in automated workload movements on two sides at a distance of 60 kilometers. I would recommend others use the solution for its exceptional stability, performance, hardware compatibility, and overall flexibility. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure allows the use of varying hardware for the same cluster. I would rate the solution a nine out of ten overall.

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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 most valuable feature is the low management overhead, and the lower skill set required to manage it."

"The most valuable feature is that you can assign a volume to an off-shore workload on the fly."

"The most valuable features are the deduplication and the compression features."

"The solution's best feature is its simplicity. It's so simple to deploy it. You've got the VMware, and it's own appliance. It is really helpful. The system is online within half a day and saves so much time."

"When we compare it to normal hardware servers, I'd say it is quite easy to configure and deploy."

"From a single screen, I can view VM details, performance, and hardware issues, such as power supply or fan malfunctions, along with RAM module problems."

"What I like the most is that it is easy to implement, easy deployment and that it's easy to manage."

"It's an extremely stable solution, and I highly recommend it."

More Dell XC Appliance pros

"Management is simple"

"Nutanix Acropolis AOS is easy to use, integrates with other hardware configurations, and is simple to manage."

"One of the most valuable features is the One-Click Upgrade. When I need to update the system, I do it with one click. This product is amazing because everything is easy to manage, from network management to snapshots."

"The snapshots, cloning, and replication are all effective in helping to reduce downtime. It can replicate cluster data for disaster recovery and it provides high availability in case a node or a disk fails."

"Single-click upgrades are the most valuable feature. In the sector in which we work, it is tough to have downtime and arrange firmware upgrades."

"In terms of scalability, adding a number of nodes, I find that it will not be any issues."

"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has a simple, user-friendly GUI, and I also like the remote recovery capabilities. It provides a single platform for managing databases."

"It's quite easy to scale, and you have the option to have distributed nodes everywhere around the world that work as one. You can also have a solution for small branch offices with only two nodes for redundancy, and that's good enough to start."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) pros

Cons

"The cost of using the public cloud deployment is astronomical."

"The main issue with the DirectVXL appliance is that it only supports a single orchestrator or hypervisor."

"Dell needs to do a lot of work to simplify the maintenance and life-cycle upgrades for the product."

"There should be more provisioning capabilities within the solution."

"The solution's storage size could be improved."

"In the next release, I would like to see support for Docker and containers."

"The main issue with the DirectVXL appliance is that it only supports a single orchestrator or hypervisor. If multi-hypervisor support is required and VMware does not provide it, then Dell's appliance won't support it."

"We are not always advised of new features or updates, so we must research to stay up to date."

More Dell XC Appliance cons

"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure lacks compatibility with certain older processors."

"I would like to see official compatibility with Red Hat in the future."

"If we can have certified compatibility with other companies, such as Oracle, then it would let us know that they function correctly together."

"As of now, Acropolis and VMware cannot talk to each other. Until we have some kind of interface, it would be much better for Nutanix if they built an interface that can talk. Otherwise, if I have a VMware stack and I already have a Nutanix stack, I can create containers, I create clusters on VMware, I create clusters on Nutanix."

"Nutanix could streamline Acropolis' advanced management to keep pace with its competitors. For example, in VMware vSphere ESXi Hypervisor, you can directly put a host into maintenance mode via the GUI. However, it takes several steps to do this with Nutanix Acropolis, and you need to use the command-line interface for most of the steps."

"We'd like to have more resource management."

"Setup can be a little difficult"

"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's LTS version needs to be more reliable."

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is good."

"The pricing is dependent on the technology and is in direct relation to the manufacturer and the components."

"The price point is very fair for a product in this category but can vary depending on the components selected within the family of products."

"The pricing for Dell EMC solutions is quite expensive and not really made for small or medium-sized businesses."

"We received a good price from Dell."

"The product’s licensing fee is moderately expensive."

"Cost-wise, it is very good. It is like the hypervisor cost is not there. We only need to pay for the system and AOS licenses."

"When we purchase a new physical server or a couple of physical servers into our cluster, we always purchase it with Nutanix licensing. We are receiving the license from Nutanix directly and not from the vendor. In the way we're dealing, with the licenses it is a bit costly for us but as the company is getting larger, day by day or year by year, those licensing costs become lower each time for us. We are purchasing the licenses for three years for some of our clusters and for some others for five-year licenses and the licenses are still costly. We have good discounts for the licenses, but it is still expensive."

"Our customers are on three years license to use Nutanix Acropolis AOS. The price of the solution includes all features and support."

"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure could be cheaper. It's costly to upgrade the solution. There are no additional costs aside from the license."

"There is a license required for this solution and my clients usually purchase a two-year license with extended support. The price of the solution could be reduced, it is more expensive than competitors."

"The cost of Nutanix Acropolis AOS is reasonable."

"Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is expensive."

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

24%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering Dell XC Appliance?

My advice for people who are selling this product is to first make sure that you educate the customers. The customer doesn't often know much about HCI and what the need to be using it for. If they ...

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What needs improvement with Dell XC Appliance?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Dell XC Appliance?

Dell offers several benefits with its appliances. Primarily, I can combine them horizontally and vertically, reaching up to sixty-four nodes. Additionally, Dell employs its own artificial intellige...

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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 XC Appliance

Compared 42% of the time

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Dell XC Appliance

Compared 22% of the time

More Dell XC Appliance Competitors

VxRail vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Stack HCI vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 6% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 6% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 6% of the time

VMware vSAN vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Compared 5% of the time

More Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

May 2025

Download Dell XC Appliance product report

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

June 2025

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) report

Download Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) product report

Also Known As

No data available

Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Nutanix AOS, Nutanix Acropolis

Overview

XC Series hyper-converged appliances integrate Dell EMC 14th generation PowerEdge servers with Nutanix software to offer one of the industry’s most versatile and scalable hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) platforms. By supporting a choice of hypervisors, XC Series appliances can be deployed quickly for all virtualized workloads to reduce management complexity and total cost of ownership.

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

Cardlytics, AEW Energie, Aubert, Zhongtong Information Service, Commune de Villepinte, Teikyo University Hospital

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

Buyer's Guide

Dell XC Appliance vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

June 2025

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