Top Rated StarWind Virtual SAN Alternatives
We are an SMB that can't be bothered paying tens of thousands of dollars just to get a proper HA storage for a two node failover cluster.
Therefore StarWind's vSAN was financially attractive from the start.
The reviews you can find all over the web incentivised us to research this solution deeper (e.g. just check all the great posts vom Kooler on Stackoverflow), leading to us actually implementing it.
We were coming from an S2D implementation which already gave us a ridiculous amount of headaches (bugs, performance stalls, "we know what's best for you" automatisms) IN ADDITION to being slow af AND annoying to administrate/debug WHILE ALSO having the most annoying documentation ever to be created by mankind. Just the usual MS crap basically. Rush out some code and ship it and never fix anything (but break it every few weeks with patches)...
The initial tests were easily implementable (without begging some sales folks for a POC, due to a free version being available) as well as proper documentation *that you actually LIKE to read due to it having been typed by a tech* (and that also isn't behind a pay/registration wall).
As close to perfect as the documentation is, do read the blog posts to e.g. the 2 node HA setup as well - some minute details were only found in those.
No showstoppers, and not many things in general, just a few hints here and there.
The install itself is easy as pie, the config file is properly documented (you can do most things via GUI, just some things are set in the main config file).
Do help yourself to the iSCSI Powershell commands (Windows defaults from MS) when implementing, way more attractive than clicking via GUI!
(New-IscsiTargetPortal, Connect-IscsiTarget etc.)
Some things must be done via GUI though, since iSCSI has been implemented way back and "making scripting available" wasn't that widespread for developers back then.
This being a Microsoft topic, not StarWind though...they would have had to make their very own iSCSI implementation otherwise.
For testing you should use a proper tool like https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-stack/hci/manage/diskspd-overview
since "Windows copy from within the VM running on the test setup" can be flakey.
Not as in "the results aren't valid real world performance if you check with the Windows copy within a VM" but rather "non-scientific", since you can't extract much data from that process aside from size/time.
Feature-wise we are only waiting for the release of a...lets call it "planned disaster"...feature that would allow us to patch a hypervisor node without having to take the full storage offline.
Atm (20220609) this is still necessary, since taking a node offline without properly activating maintenance mode on the vSAN would trigger a full sync of the vSAN nodes.
This is fine and a good thing! since it ensures data integrity. But there is something in the making that would ensure integrity without a full sync after a node goes down...which, as stated above, one could "abuse" to patch (and boot = take down) the hypervisors during business hours 😁
Other than that the thing is rock stable and chugging along without issues.
Like I said we are an SMB so we "only" have around 50 VMs on our FO cluster, which is a medium load for SSDs.
So if you plan to go more to the "max" side of performance use, do proper testing!
Price-wise this is very attractive, the support is great (little that we needed due to the good docs) and I would expect you to reach very good performance just like we did.
The next-best solution from my research back then - that you would actually want to use, so no S2D crap or anything - would have started at 7x or 8x the price. Started! So...since StarWind's solution has served us very well over the last two years already...you get who I would recommend 😎
MIT
PS: We don't like to publicly post as our corp (privacy reasons), but take me posting here at all as an additional hint to at least check out the product. I wouldn't bother if it sucked... 😏
PPS: There is a visual bug with a specific part of iSCSI.
Microsoft's fault, as usual has never been fixed in over 15 years.
Just don't panic if you experience it, "all is well"... 😂
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/de-de/000138339/microsoft-iscsi-initiator-source-ip-address-incorrect-in-persistent-target-or-favorite-targets-details
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d10d87c9-7361-4f0a-8ffe-5c877e6f209d/208-iscsi-initiator-source-ip-incorrect-in-persistent-target-details?forum=winserverfiles Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Since you are relying on Microsofts implementation of iSCSI...should MS decide to break it with a patch, that's that 😁
And since iSCSI has been around for so long, not everything is powershellable.
For StarWind's product itself though, apart from an upcoming feature (mentioned above) we aren't missing anything and since the GUI is proper I really don't dislike anything since implementing it.
Which is a REALLY rare thing for a sysadmin nowadays 😍 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
161 out of 162 Total Reviews for StarWind Virtual SAN
Overall Review Sentiment for StarWind Virtual SAN
Log in to view review sentiment.
When we decided to move to a hyperconverged setup, VMware vSAN was the obvious first choice, but once we dug into the licensing and overall costs, it just didn’t make sense. That’s when we started looking at alternatives and landed on StarWind VSAN—easily one of the best decisions we’ve made.
We set up a 3-node cluster, and it’s been rock solid. No weird failures, no performance dips—just stable and reliable storage that does exactly what we need. What really stood out was the cost savings compared to VMware vSAN. Licensing alone was a huge relief, but on top of that, StarWind’s simplicity meant less time spent managing and troubleshooting, which saved us even more in the long run.
Support has been another big win. They’re quick, professional, and actually know what they’re doing. No scripted responses, no useless back-and-forth—just real solutions when you need them.
Right now, everything is running smoothly, and we’re already looking at expanding. If you’re on the fence about VMware vSAN and want a flexible, cost-effective alternative that just works, StarWind VSAN is absolutely worth considering. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Small installation hiccups which were resolved quickly by their support. The fact that the software is ported from Windows Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It is very easy to manage and as there is no need to manage hardware so ongoing maintenance cost is almost zero and we can manage it by ourselves. Support is very good and available all the time. Installation is very smooth and you can easily configure the cluster environment. If you need high speed data transfer and zero latency then it can be used with SSD to achieve faster results. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The only limitation is that there is less documentation publicly available and in case you want to learn or experience it before purchasing it then you don’t have a trial version with all features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
StarWind vSAN has provided our organization with a more reliable, scalable, and cost-effective storage solution that not only meets our current needs but also positions us for future growth.
It has improved performance, reduced complexity, and ensured the high availability of our critical workloads, ultimately contributing to the overall efficiency and agility of our IT operations.
A very big bonus is that the solution is not tied to specific hardware, therefore it offers a lot of flexibility in the long run. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
One key area is the PowerShell documentation, which could be much more detailed. Currently, it’s somewhat lacking, particularly when it comes to advanced configurations or troubleshooting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Starwind Virtual SAN is a very cost-effective solution especially in terms of licensing, while it will also boost the database performance by providing a high-speed data transfer rate. it can easily scale as per need and while running it in the cluster you have the assurance of 100% uptime. when we used it with SSD the data transfer speed was very impressive and latency for our user application was very low which was very beneficial for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There were some issues during installation but they were not major issues you can resolve them by contacting support and they will immediately resolve your issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
We used trial and licensed verions both, before purchasing it we use the trial version and we found solution is very reliable and stable and with its server deployment structure it is very easy to manage the solution as per your needs.
In the paid version, there is a good option as it offers server-based licenses which are very cost-effective, on top of that we achieve high-speed performance results. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
In the trial version there is a limitation of all features along with that there is no detail documentation available for the deployment of the trial version so if you want to use and get hands-on experience on a trial version before using the live environment than you might face difficulties. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The software is very reliable and especially when we run and use it in a cluster of 2 nodes, the sync speed of data is very fast almost in real-time so there is no heartbeat issue we faced. In case of any failure you have a complete real-time backup of the solution and the data transfer speed is very high so you can easily manage large databases without any issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The free version of the solution has very limited features. Also, there Is no detailed documentation available so if anyone wants to explore the solution before acquiring the product then it is difficult to learn everything about the solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
La característica que he encontrado más valiosa en VSAN es su capacidad de alta disponibilidad Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Si bien la herramienta funciona bien en su configuración actual, sería muy beneficioso permitir una mayor facilidad y flexibilidad para agregar nuevos nodos al clúster sin complicaciones, especialmente en entornos en crecimiento. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The product interface is user-friendly and it is easy to manage most importantly database replication is very fast which will provide stability to our applications. it is easy to manage daily operations on the interface and in case of connectivity issues troubleshooting is very easy and can resolve issues easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
In HA deployment it is complex and it is not very easy. it will take time to make sure that your HA deployment is up and smooth. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
We run StarWind in our HC Cluster.
- We like the reliablility of the software.
- In a cluster of 2 nodes, never a sync issue, stable heartbeat
- Fast sync syncronizes data after a node reboot, no need for full sync
- Full utilization of interfaces, in our case 2x 25GBit Fiber connection, which results in 750MB/s Fileserver VM Performance
- Fantastic forum and mail support, even without support license Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
- Setup with a free-license StarWind Management Console goes via PowerShell Templates but the documentation online is mainly with the licensed version. This was not like that before so StarWind changed the licensing options, which means the free version is basically only for monitoring. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
