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Scale Computing Platform vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

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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

Scale Computing Platform
Ranking in HCI
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Edge Computing Platforms (5th)
StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
213
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Scale Computing Platform is 2.7%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.4%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
StarWind Virtual SAN2.4%
Scale Computing Platform2.7%
Other94.9%
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

AbdulSattar - PeerSpot reviewer
Channel Sales Manager at Softech Microsystems
Extremely easy to learn and use for beginners
Some features go well with other tools like VMware, where making something on the fly or making some changes on the fly in the area of memory or something is possible. On the fly, you cannot do anything on Scale Computing HC3, though it is a very rarely needed area. Being able to make some changes on the fly is very risky, but even then, you see customers saying since it is an area that is not possible with Scale Computing HC3, it is better to go with some other tools. My company convinces our customers that opting for another solution is not required since a tool that allows us to make some changes on the fly can be very risky, and it is also not something that fits in according to certain policies or good practices.
Jccerong Heron - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Support team has guided us through deploying virtual storage on legacy hardware and reducing operational costs
The reason I chose StarWind Virtual SAN for this particular scenario is really the features, the ease of use, and most importantly, the price. In my opinion, the best features StarWind Virtual SAN offers are easy integration with the system installed in the data center. The integration with my existing systems in the data center works well, especially with VMware, as we already have a big cluster in VMware, and the easy integration with that is helpful to solve some problems with the platform. StarWind Virtual SAN has positively impacted my organization by reducing OPEX costs. My OPEX costs have gone down as we reutilize some old servers, and this reduces the CAPEX of hardware in the data center.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that Scale Computing HCR is slimmed down and gives me the features I need and not features that I don't need."
"I rate Scale Computing support 10 out of 10. They're accessible and responsive."
"The stability is very good; I have no complaints there, as there aren't bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"The most valuable features are the appliance-type feel and that you don't need additional licenses as everything is built-in."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"It gives the ease of management for a small IT department."
"The solution is scalable."
"Scale Computing HC3 is highly stable."
"The ROI is great on this product."
"We test live failovers every week, and so far, everything has been running smoothly without anything unexpected."
"Although StarWind Virtual SAN free is fully functional and can be used in production, the support that comes with the license is priceless."
"Our day-to-day servers are all on StarWind and our backups went from nightly to every minute, improving disaster recovery time from hours to minutes and helping us maintain high performance and high availability on minimalistic resources while saving approximately 80 percent in costs."
"It helped us to save money by not having to purchase a new hardware SAN, the VSAN works better than our existing, older SAN, this software works well for the vital signs capture software we were implementing in a new Hyper-V failover cluster, our organization has less hardware to maintain since we didn't have to purchase a new SAN, and being able to run this software in the new virtual machines saved time and money."
"StarWind Virtual SAN has positively impacted my organization by giving us the flexibility and freedom to have more time for other projects."
"StarWind Virtual SAN software solves our problems."
"After this success story, I have referred many of my customers to use this product; no complaints so far."
 

Cons

"Scale Computing HC3 said in an announcement they were going to integrate with a backup service which would be good. If they could do this it would be beneficial."
"The snapshot technology takes up 500 times more space compared to other solutions."
"There could be an easier way to see which servers are on each node"
"On the fly, you cannot do anything on Scale Computing HC3, though it is a very rarely needed area."
"I would like bigger clusters with more than eight nodes."
"The product struggles to cope with bigger workloads. In the next release, I'd like some backup solutions to be added."
"I've had so many issues with the sales team when I was looking to make some improvements, and improve the performance. They would create so many excuses to force me to buy new nodes all the time and not let me add more memory to each node."
"Scale HC3 improvements would involve literally fixing up the replication."
"The logs can also become very noisy when there is an issue, which is very infrequent. However, when they do occur, it makes it very challenging to figure out what the cause is."
"The thing that can be better is that we have experienced some issues with VMware hosts."
"Having more support plan options would be nice."
"They need to improve the speed of the interfaces, thus allowing for better traffic on the network."
"I'd love to see native export of metrics (via Prometheus or something of that nature) to allow us to get more metrics available on our existing dashboard software."
"There is a limit on HA storage for standard and professional versions which is too low to be very useful for any but the smallest of SMBs or startups."
"A big improvement would be to make it compatible with NFS protocol, not only iSCSI (for internal communication)."
"The most disappointing side of the application is the free edition. There used to be GUI attached. That has recently changed to only CLI management of the application."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is worth the money, but I would not say it's very cheap or very expensive."
"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
"I pay for Scale Computing HC3 and it includes customer service for one year. We paid for an additional year for customer service but that includes the updates and everything for the software. Additionally, the licensing is for Windows, which is the same for everybody."
"rate HC3's pricing a five out of ten since it is affordable."
"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."
"I think the bang for the buck is much better with StarWind Virtual SAN."
"The setup cost is very low. The pricing is great."
"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."
"The premium support from StarWinds is a must have. The ability to have access to a storage engineer 24/7 is a must for a production environment."
"The license is reusable. We can always rebuild it and apply the license. Then, boom, we get new servers, apply the license, and we're back up and running."
"We are happy with the price."
"For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business170
Midsize Enterprise57
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for StarWind Virtual SAN is very simple; that is another good thing about it, as the pricing is really straightforward. I got a quote, and it w...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
StarWind Virtual SAN has latency that is not as good versus VMware vSAN, but I believe it is more of a Hyper-V limitation than it is StarWind Virtual SAN; it is not bad enough to be an issue, but i...
What is your primary use case for StarWind Virtual SAN?
My main use case for StarWind Virtual SAN is that it replaced our VMware vSAN. I transitioned from VMware vSAN to StarWind Virtual SAN due to the dramatic increase in VMware licensing costs followi...
 

Also Known As

Scale Computing HC3
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Resorts World Las Vegas, Stena, Telford Offshore, Goodwill, Sandals, Jerry's Enterprises, Mendard's Royal Farms, Delhaize, Benchmark Electronics, Classic Hotels, Genting Casino, Lindt, Sainsbury's, Landmark Cinemas, Golden Queen Mining, Coca Cola. Holiday Inn, Iron County School District, Sevier County Bank, City of St. Cloud Minnesota, Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, KIB Electronics, Brake Masters, Lincoln County Hospital, Ohio Summit County Board of Elections
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Find out what your peers are saying about Scale Computing Platform vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.