# IBM alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 481 of the 504 answers in the 2 categories where IBM holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/ibm/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Amazon Web Services: 59
- DigitalOcean Droplets: 39
- Microsoft Azure: 33
- Pure Storage FlashArray: 27
- Dell PowerStore: 21
- NetApp AFF: 20

## Enterprise storage systems

**Small business**: 84 of 84 answers did not name IBM.

- Synology NAS: first choice in 12 of those 84
- Dell PowerStore: first choice in 8 of those 84
- HPE MSA: first choice in 6 of those 84
- QNAP: first choice in 5 of those 84
- NetApp AFF: first choice in 4 of those 84
- Dell PowerVault ME4 Series: first choice in 3 of those 84
- HPE MSA 2060: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Dell EMC PowerStore: first choice in 2 of those 84

**Mid-market**: 79 of 84 answers did not name IBM (IBM is #8 of 8 at 0%).

- Dell PowerStore: first choice in 10 of those 79
- Pure Storage FlashArray: first choice in 9 of those 79
- NetApp AFF: first choice in 7 of those 79
- Dell Technologies: first choice in 4 of those 79
- Dell PowerVault ME5 Series: first choice in 3 of those 79
- HPE MSA Storage: first choice in 2 of those 79
- DataCore SANsymphony: first choice in 1 of those 79
- Dell EMC: first choice in 1 of those 79

**Enterprise**: 81 of 84 answers did not name IBM (IBM is #7 of 9 at 0%).

- Pure Storage FlashArray: first choice in 18 of those 81
- NetApp AFF: first choice in 9 of those 81
- NetApp ONTAP: first choice in 5 of those 81
- Dell PowerStore: first choice in 3 of those 81
- Everpure: first choice in 3 of those 81
- Infinidat InfiniBox: first choice in 3 of those 81
- Dell EMC PowerMax: first choice in 1 of those 81
- Dell PowerMax: first choice in 1 of those 81

## Cloud hosting

**Small business**: 84 of 84 answers did not name IBM.

- DigitalOcean Droplets: first choice in 32 of those 84
- Amazon Web Services: first choice in 9 of those 84
- Akamai Connected Cloud: first choice in 6 of those 84
- Cloudways: first choice in 6 of those 84
- Hostinger: first choice in 5 of those 84
- Vultr: first choice in 4 of those 84
- Microsoft Azure: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Render: first choice in 3 of those 84

**Mid-market**: 81 of 84 answers did not name IBM (IBM is #10 of 12 at 0%).

- Amazon Web Services: first choice in 25 of those 81
- Microsoft Azure: first choice in 12 of those 81
- DigitalOcean Droplets: first choice in 6 of those 81
- Hostinger: first choice in 5 of those 81
- Google Cloud: first choice in 3 of those 81
- Azure: first choice in 2 of those 81
- Hetzner: first choice in 2 of those 81
- Vultr: first choice in 2 of those 81

**Enterprise**: 72 of 84 answers did not name IBM (IBM is #7 of 8 at 0%).

- Amazon Web Services: first choice in 25 of those 72
- Microsoft Azure: first choice in 18 of those 72
- Azure: first choice in 5 of those 72
- Google Cloud: first choice in 2 of those 72
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: first choice in 2 of those 72
- Cloudflare: first choice in 1 of those 72
- DigitalOcean Droplets: first choice in 1 of those 72
- Microsoft Azure with an Enterprise Agreement: first choice in 1 of those 72

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.