Nutanix Central vs OpenNebula comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Nutanix and OpenNebula are both solutions in the Cloud Management category. Nutanix is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.8, while OpenNebula is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.0. Nutanix holds a 1.3% mindshare in CM, compared to OpenNebula’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Nutanix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of OpenNebula users who would recommend it.

Nutanix Central

Read 6 Nutanix Central reviews

3,425 Views
1,918 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

OpenNebula

Read 15 OpenNebula reviews

3,789 Views
3,486 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nutanix Central

OpenNebula

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

OpenNebula and Nutanix Central compete in cloud management, each with unique strengths. OpenNebula may hold an edge in cost-effectiveness and ease of use, while Nutanix Central gains ground with its advanced features and infrastructure capabilities.

Features: OpenNebula offers lightweight virtualization, flexibility in hybrid cloud management, and seamless integration with existing systems, making it easy to customize to specific needs. Nutanix Central provides comprehensive cloud services, hyper-converged infrastructure, and enhanced data protection, supporting complex enterprise environments effectively.

Room for Improvement: OpenNebula could enhance its platform by offering more advanced virtualization features, a more robust data protection system, and expanding its integration capabilities. Nutanix Central might work on providing more budget-friendly pricing options, improving user interface simplicity for faster onboarding, and offering more detailed customer support response time metrics.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OpenNebula allows straightforward deployment with minimal hardware needs and offers basic customer support. Nutanix Central, on the other hand, offers sophisticated deployment processes with extensive automation and comprehensive support resources, streamlining implementation for enterprises.

Pricing and ROI: OpenNebula typically requires a lower initial investment, making it attractive to budget-conscious organizations. Nutanix Central may involve a higher upfront cost but promises greater long-term ROI through scalability and a rich suite of features, making it suitable for companies with a growth-oriented financial strategy.

To learn more, read our detailed Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula

November 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Nutanix Central

Ranking in Cloud Management

13th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtualization Management Tools (4th), Data Center Infrastructure Management (4th), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (6th)

OpenNebula

Ranking in Cloud Management

27th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of Nutanix Central is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenNebula is 1.5%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Nutanix Central	1.3%
OpenNebula	1.5%
Other	97.2%

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer2703777

S30290139 Infrastructure Administrator II at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees

Helps us get ahead of potential problems, and their support has been phenomenal

I don't think there's much improvement needed in Nutanix Central. Maybe there are different tools I haven't discovered yet that may bring everyone on the same page. I am still in the process of researching them and providing feedback to Nutanix. For what we use it for, it runs efficiently. What I think is missing in Nutanix Central to make it the best product ever is compatibility with our backups. One of the biggest challenges we have with Nutanix currently is that our Rubrik backups do not work with the Nutanix API. That would be great to resolve, as it would reduce the time spent resolving the issue.

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Andy Brauer

CTO at Encha

A highly scalable solution that gives good value for money, but it does not have payment gateways

OpenNebula's templates are weak, and it could do something to make template creation a lot easier to use. The solution has a template for every single VM you create, which is not clever. You should be able to use a template for many different virtual machines. There are no payment gateways in OpenNebula.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features of Nutanix Central that I value most are primarily the hardware portion because it tells us everything available regarding BIOS upgrades and any updates that become compatible, including LCM upgrades. I enjoy troubleshooting and dealing with urgent issues."

"It provided a significant increase in speed and ease of use."

"We have multiple Prism Centrals - two currently, with more coming in, especially with NC2 and the public cloud. We can log into one portal, one panel, and see metrics, VMs, and perform administration tasks, all from one site."

"One of the best features is that it provides a unified control plane, which offers single-pane-of-glass visibility for us."

"The ability to look in one place in Nutanix Central is what I prefer the most. We can see storage but also capacity, and it gives my boss a place to look, so he doesn't ask me questions."

"Nutanix Central scales very effectively with our growing needs."

"I find the categories in Nutanix Central most valuable because they allow us to group things easily, so we don't have to deal with complications, and that's how we use our DR."

"The grouping feature in Nutanix Central is helpful because, from my perspective, it's similar to tagging that I've been using in AWS and Rubrik."

More Nutanix Central pros

"OpenNebula is easy to deploy and manage compared to other solutions like OpenStack."

"OpenNebula has very good integration with SAP Storage, is easy to use, has a good UI, and is very scalable."

"It's easy to integrate OpenNebula with our IT systems."

"It has enabled us to decrease the optics by around 55 to 60%."

"The live migration feature has been great and is something we use very often."

"It makes maintenance very easy and stress-free for our teams."

"I also like the ability to build custom functions. I can define a function where I have two types of views and configure the dependencies. The virtual data centers concept allows me to define users. If a user wants to join certain kinds of machines, the host and the other user won't see them. It gives me the flexibility to define multiple views and data centers in one place."

"The most valuable feature of OpenNebula is that it scales very well."

More OpenNebula pros

Cons

"The API needs work. It's not specifically Central, but just the API as a whole."

"The permissions should be set for the highest level, more akin to cluster admin and Prism admin. There have been occasions where I needed to log into Prism Central directly to complete work due to permissions issues from Nutanix Central. They are very close to a one-for-one equivalence. While their website states it is not meant to replace Prism Element or Prism Central, I would prefer to see it reach the level where I can perform all Prism Central tasks from one location to multiple Prism Centrals."

"The API needs work. It's not specifically Central, but just the API as a whole. We've had a recurring issue where the API calls stack up and hang during backups from Rubrik, which has been a challenge, but Nutanix has their API version four coming out pretty soon, or it is available now, and we just can't upgrade yet. We're hoping to see some major improvements there."

"There has been confusion regarding the initial setup of Nutanix Central."

"The update process in terms of using LCM or using Central is sometimes confusing, but I think they are working towards unifying that."

"One of the things I'd want to see in Nutanix Central is more utility. It would be nice to go in and say, "This VM doesn't need to be in this data center, and we'd prefer to put it in this one," and have the ability to initiate the migration, even if we have to make changes to networks."

"There is a sense that they want to close tickets faster than always getting the resolution right."

"What I think is missing in Nutanix Central to make it the best product ever is compatibility with our backups. One of the biggest challenges we have with Nutanix currently is that our Rubrik backups do not work with the Nutanix API. That would be great to resolve, as it would reduce the time spent resolving the issue."

More Nutanix Central cons

"Most of the competitors are offering some sort of billing software to transform their installation to work as a small-sized public cloud, but those offerings from OpenNebula are still missing."

"An area for improvement in OpenNebula is the number of features it has. The solution doesn't have that many cloud features compared to other solutions. You'd say, "Okay, simplicity over a rich feature list?" Some say, "No, I need a big machine or a cloud interface for my customers to manage resources. I don't have to go and do it for them." Some people do it that way, and it works, but I'd like to improve the limited features in OpenNebula."

"The front-facing API can be improved to support lots of requests when the platform is huge with lots of virtual resources."

"The UI, monitoring, and alerting could benefit from further improvements."

"I would like to see OpenNebula add more integration with REST API. XML-RPC API is good, but it becomes a pain to form a resting output."

"There are no payment gateways in OpenNebula."

"The web interface could be better. It's not very difficult to use, but there's room for enhancement."

"Backup features are only available in the enterprise edition. The community version lacks a good solution for making backups."

More OpenNebula cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our experience was fine. We have no complaints."

"We had the benefit of already being under Ultimate and Pro for the majority of our licensing models. We do not incur additional costs for using Nutanix Central. Similar to Security Central, this is one of those tools we are adopting, integrating, and promoting because we already have access to it."

"We tie in with cost governance in Nutanix Central, which helps us identify other products and determine whether we need to increase our licensing or reduce it."

"My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is limited as I don't manage that part. However, I know it has been within budget and hasn't impacted our financial planning."

"VRA is very expensive but OpenNebula is free."

"The solution is open source so is free."

"We use the Community Edition, rather than the Enterprise Edition."

"The licensing for OpenNebula used to be free, but now it's no longer free. A customer contacted me asking to move to another provider because of the changes in the licensing terms for OpenNebula. I have no information on how much the OpenNebula license is because the customer pays for it, and I only do the integration."

"OpenNebuoa has recently come up with a new subscription model that is economical and a lot of new customers are choosing this as it is an easy subscription model."

"OpenNebula gives good value for money."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Central?

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is limited as I don't manage that part. However, I know it has been within budget and hasn't impacted our financial planning.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Nutanix Central?

One area of improvement could be from the AI side, as the industry shifts and grows. If we could get workflow mechanisms built into Nutanix Central, we could define workflows to solve known issues ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Nutanix Central?

We use Nutanix Central for our hybrid cloud management because we have our on-premises Nutanix clusters and AWS cloud resources.

See all answers

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Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

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Nutanix Prism vs Nutanix Central

Compared 9% of the time

AWS Outposts vs Nutanix Central

Compared 7% of the time

NTT Cloud Management Platform vs Nutanix Central

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs OpenNebula

Compared 8% of the time

BMC Helix Cloud Security vs OpenNebula

Compared 5% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) vs OpenNebula

Compared 5% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs OpenNebula

Compared 4% of the time

More OpenNebula Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Central

October 2026

Download Nutanix Central product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenNebula

October 2026

Download OpenNebula product report

Overview

Nutanix Central offers a comprehensive platform for IT management, providing seamless integration and enhanced control across multi-cloud environments. It supports enterprises in scaling their digital operations efficiently and securely.

Designed for enterprise-grade deployment, Nutanix Central simplifies management tasks across different workloads with its intuitive interface. By integrating hybrid and multi-cloud operations, it allows management from a central point, making administration straightforward. This single platform is optimized for performance, helping companies reduce complexity while maintaining top-notch security protocols. With scalability at its core, Nutanix Central adapts to the changing demands of businesses, offering a reliable infrastructure for various applications.

What are the most important features?

Unified Management: Centralizes control of IT environments from a single dashboard.
Multi-cloud Integration: Supports seamless operation across public and private clouds.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs without compromising performance.
Security: Ensures data protection with robust security measures.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational expenses by optimizing resource use.
Enhanced Productivity: Streamlines IT management activities.
Business Agility: Enables swift response to market changes.
Reduced Complexity: Simplifies infrastructure management processes.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail leverage Nutanix Central for its capability to manage distributed IT environments efficiently. In healthcare, it supports compliance and patient data security, while retail benefits from its ability to enhance customer experiences through agile IT operations. The financial sector relies on its robust security features to safeguard sensitive information, ensuring business continuity and regulatory adherence.

Nutanix

OpenNebula offers scalability, ease of deployment, and integration capabilities that enhance cloud management for enterprises. It supports both virtual and bare metal resources, providing a versatile cloud management experience.

OpenNebula provides a robust platform for building, managing, and automating private and public clouds. Its compatibility with platforms like VMware, KVM, and containers makes it ideal for businesses hosting virtual private clouds and deploying Kubernetes clusters. OpenNebula's API and SDK facilitate automation and integration, allowing organizations to connect with IT systems effectively. Despite its strengths, improvements in object storage, REST API integration, and UI enhancements are needed. The documentation can be disorganized, and users encounter challenges with upgrades and community support.

What are key OpenNebula features?

Scalability: Easily manage resources for growing cloud environments.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies cloud management tasks.
Integration: Connects seamlessly with IT systems using robust API and SDK.
Hypervisor Support: Works with multiple hypervisors and container platforms.

What benefits do users find in OpenNebula?

Efficiency: Streamlines cloud operations, reducing management complexities.
Versatility: Offers support for both virtual and bare metal resources.
Community and Documentation: Though needing improvement, provides valuable resources for users.
Cost-Effectiveness: Lightweight nature minimizes resource expenditure.

OpenNebula implementation spans industries where cloud automation and management are critical. Companies utilize OpenNebula for deploying private clouds and managing infrastructure. Its support for Kubernetes clusters is beneficial in tech-driven sectors, highlighting OpenNebula's adaptability to different operational needs.

OpenNebula

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Akamai, BBC, Fermilab, Terradue, Surf Sara, Produban, Netways, ESA, China Mobile, BlackBerry, Deloitte, Fuze, Telefonica, Trivago, Nokia, Encore Tech, Beeks.

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula

November 2026

Free Report: Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula

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