Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series comparison

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is ranked #21 with an average rating of 10.0, while Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.0. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series holds a 2.1% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are competitive storage solutions focusing on high-performance and robust features. While the DM Series stands out for its scalability and hybrid capabilities, the DE Series is recognized for its value-driven performance and cost-effectiveness.

Features: The DM Series offers advanced data management with snapshots, cloning, and support for a hybrid cloud environment. Users appreciate its comprehensive data protection and flexibility. The DE Series stands out for its simplicity and efficient performance, catering to demanding workloads with reliable speed and lower initial costs.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest the DM Series could enhance its integration capabilities with third-party solutions and simplify its complexity. The DE Series may benefit from improvements in scalability options, better analytics insights, and more advanced features to match the DM Series' capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: The DM Series is reputed for straightforward deployment and effective customer support, ensuring a smooth setup and operational guidance. The DE Series is appreciated for easy installation but may have slightly less responsive customer service compared to the DM Series.

Pricing and ROI: The DM Series is viewed as a premium option with higher upfront costs but justifiable ROI due to its extensive feature set and performance benefits. The DE Series appeals to budget-conscious users, offering a solid ROI through lower initial costs and satisfactory performance, making it a more affordable solution overall.

To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

December 2025

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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

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.1%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is 2.0%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Pure FlashArray X NVMe	1.4%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series	2.1%
Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series	2.0%
Other	94.5%

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

Read full review

Giorgio Pozzi

System Administrator at PORTGUARDIAN.COM SRL

Performance and cost-effectiveness are maximized with seamless setup and significant ROI

I use Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series to replace the old storage in our infrastructure. Additionally, I use it in customer infrastructures to migrate from the old storage to the new one On the M storage, I find the best features to be deduplication and compression. On the DE storage, the most…

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Augustine Gracious

Service manager at Crescent Technologies

Complicated deployment and poor support persist, affecting overall satisfaction

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many customers have lost data while configuring it, indicating a need for improvement. The after-sales service is also very poor. Furthermore, it does not offer basic features like deduplication, and the service is generally considered to be very bad.

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 high availability of the product is the most valuable feature."

"It has benefited my organization because it has reduced time to insights."

"The Pure1 component is most valuable at this point in time when comparing it with EMC. Pure1 is where you can have your diagnostics in the cloud, so you can look at things from your mobile phone."

"The initial setup was extremely simple and straightforward."

"The solution is scalable."

"We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."

"One of the best features is the support, which is excellent."

"Offers excellent features like efficient data reduction, a reliable SafeMode, and a great support model for continuous assistance and updates."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"We have been working with the solution for around a year and so far it has shown itself to be stable."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is quite an elementary box, no frills. It does not have all the functionality of the DM but it is acceptable, it does its task. It integrates pretty well."

"The solution is very easy to set up."

"This solution is good for virtualization and meets the need for CPU and RAM requirements."

"Its initial setup process is easy."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

"ThinkSystem's storage performs well, and the price per gigabyte is good, especially on SSD solutions. It's also easy to use."

"The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series are the dual controllers, available installation documentation, and the option of multiple host bus adapter interfaces."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

"The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload."

"One of the most valuable features of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is the snapshot feature."

"The value we derive from using it is greater than other alternatives like HPE and Dell."

"We are satisfied with the stability."

"The price of this solution is good."

"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."

"Last year, I did a DM Series installation with my colleague, and this installation was effortless because we had Lenovo support on the phone, so it was easy to get help if we had any problems."

"The FlexClone feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series pros

Cons

"One point I'd like to improve is that the tool should start selling small boxes again. It discontinued some products and is focusing on bigger, more capable boxes, neglecting the SMB market. Even though it's not a big market, it shouldn't have removed them."

"Every time I think of something that needs to improve, they're one step ahead, which I love. The only area I wish to see improve, I believe is coming, is in the FlashBlade product. Blade implementation fell short on a few of the services."

"Our use cases require more multi-tenant capabilities and additional VLAN interfaces for separating different customers. We currently use it to provide storage, sometimes shared storage, to different customers, but it is less flexible in comparison to a dedicated solution."

"It is on the expensive side."

"If the customer only needs 500 terabytes and doesn't care how much data they'll put in the server, IBM is cheaper than Pure."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"The UI for this solution needs to be improved."

"We would like to see more visibility into garbage collection and CPU performance in the GUI."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"Its performance could be faster."

"The product could support advanced software integrations."

"Usually, when a part fails, we have to replace it and it takes a while. It would be better if the part could be available locally here in Kenya so we don't have to wait so long to repair the solution."

"The solution could be more scalable, although it suits our present needs."

"It would be useful to have structured solutions replicated to other sites."

"Improvements can be made to the product's performance."

"In the next release, I would like to see support for Hyper-converged infrastructure."

"ThinkSystem could be better integrated with backup software like Commvault, Veritas, or Symantec."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

"This is an expensive solution."

"I would like Lenovo to add a feature like IBM Easy Tier to DM Series. This is a crucial feature for the customers."

"It takes a very long time to enter the management console, as well as to restart the system, and these are things that should be improved."

"Lenovo could have a wider variety of storage solutions in the NAS space."

"I would rate the support of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series a four out of five."

"The licensing model needs to be revisited. It needs to be simplified."

"Many people do not realize that Lenovo has a storage solution, so better marketing from the vendor is needed."

"The tool's pricing is high."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"They can tout the functionality and cutting edge technology that they have, but that's where the price tag comes in. The cost is high, but I think as they grow their business and get more customers that it will probably go down a little bit."

"Its price could be better. It is not too expensive, but it is the high-end cost. It is kind of a Rolls-Royce. You pay a lot, but you get a lot out of it. So, the price pressure on the way down would be great, but at the end of the day, if you need to do the work, you just pay for it."

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"Given its price, Pure is not the first option."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"All of the features are bundled together, and you can renew the bundle with all of the features included."

"The solution's price could be better."

"We have a five-year contract for providing support."

"It is an expensive solution."

"For an all-flash setup, the cost is around $20,000 for a decent configuration."

"The best thing about this solution is its price, which reduces our costs."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is a one-time purchase. There is a global price list available to find the price of the solution."

"The pricing for this solution is good compared to HP or Dell EMC."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

"Lenovo offers two software tiers for the DM Series: basic and premium. If you need more features like the MetroCluster, you must buy the premium version. You can stick to the basic software if you don't need MetroCluster or features like asynchronous replication. That makes DM Series a little cheaper."

"The solution's pricing is similar to Dell and HPE."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is good."

"The solution is highly-priced."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Computer Software Company

21%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is very good. We chose this type of storage for the performance and the price.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The type of connection that is used in Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series should be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

I use Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series to replace the old storage in our infrastructure. Additionally, I use it in custom...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

There are extra expenses beyond the standard licensing fee for features such as replication and deduplication, which ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

The deployment process of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is very complicated compared to previous GUI systems. Many cus...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series?

My primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series ( /products/lenovo-thinksystem-dm-series-reviews ) is for storag...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 8% of the time

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe Competitors

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 23% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 11% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 8% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 6% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Competitors

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 32% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 12% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 5% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Compared 5% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

January 2026

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

January 2026

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

January 2026

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series product report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

ThinkSystem DE Series

ThinkSystem DM Series

Overview

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Pure Storage

The DE All-Flash Series delivers the performance of more than 2,000 15k rpm HDDs, yet requires only 2% of the rack space, power, and cooling. Because it consumes 98% less space and power, DE Series can significantly improve the overall efficiency of your IT operations while continuing to meet your performance requirements.

Lenovo

To meet enterprise storage requirements, ThinkSystem All-Flash DM Series systems provide high performance, superior flexibility, and best-in-class data management. DM Series runs on ONTAP data management software, which gives customers unified storage across block-and-file workloads. It accelerates your business while improving the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of your IT operations.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

December 2025

Free Report: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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