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Citrix XenServer vs VMware ESXi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 17, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.3
Citrix XenServer is praised for reducing costs and enhancing efficiency through virtualization, offering stability and effective management features.
Sentiment score
4.6
VMware ESXi boosts efficiency and saves costs, but some users consider alternatives due to rising expenses and ROI challenges.
My clients generally maintain their Citrix infrastructure without shifting, suggesting stability and reliable operation as Citrix XenServer is fully established.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.9
Citrix XenServer support ranges in effectiveness, with concerns about response speed and access, often relying on community channels.
Sentiment score
7.4
VMware ESXi support is generally positive, though Broadcom acquisition caused some delays; users praise higher-level support efficiency.
With valid licenses, we can access hotfixes, service packs, knowledge base, self-help tools, diagnostics, downloads, live chat, and phone support.
They do not provide adequate support for midsize businesses.
There appear to be very few engineers at Citrix who understand the problems.
I rate the technical support from VMware as nine or ten out of ten.
In the last three or four years, we did not require any support from VMware engineers, indicating its high reliability.
Customer service and support are good; they are reachable, and at times remote support suffices.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Citrix XenServer is highly scalable, easily integrates new hosts, and effectively manages virtualization with minor disk management concerns.
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware ESXi is highly scalable, widely used globally, supporting extensive infrastructures despite some licensing challenges, rated 8-9/10.
Familiarity with Linux can enhance its performance and usability.
The solution is scalable, allowing us to scale up or down regardless of infrastructure size.
vCenter Server can manage up to 1,000 ESXi servers within a single UI interface, allowing extensive deployment and management capabilities.
My customers are highly satisfied with its scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Citrix XenServer is stable and reliable, praised for minimal issues, good support, and consistent updates by users.
Sentiment score
8.2
VMware ESXi is praised for stability, resolved issues, and dependable performance, with occasional downtime and seamless integration noted.
I haven't had any significant issues with Citrix XenServer installations over the last 10-15 years.
ESXi is stable, and our business operations depend on it year after year.
 

Room For Improvement

Citrix XenServer needs improved backup, storage, Linux support, UI, multi-language, third-party integration, and lower licensing for better accessibility.
Users seek cost-effective VMware ESXi with simpler licensing, improved support, easier management, and better scalability post-Broadcom acquisition.
Although the product is technically competitive, it is not widely known or used due to poor marketing.
Citrix needs to improve the hypervisor, specifically in security and performance.
We can implement high availability and live migration with pools, along with security and backup to enable role-based access control for safer management.
Providing a mobile application for remote access to ESXi servers would be beneficial.
It's not cost-effective for small users and creates a gap for alternatives, while favoring larger clients.
The cost of VMware ESXi is very high, especially after the acquisition by Broadcom, which led to price increases.
 

Setup Cost

Citrix XenServer offers cost-effective licensing with strong support, making it a popular low-cost alternative to VMware.
VMware ESXi's high pricing and complex licensing model post-acquisition lead to increased costs, requiring tailored licensing for efficiency.
It is cheaper compared to its competitors.
Organizations save substantial money because competing solutions, such as VMware, cost double or triple.
The pricing and licensing policy of Citrix XenServer is not transparent and quite confusing.
The product is very cost-effective, though not fixed, as pricing tends to fluctuate over time.
The solution is moderately priced, not exactly cheap yet not overly expensive either.
The pricing is expensive, with the cost for customers ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 yearly.
 

Valuable Features

Citrix XenServer is a secure, cost-effective virtualization platform offering user-friendly, efficient resource management with robust features and scalability.
VMware ESXi provides efficient server management with features like vMotion and disaster recovery, plus seamless third-party integration and scalability.
The most valuable feature is transferring and sharing applications that allow users to move files between devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers without needing USB cables, internet connections, or data usage.
It provides secure access to applications and resources, which is crucial for us and our clients.
It is user-friendly and easy to deploy, making it an attractive option.
Its capability to move virtual machines to physical machines is very efficient for our live environment.
As a level one or bare metal hypervisor, its unmatched scalability depends on underlying hardware, capable of managing large numbers of physical servers with one management platform.
The most important features are having a lot of code and CPU threads to ensure the system doesn't lag.
 

Categories and Ranking

Citrix XenServer
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware ESXi
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Citrix XenServer is 4.8%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware ESXi is 1.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Jörg Köhler - PeerSpot reviewer
Consulting benefits from robust consulting while also recognizing the need for improved disk management
When it comes to optimization, that's one of the weaker points of Citrix XenServer, especially regarding disk management, which is somewhat clumsy. Backup-related issues and disk management should be improved. Especially concerning backup, as discussions with Veeam engineers about Citrix XenServer backup strategy indicate there might not be a solution from Veeam soon. License optimization is not such a significant problem, but licenses are quite complicated. Vendors constantly invent new license models, making it difficult to order the correct licenses needed. There is not a big difference between Citrix and VMware products because Citrix can implement Windows and Linux anyway.
Syed Ali Waqas - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages development environments with robust network integration
I recommend new users download and evaluate the free version from VMware's website. Once satisfied, they should purchase the professional version for a smooth and secure IT infrastructure. The professional version is cost-effective, allowing one to create multiple servers on a single server. I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
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Comparison Review

VL
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Hypervisor?
The core function enables multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical server. This maximizes hardware utilization and efficiency.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Hypervisor?
Licensing with Citrix XenServer is very cost-effective. Organizations save substantial money because competing solutions, such as VMware, cost double or triple. If you are using Citrix load only, t...
What needs improvement with Citrix Hypervisor?
When it comes to optimization, that's one of the weaker points of Citrix XenServer, especially regarding disk management, which is somewhat clumsy. Backup-related issues and disk management should ...
What do you like most about VMware ESXi?
My customers are satisfied with the solution’s performance.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware ESXi?
VMware ESXi is extremely expensive now compared to a few years ago. It's a core-based license now. We have bought VCF for about more than 2,000 cores. It's not a user-based license, and when you co...
What needs improvement with VMware ESXi?
It would be better if it had some scaling out features such as Kubernetes, automatic scale-out features, or automatic scheduling scale-out features, without being in a containerized platform such a...
 

Also Known As

Hypervisor
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

U.S. Army Shared Services Center, SoftLayer, Educational Services of America, Independent Bank, and SK Telecom.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix XenServer vs. VMware ESXi and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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