Nexcess · Managed Cloud BU

Nutanix Elite vs. self-hosted VMware

Three-year total cost of ownership against both self-hosted VMware architectures: hyperconverged vSAN, and classic three-tier with a dedicated Dell PowerStore-class array behind an FC fabric. Elite is priced from the Nexcess single-tenant node rate card; every VMware input is editable.

Rate card: Nutanix Cloud Pricing, Aug 2026
Confidential & proprietary

Sizing mode

Workload to host

Total vCPU

Total RAM GB allocated to guests

Usable storage TB presented to guests

vCPU : core ratio Consolidation on all three

Size for N+1 host failure

Horizon

Comparison period · 3 years

Hardware refresh life Years used to amortize capex

VMware · shared assumptions

Host spec

Physical cores / host

RAM / host (GB)

Licensing & support

VCF license $/core/yr

Renewal uplift after yr 3 % increase

Server support %/yr Of compute capex

Network & rack capex Ethernet switching, cabling, PDUs

Facility

Draw per host (W)

Power $/kWh

PUE Cooling multiplier

Rack / colo $/mo

Hosts per rack

Transit / bandwidth $/mo

Labor

Virtualization FTE

Fully loaded salary

On-call / after-hours $/mo

Risk & indirect

Backup & DR $/GB/mo

Data protected (% of usable)

Downtime hrs/yr · vSAN

Cost of downtime $/hr

Cost of capital %/yr

Architecture A · vSAN

Hyperconverged

Host capex With NVMe capacity tier

Raw NVMe / host (TB)

Usable factor RF2 mirroring + slack

vSAN add-on $/core/yr 0 if bundled in VCF

Architecture B · Dell SAN

Array class — fills the fields below

Host capex Diskless, boot-from-SAN

Array base capex Controllers, enclosure, base software

$/TB raw flash Populated capacity

Data reduction ratio Dedupe + compression, always on

Array support %/yr Higher than server support

Array software $/yr Replication, snapshots, QoS

FC fabric capex Redundant switches, optics

HBA pair / host

Array draw (W)

Array rack $/mo

Storage admin FTE On top of virtualization staff

Downtime hrs/yr · SAN Higher-end arrays fail less

Nexcess Elite adders

Contract discount %

One-time onboarding

Additional services $/mo

Nutanix Elite

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VMware · vSAN

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VMware · Dell SAN

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Elite advantage

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Cumulative cash outlay

Nutanix Elite VMware · vSAN VMware · Dell SAN

Cash view, not amortized: capex lands in month zero, so both VMware lines start high and climb slowly while Elite starts at zero and climbs steadily.

Configuration resolved

Nutanix Elite

VMware · vSAN

VMware · Dell SAN

Cost detail · monthly, amortized

Line item	Elite	VMware · vSAN	VMware · Dell SAN

Array pricing is modeled, not quoted. Dell does not publish list pricing for PowerStore or PowerMax, so the class presets are street-price estimates built from configuration size, controller count and typical support rates. Replace them with a real quote before this number leaves the building. Amortized view. Compute, array, fabric and network capex is spread straight-line across the hardware refresh life, so the monthly figure reflects the cost of owning the gear rather than the month you write the check. Cost of capital is charged separately on the average undepreciated balance. Dashes on the Elite column are not zeros — those costs exist, they are inside the node rate.

Elite rate card applied

Component	Spec	$/node/mo	Nodes	$/mo

Source: Nutanix Cloud Pricing, single-tenant dedicated cluster, August 2026. Three-node cluster minimum. RAM and storage are per-node uplifts on the base config. Management and ops labor are inside the node rate.

Storage uplift · effective $/TB

Tier	Uplift $/node/mo	Usable TB / node	Marginal $/TB/mo	vs. multi-tenant $150

Assumptions worth stating out loud. A vCPU is not one thing: this model bills VMware per physical core for licensing and sizes all three platforms on the same vCPU:core ratio you set above. Host count is where the two VMware architectures diverge — vSAN hosts must be added to hold capacity, so storage growth pulls licensed cores up with it, while SAN-attached host count is driven only by CPU and RAM. Elite storage is sized at replication factor 2 with an 85% usable ceiling. Array capacity is purchased raw and divided by the data reduction ratio; dual-controller HA is assumed, so no N+1 array. Downtime cost is a modeled indirect, not a billed line, and applies only to self-hosted because Elite carries an availability commitment. The 768 GB RAM uplift is $1,800/node/mo — the source deck prints "$1,1800", a typo, corrected and confirmed.