No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Rackspace OpenStack vs VMware vSAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Rackspace OpenStack
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (7th)
VMware vSAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
234
Ranking in other categories
HCI (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Solutions solutions, they serve different purposes. Rackspace OpenStack is designed for Converged Infrastructure and holds a mindshare of 7.0%, up 4.2% compared to last year.
VMware vSAN, on the other hand, focuses on HCI, holds 8.9% mindshare, down 15.0% since last year.
Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Rackspace OpenStack7.0%
FlexPod XCS12.8%
HPE ConvergedSystem10.9%
Other69.3%
Converged Infrastructure
HCI Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware vSAN8.9%
VxRail10.6%
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)9.2%
Other71.3%
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Hai Dinh Van - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Center Manager at FPT
Open-source nature enables seamless cloud management and customer transition
We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers The open-source nature of OpenStack provides significant value. It allows for three-word cloud management, maintaining a stable customer…
ShyamikaThamel - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium
Managing mixed RAID workloads has improved data protection and delivers strong performance
VMware vSAN can be improved in certain areas. In cases involving our large data stores with large VMs, we experience some latency, not during normal operation, but during database backup operations. We observed latency due to buffer issues from the top-of-the-rack switches. These issues are mostly network-related because all storage data traffic travels through the network. I have recently used Nutanix, and I observed that Nutanix provides better performance than VMware vSAN due to its data locality features. VMware vSAN is now providing data locality, but we did not use that option. If VMware vSAN provides additional features in the next release, such as the VM balancing feature called DRS on the cluster that VMware previously had, it would be beneficial. With DRS, VMs can move easily from one node to another within the same cluster. Nutanix does not provide that flexibility. When placing a VM on a cluster in Nutanix, the placement uses a balancing component. After that, the VM remains on the same host. If any contention occurs on the CPU or memory side, the VM stays in place until contention happens. If issues occur, the VM migrates to another host while transferring all objects to the same host. This is how their data locality is maintained. When a VM moves to any host, it moves with all VM objects. VMware vSAN does not currently offer this option. If a VM moves to another host, it accesses the disk object through the network, which increases latency. VMware vSAN now offers an option to select data locality, but it does not function like Nutanix. This is why some latency remains. If VMware vSAN can improve this feature, it would be very helpful and VMware would regain its top position.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It was a very flexible and scalable solution. It was very useful because we were not dependent on a single vendor's solution. Increasing the number of machines or changing the hardware configuration was very easy."
"The most valuable feature is the customization. With the customization you can really give the customers what they want."
"The most valuable feature is the customization, and with the customization you can really give the customers what they want."
"The documentation was plentiful and very helpful.​"
"Administrators are very comfortable with the functionality and services OpenStack offers."
"The open-source nature of OpenStack provides significant value."
"The solution is stable."
"I like its integration with GitLab and its simplicity. OpenStack has a lot of third-party libraries that it uses."
"Very good VCG notification feature."
"It allows us to put our infrastructure in remote locations and still get the same performance we get from our onsite SAN solutions."
"The most valuable features are the reduced rack space, reduced power consumption, reduced cooling, and reduced support costs."
"It is easy to use. It is easy to implement for us, and it is also easy to maintain for the customers. It is not necessary to buy some extra devices and talk with other vendors."
"I like the scalability and the fact that it reduces your total cost for storage over several years."
"Being able to deploy multiple applications with virtual servers is the most valuable for us. The capacity of the system is quite constant so it's got some of the good features."
"The most important thing is the simplicity of the product. It is a well-established product with good stability."
"The most valuable feature is that it is software-defined storage. Also, being able to do maintenance on the fly is a real benefit: migrating off, updating, and then moving the guest back on to the nodes."
 

Cons

"It could use more examples in different languages (API use cases)."
"In terms of what needs to be improved, I would say the support. Rackspace might have some good support but the open source OpenStack doesn't have support because there are too many versions coming and too many people are customizing it."
"It should have a single dashboard for cloud management and on-premises systems"
"VMware has a side-to-side replication feature, which is still more mature than Rackspace OpenStack's which can't be used in a production environment."
"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."
"The line migration is a problem."
"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."
"So for the main stability, there have been a couple of issues that I've experienced."
"I think it needs to be more cost-effective if customers already have existing SAN to compare with."
"We have encountered some challenges related to administrative tasks and licensing issues for the product."
"If you don't have vRealize Operations, it would detract from usability of VSAN."
"Technical support could be more knowledgeable."
"Based on my testing, I would like to expand deduplication to include hybrid deployments and not just for all-flash deployments."
"The platform’s pricing needs improvement. Additionally, there should be an appliance module included in it."
"Room for improvement could be in the planning stage of going to hyperconverged."
"As no product is 100% perfect, the price for VMware vSAN could still be improved, though it is good when compared to some of its competitors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is low."
"I use it as an open-source tool."
"Its price could be improved."
"We pay for a license to use the solution through our company CapEx and then we continue to pay annually."
"I would rate the licensing model a three out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"The product's price has been increasing lately...VMware vSAN is expensive."
"If you compare the price of VMware vSAN with other players like Nutanix and Cisco, its price is good, but could still have some improvement."
"The licensing cost is high and should be taken into account."
"It is not that expensive, and it is not even cheap. If it is designed in a proper way, it has good pricing, but if you do oversizing, the price will be high. There are different licensing models."
"The price is okay."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Converged Infrastructure solutions are best for your needs.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business100
Midsize Enterprise58
Large Enterprise129
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Rackspace OpenStack?
As a beginner, I find some difficulties in understanding Rackspace OpenStack, as it can be complex without a foundational grasp of cloud and networking concepts. To improve, I suggest providing pro...
What is your primary use case for Rackspace OpenStack?
My main use case for Rackspace OpenStack involves large data management, as it provides a reliable database service. A quick specific example of a task where Rackspace OpenStack helps me is in hand...
What advice do you have for others considering Rackspace OpenStack?
I advise others looking into using Rackspace OpenStack to have a solid understanding of cloud concepts, as managing these aspects in Rackspace OpenStack requires a good knowledge foundation. I have...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...
 

Also Known As

OpenStack
vSAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

X.commerce
Read Some Case Studies At Home Cloud CaribCINgroupDiscovery Check out the Rest of our Customer Stories Here
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in Converged Infrastructure. Updated: May 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.