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IBM PowerVM vs Nutanix AHV Virtualization comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 6, 2024

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
7.7
PowerVM saves costs by charging for allocated cores, proving more cost-effective and reliable than physical servers over five years.
Sentiment score
6.3
Nutanix AHV dramatically cut costs and optimized efficiency, offering 45% savings, improved scalability, and reduced downtime within three years.
The return on investment is substantial, though other platforms may offer a better ROI, primarily due to lower costs involved in setup and maintenance.
If calculated over a five-year period, IBM PowerVM is 30 to 40% more cost-effective than physical servers despite initial costs seeming high.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
IBM PowerVM's support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though challenges arise without subscriptions; stability minimizes service need.
Sentiment score
8.8
Nutanix AHV Virtualization support is efficient and knowledgeable, providing proactive solutions and quick issue resolution with high satisfaction.
IBM offers excellent customer support.
IBM provides strong support.
IBM's technical support is outstanding, with seamless global coordination and prompt resolutions.
Their engineers are excellent and provide great supportability.
They provide prompt and quality responses.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
IBM PowerVM excels in scalability and flexibility, efficiently managing resources and users for both small and large enterprises.
Sentiment score
8.4
Nutanix AHV Virtualization offers exceptional scalability, allowing easy node addition, minimal downtime, and flexible horizontal and vertical scaling.
An IBM server can handle up to sixty-four terabytes of RAM.
The product is scalable due to PowerVM's virtualization features, such as shared processor functionality and partition mobility.
I think IBM PowerVM uses a 'pay as you grow' model, allowing customers to scale their resources as needed.
We can scale our systems easily without any downtime, making it a highly effective solution for dynamic environments.
Nutanix AHV Virtualization is very scalable; however, I might be underutilizing its capabilities.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
IBM PowerVM is praised for exceptional stability and uptime, outperforming competitors like SPARC, Nutanix, and VMware in reliability.
Sentiment score
8.5
Nutanix AHV Virtualization is praised for stability, reliable performance, and seamless management, despite occasional patch delays affecting ratings.
The stability of IBM PowerVM is exceptional, as industry reports have named IBM Power and Z as the most stable platforms globally for 15 consecutive years.
Our clients in India using Power Servers have been running their servers for the last four to five years without any reboot.
The product operates reliably, and following IBM’s best practices ensures robust stability.
The solution is very stable.
Issues such as patch delays and the OVF format challenge affect its stability rating.
I would give the stability a seven out of ten at the moment, primarily due to the issues I've had with updates.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM PowerVM needs usability, pricing, automation, integration improvements, and a GUI to better compete and enhance user experience.
Nutanix AHV needs enhancements in deployment, support, interface, and integration, with focus on stability, pricing, and documentation.
We have a strong relationship with IBM, which aids decision-making in transitioning clients from mainframe to other platforms.
From a product perspective, I would like to see faster certification of open-source products on IBM Power Systems.
PowerVM should integrate some capabilities of VMware vCenter to improve its management features.
This delay in patching creates risk, especially for government projects that require timely updates.
Using Lenovo hardware seems problematic with Nutanix AHV Virtualization, which demands careful consideration during updates.
These menus often show options like host, memory, and disk, however, they fail to provide insight into what's happening.
 

Setup Cost

IBM PowerVM pricing is high but offers reliability, flexible licensing, and potential TCO savings despite cheaper alternatives.
Nutanix AHV provides cost-effective virtualization with no licensing fees, offering significant savings compared to competitors like VMware and Citrix.
PowerVM itself is free with the purchase of an IBM server.
They have introduced a subscription-based model for some systems, creating a more cost-effective solution for customers.
Pricing is a concern in Argentina due to the higher cost of mainframe solutions.
This has been advantageous as it does not require additional licensing costs for the hypervisor, contributing to overall cost savings.
Other solutions like Citrix and VMware have seen a significant price increase, whereas Nutanix hasn't increased as dramatically.
The pricing was reasonable compared to other competitors, though the storage was expensive.
 

Valuable Features

IBM PowerVM offers stability, flexibility, and high availability with robust virtualization, cloud integration, and optimized workloads for Oracle and SAP HANA.
Nutanix AHV Virtualization is praised for its user-friendly interface, cost-effectiveness, automation, and robust disaster recovery features.
Features like partition mobility enhance the machine's capabilities, making it an ideal tool for virtual environments with reliability, availability, and serviceability.
IBM PowerVM supports multiple operating systems such as IBM i, AIX, and Linux, allowing users to run various applications seamlessly in a cloud environment.
It supports specific workloads, like Oracle and SAP HANA, much better due to its shared processor pool feature which reduces licensing costs.
It is easier to manage than VMware in some ways, providing a good level of interaction.
The technology behind the backups is very efficient, enabling a reliable virtual environment.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM PowerVM
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix AHV Virtualization
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of IBM PowerVM is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix AHV Virtualization is 8.1%, up from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Desianto Abdillah - PeerSpot reviewer
A practical virtualization environment with a Live Partition Mobility feature that help us handle virtual adapters effectively
The practicality of IBM PowerVM is a crucial feature, especially with the help of HMC (Hardware Management Console). The Live Partition Mobility help us handle virtual adapters effectively when we need to upgrade firmware or the system, and LPM helps us transfer workloads with minimal downtime. This feature ensures that our systems remain online even during maintenance, significantly minimizing any potential disruptions.
Zack Baraci - PeerSpot reviewer
High availability and user-friendly interface enhance manageability
I primarily use the core features of Nutanix AHV Virtualization ( /products/nutanix-ahv-virtualization-reviews ) at the moment. The high availability (HA), replication, and site-to-site replication are quite useful. Additionally, the usual hypervisor management functionalities are beneficial. Nutanix AHV Virtualization delivers a system that is very manageable, with a well-designed user interface. It is easier to manage than VMware in some ways, providing a good level of interaction.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM PowerVM?
Managing other operating systems is also straightforward with IBM PowerVM.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM PowerVM?
IBM’s licensing model offers flexibility in subscription terms, now allowing one- to five-year options. They have introduced a subscription-based model for some systems, creating a more cost-effect...
What needs improvement with IBM PowerVM?
From a product perspective, I would like to see faster certification of open-source products on IBM Power Systems ( /products/ibm-power-systems-reviews ). While the product has robust features and ...
How does Nutanix AHV compare with VMware vSphere?
To understand which is better - Nutanix AHV or VMware vSphere - you need to do a product comparison. Both products support hypervisors. However, Nutanix supports some of the most popular ones and m...
What do you like most about Nutanix AHV Virtualization?
Integration is the most valuable feature of the product.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix AHV Virtualization?
Compared to the competition, the pricing for Nutanix AHV Virtualization is reasonable. Other solutions like Citrix and VMware have seen a significant price increase, whereas Nutanix hasn't increase...
 

Also Known As

PowerVM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sto, Soitec, SNO, Bundesrechenzentrum GmbH, Al Mansour Holding, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Huhtamaki, ELK Group, IT-Informatik, Arkansas Tech University, Pneuhage
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM PowerVM vs. Nutanix AHV Virtualization and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.