SmartX HCI

At a glance

• Editor score
  7.7 / 10
• Pricing
  Free plan · pricing on request · 30-day trial
• Best for
  Teams evaluating a free HCI deployment up to five nodes
• Free plan
  Yes
• Deployment model
  On-premises
• Founded
  2013 · Beijing, China
• Facts checked
  24 Sep 2026

• Where it wins

  • Free Community Edition is available with a perpetual community license.
  • Combines distributed block and file storage with virtualization and Kubernetes.
  • Includes backup, replication, disaster recovery and multi-cluster management.

• Where it doesn't

  • The free Community Edition is limited to five nodes.
  • Commercial editions require contacting SmartX for pricing and purchase.
  • Deployment depends on compatible commercial server hardware.

Our verdict on SmartX HCI

SmartX HCI brings server virtualization, distributed storage, networking, security and centralized management together for organizations running on-premises infrastructure. It is aimed at mid-market and enterprise teams evaluating hyperconvergence for virtualized and containerized workloads. Deployment is self-hosted on compatible commercial server hardware, and the free Community Edition gives teams a way to evaluate a deployment of up to five nodes.

The platform covers more than virtual machines: SMTX OS supports the native ELF hypervisor, while SMTX Kubernetes Service supports VM-based and containerized Kubernetes clusters. Everoute adds distributed firewall, micro-segmentation and load balancing. Storage includes distributed block and file options, and the platform also includes backup, asynchronous replication and disaster recovery. CloudTower provides management across clusters and datacenters. This breadth may suit teams seeking one HCI environment for compute, storage, Kubernetes and recovery; buyers focused on a narrower virtualization stack may not need all of those components.

SmartX describes migration paths from VMware, bare metal, public cloud and OpenStack, which may be relevant when consolidating varied environments. The Community Edition is free after a 30-day trial when a perpetual community license is obtained, with a five-node limit. Commercial editions require contacting SmartX for purchase and pricing. Teams should consider SmartX HCI if the free limit fits an evaluation or deployment and its integrated workload and recovery features match their needs. Those requiring more than five nodes under a free plan, or unwilling to engage sales for commercial pricing, should consider alternatives.

Your product? Our editors can test SmartX HCI in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →

SmartX HCI pricing

SmartX HCI fact sheet

Alternatives to SmartX HCI

• LTLenovo ThinkAgile HX SeriesA Lenovo-backed Nutanix HCI stack with integrated management, AHV, and scale-out clusters.9.3
• HSHPE SimpliVityAn HPE appliance for virtualized workloads that combines compute, storage and VM operations.9.1
• Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2)Extends Nutanix clusters to public-cloud bare metal with migration, scaling, and DR.9.0

See all SmartX HCI alternatives →

Featured on iTechGuides

SmartX HCI is listed in our Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions directory. Add the badge to your site — it links back to this page.

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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

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Last updated 7 Oct 2026 · How we research and update