HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA comparison

HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE MSA are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. HPE 3PAR StoreServ is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while HPE MSA is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.0. HPE 3PAR StoreServ holds a 11.8% mindshare in MS, compared to HPE MSA’s 10.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of HPE 3PAR StoreServ users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of HPE MSA users who would recommend it.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Read 304 HPE 3PAR StoreServ reviews

12,432 Views
2,984 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

Read 26 HPE MSA reviews

2,280 Views
2,234 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

HPE MSA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE MSA compete in the enterprise storage category. HPE 3PAR StoreServ appears to have the upper hand with its advanced features and performance capabilities tailored for mid-range enterprises, while HPE MSA is a cost-effective choice suitable for small businesses.

Features: HPE 3PAR StoreServ supports SSD, SAS, and SATA in one unified solution, features transparent failover for enhanced reliability, and delivers impressive performance through adaptive optimization and thin provisioning. HPE MSA is appreciated for its affordability, providing stable performance and essential storage functions for smaller setups.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that HPE 3PAR StoreServ could improve its monitoring, reporting, and GUI management interfaces, as well as offer more flexible licensing options. HPE MSA could benefit from enhanced scalability, better cloud integration, and more streamlined licensing models.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE MSA are mainly used in on-premises environments. HPE MSA is designed with hybrid cloud adaptability. Both products receive high praise for customer service and technical support, although HPE 3PAR may involve more complex support interactions.

Pricing and ROI: HPE 3PAR StoreServ is considered a more expensive solution, suitable for enterprises requiring high performance and scalability, with value returned through significant operational efficiencies. HPE MSA stands out for its cost-effectiveness, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses, although costs can rise with additional features.

To learn more, read our detailed HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA

April 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.2

HPE 3PAR StoreServ offers varying ROI, with benefits in performance and efficiency, though not all users see measurable returns.

Sentiment score

6.8

HPE MSA provides cost-effective storage solutions, optimizing business operations and delivering substantial monetary savings and better returns.

If they're investing in 3PAR, they are getting a good return.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

It certainly shows a return on investment with HPE MSA, but we have framework contracts with special prices for the HP hardware, so I am not sure that our return on investment calculation corresponds to what other people should have.

Jacques Petit

Administrative Assistant at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.3

HPE 3PAR StoreServ support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, despite occasional language barriers and regional satisfaction variations.

Sentiment score

7.4

HPE MSA support is mostly effective and reliable, but improvements in response times and proactive measures are needed.

If we activate the 3PAR call home function, then the remote technician always has access to our StoreServ and provides strong suggestions to improve our 3PAR performance.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

I would rate technical support a three out of five due to the lack of effectiveness in preventing recurring problems.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

HPE 3PAR StoreServ is praised for scalability, ease of expansion, and adaptability, despite some complexity in older versions.

Sentiment score

7.5

HPE MSA is scalable for small to medium businesses, offering easy expansion and positive feedback on workload hosting capabilities.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

It is more profitable to use HPE MSA because if you run out of space, you can expand the capacity of the array using expansion enclosures, making it more flexible and profitable.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

HPE MSA's scalability benefits are notable as its speed and performance are good.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

HPE 3PAR StoreServ offers reliable performance with minimal downtime, quick issue resolution, and effective support for seamless operations.

Sentiment score

8.4

HPE MSA is highly reliable and stable, excelling in performance and compatibility, despite occasional hard disk concerns.

HPE 3PAR is a very stable solution from HPE, and people have been using this for more than five years.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

My experience with the stability and performance of HPE 3PAR StoreServ involved one crash, which was caused by failing hardware.

Cyril Omatsola

Information Systems & Security Administrator at a government with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

I faced issues with hard disk reliability, as they frequently fail and risk losing redundancy.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Room For Improvement

HPE 3PAR StoreServ users seek improved UI, simplified updates, enhanced virtualization, better reporting, scalability, cloud integration, and support.

HPE MSA requires better scalability, GUI, replication, cloud integration, security, performance, and affordable support, addressing user concerns.

In Pakistan, some parts are not readily available, and we need to import them from Singapore or other countries.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

We just need to verify whether our current virtual server setup is acceptable to the RBI, as they had raised questions about the VSO, ISO configurations we had implemented.

reviewer1568910

Asst. Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

HPE 3PAR StoreServ might be missing certain features available in newer products.

Cyril Omatsola

Information Systems & Security Administrator at a government with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

Data security features are more important to me than anything else, and I think HPE MSA lacks in this area.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

If it could be a hybrid with SSDs and hard disks, then it would be more economical and efficient.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Setup Cost

HPE 3PAR StoreServ pricing varies widely, with negotiation potential; performance and reliability often justify initial and ongoing costs.

HPE MSA's pricing is high with costly support and licensing, but users value responsive support; better pricing could aid businesses.

It is expensive, however, when we compare it to the features provided by HPE, the price-to-performance ratio is very good.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

Any customer will always ask for the cheaper price.

reviewer1568910

Asst. Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

The pricing of HPE MSA is not deemed reasonable.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Valuable Features

HPE 3PAR StoreServ is ideal for enterprises, offering easy management, high performance, scalability, reliability, and seamless system integration.

HPE MSA is praised for its ease of management, scalability, robust features, and suitability for SMBs due to reliable performance.

There is no downtime when we upgrade our 3PAR systems.

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

We are expecting on-site support, which is the main benefit we are getting with HP.

reviewer1568910

Asst. Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

I find the HPE 3PAR StoreServ valuable for its ease of use and resilience, which is beneficial.

Cyril Omatsola

Information Systems & Security Administrator at a government with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ report

The most useful feature of HPE MSA is VAAI, which are the functions embedded in the system, allowing operations on the server or storage without using server CPU, making it easier.

Jacques Petit

Administrative Assistant at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office

I found that its scalability benefited my organization, especially in larger settings.

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

In terms of disaster recovery, we can define global spares in HPE MSA. When one disk fails, a global spare is automatically allocated to that particular disk, which saves the data.

Kirihettige Anton Asiri Prasad

Systems Engineer at Thakral One (Pvt) Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE MSA report

Categories and Ranking

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

304

Ranking in other categories

NAS (8th), All-Flash Storage (11th)

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE 3PAR StoreServ is 11.8%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 10.3%, down from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HPE 3PAR StoreServ	11.8%
HPE MSA	10.3%
Other	77.9%

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Cyril Omatsola

Information Systems & Security Administrator at a government with 501-1,000 employees

Ease of use in data center boosts resilience and infrastructure efficiency

I find the HPE 3PAR StoreServ valuable for its ease of use and resilience, which is beneficial. The main benefits I have seen from having HPE 3PAR StoreServ include its use at a small branch I managed for about three years with around 60 users. It operates effectively because it is an HPE product we use there. I have not experienced any significant issues besides occasional IT-related ones, such as local database problems. Since handing over the administration of the system to someone else and moving to another department, there have not been any issues. There are many features that exist but I haven't needed to try. Before moving out of that role in my organization, I knew it was a product I enjoyed working with for infrastructure purposes. After completing my new role, I intend to return to infrastructure.

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Jacques Petit

Administrative Assistant at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office

Ease of management and seamless storage optimization empower effective data handling

The user web interface is a bit slow, but it is really easy to use, although you still have to wait a bit when you send an operation. We have had some drive failures, but with the redundancy, we had no data loss. We just had to replace the disk, and it goes automatically well. The main difficulty is the firmware upgrade of disks, as it means stopping all the servers to make the upgrade. It would be beneficial to have it done in the background, stopping a disk and upgrading it while keeping the system running. Regarding responsiveness of the web interface, the same issue exists with iLO on the servers, where the interface is also a bit slow. However, with the new servers, it is always faster. The small CPU dedicated to that task does not have a lot of power since it is not the main task of the machine, making it less of a real problem and just a question of responsiveness.

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 1, 2015

Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR

Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	73
Midsize Enterprise	74
Large Enterprise	170

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE Primera?

HPE Primera has many great features but one of the best is that it is very easy to deploy. From an overall perspective, it is reliable, easy to set up, stable, and offers quality block storage. All...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE 3PAR StoreServ?

As a customer, I always prefer to have a lower price. Any customer will always ask for the cheaper price.

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What needs improvement with HPE 3PAR StoreServ?

I have no specific ideas for improvement at present. We just need to verify whether our current virtual server setup is acceptable to the RBI, as they had raised questions about the VSO, ISO config...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

I did not compare the cost of HPE MSA with others because we buy with a framework contract, and HP is the only brand available on that contract, so we have no comparison.

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What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

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What is your primary use case for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

We use HPE MSA as storage for the VMware servers, and we will try to use Proxmox server later on, but currently, we use VMware.

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE Primera vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 6% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 6% of the time

NetApp AFF vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 6% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 5% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 4% of the time

More HPE 3PAR StoreServ Competitors

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE MSA

Compared 26% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

Compared 12% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 11% of the time

Infortrend ESVA Storage Array vs HPE MSA

Compared 8% of the time

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA

Compared 6% of the time

More HPE MSA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

May 2026

Download HPE 3PAR StoreServ product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

May 2026

Download HPE MSA product report

Also Known As

HPE 3PAR Flash Storage, InServ, Storeserv, 3PAR Flash Storage, HP Enterprise Storage, 3PAR Flash Array, HP 3PAR Flash Storage

HP StorageWorks MSA

Overview

HPE 3PAR StoreServ offers unparalleled performance and flexibility for enterprise storage needs. It is highly valued for its manageability and advanced capabilities, making it ideal for mission-critical workloads.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ is a high-performance storage system known for its ease of use and robust architecture. It supports seamless upgrades and is adaptable to evolving technology, making it an excellent choice for electronic medical records, virtualization, and centralized data management. With integration capabilities supporting applications like SQL Server, VMware, and SAP, it effectively meets diverse business needs.

What are the key features of HPE 3PAR StoreServ?

Ease of Use: Simplifies management tasks with an intuitive interface.
Reliability: Offers high availability and robust architecture for mission-critical workloads.
Flash Storage: Provides fast data access and improved performance.
Dynamic Provisioning: Enhances scalability and resource allocation.
Data Deduplication: Reduces storage costs by eliminating duplicate data.
Tiered Storage: Optimizes data storage with automated tiering.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating HPE 3PAR StoreServ?

Performance: Handles demanding workloads with efficiency.
Scalability: Grows with enterprise needs without compromising performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with existing systems and applications.
Proactive Support: Ensures smooth operation with timely updates and support.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ is employed in industries like healthcare and finance, supporting applications such as Oracle databases and SAP. It enhances data processing and provides essential storage for virtual and real-time applications, meeting the rigorous demands of sectors requiring reliable and high-performance storage solutions.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HPE MSA is a reliable storage solution offering dual controllers and easy management, ideal for SMBs. Known for stability, scalability, and affordability, it is user-friendly with features like autonomic tiering and robust disaster recovery, serving virtualization environments and data centers.

With dual controllers and simplified setup, HPE MSA is tailored for ease of management and high reliability. Its design supports scalability and cost-effective operation, catering well to SMBs. Autonomic tiering, snapshots, and data deduplication enhance its performance, while strong integration and flexibility solidify its role in robust operations. Despite benefits, users note expensive support contracts and desires for improved features like synchronized replication and cloud connectivity. Improvements in data security and integration, along with better firmware updates and monitoring tools, are suggested. Its functionality spans NAS, SAN storage, managing VMware clusters, and hosting varied workloads, fitting well into infrastructures like hotels and hospitals.

What are the key features of HPE MSA?

Dual Controllers: Facilitates high availability by allowing seamless failover.
Simple Management: User-friendly interface for easy configuration and monitoring.
Autonomic Tiering: Automatically optimizes data placement for performance.
Snapshots and Data Deduplication: Enhance data protection and storage efficiency.
Transparent Operations: Ensures minimal disruption during operations.
Flexible Integration: Offers adaptability with power and network options.
Disaster Recovery: Reliable with global spare support.

What should users expect in terms of benefits and ROI?

Cost-Effectiveness: Affordable for SMBs, providing excellent ROI.
Scalability: Flexibility to grow with organizational needs.
Performance Stability: Consistent performance, even during power outages.
Easy Configuration: Simplifies setup and management to save time and resources.

HPE MSA finds applications in virtualization, data centers, and CCTV systems. Organizations leverage it for NAS and SAN storage, making it suitable for VMware clusters and workloads like file servers and databases. Its scalability makes it adaptable for hotels, hospitals, and government projects, integrating with server services for centralized management.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

Just Energy, Latisys, team AG, DreamWorks, BlueShore Financial, Erasmus MC

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Buyer's Guide

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA

April 2026

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