CISO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
Jul 14, 2025
Comparing Cisco UCS B-Series with traditional servers, while its initial cost may be slightly higher, it is not as expensive as Oracle Exadata, making it a worthwhile investment. It pays off in the long run, especially for cloud virtualization.
The licensing cost for three years, followed by an AMC for two years, is reasonable. However, the management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable. No additional expenses were incurred after obtaining the licensing.
Previously, Cisco pricing was higher, but now both Cisco and HP are competitive with pricing. At the end of negotiations, the pricing is usually matched between the two, so cost is not a major differentiating factor anymore.
Cisco UCS is cost-effective compared to other blade servers like HPE c7000 and Dell chassis. However, the specifics are not immediately available to me.
Pre-Sales Consultant at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Reseller
Top 5
Sep 25, 2024
Cisco UCS pricing is reasonable and competitive. However, with Dell, the additional cost of spare parts and the lack of direct support add to the overall cost of the equipment.
The pricing depends on the size of the deal. If the deal is huge, you get better margins from Cisco. Also, if you were the one who initiated the deal, you get a better margin over other partners.
Corporate IT Infrastructure Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Jul 16, 2024
The product cost is high compared to HPE solutions. However, maintenance and support services are included in the standard licenses for the first three years.
Senior Solutions Architect & Consultant at ZAG Technical Services
Consultant
Top 10
Jul 28, 2020
I have found that the pricing depends on some variables: How large is the client that is interested in the UCS-B series platform? Have they ever purchased Cisco in the last 3 years? Is there any current compute competitor in the account? Things like that can help determine the approximate discounting you may possibly receive off of the list pricing. One other factor - it varies also in regards to the sales representative you are working with. In all, there are too many variables to give an absolute answer on this one.
Community Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jul 29, 2020
@Juan Dominguez thanks for your input. It's good to know that there is flexibility in pricing based on factors like one's past relationship with the company.
There is a need to pay towards the licensing costs of the solution on a yearly basis. Price-wise, it is an expensive product. There is an additional cost consisting of the modules a person wants to use, apart from the standard licensing costs of the solution.
Cisco UCS does not require a license. However, this license is not specific to users. In collaboration with the tech team, it also controls and stores other components, such as hypervisors, JES control, technology integration, and analytics.
The solution is pricey, and Cisco's prices change every month - or, at least, it seems that way. It's a constant challenge for our customers. However, we work with account executives at Cisco and work to get discounts.
VMware Administrator L3 Support at Diyar United Company
Real User
Mar 7, 2023
The solution is definitely expensive. Compared to the more in-demand hyper-converged environments such as Nutanix or DVX rail, Cisco UCS B-Series is even more costly due to the expensive fabric interconnects. The only benefit we will get when adding more chassis to the two fabrics is the ability to scale up. Therefore, if we are only using two, three, or four chassis, the cost is high.
Senior Member Of Technical Staff at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 11, 2022
The cost of the blade servers is okay, but the cost of Fabric Interconnects ends up increasing the overall costs. For example, suppose it costs 3,500 USD per blade server. When you include the Fabric Interconnects, you could pay up to 30,000 USD. Therefore, compared to the cost of servers from Lenovo, Huawei, Dell, or HP, the cost of Cisco servers can be high. However, Cisco gives good discounts (about 90% to 94%) to partners and to customers who are already using Cisco servers. New Cisco customers do not get the level of discount that an existing customer does. Because you can get discounts with Cisco, I would give pricing a rating of four out of five.
The licensing cost is a little bit expensive because by default, it depends on your fabric interconnect model. Most of the time, however, Cisco provides a lot of promotions to the customers, so the cost can be waived for many projects. The price of the chassis itself is fair.
Implementation and Support Engineer at PRACSO S.R.L.
Real User
Jun 3, 2021
The solution is quite expensive. It's pretty high, especially when you compare it against the offerings of other vendors. They need to be more competitive in terms of pricing.
Infrastructure Integration Analyst at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Apr 16, 2021
I was not involved with the specific pricing agreement, so I don't know. However, I am familiar with some of the aspects. Generally, the cheaper, the better. I believe that this is part of the procurement management that must be involved with requirements. Pricing will be based on your requirements so it is important to plan, engage, and negotiate directly with the Cisco Account Manager. I have an excellent relationship and experience with them. They are accommodating in all areas such as reaching out, checking and engaging in setup and configuration of equipment that has arrived, training, help in designing, consulting, pricing, and licensing.
Sr. Operations Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Oct 19, 2020
You can typically get reasonable pricing on the solution. The hardware itself, however, isn't the biggest cost. The biggest cost is licensing, and that can be quite expensive.
VMware Administrator at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Sep 10, 2020
Cisco products are at the high end in terms of cost, but everything is included with the licensing fees. The only thing that we pay for separately is VMware.
Based on Intel Xeon processor E7 and E5 product families, Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers work with virtualized and non-virtualized applications to increase: Performance, Energy efficiency, Flexibility and Administrator productivity.
Comparing Cisco UCS B-Series with traditional servers, while its initial cost may be slightly higher, it is not as expensive as Oracle Exadata, making it a worthwhile investment. It pays off in the long run, especially for cloud virtualization.
The licensing cost for three years, followed by an AMC for two years, is reasonable. However, the management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable. No additional expenses were incurred after obtaining the licensing.
The pricing is competitive. While the UCS price was high before, it is more competitive now.
Previously, Cisco pricing was higher, but now both Cisco and HP are competitive with pricing. At the end of negotiations, the pricing is usually matched between the two, so cost is not a major differentiating factor anymore.
Cisco UCS is cost-effective compared to other blade servers like HPE c7000 and Dell chassis. However, the specifics are not immediately available to me.
Cisco UCS pricing is reasonable and competitive. However, with Dell, the additional cost of spare parts and the lack of direct support add to the overall cost of the equipment.
The pricing depends on the size of the deal. If the deal is huge, you get better margins from Cisco. Also, if you were the one who initiated the deal, you get a better margin over other partners.
The product cost is high compared to HPE solutions. However, maintenance and support services are included in the standard licenses for the first three years.
Considering our market, I rate the pricing of Cisco UCS B-Series as a six.
It's expensive. Cisco is always expensive compared to other vendors.
It is not a yearly subscription but a yearly support renewal that you need to do for Cisco UCS B-Series.
The product is expensive. We encounter a licensing issue as well. It could be subscription-based.
I have found that the pricing depends on some variables: How large is the client that is interested in the UCS-B series platform? Have they ever purchased Cisco in the last 3 years? Is there any current compute competitor in the account? Things like that can help determine the approximate discounting you may possibly receive off of the list pricing. One other factor - it varies also in regards to the sales representative you are working with. In all, there are too many variables to give an absolute answer on this one.
@Juan Dominguez thanks for your input. It's good to know that there is flexibility in pricing based on factors like one's past relationship with the company.
The price of this solution is a little bit higher, but given that this system is Cisco, it feels more secure and dependable.
We have to pay a monthly licensing fee for the solution.
It is expensive.
There is a need to pay towards the licensing costs of the solution on a yearly basis. Price-wise, it is an expensive product. There is an additional cost consisting of the modules a person wants to use, apart from the standard licensing costs of the solution.
Cisco UCS B-Series is highly-priced. It is suited for medium and large enterprises.
Cisco UCS does not require a license. However, this license is not specific to users. In collaboration with the tech team, it also controls and stores other components, such as hypervisors, JES control, technology integration, and analytics.
The solution is pricey, and Cisco's prices change every month - or, at least, it seems that way. It's a constant challenge for our customers. However, we work with account executives at Cisco and work to get discounts.
The solution is definitely expensive. Compared to the more in-demand hyper-converged environments such as Nutanix or DVX rail, Cisco UCS B-Series is even more costly due to the expensive fabric interconnects. The only benefit we will get when adding more chassis to the two fabrics is the ability to scale up. Therefore, if we are only using two, three, or four chassis, the cost is high.
Cisco UCS B-Series is an expensive solution.
The price is competitive. It's not too expensive, it's good, and it's worth the price.
The cost of the blade servers is okay, but the cost of Fabric Interconnects ends up increasing the overall costs. For example, suppose it costs 3,500 USD per blade server. When you include the Fabric Interconnects, you could pay up to 30,000 USD. Therefore, compared to the cost of servers from Lenovo, Huawei, Dell, or HP, the cost of Cisco servers can be high. However, Cisco gives good discounts (about 90% to 94%) to partners and to customers who are already using Cisco servers. New Cisco customers do not get the level of discount that an existing customer does. Because you can get discounts with Cisco, I would give pricing a rating of four out of five.
The licensing cost is a little bit expensive because by default, it depends on your fabric interconnect model. Most of the time, however, Cisco provides a lot of promotions to the customers, so the cost can be waived for many projects. The price of the chassis itself is fair.
This is a premium device and our clients are not as concerned about the reasonableness of the price compared to satisfaction with their productivity.
Cisco UCS B-Series is an expensive solution.
UCS is expensive, and we will be migrating to the cheaper HP servers.
I don't have any visibility on the licensing setup. That's managed by procurement, actually. I don't have any information about it.
The solution can be quite expensive and is a bit of a higher cost when compared to others on the market.
The solution is quite expensive. It's pretty high, especially when you compare it against the offerings of other vendors. They need to be more competitive in terms of pricing.
I was not involved with the specific pricing agreement, so I don't know. However, I am familiar with some of the aspects. Generally, the cheaper, the better. I believe that this is part of the procurement management that must be involved with requirements. Pricing will be based on your requirements so it is important to plan, engage, and negotiate directly with the Cisco Account Manager. I have an excellent relationship and experience with them. They are accommodating in all areas such as reaching out, checking and engaging in setup and configuration of equipment that has arrived, training, help in designing, consulting, pricing, and licensing.
The price of this solution compared to others is fair.
Pricing with Cisco is very high. The price is very inefficient.
The pricing for Cisco products is always high.
You can typically get reasonable pricing on the solution. The hardware itself, however, isn't the biggest cost. The biggest cost is licensing, and that can be quite expensive.
Cisco products are at the high end in terms of cost, but everything is included with the licensing fees. The only thing that we pay for separately is VMware.