FlexPod XCS vs VxRail comparison

The compared NetApp and Dell Technologies solutions aren't in the same category. NetApp is ranked #2 in CI , and holds a 12.3% mindshare in the category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 in HCI , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 13.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

FlexPod XCS

Read 295 FlexPod XCS reviews

3,863 Views
1,932 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

VxRail

Read 134 VxRail reviews

13,123 Views
12,467 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

FlexPod XCS

VxRail

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between FlexPod XCS and VxRail based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in Converged Infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Converged Infrastructure Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Converged Infrastructure

January 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

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

295

Ranking in other categories

Converged Infrastructure (2nd)

VxRail

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

134

Ranking in other categories

HCI (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Solutions solutions, they serve different purposes. FlexPod XCS is designed for Converged Infrastructure and holds a mindshare of 12.3%, up 8.6% compared to last year.
VxRail, on the other hand, focuses on HCI, holds 13.2% mindshare, down 19.7% since last year.

Converged Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
FlexPod XCS	12.3%
HPE ConvergedSystem	11.7%
Dell VxBlock System	9.4%
Other	66.6%

Converged Infrastructure

HCI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VxRail	13.2%
VMware vSAN	10.7%
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)	9.0%
Other	67.1%

HCI

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

Saleh Khalid

computer scientist at Imam University

Experience improved integration and cost-efficiency while facing support challenges

The best features of VxRail are its compatibility with VMware, its hyper-converged solution capabilities, and its single line of support. These are the most beneficial aspects of VxRail. I switched from the previous HP solution to Dell solution because it was a good decision. With HP servers, we dealt with a vendor for the compute servers, another vendor for the storage servers, and another vendor for the networking, which required us to manage multiple vendors. Now, we have a single team who can handle VxRail and a single line of support. We don't need anything other than that, and these are the differences we noticed after we switched.

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

"It's a kind of one-stop shop as far as support goes."

"Not a perfect ten because it could use better integration on the network side between UCS and the switching layerKnowing that everything works, having a single place to be able to find out compatibility and things like that are the biggest benefits of this solution. The fact that LACP is not supported on UCS blades isn't so great. It would be nice if it was."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the integration and ease of use."

"The most valuable feature is the one call number for support and the fact that all the documentation comes with it. They have all of the preprepared plans for the deployment model and we can just choose which one we want for VMware, etc. The hardware is all listed. We buy that and away we go. It's called validated design."

"We save days of work when doing new service deployments. With LUN clones we have a template provisioned for the image of our hypervisor on our NetApps, and we can deploy a brand new hypervisor in under an hour. Everything is scripted. We just clone a template LUN and boot from SAN, so there are no single points of failure."

"The solution is innovative. It handles virtual networking. Also, it can upgrade blades and continue working seamlessly, which is excellent."

"The solution’s validated designs for major enterprise apps in our organization are very important. It's basically become critical to our organization to have that system functioning a 100 percent of the time. If that system is not functional, then our doctors and nurses can't provide the care to the patients in an effective way. So, it's important that it is stable, works, and easy to understand."

"Our performance increase has been about 15 percent from what we previously used."

More FlexPod XCS pros

"This is a good solution if you want to deploy an ACI Environment but don't have all the necessary resources."

"This product has given us clear visibility into what we need technology-wise to grow."

"I have found the vSAN is highly flexible. The documentation is good and the interface of the solution is responsive and fast. The interface has everything you need to manage the solution, such as the VxRail and VMware integration. You can manage the hardware from within the VMware plasma pan."

"The stability is very nice. We haven't had any issues with the cluster. The cluster is very stable. No problems with slowness. Everything has been stable. It was well-architectured."

"Compared with other products, the IT administrator or IT integrator doesn't take much time to get the tool up and running."

"Initial setup is straightforward, as everything is pre-installed."

"Its ease of administration is extremely valuable. It allows me to make better use of my time for other tasks instead of maintaining systems through multiple administration consoles."

"With VxRail, we can manage the life cycle of a virtual machine."

More VxRail pros

Cons

"The biggest problem we have seen is, we were using the vStorage which comes with the NetApp environment, a kind of fiber connect. We were missing fibre channel connectivity and we got lots of I/O errors."

"The solution could be improved by including automation for user updates."

"Hardware stability needs improvement. We replaced a lot of RAM this past year. We had to replace the complete blade once after extensive troubleshooting. Any given time, we have approximately one blade down within the entire infrastructure, unfortunately."

"FlexPod was born to be used like building-block elements, to create large EDP premises. If used to create a single FlexPod CED, optional operational collaterals (backup, management, etc.) are missing, both in docs and in design."

"This solution is very hard to maintain and keep up."

"I want to use the expansion to its fullest extent, scaling by deploying 10 to 15 virtual missions in a given FlexPod."

"I would like to see synchronous replication and easier automation in the next release."

"Automatic tiering would be good to have."

More FlexPod XCS cons

"There is a limitation on the number of nodes."

"The tool needs to improve its price."

"From my perspective, the main area for improvement is the license cost, particularly for the standard vSAN offering."

"Sometimes during implementation, you can some scripting errors. And there are some issues when we update the version. There are some issues like the version will not get updated or stable at some time. Dell needs to resolve these problems, we don't waste time fixing them."

"We have issues at times with the one-click upgrade, which is bugging us. At times, the one-click upgrade does not work or does not work well."

"The initial setup was not that easy, it was a medium difficulty level."

"We would like to see integrating with Nutanix. Currently, we are working on integrating the two to see if there is any value in doing so."

"In the next release, maybe they could add in integration with the hyper-cloud so it will be easier to do the movement up and back to the cloud in order to scale in and scale out."

More VxRail cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. My company is small. When you look at the price point, this is a big thing for us to invest in."

"I find the licensing and pricing structure to be favorable."

"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."

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

"We fear high availability so we can't buy from different providers."

"You get better management and orchestration, but it still costs you money."

"The scalability is very expensive."

"It is not cheap, but there is a return on investment in time saved and efficiency."

More FlexPod XCS pricing and cost advice

"The solution can be pricey depending on the project."

"I live in Brazil, and my customers are from Brazil. It is quite an expensive solution. It is more expensive than the traditional environment."

"The tool is expensive."

"Fees vary by license type."

"It varies. It could be $100,000 at the smaller end and millions and millions of dollars at the higher end."

"The pricing for this solution is on the high end but we do get good value for money based on performance."

"There is a permanent vSAN license included since it is required, but vCenter\ESXi host licensing should be validated in the purchase process."

"We most likely pay yearly for support. The cost was justified by now because it stays up and I don't have to constantly open tickets. I probably rebooted the system once or twice. We haven't replaced any discs in the storage, we haven't had to do any disc replacements, so it just runs. You pay a little more but you cut down on the maintenance."

More VxRail 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

Marketing Services Firm

31%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Performing Arts

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

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	42
Midsize Enterprise	43
Large Enterprise	56

Questions from the Community

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What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?

While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...

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What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?

VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if the user is working with a l...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerFlex vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 15% of the time

HPE ConvergedSystem vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 10% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

Dell VxBlock System vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle Private Cloud Appliance vs FlexPod XCS

Compared 5% of the time

More FlexPod XCS Competitors

Dell PowerFlex vs VxRail

Compared 21% of the time

VMware vSAN vs VxRail

Compared 21% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs VxRail

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VxRail

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Hyper Converged vs VxRail

Compared 4% of the time

More VxRail Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FlexPod XCS

February 2026

Download FlexPod XCS product report

Buyer's Guide

VxRail

January 2026

Download VxRail product report

Also Known As

No data available

VCE VxRail

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

VxRail is a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance co-engineered by Dell Technologies and VMware, designed to optimize VMware environments by simplifying compute, storage, virtualization, and management.

Built on VMware vSAN software, VxRail ensures high performance, reliability, and flexibility. It supports a broad array of workloads, from business-critical applications to next-generation use cases. VxRail simplifies infrastructure management with powerful integration and seamless scalability, offering centralized management and user-friendly interfaces. Streamlined updates, robust lifecycle management, and one-click upgrades facilitate a user-centric experience that minimizes deployment complexity and staffing needs. However, its performance with disk deduplication, integration with public clouds, and processor support can be enhanced, along with pricing and licensing improvements.

What features define VxRail?

High Performance: Optimized for superior efficiency in VMware environments.
Seamless Scalability: Scales effortlessly to accommodate growing demands.
Centralized Management: Simplifies control through unified interfaces.
Effortless Integration: Easily integrates with VMware tools and services.
Automated Updates: Ensures ongoing system availability through streamlined updates.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Resource Efficiency: Reduces staffing requirements and optimizes resource use.
Flexibility: Supports a variety of use cases and workloads.
Reliable Support: Provides robust support to ensure operational continuity.
Reduced Complexity: Facilitates ease of deployment and minimized setup times.

Organizations across sectors such as finance, telecommunications, education, and manufacturing utilize VxRail for its scalability, ease of deployment, and infrastructure management capabilities. It aids in server and application hosting, storage, and virtualization management, often employing VMware integration. The platform is valued for its ability to consolidate IT components, support VDI solutions, and enhance cloud readiness and resource allocation.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

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

World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox

Buyer's Guide

Converged Infrastructure

January 2026

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