How Much Do Pure and Nimble Storage Devices Cost? [Pricing, Comparison]

With the prevalence of digitized business information and operations, shared storage appliances are a vital component of digital operations.

These devices are responsible for storing all the information that makes your business run. 

When you’re considering purchasing a shared storage device for your company, you want to know what will work best and how much it’ll cost.

Here at The KR Group, we sell both Pure Storage and Nimble Storage because of the high quality of both companies and the shared storage each provides. How much you’ll pay for an array from either manufacturer depends on which model you choose and if you agree to ongoing maintenance. 

Between Pure and Nimble Storage, we offer three series of shared storage devices:

  1. Pure’s FlashArray X series
  2. Nimble’s AF series
  3. Nimble’s HF series

Which series you’ll end up buying will depend on what you features you want and how much speed you’re looking for. 

Pure Storage's shared storage appliance
Pure Storage’s FlashArray X series offers users a simple configuration.

1. Pure Storage’s FlashArray X series

Pure is the best shared storage option if you’re looking for a simple configuration. Its devices are a good option for businesses with minimal IT knowledge.

Pure’s FlashArray X series is known for its speed. It offers an all-flash solution as opposed to the slower, older spinning disk solution.

Within the X series, The KR Group offers two models:

Pure Storage X10

This is Pure’s entry into its line of X storage devices, and it comes with 10 to 12 terabytes (TB) of effective capacity storage.This is a good fit for customers with less than 15 TB of local storage who need a quick and reliable storage solution.

The X10 is the least expensive option if you want to purchase a Pure Storage device, and it starts at around $40,000 for 10 to 12 TBs.

Pure Storage X20

The X20 is the next step up in Pure’s line of storage devices. It provides up to 314 TB of effective storage capacity and a higher-end processor than the X10. As a result, it is more expensive.

However, the higher-end processor and larger storage capacity make the X20 a great option for customers with highly transactional workloads, such as a retail company with thousands of transactions per second.

You can expect to pay at least $90,000 for the X20. However, depending on how much data storage capacity you need, it could scale up to $200,000.

Nimble Storage's shared storage appliance
Nimble Storage two series of shared storage arrays are the all-flash, AF series, and hybrid, HF series.

2. Nimble Storage’s AF series

Nimble Storage is a great option for companies looking for their shared storage appliance to come with a deep focus on data analytics and performance. Nimble also offers a holistic view of its virtual infrastructure.

Specifically, Nimble’s AF series comes in many sizes and runs on all-flash disks. You can expect similar support, uptime, and data reduction features as Pure’s X series. 

Nimble Storage AF20

The first array in the series, the AF20, comes with up to 168 TB of effective storage capacity and is priced similarly to Pure’s X10. The price of an AF20 starts at $40,000.

Nimble Storage AF40

The other device The KR Group offers its customers is the AF40, which you can buy with up to 682 TB of effective storage capacity. Its starting price of $90,000 is similar to Pure’s X20.

3. Nimble Storage’s adaptive array (HF series)

Along with its all-flash disk solutions, Nimble also offers adaptive arrays – a hybrid of flash and spinning disks. These come in the HF series.

HF shared storage appliances are a more affordable alternative to the Pure X series and the Nimble AF series. 

If the Nimble AF20 or Pure X10 is too expensive, a Nimble HF20 still provides access to high-quality storage. The difference is it runs on a combination of six flash disks and 21 slower spinning disks. 

Most of the time, the experience will be similar to all-flash arrays since the HF20 relies on the six flash drives for the majority of requests. 

However, a full backup will take longer with an adaptive appliance. For a small percentage of the requests to the array, you may also notice higher latency spikes than with all-flash drives. 

As far as cost, you can expect to pay around $10,000 less than the entry points into Nimble’s AF series and Pure’s X series and comes with up to 30 to 40 TB of effective capacity.

Nimble Storage’s HF and AF series come with access to InfoSight technology. With InfoSight, data scientists analyze Nimble’s shared storage devices and report back to you.

This allows you to have a better idea of what is going on with your array and catch potential problems before they affect your operations. Nimble Storage is the best option if your IT team wants to geek out over analytics. 

Once you’ve determined which shared storage device works best for you and your budget, you can also consider investing in ongoing maintenance with either brand.

An ongoing maintenance program can increase the price of Pure or Nimble. 

The price range for Pure or Nimble shared storage devices only covers the equipment price. Both brands offer ongoing maintenance programs. 

1. Pure offers Evergreen Storage.

2. Nimble offers Timeless Storage.

These take care of upgrades and eliminate the need to migrate your data on the shared storage appliance if you move to a different one of the same brand.

Evergreen Storage from Pure

Evergreen Storage is Pure’s ongoing maintenance model. If you enroll in Evergreen Storage, Pure will make all upgrades without any downtime, performance impact or data migrations. Evergreen also eliminates the need for forklift upgrades. 

With Evergreen Storage, Pure will credit you for existing shared storage appliances if you decide to upgrade to a larger-capacity appliance. 

These features are true for the gold and silver support levels with Evergreen Storage. The difference is the gold level includes replacement controllers every three years.

For the silver support level of Evergreen Storage, you can expect to pay around $10,200 a year. Meanwhile, if you opt for the gold level, you’ll spend around $17,000 a year.

Timeless Storage from Nimble

If you end up buying a Nimble AF or HF device, you’ll have the option to pay for Timeless Storage, which is Nimble’s ongoing maintenance program.

It costs around $17,000 per year.

How much can you expect to spend on Pure or Nimble storage?

Pure and Nimble’s entry-points into their X and AF series start at around $40,000. The X20 and HF40 can scale up to $200,000 or more. 

The AF20, the budget-friendly option, costs approximately $30,000, but as said before, it doesn’t offer the same level of performance as Pure and Nimble’s all-flash solutions. 

If you opt for the ongoing maintenance program for any of the mentioned storage devices, your price will increase by $9,200 to $17,000 (depending on which support level you choose) for every year you enroll. Ultimately, the size storage array you’ll need and how much it’ll cost depends on your business’ size and needs.

To see what device best meets your needs, download our free Pure vs. Nimble Cheat Sheet.

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