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 8.3, while HPE MSA is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. HPE 3PAR StoreServ holds a 9.4% mindshare in MS, compared to HPE MSA’s 19.9% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of HPE 3PAR StoreServ users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of HPE MSA users who would recommend it.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Read 302 HPE 3PAR StoreServ reviews

2,204 Views
724 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

Read 23 HPE MSA reviews

1,417 Views
1,141 Comparison Views

95% 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 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA

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

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

302

Ranking in other categories

NAS (6th), All-Flash Storage (9th)

HPE MSA

Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE 3PAR StoreServ is 9.4%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.9%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Saqib

System Engineer at Hybrid Tech

Uninterrupted upgrades accelerate performance with good support

I would rate the solution eight out of ten. It should be noted that in Pakistan, some parts are not readily available, and we need to import them from Singapore or other countries. We encountered an issue with a customer where the midplane failed and was not available. We had to wait for several days for a replacement, even in a 24/7 support case. Additionally, we faced motherboard failures in the customer's environment, encountering two motherboard failures simultaneously. We obtained one motherboard immediately, yet had to wait ten days for another. These issues should have been resolved promptly given the 24/7 support level.

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Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

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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 when we purchased it was that it was a four-node system."

"It is a really stable product. We have not had any major issues at the moment."

"I like the speed capabilities that it provides. The deduplication features definitely have some huge potential. The latest firmware, where they've enabled compression for workloads that aren't very good for deduplication, I can definitely see huge potential there."

"It all works in concert using Recovery Manager Central (RMC). HPE coordinates it all, so it is more of a solution instead of products trying to do things together."

"In the deployment of virtual servers, I can have a new VM up and running in 15 minutes, run the patches, then done. I routinely fire up base images that I have for my servers: Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2, and 2016. I routinely fire those base images up and do all the updates, then prep them again for cloning. With 3PAR, we definitely have the performance to do that. Those images I do keep on SSD just to have that performance to deploy a new VM."

"The all-flash positions our organization for growth. If somebody comes to us who needs an application with performance, we have that already formulated."

"Previously, we were using EVA from HPE. When we moved to 3PAR, we noticed a reduction in footprint, reduced by more than 30%. We use the Adaptive Optimization, giving us a reduction in cost and with better performance."

"We also use dynamic optimization to go between tiers."

More HPE 3PAR StoreServ pros

"It has notably provided scalability benefits."

"The product is very easy to deploy."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."

"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"The solution is scalable and easy to manage."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."

More HPE MSA pros

Cons

"I need flexibility for interoperability across multiple platforms, not just HPE."

"HPE could improve by raising awareness when a new product is launched. They must think of ways to better serve and engage with their enterprise customers. HPE is selling enterprise products and mission-critical support."

"I would like to see more virtualization: storage virtualization, data virtualization would be very nice."

"HPE gives you how to get everything going, but it would be nice if they could go a little deeper sometimes. That is always the case: To get the value-add, you have to pay for those services."

"I would rate the solution eight out of ten. It should be noted that in Pakistan, some parts are not readily available, and we need to import them from Singapore or other countries."

"if it were easier for us to manage the product ourselves without having to get HPE to connect, because it sometimes it does take a bit to get the scheduling worked out with the HPE support. If it were simpler, then it might be easier for us to handle it ourselves."

"The new feature sets, like deduplication and compression, are complex to work with. I hope when I view the roadmap that they will be less complex."

"Would like to see some management functions through a web interface."

More HPE 3PAR StoreServ cons

"It should show more options for cloud backup support."

"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."

"The solution requires hardware."

"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."

"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."

"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."

More HPE MSA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We don't pay for any licensing fees."

"This licensing fees for this solution are merged with all of our HP annual costs, which in total are a couple hundred thousand dollars."

"Performance is at least two times, if not three times, what we had previously."

"For the entire six node cluster and the two 7200 units plus the Brocade Fibre switches, we financed it through HPE Financial. It was $850,000. We leased that and paid it off in October of 2018."

"We have seen ROI. We are able to see more patients now, bringing more money into the practice."

"It has greatly reduced my management overhead time."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"Making the decisions to buy it can be complex."

More HPE 3PAR StoreServ pricing and cost advice

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

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Comparison Review

it_user182013

Federal Civ/Intel Engineering Lead at Rubrik

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

Educational Organization

87%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE 3PAR StoreServ?

The compression features are good.

See all answers

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

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

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

See all answers

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

I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

It needs more details on how to integrate with the cloud for backup scenarios. It should show more options for cloud backup support.

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE Alletra Storage vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 22% of the time

HPE Primera vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 21% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Compared 7% of the time

Dell Unity XT 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 48% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

Compared 26% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 8% of the time

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA

Compared 3% of the time

More HPE MSA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE 3PAR StoreServ

March 2025

Download HPE 3PAR StoreServ product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

March 2025

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 is an AI-driven storage solution that prevents issues before they occur by learning and adjusting in real time. The solution offers a tier-1 all-flash foundation for mission-critical workloads. HPE 3PAR StoreServ was designed with more than 3M IOPS and consistent sub-ms latency. It aims to transform midrange and enterprise deployments with solutions that scale from a few TBs to more than 20PBs. In addition, the solution is built to modernize data centers and is made to handle unpredictable workloads effortlessly. By implementing HPE 3PAR StoreServ, you gain automated and rapid provisioning, hardware-accelerated deduplication and compression, and a multi-tenant design.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Features

HPE 3PAR StoreServ has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Flexibility: With HPE 3PAR StoreServ, you can easily deploy highly configurable, scale-out storage for multi-tenant workloads.

Always-on availability for your data: HPE 3PAR StoreServ includes an always-on resilient storage infrastructure for your hypervisors and applications. In addition, with Peer Persistence, your virtual machines (VMs), hosts, and data can move freely across data centers rather than being constrained by their physical boundaries.

Fast, scalable performance: HPE 3PAR StoreServ enables you to accelerate consistent mixed-workload performance and also provides necessary QoS levels that are optimized for your highest priority applications.

Performance insights: HPE 3PAR StoreServ helps you gain performance insights in real time, and anticipate as well as prevent issues across the infrastructure stack by utilizing cross-stack analytics.

Flash optimized data protection: With tier-1 data services, multi-tenant security, and copy data management, you can avoid downtime.

Seamless data mobility: HPE 3PAR StoreServ makes it possible for you to not only experience converged data protection, but also experience seamless data mobility services, at flash speed, from the edge to the cloud.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing HPE 3PAR StoreServ. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Easy to manage. The web interface to manage the units is a great asset and one that makes managing storage easy.

User-friendly GUI

Exceptionally fast and well-managed replication
Low latency

Hybrid storage gives you the ability to assign different roles to different types of storage arrays inside one enclosure

Both file-level and block-level replication

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the HPE 3PAR StoreServ solution.

A SAN Consultant at a tech services company says, “One of the features that I like the most is the data replication element. The reason I like it is due to the fact that it's pretty clean on replicating data over to a second site. The product stands on its own in heavy enterprise environments. It's easy to make changes without affecting the environment. The solution is very easy to use. The product is very robust and offers very good performance.”

A Storage Manager at a financial services firm mentions, "There are a lot of screens for easy management where you can change some settings. But after a few years, the important settings were better after an upgrade, and all the vendors have other ways to upgrade their systems."

A Senior IT Infrastructure & Data Center Operation Engineer at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) comments, “The adaptive optimization is the biggest feature in 3PAR. 3PAR is very usable with thin volume because it detects zeros while writing. Every time I tell the hypervisor to make the full provisioning, it makes the volume as simple provisioning in 3PAR, not full provisioning.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

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 2025

Free Report: HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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