FlexPod XCS vs Rackspace OpenStack comparison

NetApp and Rackspace Technology are both solutions in the Converged Infrastructure category. NetApp is ranked #2, while Rackspace Technology is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.7. NetApp holds a 12.6% mindshare in CI, compared to Rackspace Technology’s 6.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Rackspace Technology users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

4,915 Views
2,605 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Rackspace OpenStack

Read 12 Rackspace OpenStack reviews

895 Views
349 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

Rackspace OpenStack

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Rackspace OpenStack and FlexPod XCS are competing in the cloud infrastructure category. Rackspace OpenStack has the upper hand in scalability and flexibility due to its open-source nature, while FlexPod XCS shines in performance and integration through its pre-engineered solutions.

Features: Rackspace OpenStack offers an open-source architecture with a high degree of customization options, making it ideal for those needing extensive control over their cloud environments. It supports scalability and seamless integration with various third-party tools, enhancing cloud deployment flexibility. FlexPod XCS provides integrated infrastructure utilizing Cisco and NetApp technologies, ensuring performance optimization and reliability. Its design enables simplified deployment and excellent scalability, supporting robust performance for high-demand workloads.

Room for Improvement: Rackspace OpenStack could improve by simplifying its deployment process and enhancing user interface usability for less tech-savvy users. Supporting more out-of-the-box integrations with popular enterprise applications could also increase its attractiveness. Additionally, offering better documentation and educational resources might help users maximize the platform's capabilities. FlexPod XCS might benefit from more competitive pricing models to reach a broader audience. Its hardware dependence may limit customization options, suggesting potential enhancements towards software-defined configurations. Furthermore, expanding its integration capabilities with non-Cisco or NetApp solutions could also add value for diverse IT environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Rackspace OpenStack requires a more intricate deployment process due to its customization options; however, it excels in offering tailored customer support that helps users address specific needs. FlexPod XCS boasts a simpler deployment process due to its pre-integrated design, reducing the time and complexity involved in setup. Its customer service benefits from industry partnerships, providing a robust support network.

Pricing and ROI: Rackspace OpenStack typically features lower upfront costs owing to its open-source nature, presenting a favorable ROI for businesses capable of managing in-house solutions. On the other hand, FlexPod XCS demands a higher initial investment due to its engineered infrastructure but potentially offers better ROI over time by minimizing operational complexities and maximizing efficiency. Businesses should weigh the cost savings of OpenStack's flexibility against FlexPod's reduced management overhead and enhanced productivity.

To learn more, read our detailed FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

March 2026

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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

FlexPod XCS

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

295

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Rackspace OpenStack

Ranking in Converged Infrastructure

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.6%, up from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackspace OpenStack is 6.6%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS	12.6%
Rackspace OpenStack	6.6%
Other	80.8%

Converged Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

John Kevin

Deputy IT Manager at MBBank

Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems

The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.

Read full review

Hai Dinh Van

Cloud Center Manager at FPT

Open-source nature enables seamless cloud management and customer transition

We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers The open-source nature of OpenStack provides significant value. It allows for three-word cloud management, maintaining a stable customer…

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 really like the architecture and I like the fact that on the storage side I can swap it out. Right now I'm on NetApp, I might go to Pure Storage. I have the flexibility. But as far as the equipment itself, the way it's all bundled together, from the UCS perspective, its rock solid."

"I can leverage its multiple storage abilities. We have various kinds of storage in our environment, like IBM or NetApp. We can mix those types of storage with the FlexPod environment."

"It is definitely easier for us to maintain and do build-outs, so it takes a lot less time to set things up for the customer."

"The most valuable features are that the solution is vetted and validated and it's supported end-to-end."

"The virtual environment is a lot more efficient than physical boxes."

"The flexibility, operational efficiency, and scalability of FlexPod has been a huge factor for us because our customers have workloads that need to run on classical HTTPs, flash storage, or possibly in the cloud. This flexibility and enhanced ability of the solution is very important for this. We trust in it."

"The solution’s validated designs for major enterprise apps are also extremely important in our organization. We don't always have time to research products and solutions ourselves. By going with a validated design, we're assured that it's the latest and greatest. It's supported by the three major vendors that we deal with."

"For anyone who needs the flexibility of moving around profiles from physical device to physical device, it really adds an additional layer of virtualization."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"The documentation was plentiful and very helpful."

"The solution is stable."

"It created a reusable library with OpenStack features."

"I like its integration with GitLab and its simplicity. OpenStack has a lot of third-party libraries that it uses."

"The most valuable feature is the customization. With the customization you can really give the customers what they want."

"It was a very flexible and scalable solution. It was very useful because we were not dependent on a single vendor's solution. Increasing the number of machines or changing the hardware configuration was very easy."

"Rackspace OpenStack is stable and reliable, often compared favorably against other solutions."

"Administrators are very comfortable with the functionality and services OpenStack offers."

More Rackspace OpenStack pros

Cons

"Make it easier to refresh hardware. We got to the point where we couldn't fix vulnerabilities without refreshing the hardware, then that became a little too expensive for us to do."

"The interface is a little convoluted."

"I would like to see drag and drop connectivity to Azure and Amazon."

"Setting up a Cisco USC environment can be complex."

"If they could reduce some of the complexity at the system manager level for ONTAP. I find it gives a lot of flexibility. You can do as much or as little as you want. But to be able to do as little as you want, you do have to do a lot. So, if they could bring that down to a more manageable effort level, that would be nice and simplify it a bit."

"I would like to see the following: Support for multiple vendors' hardware; support for SAN with Cisco 9000 switches; automated deployment and configuration with respect to CVD."

"I would like to see better operations, a single pane of glass to manage and monitor the entire design across VMware, Cisco, etc. I would also like the upgrade process to be a little smoother."

"The procedure for contacting technical support could be simplified."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"OpenStack's UI, while user-friendly, could be improved to offer a more intuitive experience."

"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."

"OpenStack is difficult for the novice in terms of beginning to use cloud tools."

"It could use more examples in different languages (API use cases)."

"The seamless integration between MySQL services and the rabbitMQ database can be revised during the debugging phase."

"It should have a single dashboard for cloud management and on-premises systems"

"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."

"So for the main stability, there have been a couple of issues that I've experienced."

More Rackspace OpenStack cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not going to save you money, but that is not the point. The opportunity to stay competitive in the marketplace is not a cost."

"We have saved time and money for new service deployments."

"Make sure you are buying for performance, not just capacity."

"We can just swap in new equipment or hardware as we need, which has probably saved us several weeks."

"We have saved money using FlexPod. We have saved time and money for new service deployments."

"We have saved time and money for new service deployments. Without FlexPod, it probably takes about ten hours. With FlexPod, within two hours, we are up and running. So, we have seen about an 80 percent time decrease."

"Licensing can be interesting with the new version because of the Intersight integration. I don't know what that looks like yet. I have seen some of the different licensing models, but with the new purchasing, all customers are going to have to buy some sort of Intersight licensing with the Blades or FlexPod. I am curious to see how that option shakes out. Previous to the UCS X-Series, the licensing was the same."

"The footprint in the data center is quite large, especially when you scale out. Maybe find some hardware in the future, where if a new blade comes out, then Cisco can say, "Look, we'll buy those blades back off you, and we'll give you this blade for X amount of money." A buyback scheme would be good for hardware, and even NetApp as well. Something like a buyback scheme for blades and stuff moving forward would be good, because I know that they're going to put more power into them. E.g., replacing four blades might equal one blade, which would be awesome, but we are still going to have those four blades around. Maybe having something where it will give you this much money for these blades so we can upgrade. That would be perfect."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is low."

"I use it as an open-source tool."

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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

Marketing Services Firm

28%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Performing Arts

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	66
Large Enterprise	182

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What needs improvement with Rackspace OpenStack?

The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market. It would be beneficial to see developments in features like threat prevention and analytics tools for network security within OpenStack.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rackspace OpenStack?

We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Rackspace OpenStack?

I would rate Rackspace OpenStack an eight out of ten. This solution effectively maintains a stable environment and provides excellent customer support.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 10% of the time

AMAX CloudMax OpenStack vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 9% of the time

Fujitsu PRIMEFLEX vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 9% of the time

VMware vSAN vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 5% of the time

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VMware vSAN vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 17% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 16% of the time

VxRail vs Rackspace OpenStack

Compared 9% of the time

More Rackspace OpenStack Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

March 2026

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

Rackspace OpenStack

March 2026

Download Rackspace OpenStack product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpenStack

Overview

FlexPod XCS is the secure platform your applications need from edge to cloud. Easily manage your suite of cloud-native, edge, and enterprise apps. Integrate advanced cloud services without compromising performance, security, reliability, or scale.

NetApp

OpenStack is an open and scalable cloud operating system for building public and private clouds. It provides both large and small organizations an alternative to closed cloud environments, reducing the risk of lock-in associated with proprietary platforms.

Rackspace Technology

Sample Customers

University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group

X.commerce

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

March 2026

Free Report: FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack

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