HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs HPE Synergy comparison

The compared HPE ProLiant DL Servers and HPE Synergy solutions aren't in the same category. HPE ProLiant DL Servers is ranked #2 in Rack Servers , with an average rating of 9.3, and holds a 21.8% mindshare in the category. HPE Synergy is ranked #1 in Blade Servers , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 20.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of HPE ProLiant DL Servers users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of HPE Synergy users who would recommend it.

HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Read 157 HPE ProLiant DL Servers reviews

9,252 Views
6,821 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

HPE Synergy

Read 90 HPE Synergy reviews

2,408 Views
1,668 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

HPE ProLiant DL Servers

HPE Synergy

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

HPE ProLiant DL Servers and HPE Synergy compete in the enterprise server market. HPE Synergy appears to have the upper hand due to its composable infrastructure, allowing resources to be easily re-utilized and offering flexibility for managing complex workloads.

Features: HPE ProLiant DL Servers are recognized for their reliability, scalability, and robust platform. They provide excellent management tools like iLO and ensure high performance with competitive pricing. HPE Synergy is appreciated for its composable infrastructure, which enables easy resource re-utilization and workload management flexibility. It integrates effectively with HPE OneView for central management, enhancing server configuration and deployment flexibility.

Room for Improvement: HPE ProLiant DL Servers could benefit from improved power usage monitoring, quicker boot times, and lower costs. Enhancements in manageability and support features are also suggested. HPE Synergy users would like improved integration with other products, faster networking options, simplified templates, and increased storage capabilities. Improvements in firmware stability and workload diversity support would be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both HPE ProLiant DL Servers and HPE Synergy are suitable for on-premises deployments demanding reliability and high performance. HPE ProLiant DL Servers are praised for efficient customer service and rapid problem-solving. HPE Synergy offers responsive support, although its complex features require more specialized assistance, affecting overall user satisfaction with support responsiveness slightly.

Pricing and ROI: HPE ProLiant DL Servers are cost-effective, with some users noting licensing costs as a consideration. They are favored for delivering good ROI due to their stability and reliability. HPE Synergy, although more expensive, justifies its cost through superior flexibility and its ability to manage complex workloads efficiently. Its pricing is competitive but often higher than alternatives, making a positive impact on infrastructure costs due to high capacity and consolidated management features.

To learn more, read our detailed Rack Servers Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Rack Servers

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 860,168 peers since 2012

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 ProLiant DL Servers

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

157

Ranking in other categories

Rack Servers (2nd)

HPE Synergy

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Blade Servers (1st), Composable Infrastructure (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are IT Hardware and Infrastructure solutions, they serve different purposes. HPE ProLiant DL Servers is designed for Rack Servers and holds a mindshare of 21.8%, up 21.5% compared to last year.
HPE Synergy, on the other hand, focuses on Blade Servers, holds 20.6% mindshare, down 21.8% since last year.

Rack Servers

Blade Servers

Featured Reviews

SHIVAKUMAR A P

Country Manager - Emerging Business at Orbit Techsol

With an easy setup phase in place, it is suitable for small and large-sized businesses

When you speak of any enhancements in the product, you need to shift to the tool's commercial mode. You get more features in the solution if you pour in more money. If a customer needs some features in the solution, they will have to buy it since certain features are not loaded by default in the server. With entry-level licenses, servers are shipped to customers free of cost. Customers need to pay if they want more and more features in the solution. Every OEM solution in the market, including HPE ProLiant DL, operates similarly. The overall cost of the product needs to be lower, as it is one of the areas of concern in the product.

Read full review

CarlosArdila

Project Manager, Information Technology at Telelago

Helps grow horizontally or vertically within one box or chassis

The initial setup is very easy. We deployed this in two days, including installation, system setup, firmware upgrades, configuration, and network connection. By the next day, we were already deploying virtual machines. We initially began with the Blade system. As the migration to SAP HANA approached, it seemed prudent to upgrade our hardware. Consequently, we facilitated their transition from the Blade system to Synergy. Subsequently, we collaborated closely with the SAP consultancy company to oversee the migration process, ensuring seamless integration of all workloads and sub-environments. We have four people working on the deployment, including a project manager, two specialists, and one tech support.

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

"The pricing of the product is fair and not too expensive."

"Stability is where HPE dominates competitors like Dell and Cisco. The servers are highly reliable, and we are impressed with the technology HPE offers."

"The product is compatible and flexible for small and medium businesses."

"Its reliability and after-sales support are very good."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"The technical support from HPE ProLiant DL Servers is very good. We can contact them through various means and they are responsive, they are quick."

"The solution is highly scalable."

"Support is the most valuable feature of the solution."

More HPE ProLiant DL Servers pros

"Support is very helpful."

"We like that the solution can be arranged for an all-in-one single pane of glass, something our customers find important."

"It makes it simpler for me to manage my environment. It is one pane of glass, compared to multiple."

"Being able to connect my 3PAR arrays to the Synergy platform is the most valuable aspect to me."

"Synergy is much easier to use, which is saving us time. We are able to set the profiles for firmware upgrades. This makes the process for the care and feeding of the IT environment much simpler, quicker, and cleaner."

"It allows for easy management."

"It gives us ease of use. It's nice because we don't have to mess with networking once it's set up. Once it's done, we just put another blade in and go from there. We don't have to go back in, run more cables, deal with more data center stuff. We stick a blade in, use the server profile template, build out a server profile from that, and it just goes."

"For me, this is the best frame server technology available in the market. We can compare it to Cisco UCS. It is robust and stable, and it is also easy to deploy and scale. Their support is the best."

More HPE Synergy pros

Cons

"The scalability of Gen8 models should be improved. They can also improve its price."

"A better option would be same day support, not next business day."

"It is too expensive. Its price should be improved. The system admin interface should have better visibility while troubleshooting a problem, even when the problem is coming from the application."

"Sometimes, there are connectivity issues and the server is not able to connect to our SAN."

"We would like to see remote monitoring capabilities added."

"They are pretty solid servers, but, just like all servers, they become obsolete after some time. They can maybe provide a console to monitor the health of the servers. There should be some kind of console to which you can log in to remotely check on the health of a server, even when the server is off. The servers that we have are only scalable to some extent. They have got a limited amount of hard drive that you can insert. Their scalability should be improved."

"The support lifecycle for the product for the Telco application should be better."

"They can increase the controller cache. Currently, it has a controller cache of up to 4 GB. The RAID controller card comes with a maximum of 4 GB cache in HPE servers, whereas it comes with a maximum of 8 GB cache in Dell servers. They can also improve the port size. HP provides a 25 GB port on the server, whereas both Dell and Cisco provide a 100 GB port."

More HPE ProLiant DL Servers cons

"Product documentation is disorganized."

"The initial setup was complex. It was slow and just didn't work. Even HPE couldn't make it work for 45 days."

"I would like it to connect to the HPE Cloud Connect compute platform for simplicity of our infrastructure."

"We'd like to see faster networking in the back-end."

"One of the features I want to see, which I will see with OneView 5.0, is to have all the OneView consoles in a single pane of glass. That will make it easy to see everything in one place and not have to log in to multiple consoles."

"A big thing for me is moving InfoSight for ProLiant into OneView, or at least connecting it. Today we have to use the iLO Amplifier Pack and that would require us to reconfigure iLO on every single one of the servers, independently, to get that data into InfoSight. We're really looking for a single control and management plane."

"I would like the ability to take the storage tray that is in a chassis and share it out to multiple chassis, not just the servers within the same chassis. This would be more efficient with resources."

"We had an issue during the initial setup with the 40 Gigabyte cards. They weren’t working, so we had to work really closely with HPE support to get them to work."

More HPE Synergy cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is just too expensive."

"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 cost a ten out of ten."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"I like the price of this product and the add-on components. It is cheaper than Dell and is a one-time hardware purchase with minimal ongoing costs."

"If you have to include the warranty, enhance the warranty support."

"I give the price a five out of ten."

"This is an expensive product and there is licensing required for iLO, which is the HPE monitoring system."

More HPE ProLiant DL Servers pricing and cost advice

"In our whole environment, the cost is in the millions. On this particular chassis, the annual cost is 12 blades times approximately $40,000."

"The licensing is more around the software for RGS, because we are deploying bare metal installs. It is mainly the operating system and any lights-out management. So, licensing is minimum. We are licensing it annually."

"Synergy has lowered our total cost of ownership significantly. I would say ballpark around 25 percent, maybe more."

"We are satisfied with its price."

"We bought everything outright to start with. We don't do much consumption-based stuff."

"We do a biannual renewal. I know how much that renewal is, but I don't know how much it breaks down to be just Synergy, since we have our VMware, all of our physical equipment, etc. all rolled up into one renewal, which is a little over $300,000 every two years. However, only a subset of that is the Synergy product."

"The biggest cost is the VMware licensing."

"The solution can be expensive because it requires both hardware and software purchases."

More HPE Synergy pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rack Servers solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE ProLiant DL Servers?

The most valuable feature of the solution is HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProLiant DL Servers?

The product is expensive. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. On the needs of the customers, the product offers a lot of suppor...

See all answers

How would you choose between HPE's Bladesystem and Synergy?

For me, choosing between HPE’s Bladesystem and Synergy came down to which solution was more powerful, reliable, and stable. It turns out Bladesystem was the winner. Bladesystem is excellent because...

See all answers

What do you like most about HPE Synergy?

It is a good product for hypervisors.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Synergy?

Pricing in the blade server market is very competitive, with HPE offering a competitive price. Competitor products include Dell's MX series and Cisco's UCS X series.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Compared 46% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Compared 23% of the time

IBM Power Systems vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Compared 6% of the time

HPE Apollo Systems vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers vs HPE ProLiant DL Servers

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE ProLiant DL Servers Competitors

HPE BladeSystem vs HPE Synergy

Compared 23% of the time

Dell PowerEdge M vs HPE Synergy

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco UCS B-Series vs HPE Synergy

Compared 8% of the time

HPE Superdome X vs HPE Synergy

Compared 4% of the time

HPE Apollo Systems vs HPE Synergy

Compared 4% of the time

More HPE Synergy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE ProLiant DL Servers

June 2025

Download HPE ProLiant DL Servers product report

Buyer's Guide

HPE Synergy

June 2025

Download HPE Synergy product report

Also Known As

HP ProLiant DL series, HP ProLiant DL

No data available

Overview

HPE ProLiant DL Servers are utilized by organizations for tasks like virtualization, database hosting, and application hosting, deployed both on-premises and in private clouds for diverse needs.

Organizations depend on HPE ProLiant DL Servers for stability, performance, and reliability. They are essential for running active directories, enterprise applications, and handling high-performance computing. These servers are known for their easy setup, scalability, and extensive management capabilities like iLO. Offering compatibility with many components and energy efficiency, they provide reliable hardware and good performance under demanding conditions. However, there is a need for improved price, stability, scalability, airflow, and power consumption. Enhancements in controller cache, port sizes, SAN connectivity, support availability, and management interface are also required. Faster technical support, better documentation, simplified configurations, and enhanced monitoring features and security integration would benefit users.

What are the key features?

Easy Setup: Quick and straightforward deployment.
Scalability: Adaptable to growing business needs.
Extensive Management: Features like iLO for advanced control.
Energy Efficiency: Optimized for lower power consumption.
Compatibility: Works well with various components.
Reliable Hardware: Robust and dependable technology.
Redundancy: Ensures high availability and minimal downtime.

What are the benefits and ROI?

High Performance: Excellent for demanding computing tasks.
User-Friendly: Easy to maintain and operate.
Flexibility: Versatile for different applications.
Good Technical Support: Access to professional assistance.

HPE ProLiant DL Servers are implemented across industries like finance for active directories and payment solutions, education for virtual desktops, healthcare for database synchronization, and IT firms for high-performance computing and application hosting.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HPE Synergy, the first platform built from the ground up for Composable Infrastructure, offers an experience that empowers IT to create and deliver new value instantly and continuously. It is a single infrastructure that reduces operational complexity for traditional workloads and increases operational velocity for the new breed of applications and services. Through a single interface, HPE Synergy composes physical and virtual compute, storage, and fabric pools into any configuration for any application. As an extensible platform, it easily enables a broad range of applications and operational models such as virtualization, hybrid cloud, and DevOps. With HPE Synergy, IT can become not just the internal service provider but the business partner to rapidly launch new applications that become the business.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

AmeriPride Services, iSource, Bolagsverket, BlueShore Financial, British Columbia Assessment Authority, National Stock Exchange, Cardlytics

HudsonAlpha, Virgin Media, EMIS, United

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and others in Rack Servers. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all Rack Servers reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.