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IBM Power Systems vs Intel Server System comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

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

IBM Power Systems
Ranking in Rack Servers
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
4.8
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Intel Server System
Ranking in Rack Servers
7th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of IBM Power Systems is 8.7%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Intel Server System is 4.6%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Power Systems8.7%
Intel Server System4.6%
Other86.7%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Foluso  Jibowo - PeerSpot reviewer
Has empowered enterprises with secure and cost-effective solutions
When discussing disadvantages, I do not see many areas for improvement because we have received good testimonies from every client. IBM gives customers peace of mind. One challenge, which I would not really call a challenge, is that initially people have the notion that IBM Power Systems is quite expensive. However, IBM does not lose deals based on price. This is a message we need to keep communicating to people who feel that IBM is on the high side in terms of cost. We encourage them to have a discussion with us about their total cost of ownership over three or five years. There is a notion in the market that IBM is expensive, which is false. However, once we engage and show them their return on investments and their total cost of ownership savings, they tend to embrace IBM.
SA
A stable product that constantly enhances its functionalities like multithreading and caching
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is more stable than AMD for VMware. Intel Server System has a good track record for the last 20 years. Multithreading and caching are areas where improvements keep increasing. If you look at the last four years, you will see a big difference when it comes to the area concerning processors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Power VM gives us the flexibility to increase or decrease machine resources when required."
"The best features of the solution are its robustness and service level."
"What we like the most is the ability to upgrade the scaling of the system itself. Whenever we need extra storage, we can do that. Whenever we need extra memory, we can do that as well. It's fast and it's available."
"The main feature that I have found most valuable is PowerVM - its virtualization feature which is the most powerful."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the hardware is really good and reliable."
"Active Memory Expansion allows you to compress your memory on the run time to allow you to have less physical memory available, but provision more memory to your partitions, as everything will be compressed on the fly."
"The solution does not require any maintenance."
"The performance is the solution's most valuable asset. It has one of the highest levels of performance I have ever seen. It's quite remarkable, in that sense."
"It is stable and easy to manage."
"It uses well known architecture and it's easy to develop for."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is more stable than AMD for VMware."
 

Cons

"I think IBM needs a little more work on managing the overall environment with eliminating Systems Director."
"The pricing of the product could always be lowered."
"I know lab services does a lot of work but systems, if they could include some kind of lab services and bundling of services to get you to the greatest and latest feature at the already included cost"
"The solution is highly-priced."
"In the next release, I would like to see additional graphical dashboards to help the administrators access information more easily."
"The lack of software vendors moving onto the platform, as opposed to fleeing the platform, is an issue."
"Its pricing could be better."
"Power Systems' price could always be lower."
"The shipment time can be improved. When we order Intel products, we have to wait for a long time. They can increase the local services and engineers in China. Local engineers will be able to know and understand customer problems much better."
"When you have an Intel Server System, the prices may be much higher since it is a different processor, making the solution's pricing part one of its shortcomings where improvements are required."
"We have to scale it ourselves but it scales. It depends on the software because it's mostly the hardware platform that Intel is managing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Power Systems is very cheap and provides good value for money."
"There is a yearly licensing cost, and it's an expensive solution."
"The machine is good and has a comparatively good price."
"Its price depends on the sizing."
"IBM Power is more expensive than other rack-mount servers, and you have to have a license for everything, including cores and memory."
"IBM Power Systems is very expensive."
"I give the cost a one out of ten."
"Price-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten."
"I rate the pricing a ten on a scale from one to ten, where one is inexpensive, and ten is very expensive."
"The price is competitive."
"It is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise42
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Power Systems?
IBM Power Systems provides very good performance and stability compared to other brands or processors.
What needs improvement with IBM Power Systems?
When discussing disadvantages, I do not see many areas for improvement because we have received good testimonies from every client. IBM gives customers peace of mind. One challenge, which I would n...
What is your primary use case for IBM Power Systems?
IBM Power Systems are used mainly in large organizations, generally in the financial industry, government, telecommunications, oil and gas sectors for their high availability environment. These sys...
What do you like most about Intel Server System?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is more stable than AMD for VMware.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Intel Server System?
I rate the pricing a ten on a scale from one to ten, where one is inexpensive, and ten is very expensive.
What needs improvement with Intel Server System?
When you have an Intel Server System, the prices may be much higher since it is a different processor, making the solution's pricing part one of its shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

IBM OpenPOWER LC
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cipher
Emerson, Baosight, Pentamaster
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Power Systems vs. Intel Server System and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.