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Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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

Dell EqualLogic PS series
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of Dell EqualLogic PS series is 5.2%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 7.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE MSA7.9%
Dell EqualLogic PS series5.2%
Other86.9%
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Khuram Ayyaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Executive at Virtual University
Has enabled uninterrupted access to educational platforms and simplified storage management
Dell EqualLogic PS series is easily scalable, and we can add extra boxes and storage. It was easy to deploy during COVID. Deploying Dell EqualLogic PS series is straightforward, with no complexity involved. Dell EqualLogic PS series is a good product. We did not experience any failures in the last six to seven years, and it is still running as our storage for offline data. There are snapshot capabilities in data protection available, but we did not use that feature because it consumes much space. We have only 150 terabytes of space and simply use it to create volumes without utilizing it for snapshots. We use thin provisioning in Dell EqualLogic PS series, but I did not explore that feature further.
JT
Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees
Ensures quick data handling but needs advanced security features
The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable. I found that its scalability benefited my organization, especially in larger settings. While the price is not reasonable, its performance makes up for it. Additionally, the licensing costs are consistent with most brands. Compared to Huawei, however, I found that Huawei's processing power, performance, and cost were more advantageous.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is stable and scalable."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"If you have one datacenter fail, the VMs will start to run inside the other data center."
"​It has contributed to the implementation of virtualization and all its benefits.​"
"The technical support for the solution was really good."
"The solution can scale."
"Equallogic PS series arrays are the best suited storage platform for mid to high level enterprises."
"The product is very stable."
"The product is very easy to deploy."
"Was purchased as a DR solution but became our production SAN, very fast and easy to use, a great SAN for SMB's with enterprise features."
"The solution's most valuable aspect, for our organization, is its stability."
"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."
"The integration with Veeamware, with VAM for backup, is improved with the new version."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."
"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."
"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."
 

Cons

"The only challenging part in the tool was related to some site recovery area. In order to exploit the site recovery area, my company had to purchase additional VMware products."
"Higher price at entry level systems compared to competition."
"Three of the four devices have been rock solid, and one of them had a string of issues that we eventually resolved."
"There is no inline deduplication capability."
"The performance was never very good, and its latency was higher than expected."
"Individual file recovery would be a nice additional feature."
"One problem with this solution is that synchronous replication requires lots of duplicated space."
"Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed."
"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."
"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."
"P2000 has become legacy and we can't find spare parts for it anymore. The life cycle is very low."
"I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing."
"Data security features are more important to me than anything else, and I think HPE MSA lacks in this area."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"We had a few issues with some of the firmware codes, probably about five years ago."
"However, we did have some issues at first but we worked through them and currently we have no issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It seemed expensive at first, but the durability lowered the cost of ownership dramatically over time."
"Price-wise, the solution is cheap. I rate it a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"I didn't buy it. It was another person seven years ago. So, I don't really know, but all storage platforms cost a lot of money. It is probably in the mid-range, but you get what you pay for."
"There are annual maintenance costs beyond the original licensing period."
"Licensing is pretty straightforward."
"​It is a fair price."
"All features are out of the box. The license will be in the virtual, OS, or application layer."
"I don't think I would say that the product is less expensive...The product's price is not an issue for our company, considering the relationship we have with Dell and the customer support we receive."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Performing Arts
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell EqualLogic PS series?
I do not have anything in mind regarding new capabilities for Dell products at this time.
What is your primary use case for Dell EqualLogic PS series?
We are essentially a university, and we have deployed Dell EqualLogic PS series in our data centers to run our production sites, student portals, websites, our on-premises portal, and campus manage...
What advice do you have for others considering Dell EqualLogic PS series?
I work with Dell EqualLogic PS series. I am an end user and a customer for Dell. I have experience only with Dell PowerEdge, and I do not work with other products like PowerScale or PowerStore. Reg...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
I did not compare the cost of HPE MSA with others because we buy with a framework contract, and HP is the only brand available on that contract, so we have no comparison.
What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The user web interface is a bit slow, but it is really easy to use, although you still have to wait a bit when you send an operation. We have had some drive failures, but with the redundancy, we ha...
What is your primary use case for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
We use HPE MSA as storage for the VMware servers, and we will try to use Proxmox server later on, but currently, we use VMware.
 

Also Known As

EqualLogic PS series
HP StorageWorks MSA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FAW Foundry, AW Engineering, Unimat, eLongNet Information Technology, BDO Brasil, Odyssey Space Research
Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell EqualLogic PS series vs. HPE MSA and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,403 professionals have used our research since 2012.