Dell PowerScale vs NetApp Private Storage comparison

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Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the NAS category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8, while NetApp is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0. Dell Technologies holds a 13.3% mindshare in N, compared to NetApp’s 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerScale

Read 107 Dell PowerScale reviews

18,812 Views
10,535 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

NetApp Private Storage

Read 15 NetApp Private Storage reviews

3,845 Views
3,845 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerScale

NetApp Private Storage

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Dell PowerScale and NetApp Private Storage are prominent in the storage category, each offering notable benefits. Dell PowerScale stands out for its scalability and ease of management, providing enhanced features while requiring minimal IT resources. This advantage is highlighted by superior user feedback on scalability and support.

Features: Dell PowerScale offers key features such as policy-based file placement, SmartQuotas, and InsightIQ, enhancing storage utility and performance. The system supports scalable access from multiple hardware platforms, and continual OS improvements come without new licensing, making it a comprehensive storage solution. NetApp’s unified storage system is highly flexible with strong integration capabilities, providing backwards compatibility and robust cloud integration features.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerScale could improve cloud integration with easier updates and more node options for smaller offices. Enhancements to the WORM feature and InsightIQ’s reporting are also needed, as well as expanding HTTP data protection. NetApp should focus on simplifying configuration and addressing support challenges. Making licensing less complicated would also be beneficial for user satisfaction.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerScale and NetApp Private Storage primarily support on-premises deployment, with Dell PowerScale proving more adaptable to hybrid cloud environments. Dell’s technical support is generally well-regarded, though some users experience initial assistance challenges. NetApp support is inconsistent, often requiring escalation to resolve issues satisfactorily.

Pricing and ROI: Both Dell PowerScale and NetApp Private Storage are perceived as costly, but Dell's flexible licensing and comprehensive features offer a compelling ROI. Dell users find value in long-term cost efficiency and reduced administrative workload, while NetApp users appreciate reliability and integration, despite finding the pricing steep.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerScale vs. NetApp Private Storage Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale vs. NetApp Private Storage

September 2026

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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

Dell PowerScale

Ranking in NAS

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

File and Object Storage (1st)

NetApp Private Storage

Ranking in NAS

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the NAS category, the mindshare of Dell PowerScale is 13.3%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Private Storage is 4.4%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NAS Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Dell PowerScale	13.3%
NetApp Private Storage	4.4%
Other	82.3%

NAS

Featured Reviews

RahulSharma8

Storage Platform Engineer at Expedia Group

Unified file sharing has simplified multi-tenant access and has delivered seamless data replication

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) includes its replication features; when we decommissioned our old Isilon cluster, we migrated all of the data to a new cluster, and it was pretty seamless. All you have to do is create the certificates and make those certificates available to the target cluster, then initiate a few jobs. The inter-cluster replication feature, called SyncIQ, allows you to set up all of the jobs and move your data entirely, either timely or all at once. Another suitable feature is the ability to back up your directories; you can take snapshots for all of your directories, and in fact, I believe you can take around a thousand snapshots for a single directory. The inter-replication, geo-replication is one feature. Dell provides a variety class of hardware suitable for your workloads, meaning if your data is just lab and not critical, you don't have to spend much on the hardware; conversely, if your data is mission-critical, you can buy a high-performance node from Dell. Additionally, you can span Dell PowerScale (Isilon) cluster to a large number of nodes, and code upgrades are pretty smooth because all protocols will be upgraded under a single piece of code. Since it provides a single file system that spans across the nodes, you don't have to worry about that directory structure being separately created on individual nodes, making it a fitting solution for a data lake solution because you can access the same data from multiple protocols.

Read full review

Atilla Celiloglu

Broadcast Technology Director at tv8

Has supported continuous broadcasting with reliable performance and consistent operations

They can make more solutions for cloud integration in NetApp Private Storage. It should be easier to use the cloud S3 integration, maybe from a NetApp interface, where users can choose the type of storage before sending to S3. I would like to see more audit and performance logs via cloud integrations and ONTAP. Without the need for separate software.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The maintenance is very good, and the deployment is straightforward as well."

"My advice to other companies considering Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that it takes a little time to understand the product, but once you have it set up and running, it will run stable for all its lifetime."

"I have seen a return on investment with Dell PowerScale, as it has definitely saved many of our resources."

"Dell has the AI to protect the EMA."

"My experience when deploying Dell PowerScale (Isilon) was very straightforward, as we had Dell come on site to do all the actual setup, which was a big help."

"Certainly, we have seen return on investment and peace of mind, especially with our two clusters that are linked together, where one is a disaster recovery solution for the other."

"The inter-cluster replication feature, called SyncIQ, allows you to set up all of the jobs and move your data entirely, either timely or all at once."

"I would rate Dell PowerScale (Isilon) as a product a ten out of ten."

More Dell PowerScale pros

"The solution is stable."

"As opposed to cloud, we have full control over security, use, who uses it. We own a number of different companies, so we can partition however we want."

"NetApp is faster than other storage brands."

"When it came time to replace, we evaluated EMC, NetApp, IBM again and chose NetApp and have not regretted it."

"The most valuable feature of NetApp Private Storage is out-of-the-box integration with the SAN switches. They are much easier compared to Dell solutions. Additionally, the connector that comes with the solution that allows connection back to the Cisco SAN switches is very good. In Dell, I would need to use an FCIP or CIP port that is required."

"Its flexibility and ability to configure volumes is its most valuable aspect; I have no problem configuring the product for different kinds of use cases and configuring throughput or configuring some kind of logical volumes and so on."

"At the moment, we are extensively using SnapMirror."

"Disaster recovery. And I like the security very much. I think they have the needed options for security. Can manage NPS using the same tools and process that we use today."

More NetApp Private Storage pros

Cons

"I think Dell PowerScale (Isilon) can be improved, as the cost models are quite expensive for administration."

"I would want to see more AI features with Dell PowerScale (Isilon)."

"My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerScale has been expensive."

"Dell's customer service needs improvement."

"We lost our technical sales reps about two years ago. We haven't gotten one assigned to us and we'd love to have one."

"Improvements could be made on the object storage side."

"The downside of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that if we are replacing a drive, sometimes in the worst-case scenarios, some of the other drives will also go to the SmartFail state."

"I would like to see increased reporting and statistics functionalities."

More Dell PowerScale cons

"This product is probably one of the most complex to set up on the market."

"There is room for improvement in the support. It has been a problem for our team."

"I would like to see the GUI management simplified in the next release."

"The price could be lower."

"The documentation could be improved."

"The one thing I've noticed with NetApp when you buy hardware and you can use it for a while and then you have to get new hardware."

"There may actually be so many features that the end-user gets lost in the volume."

"If you overthink provisioning, if you over-allocate, if it gets full, or if something crazy happens and you haven't been watching, then you can lose data."

More NetApp Private Storage cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is excellent."

"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is an expensive solution."

"Our company finds the pricing high, but it decreases over time."

"It is an expensive solution."

"Dell PowerScale is an expensive solution compared to other products like Qumulo."

"The solution is expensive; it is not the cheapest solution out there. If you look at it from a total cost of ownership perspective, then it is a very compelling solution. However, if you're looking at just dollar per terabyte and not looking at the big picture, then you could be distracted by the price. It is not an amazing price, but it's pretty good. It is also very good when you consider the total cost of ownership and ease of management."

"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."

"I always want things to be less expensive. However, I would say the pricing is fair. Their costs are in alignment with their competitors. It is a good value for the money."

More Dell PowerScale pricing and cost advice

"The product is costly."

"The price of NetApp Private Storage is similar to other solutions. There is typically an annual license required for this solution."

"In general, I am pleased with the pricing, though it is a little high."

"NetApp Private Storage is cheaper here in India compared to other solutions, such as Dell."

"We negotiate whatever deal we can get on the type of storage that it is, but it's totally under our control,."

"The price could be lower."

"It is an expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Comms Service Provider

11%

Construction Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	30
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	66

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

I think the price is reasonable. We procured this during the time of COVID, around 2022, and the price was very competitive. If you are looking for technology, there will also be a price associated...

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What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

The disadvantage that I felt is not hardware-related. I feel that Dell needs to focus on the service aspects. Once they sell this hardware to customers, customers also expect service from them. Del...

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What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon)?

Dell PowerScale is used for keeping our company data. Continental is an automotive company, and we keep recording files on a petabyte basis. We have globally around more than 200 petabytes of Dell ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp Private Storage?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetApp Private Storage?

It consists of a large production company and national television channels broadcasting 24/7. We wanted to choose a stable product with flawless SLA levels for an organization that broadcasts 24/7....

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering NetApp Private Storage?

I believe it will deliver the expected performance and stability for television channels and production studios. On a scale of 1-10, I rate NetApp Private Storage an 8.

See all answers

Comparisons

NetApp FAS Series vs Dell PowerScale

Compared 15% of the time

Everpure FlashBlade vs Dell PowerScale

Compared 8% of the time

Qumulo vs Dell PowerScale

Compared 5% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs Dell PowerScale

Compared 3% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell PowerScale

Compared 3% of the time

More Dell PowerScale Competitors

NetApp FAS Series vs NetApp Private Storage

Compared 11% of the time

FreeNAS vs NetApp Private Storage

Compared 7% of the time

QNAP NAS Storage vs NetApp Private Storage

Compared 7% of the time

Buurst SoftNAS vs NetApp Private Storage

Compared 6% of the time

Qumulo vs NetApp Private Storage

Compared 6% of the time

More NetApp Private Storage Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale

October 2026

Download Dell PowerScale product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Private Storage

October 2026

Download NetApp Private Storage product report

Also Known As

PowerScale, Dell EMC Isilon

NPS

Overview

As a storage engine in Dell AI Data Platform, Dell PowerScale is the world's #1 scale-out NAS platform for enterprise unstructured data. Trusted by more than 25,000 customers, including more than 1,500 customers running GPU workloads, PowerScale uses OneFS operating system to provide a single namespace and unified file and object access for AI/ML training, RAG pipelines, analytics, media production, and life sciences, and other demanding workloads. PowerScale F710 was the world’s first Ethernet-based storage appliance certified with NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD. Selected configurations support NVIDIA GPUDirect Storage, pNFS, and NFS over RDMA for high-throughput parallel AI data access. PowerScale supports near-linear, non-disruptive scaling from terabytes to petabytes. Available in all-flash, hybrid, and archive configurations for on-premises and cloud deployment options, including AWS and Azure. Supported next-generation configurations deliver up to 35 GB/s read throughput per node.

Dell PowerScale Isilon provides a comprehensive platform for unstructured data, excelling in scalability, management, and performance. With features like single-pane management, SyncIQ, and SmartQuotas, it handles large datasets with flexibility and robust security. Its multi-protocol support and seamless expansion improve operational efficiency. While it offers strong data protection, enhancements in cloud integration, cybersecurity, and performance are sought. Users note potential for cost reductions and streamlined configurations and mention desired improvements in object storage handling and NFS support.

What are the key features of Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Single-pane management: Simplifies data control and monitoring through a unified interface.
SyncIQ: Ensures efficient data replication for business continuity.
SmartQuotas: Provides intelligent quota management for optimized storage allocation.
Multi-protocol support: Facilitates cross-platform data access and integration.
Seamless storage expansion: Allows effortless scaling to accommodate growing data needs.

What benefits should users consider when reviewing Dell PowerScale Isilon?

Operational efficiency: Reduces workload with easy management and automation.
Enhanced security: Offers comprehensive data protection and recovery options.
Scalability: Supports large-scale data storage with flexible growth capabilities.
Performance: Delivers high-speed data processing for demanding applications.
Integration flexibility: Adapts to on-prem and hybrid cloud environments for diverse deployment needs.

Organizations across industries utilize Dell PowerScale Isilon for large-scale unstructured storage, supporting applications like video archiving, genomic data storage, and high-resolution imaging. Educational institutions, research centers, and media enterprises rely on its scaled-out storage capabilities, providing centralized, secure storage for diverse applications in hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.

Dell Technologies

NetApp Private Storage provides efficient, cost-controlled storage solutions with fast, seamless cloud integration, ensuring robust security and scalability for diverse applications.

NetApp Private Storage integrates smoothly with cloud platforms like Azure or AWS, offering a unified approach to storage through the ONTAP operating system. With SAN integration, disaster recovery, and strong security measures, it supports scalability and diverse use cases. Users appreciate its effective backup solutions and reliability, enhanced by Snapshot functionality. However, enhanced cloud integration tools and user-friendly interface improvements are desired. Users often confront configuration complexity and support access issues, along with costly upgrade cycles due to hardware limitations.

What are the key features of NetApp Private Storage?

ONTAP Operating System: Facilitates unified storage management across platforms.
Integration Capabilities: Ensures seamless connections with cloud providers like AWS and Azure.
Disaster Recovery: Provides robust options to safeguard data.
Security Measures: Offers strong protection against potential threats.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing storage demands.

What benefits should users consider?

Cost Control: Allows efficient management of storage expenses.
Ease of Use: Simplifies complex storage management tasks.
Speed: Enhances data processing and access times.
Reliability: Ensures consistent performance across applications.
Flexibility: Adapts to a variety of storage environments and needs.

NetApp Private Storage is employed in industries requiring robust storage solutions, supporting OpenStack cloud backends, VMware environments, and media broadcasts. It aids in database server replication and hybrid flash storage, managing marketing data and facilitating ESXi backend solutions through NFS shares, SnapMirror, and file replication. Recognized for simplifying storage management and connectivity, it efficiently supports demanding applications across sectors.

NetApp

Sample Customers

OMRF, University of Utah, Translational Genetics Research Institute, Arcis, Geofizyka Torumn, Cyprus E&P Corporation, Colburn School, Columbia Sportswear, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, National Library of France,

ASE IT, Concerto Cloud

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerScale vs. NetApp Private Storage

September 2026

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