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HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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 SimpliVity
Ranking in HCI
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series
Ranking in HCI
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the HCI category, the mindshare of HPE SimpliVity is 8.6%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is 1.4%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Xavier Perez - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a deployment phase that is straightforward but needs improvement in the area of scalability
The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology. HPE SimpliVity is an add-on from VMware. Nowadays, my company has a lot of concerns about VMware's licensing policy. Another big concern of the tool is related to security because one has to continuously update patch vulnerabilities that are appearing continuously in VMware's different versions. Actually, the foundation of all the architecture is VMware and that is one of the main issues with the tool. My company is analyzing our virtual infrastructure strategy to see if we can move to Nutanix because maybe it may work better and might have another approach. Nutanix is absolutely independent of VMware. I could add that since HPE SimpliVity is very precisely dependent on VMware, it is not open to containers unlike Nutanix, for example. The aforementioned area is a concern that needs to be resolved by HPE.
Marko M - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a simple and unified platform and produces a good return on investment
The integration must be done with a more detailed plan. It will make the product simple to use. The solution does not have AI capabilities, but it will be added in the future. People who want to use the tool must research the best solution for their use case. Sometimes, a traditional cluster is better. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It doesn't take long to mount the entire VM somewhere and then copy it. That's one of the things that I like about SimpliVity's deduplication and compression. I can literally stand up a backup in minutes. It is like no time at all. They've got pretty phenomenal deduplication and compression. Within SimpliVity, one of the things that they do is deduplication and compression on ingestion. So, on the front side, everything is deduplicated and compressed, which, of course, adds some overhead to their solution. For instance, in my environment today, I've got roughly 30 terabytes of raw storage, and with their deduplication and compression, I'm over the 300 terabyte threshold with my active servers and all my backups."
"The interface is very good and is very easy to navigate. You can find everything you need from one central place."
"The backup and restore features are the most valuable."
"The solution is scalable and one of the best in the market."
"Up scaling is very possible, and at any time it is scalable."
"Scaling is a piece of cake. We have been able to scale up in our Asia-Pac region. We even are doing site-to-site replication of certain systems that we need to have high availability on."
"It's a very nice solution. It's a complete solution that we are looking for because we don't have personnel with expertise."
"We use the Omnicubes to replicate our data to a second datacenter. By having our company data on the Omnicubes, we ensure that all of our data is constantly replicated within the defined intervals to the remote site."
"We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy."
"The VX machines are scalable."
"Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations."
"The clients like the solution’s simplicity."
 

Cons

"I wish to see an improved compute node selection, to allow us to select something other than merely the two socket system."
"Not a lean architecture in terms of anything."
"The interface is good but takes some time to get used to."
"It could integrate better with other platforms. It's a proprietary solution of HPE, so you are stuck. Before I was running SimpliVity as an independent solution. it wasn't a card and software, so you could put in whatever server, IBM, Dell, etc."
"Needs decoupling of distributed data fabric to run in a hyperscale deployment outside the hypervisor on dedicated nodes."
"The main issue with HPE SimpliVity is that you are very attached to VMware or VMware dependencies because the tool works with VMware technology."
"It's a very complex installation. It's gotten easier, however, it's far from a double click on a link and a self-upgrade scenario. There's still an awful lot of magic that goes down to doing upgrades."
"Its deployment should be easier."
"The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases."
"Support could be better."
"With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers."
"The product must provide AI features."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For three years, it is $60,000 for three nodes. It is quite pricey."
"It's about $10,000 monthly."
"ESXi licensing is a big part of initial investment if you do not already have that covered."
"The solution is priced high. However, there are plenty of features as part of the package that other solutions do not have."
"For most use cases, look to see if you can use all-flash as the price point, as it has come down significantly."
"The hardware is expensive. For the same price, Cisco can provide more hardware specifications for us."
"It has helped to reduce our VMware licensing costs due to host consolidation."
"The solution can be expensive if you are using a lot of nodes."
"You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them."
"The tool is expensive."
"There is room for improvement in the licensing structure, maybe. Regarding sizing the resources, sometimes it's difficult to calculate/compute them based on the client's requirements."
"The tool's pricing is competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
59%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
What do you like most about HPE SimpliVity?
The solution's technical support is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE SimpliVity?
The price is almost equal to VMware vSAN, making it not much cost saving. However, the time-saving during upgrades is notable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?
The licensing model is moderately complex. The tool is expensive. It is VMware’s fault, though.
What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?
The product must provide AI features. It depends on VMware since the core is software. The solution must provide a more detailed plan to enable simplicity of use.
 

Also Known As

SimpliVity, HPE HCI
Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Red Bull Racing, Mandarin Oriental, Brigham Young University, UCLA, Merlin Entertainments, Sasa Cosmetics, Travelport, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Princess House
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE SimpliVity vs. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.