Dell PowerFlex vs Scale Computing HC3 comparison

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StarWind Logo
5,311 views|1,785 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Dell Technologies Logo
12,771 views|7,890 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Scale Computing Logo
1,929 views|1,085 comparisons
80% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Dell PowerFlex and Scale Computing HC3 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two HCI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerFlex vs. Scale Computing HC3 Report (Updated: March 2024).
770,458 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Support keeps track of alerts of the system and verifies with us if we need help to fix any issues. They have great and quick technical support.""The most valuable feature of this solution is the support. They are excellent and you can learn a lot from the support team.""StarWind is very easy to use, even if you have had no experience using a SAN before.""We are running Hyper-V on twin servers in failover, and being able to manage servers from anywhere I need to, virtually, has been a game changer.""It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines flash and disks of the cluster and forms a virtual shared storage “pool” accessible by all hosts. StarWind cuts down virtualization cost and complexity by eliminating the need for a physical shared storage (SAN). -StarWind offers the Enterprise-level high availability (HA), deployed and easily configured . we get technical support from star wind team when implementation software and after setup if we face any issue.""Updates to server hardware are now painless and done during working hours with zero stress. We had a RAID failure a few months back, and nobody in the building even noticed and there was no after hours time used for repair.""A typical system administrator with minimal experience in Hyper-V, VMware, or Windows can do VSAN configuration and maintain VSAN operations.""The product creates opportunities with hybrid on-premise solutions."

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"The solution was connected to alternate storage. It provides great scalability and reliability.""The program is stable.""The setup was very straightforward.""The support is highly responsive.""The solution is quite stable.""Dell PowerFlex is a one-stop-shop solution. Storage, compute, network, application monitoring, and support cases are all combined into one solution. It's very easy to administer compared to when you have a reference architecture where you need to design and build everything yourself. You would also then have to work with multiple vendors.""The catalog of APIs for automation has been most valuable, although they are quite limited.""The most valuable feature is high availability."

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"The product's initial setup phase is too easy.""The most valuable feature of the solution is the nice GUI.""I like that Scale Computing HCR is slimmed down and gives me the features I need and not features that I don't need.""The initial setup is pretty straightforward.""The most valuable feature of Scale Computing HC3 is if one of the devices fails, you won't even notice, the service maintains operation. The customers don't have to waste two, or three days on delays. Additionally, you do not have to waste time with recovery software, it is a lot easier.""I rate Scale Computing support 10 out of 10. They're accessible and responsive.""The solution is scalable.""The most valuable features are the appliance-type feel and that you don't need additional licenses as everything is built-in."

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Cons
"StarWind doesn't really have any performance reporting, especially compared with other vSAN products we've used.""I wish the sync after a failure, such as hardware failure or power-related issues, for example, was faster.""I would like to see more monitoring and alert tools.""I wish there was online support because email return takes a long time and a faster solution should be found.""StarWind offers the Enterprise-level high availability (HA), deployed and easily configured .maintain and update and with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings a the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost effective point" Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems it has always done exactly what it set out to do, provide a cost effect way to run a HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V, simple, easy to use, -.software monitoring should be web based to be reachable from any workstation in VLAN.""It would be great if it provided thin provisioned virtual disks.""While it is possible to implement disk encryption in StarWind using Windows Bitlocker, such a solution can be a little tricky to manage.""Geolocation could be better, for example, for site mirroring for DR purposes."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Cons →

"The solution needs to offer more documentation and educational materials.""The installation is complex.""Including instrumentation would be a helpful improvement.""We're also running Hyper-V virtual machines. But we recently discovered that migration of the Hyper-V virtual machines is a bit challenging. Maybe if Dell EMC can come out with a tool that will make it very easy for us to migrate the Microsoft Hyper-V machine, that may be an improvement.""The solution must be more flexible.""Exporting data from the dashboard is not very user-friendly. It's just designed in a way that it's going to cover let's say 90%, 80%, of the end-users needs. If you need more sophisticated reporting it's not easy to have.""The biggest issue with the solution is that it doesn't support Hyper V. It's a big problem.""Needs some more monitoring tools."

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"The snapshot technology takes up 500 times more space compared to other solutions.""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.""Scale HC3 improvements would involve literally fixing up the replication.""The product could use a better control center.""On the fly, you cannot do anything on Scale Computing HC3, though it is a very rarely needed area.""The product struggles to cope with bigger workloads. In the next release, I'd like some backup solutions to be added.""I would like bigger clusters with more than eight nodes.""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."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The setup cost is very low. The pricing is great."
  • "We are happy with the price."
  • "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."
  • "The pricing is fine for the work that it does."
  • "When we did all the analysis for StarWind, it was approximately 20 percent less than any of the other solutions that we looked at."
  • "The scalability limitation for us is its licensing. At some point in the fairly near future, we will probably have to upgrade our license so we can store eight terabytes instead of four. We are currently at four terabytes, but we're starting to knock on the door of that capacity."
  • "The pricing is excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
  • "The licensing is a bit weird. If you license the standard version of StarWind, it allows you four terabytes. Then, they have a pro version, but with the pro version, the only difference is it doubles the terabytes to eight."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The pricing for this solution is good."
  • "The price of the solution is fair, it is priced in the average range amongst competitors."
  • "The cost of this solution is fair."
  • "The solution is expensive and I give the cost a two out of ten."
  • "The solution's price is medium."
  • "The price could be improved."
  • "The product is expensive."
  • More Dell PowerFlex Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "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."
  • "I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
  • "rate HC3's pricing a five out of ten since it is affordable."
  • "The product is worth the money, but I would not say it's very cheap or very expensive."
  • More Scale Computing HC3 Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines… more »
    Top Answer:I would highly advise new users to consult the StarWind technical team beforehand. Also, consider the paid version if… more »
    Top Answer:You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the… more »
    Top Answer:VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being… more »
    Top Answer:The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten.
    Top Answer:I like that Scale Computing HCR is slimmed down and gives me the features I need and not features that I don't need.
    Top Answer:Scale Computing HC3 is less expensive than other products. I rate HC3's pricing a five out of ten since it is… more »
    Top Answer:The product could use a better control center. The dashboard gives you a lot of control, but it could still give you a… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    StarWind SAN & NAS
    VxFlex, VxRack FLEX, PowerFlex
    Learn More
    Overview

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    VxRack System consists of hyper-converged rack-scale engineered systems, with integrated networking, to achieve the scalability and management requirements of traditional and cloud native workloads. The VxRack series is purposely designed to enable customers to quickly deploy Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and/or Private Cloud architectures. VxRack Systems tightly integrate hardware with software and management layers.

    The result is a fully tested, pre-configured, hyper-converged system with simplified operations at data center and Service Provider scale. VxRack Systems support the deployment of a variety of application workloads, allowing IT to rapidly deliver new services while improving overall agility and efficiency.

    HC3 is an appliance-based hyperconverged infrastructure solution. HC3 combines servers, storage, virtualization, and backup/disaster recovery into a single appliance. This hyperconvergence of technologies radically simplifies IT infrastructure making it easier to implement and manage and significantly reduces the total cost of ownership of infrastructure. The HC3 hyperconverged appliance approach allows seamless, non-disruptive infrastructure scale out and automated, non-disruptive software and firmware updates. Our customers choose HC3 to reduce complexity and cost from IT infrastructure so they can focus their IT administration on improving applications and process rather than managing and maintaining complex infrastructure.

    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    Canopy, 8x8Inc., Atos, Canadian Pacific, City of Denton, CenturyLink, BNP Paribas, Asyaport, EDF, CSC, Fox Sports, Insight, Hunter, KPIT, Paetec, Rosetta Stone, Sonda, Xerox
    Edgetec Systems, Triton School Corporation, Anamosa Community School District, Standard School District, Iron County School District, Sevier County Bank, St. Richard’s Catholic College, Stoke Park School and Community Technology College, City of St. Cloud Minnesota, Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, KIB Electronics, Chaitons LLP, Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center, Penlon, American College of Education, Steel Summit Holdings, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Canadian Museum of History, Canadian War Museum
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Construction Company8%
    Educational Organization8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm30%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Wellness & Fitness Company10%
    Computer Software Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Government8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization39%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business65%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise66%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business50%
    Midsize Enterprise38%
    Large Enterprise13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise45%
    Large Enterprise29%
    Buyer's Guide
    Dell PowerFlex vs. Scale Computing HC3
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerFlex vs. Scale Computing HC3 and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    770,458 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Dell PowerFlex is ranked 8th in HCI with 19 reviews while Scale Computing HC3 is ranked 19th in HCI with 8 reviews. Dell PowerFlex is rated 8.2, while Scale Computing HC3 is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Dell PowerFlex writes "Infrastructure management solution that offers rapid provisioning of computer storage but the APIs and enablers for custom automation could be improved". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Scale Computing HC3 writes "A reliable stripped-down solution that comes with excellent support". Dell PowerFlex is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE SimpliVity and Dell VxBlock System, whereas Scale Computing HC3 is most compared with VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VxRail, Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure and DataCore SANsymphony. See our Dell PowerFlex vs. Scale Computing HC3 report.

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    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.