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HPE Apollo Systems vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 Apollo Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Density Optimized Servers (2nd)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of HPE Apollo Systems is 5.6%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is 17.2%, down from 21.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE ProLiant DL Servers17.2%
HPE Apollo Systems5.6%
Other77.2%
Rack Servers
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user1356702 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at IHiS
Nov 22, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Gökhan  DURMAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at TD SYNNEX
High-quality integration and strong support have optimized our rack server operations
HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity. When I speak about integrity, I speak about GPU integration or other integrations such as GPU integration, backup software integration, and hypervisor integration. Regarding the integration of high-speed interconnectors in HPE Apollo Systems, they impact computational tasks because the high-speed interconnect affects performance. I don't remember the specifics. Regarding the cooling technologies, they help to reduce operational costs. The positive impact I see from HPE Apollo Systems is that support is good and quality is good. In general, HPE Apollo Systems appears to be for rack servers with some optimization capabilities.
ArifSheikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Chief Business Artchitect at SMARIF
High availability servers have boosted hosted payment services but still need better local support
We are not using PowerVM because of certain limitations; it is on a back-end engine. However, we are using other components such as vSphere for some small interfaces, and those are the main components we are utilizing. Since these servers are fully dedicated to various high-end solutions, they have some embedded features that their kernel and applications are using, which are bound to that functionality. We may not provide an exact assessment on its usage, but we are considering those products for some AI solutions; however, we are currently in the review stage and have not concluded our evaluation on how those are utilized yet. We are aware of the pricing of HPE ProLiant DL servers, but not off the cuff. We have obviously acquired those solutions ex-Pakistan, so they are on the rise, and while we do not remember those prices offhand, they are generally better than the IBM series, although they are becoming slightly pricey in Pakistan due to processor shortages and demand. Improvements could be made in database engine hosting services because, as it stands, the pricing of Oracle is too high from both the service and software solution perspectives. If pricing can be reduced, especially for DB servers, that could have a direct positive impact on the overall solution. Regarding reliability, it has been satisfactory so far, but since the distributors are not physically present in Pakistan, that creates a risk for long-term large customers. They provide import-based services, necessitating us to over-invest in backup stock and offline servers. If there was a market presence from those players in Pakistan, it could benefit both clients and distributors by reducing the need for investment in backup inventory.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"HPE Apollo Systems is a good product because it has better support and best quality with integrity."
"We are running Apollo with SL-series servers and the best thing about them is the density of the storage area available."
"Not having to manage traditional NAS has made a big difference."
"Absolutely being able to mount into Omni-Path architecture, HFIs on those nodes, because we were the very first site in the world"
"Apollo Systems provide stuff that standard services do not. More HTDs, more compute power, at very reasonable pricing."
"We're going to buy another Apollo 6500. We may configure it with half the number of GPUs because that may be all we need. In a sense, we can see the Apollo 6500 being so powerful that we only need half the GPU capability that we have now."
"HPE Apollo's support is the most valuable feature."
"HPE Apollo's pricing is low, and implementation is very easy compared to other products."
"They just work, which is basically what our requirement is."
"Its reliability and after-sales support are very good."
"This is all I've ever used. These servers are strong, and they have very few failures on them. They are also easy to manage and monitor."
"ProLiant DL servers are the best on the market. The models support an extensive list of Intel processors."
"HPE ProLiant DL Servers are easy to use and the GUI is rather simple and intuitive. The Americans know how to make things beautiful. Their Japanese counterpart has outdated GUIs. There is a lot of other services and software that HPE provides for the server. The software can connect all the infrastructure to form a unified management or monitoring system."
"HPE DLs are very easy to implement, and there is a lot more manageability now than there used to be."
"We decided to switch because this solution provides more memory density."
"The solution is stable."
 

Cons

"The technical support for HPE Apollo Systems could be improved."
"The predictive analysis feature could be improved."
"Connectivity to the outside of the server needs to be improved at the same time the network is improving."
"If the workload is not purely sequential, then performance in the IO is less than optimal because it's optimized for streaming processing."
"The licensing could be greatly improved, I think."
"One drawback which I had: When I needed to expand storage on the Apollo, I had significant problems getting disks for it. It was a very long wait-time. So, if I were to give any advice in regards to improving this product, I would say make more of the 8TB disks available quicker."
"Lustre seems to be just a little bit unstable overall."
"Our first batch of Apollo servers that we got were so new that it was just hard to know kind of what to expect from HPE and what they wanted to deliver to us."
"Compared to blade servers, it could use more flexibility to expand with new features, and to connect new storage systems and so on."
"The price of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is reasonable, but because of covid and other factors, the price could be reduced."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"A lot of where they can improve the product would be related to hot flexibility."
"We don't get any support from HP because of our geographical location. We solve all problems ourselves by doing research on the internet."
"We've had issues where some components fail, but overall the system runs well."
"DL3 is not scalable. You cannot scale them versus replace scalable hardware, like going to Itanium servers."
"Its management console could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license required to use HPE Apollo."
"It is an expensive solution but it is worth the money. The standard licensing cost is for the GPU and the features that someone is using. There are additional charges but they depend on the solution."
"Compared to other products, HPE Apollo is not an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution is more expensive than Dell which is their main competitor. However, there are times we have managed to receive a comparable price."
"Obviously I would like to see the cost go down. That speaks for itself."
"It is not expensive. Its price is similar to other solutions."
"The price of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is reasonable, but because of covid and other factors, the price could be reduced. The license is paid annually."
"There are less expensive solutions than HPE ProLiant DL Servers. However, there is a lot of value in this solution."
"They need to work with Microsoft to make the licensing costs better and more efficient."
"It is just too expensive."
"I give the price a five out of ten."
"Proliant DL Servers have a reasonable cost. They are not as expensive as the Cisco servers. Everything is included when you purchase a server. You just have to install and configure it."
"I give the pricing a six out of ten."
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Answers from the Community

it_user1356702 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at IHiS
Nov 22, 2021
Nov 22, 2021
It depends on your purpose. Apollo 4200 is usually used for Backup data, Software defined storage or Big data. And for others that doesn't require disk density, we should use DL360 for cost saving.
2 out of 4 answers
TW
Solutions Architect/Team Lead - Business Data and Data Protection at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
May 26, 2020
It depends on what you actually need to do. Apollo servers are designed for significantly more disk density. If these are hypervisor hosts, the DL360s will generally be more useful. If these are standalone servers running single applications that require a lot of storage (for example, a Veeam backup server), the Apollo servers would be better.
it_user1112820 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
May 27, 2020
What services do you want to serve on your servers? It's very dependent on your answer, is it maximum ten disks Ok for you (DL360) or you want more? Do you need many PCIe slots?
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise98
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HPE Apollo?
It is too early to say what improvements HPE Apollo Systems could implement because the report still needs to come out and the customer needs to properly evaluate the solution.
What is your primary use case for HPE Apollo?
My main use case for HPE Apollo Systems is replacing many of the servers and storage boxes at one of the customer's sites to achieve workload optimization and optimized solutions. Additionally, whe...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE Apollo?
My advice for someone considering HPE Apollo Systems is that if they are looking for consolidation and their workload involves high availability requirements, or if they want to utilize GPUs, then ...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
The pricing of HPE ProLiant DL Servers depends purely on the configuration, and it is not affordable. However, if you look at the technical caliber of the server, if a customer invests that additio...
What needs improvement with HPE ProLiant DL Servers?
If I had to choose between HP and Dell, I would choose Dell's iDRAC over iLO. iLO is adequate, but Dell is much better, especially when configuring the internal storage of the server. Mostly when w...
 

Also Known As

HP Apollo Systems, HP ProLiant SL, HP Apollo
HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Weta Digital
AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Apollo Systems vs. HPE ProLiant DL Servers and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.