Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance comparison

Lenovo and StarWind are both solutions in the HCI category. Lenovo is ranked #22, while StarWind is ranked #15 with an average rating of 10.0. Lenovo holds a 1.8% mindshare in HCI, compared to StarWind’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lenovo users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of StarWind users who would recommend it.

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Read 5 Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series reviews

1,071 Views
1,071 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

StarWind HyperConverged App...

Read 66 StarWind HyperConverged Appliance reviews

2,052 Views
1,518 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

StarWind HyperConverged App...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance and Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series compete in the hyperconverged infrastructure space. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series has the upper hand for its feature-rich environment and scalability, while StarWind stands out for cost-effectiveness and support.

Features: StarWind HyperConverged Appliance offers seamless integration, simplified management via native automation tools, and robust data protection features. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series provides advanced virtualization capabilities, scalability, and broad compatibility with VMware environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is recognized for straightforward deployment and strong customer support, which eases the setup process. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series offers comprehensive deployment services and responsive support, but involves a longer setup time due to its complexity.

Pricing and ROI: StarWind HyperConverged Appliance has competitive pricing and quick ROI, appealing due to lower initial cost and operational expenses. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series requires a higher upfront investment but promises substantial long-term returns through enhanced productivity and scalability for larger enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

February 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 881,757 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

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Ranking in HCI

22nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

StarWind HyperConverged App...

Ranking in HCI

15th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is 1.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance	1.4%
Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series	1.8%
Other	96.8%

HCI

Featured Reviews

Genesis Dapoza

Email Administrator at Technopaq, Inc.

simplifies management for clients familiar with VMware, and offers a user-friendly management and configuration experience

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 drawback is that the hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) are shared among all the VMs running on the VX Series. If the server's processor is underpowered for the VMs, many of the VMs might have performance issues. An improvement could be to have more granular control over resource allocation to VMs.

Read full review

Russ Le Puill

IT Manager at St Peter's Church of England Aided School

Proactive support with improved speed and resilience

There was a long delay with shipping, which we weren't expecting, but we were kept updated throughout. It wasn't made clear to us that we needed to provide our own SFP modules to connect to our infrastructure, so that could have been a bit clearer. It would be amazing if there was, perhaps, a more automated process for updating the hosts themselves, although the maintenance mode works well. Our StarWind command center doesn't seem to have all the options available currently, which support is investigating for us.

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

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations."

"Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days."

"We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy."

"The clients like the solution’s simplicity."

"The VX machines are scalable."

"The solution has easily deployed instances for multiple fast-paced projects."

"The option to deploy a hyper-converged system without an expensive storage switch was a benefit."

"In our experience with StarWind, the support has been by far the most valuable feature."

"Servers came pre-configured for our environment and as soon as they were in the rack, Starwind got them up and running."

"The hardware footprint is great. We've got two 2U servers which replaced four 2U servers. Granted, they were about three years old at that point, but we actually increased our processing capacity by about 50 percent while keeping our storage capacity about the same. We've actually been able to downgrade to a half rack from a full rack because we've gotten rid of some of our network equipment and some of our additional storage arrays."

"The most valuable feature is the high-availability. We have three nodes, and all data will be synched instantly through all the nodes. Even if we had a disaster where two nodes failed, containing dozens of critical machines, almost automatically, all the loads would be run on the remaining node."

"The StarWind command centre is a very handy tool to have. It allows less skilled staff to have a view and manage our virtual machines."

"We also opted for 24-hour support monitoring for any issues. They are extremely quick to respond on issues we even cause ourselves such as bumping a network cable."

More StarWind HyperConverged Appliance pros

Cons

"The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster."

"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."

"Support could be better."

"The product must provide AI features."

"One area for improvement of the solution is that I had to get Windows, which I really didn't want because of the extra maintenance or overhead, as well as viruses, etc. It's going to take time for them to get their Linux to that point. They already have Linux but it's not as mature and they don't really support it on HCAs. They have it for individuals who want to use it on their servers, but not on HCAs."

"Although the setup documentation was very complete and succinct, I found StarWind documentation to be a bit sparse."

"Perhaps the initial configuration and documentation could be a little clearer and simpler to follow."

"The only thing that can use improvement is the StarWind Management Console and Command Center."

"The only issue we have had was the issue of performance, however, that is only due to the fact that we purchased a mix of SSD and regular spindle drives, and restoring databases was slow as it was trying to restore the database using the spindle drives."

"Product shipments did have a few bumps along the way, but that's to be expected when using any shipping company."

"The only issue we have seen is with the StarWind Server Manager. We have had to continually reboot the server in order to use it."

"We ran into some issues with going from Hyper-V 2012 R2 to Hyper-V 2019."

More StarWind HyperConverged Appliance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is expensive."

"The tool's pricing is competitive."

"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."

"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 Nutanix piece was about $45,000, getting close to $50,000 with all the licensing involved, whereas the StarWind was less than half of that, after Microsoft licensing and such."

"The other solutions we were looking at were priced much higher than this and they didn't necessarily have full redundancy... Nutanix and VxRail were in the final running... but it came down to our price point."

"A desired feature or service would be the ability to have a hardware subscription plan that ensures routine hardware updates in conjunction with hyper-converged software."

"In terms of cost, a storage array is more expensive... For half the cost of Compellent, I got two hosts, more storage, and redundancy."

"There is a bit of a start-up cost. Having never used HCAs before, I was reluctant to buy it. I would suggest that you jump in and do it, as I wish I hadn't wasted so much time."

"The HCA price is all-inclusive (setup, hardware, support, warranty), except for your standard Microsoft Server licensing."

"This was all completed at an affordable price point for an SMB, which was also a key element for an NPO."

"When I researched they came the most cost-effective."

More StarWind HyperConverged Appliance pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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

See recommendations

881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare Company

10%

Government

Educational Organization

16%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	50
Midsize Enterprise	22
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series?

The VX machines are scalable.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

It's not the cheapest, however, the solution works incredibly well and is so simple to licence and maintain.

See all answers

What needs improvement with StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

We desperately needed to update yet downsize our data centre. We had six hosts for only approximately 14 or so Virtual machines and two old SANs. All of this was running on 10+ year-old refurbished...

See all answers

Comparisons

VxRail vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 26% of the time

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 11% of the time

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 11% of the time

HPE Alletra dHCI vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 11% of the time

HPE SimpliVity vs Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series

Compared 10% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series Competitors

StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Compared 8% of the time

Scale Computing Platform vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Local vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Compared 7% of the time

VxRail vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Compared 7% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Compared 7% of the time

More StarWind HyperConverged Appliance Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

January 2026

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

January 2026

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report

Download StarWind HyperConverged Appliance product report

Also Known As

Lenovo VX Series, ThinkAgile VX Series

No data available

Overview

Differentiating yourself from the competition is vital in today’s fast-moving business environment. To support your business, IT systems must be simple, agile, and cost-effective so you can meet your customers’ requirements to be ever online. Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series enables you to meet these requirements by focusing on the business outcome you require, rather than on building your infrastructure.

ThinkAgile VX Series, powered by VMware vSAN, is available in several models. Each is preconfigured, pretested, and optimized to provide the simplest way to bring a new VMware hyperconverged environment online. If you have an existing VMware environment, the VX Series can integrate into it easily.

Designed for any size business from SMBs through large enterprises, VX Series can be used as infrastructure for remote office/branch office (ROBO) and retail stores as well as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and enterprise applications.

Lenovo

For SMB, ROBO and Enterprises, who look to bring in quick deployment and operation simplicity to virtualization workloads and reduce related expenses, our solution is StarWind HyperConverged Appliance (HCA). It unifies commodity servers, disks and flash, hypervisor of choice, StarWind Virtual SAN, Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct or VMware Virtual SAN and associated software into a single manageable layer. The HCA supports scale-up by adding disks and flash, and scale-out by adding extra nodes.

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance consists of StarWind Virtual SAN, Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct or VMware Virtual SAN “Ready Nodes”, targeting those, who are building their virtualization infrastructure from scratch. In case there is an existing set of servers, we offer a “software only version”, which is essentially our years proven StarWind Virtual SAN. Basically, it’s the fuel powering StarWind HCA.

StarWind

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Sears Home and Franchise Business

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

February 2026

Free Report: Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance report.

See our list of best HCI vendors.

We monitor all HCI 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.