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RHEV vs VMware vSphere comparison

Red Hat and VMware are both solutions in the Server Virtualization Software category. Red Hat is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6, while VMware is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Red Hat holds a 3.6% mindshare in SVS, compared to VMware’s 16.5% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Red Hat users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of VMware users who would recommend it.
RHEV
Read 35 RHEV reviews
  • 4,990 Views
  • 3,735 Comparison Views
78% willing to recommend
VMware vSphere
Read 454 VMware vSphere reviews
  • 27,394 Views
  • 22,987 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

RHEV and VMware vSphere are well-known virtualization platforms in competitive data center management. VMware vSphere appears to have an advantageous position because of its extensive feature set and perceived value relative to its higher price, while RHEV remains appealing due to competitive pricing and robust support.

Features: RHEV has strong security, scalability, and efficient resource management suitable for open-source settings. VMware vSphere includes comprehensive high-availability features, mature disaster recovery tools, and advanced network management which are attractive for companies seeking advanced virtualization.

Room for Improvement: RHEV could enhance ease of use, further integration options, and improve initial deployment processes to lower technical hurdles. VMware vSphere might benefit from reduced complexity in licensing options, enhanced cost efficiency, and further simplification of its comprehensive management tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware vSphere is known for its straightforward deployment, extensive documentation, and dependable customer support. RHEV, as an open-source platform, offers flexibility but can require significant technical knowledge, which might increase setup complexities for some businesses.

Pricing and ROI: RHEV is attractive for its low setup costs, providing a favorable ROI thanks to cost-efficient open-source solutions. VMware vSphere, although expensive initially, offers substantial long-term ROI due to its rich features that optimize operational efficiencies, thus balancing the investment for those seeking high performance.

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Buyer's Guide
RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
April 2025
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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

RHEV
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware vSphere
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
454
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of RHEV is 3.6%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere is 16.5%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Sujeet-Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is scalable and affordable, but it lacks features, and it is not easy to manage
Management of RHEV is not as easy as VMware. Some features do not work. The product does not provide features similar to VMware’s VMotion. After creating the cluster, the VM is moved to another node if we move down. However, the VM does not move the parent node automatically. It has to be moved manually. VMware moves it automatically. RHEV moves it to the parent node only if we restart. Everything can be handled in VMware through the GUI. However, in RHEV, some things can be managed through UI, and others cannot. We have to troubleshoot and use CLI. A few features of the product do not work as well as those in VMware.
Read full review
Neeraj Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines virtualization and has features like high availability and vMotion
The primary use case is for virtualization, including the implementation of vSphere, vCloud Foundation, vCloud Director, and cloud automation with vSphere My customers, particularly SMBs, mainly utilize High Availability (HA), DRS, and vMotion features. The vMotion feature is beneficial for…
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution makes migration easy."
"The platform is scalable, allowing for the installation of multiple nodes."
"What they provide is way beyond the essential requirements of customers."
"The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The success of your setup depends on how well you plan."
"It is very stable."
"The most valuable features of RHEV are all the tools, such as virtualization, management of cloud platforms, and integration of container environments. The solution has good compatibility between virtualization, content management, and cloud management. Having the full set of these tools is the advantage of it."
"We find the ease of use of this solution to be invaluable. It is user-friendly and integrates well with other software."
"The solution is a great all-round product. The virtualization is especially good."
More RHEV pros
"In terms of overall features, vSphere's stability stands out on top. Not only is it highly stable, but we're also able to have a quick backup server on standby."
"The main benefit of the version 6.7 is that it makes end-users able to use the interface much more effectively. They don't have to install a client on their machine, they can do it from their phone, their laptop, their tablet, any OS, anytime. It's a better experience for the end-user."
"It's easy to use."
"Virtualised automation is a useful feature."
"Its stability and manageability are valuable."
"I like stability and the organization of the different functions into the I#M feature which is also quite useful, quite stable."
"The scalability of the solution is good. You can scale up to maximum levels."
"The solution is easy to use, user-friendly interface and has high availability features. When comparing it to other solutions it is more robust."
More VMware vSphere pros
 

Cons

"With RHEV, the cyberattacks should be fewer. I want RHEV to be better protected."
"The support is tricky in a few places. We're facing some challenges within Malaysia where we don't really have the system integrators available who can provide extended support. When we need personnel on-site, we can't get them."
"I heard that there are big differences between Red Hat eight and seven, but it's still quite difficult for me to judge it. I found it a bit more difficult to manage than version seven, which was much easier. In term of features, though, it is still not yet clear which is better. I have no clear idea of which features need to be changed at the moment."
"It would be better to have more patches, especially kernel-level updates, live and online so that we can keep the business up and running during this period."
"When we do a direct comparison, then obviously VMware does better in terms of having Fault Tolerance and doing active disaster recovery and these kind of things. This is something that can be improved within Red Hat."
"The solution has a very small lifecycle."
"We should improve how we manage storage domains and make more comprehensive control available through the command line."
"The solution could use network virtualization."
More RHEV cons
"The solution should offer more integration capabilities."
"My biggest suggestion would be some kind of a mechanism - and it's almost an AI-type thing, a Siri/Cortana - for where to find how to do certain things. If there was the ability to just type in a basic question and say, "How do I change the VM settings for this?" and it could bring me right there, that would be really awesome."
"VMware has amped up how frequently they release new versions and that adds instability to a stable environment."
"I would like to see the configuration simplified."
"I would suggest that the tool reconsider its pricing strategy. The recent price hikes could potentially pose a problem for VMware in the future. The recent price increases, especially since Broadcom acquired them, seem excessive. There are reports of businesses experiencing massive price hikes, sometimes as much as 10-30 times higher. This is causing smaller businesses to consider exiting the space altogether."
"It would be nice if it had auto-scaling, no need to select CPU or select database size. Let it auto-scale, let it use the features that VMware has, instead of having to preselect."
"It is expensive. They can improve the licensing cost for Cloud Director. They can also improve the integration with other applications and the metering feature, which is currently not flexible."
"I’d like to see a better web console or rather, transform the web console in a real single pane of glass for the whole infrastructure instead of having to go for vRealize Ops Manager."
More VMware vSphere cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of RHEV is high. It is an open-source solution, the price should be less. The price should not be on par with a solution, such as VMware. It's not more or equal to VMware, it's less, but the difference should be more substantial."
"This product has a variety of licensing options available. However, the level of licensing, and therefore the cost of licensing, is dependent on the number of servers being utilized."
"I believe we pay on a yearly basis."
"This is an open-source solution."
"The solution does not require licencing but a subscription is necessary, which is very affordable."
"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"RHEV offers pricing based on a per-physical-machine licensing model."
"Its price depends on the use cases."
More RHEV pricing and cost advice
"I think the cost should be reconsidered. VMware is not the cheapest solution out there, despite the fact that it may be one of the best."
"Pricing is the one "ding" I have against it. Except for VMware vSphere Essentials, it would be pretty challenging for anything but a medium or large size company to use."
"The license of VMware is a one-time payment and you can continue to enroll in support for troubleshooting and also administer the licenses."
"It is expensive. Other solutions on the market are free. We had to plan with VMware how many hosts that we needed in order to determine the price."
"There is a standard license required for this solution."
"As the vSphere platform allows for a variety of additions, it is quite good."
"Start with the lowest and upgrade if, and only if, absolutely necessary."
"A customer can buy a license and support on a yearly basis."
More VMware vSphere pricing and cost advice
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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…
Read full review
 

Answers from the Community

SB
Feb 7, 2024
Feb 7, 2024
What are the differences between RHEV and VMware vSphere?
Hi Sridhar, This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you: FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels o...
See 2 answers
Anne Cubarrubia - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 21, 2023
Here is a comparison of the two hypervisors, RHEV (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization) and VMware vSphere: RHEV Pros: Open source Highly scalable Cost-effective Cons: Not as mature as VMware vSphere Not as widely supported as VMware vSphere VMware vSphere Pros: Mature and widely supported Wide range of features Easy to use and manage Cons: Not open source Can be expensive Some prefer RHEV because it is open-source and cost-effective. However, VMware vSphere may be the better option if you need a hypervisor with a wide range of features and support. As to which solution consumes fewer resources, RHEV is a lighter-weight hypervisor than VMware vSphere, so it consumes fewer resources. However, you must remember that each hypervisor's resource consumption depends on the configuration and workload.
Read full answer
RG
Feb 7, 2024
Hi Sridhar,    This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT  in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you:  FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels of functionality sold in editions with different price points Bare-metal performance for virtualized applications Application high availability (Enterprise Plus version only) Prioritized high availability so critical workloads are restarted first Desktop and server virtualization One infrastructure for managing desktops and servers Add-on products for desktop virtualization: VMware Player, VMware Horizon View, VMware Horizon DaaS, and VMware Horizon Mirage Remote access to virtual desktops through SPICE Full support for multimedia applications Management server Included in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization subscription Requires purchase and license of VMware vCenter and database support Virtual machine density 40 cores: 4,682@288 40 cores: 3,824@234 160 cores: 14,061@864 160 cores: result not available Self-service portal Allows users to provision and manage VMs and templates with a browser Requires the purchase of VMware vCloud Automation Center Integration with OpenStack technology Supports the open Neutron pluggable networking API Supports VMware’s NSX networking plug-in Supports the OpenStack image service for a unified image repository between virtual and cloud platforms Does not support the OpenStack image service
Read full answer
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
41%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RHEV?
The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The success of your setup depends on how well you plan.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for RHEV?
It's the open source. There's not much cost. It's very minimal comparably. Compared to what I am paying for VMware, it's negligible.
See all answers
What needs improvement with RHEV?
My teammates and I often complain that VMware is well-documented and has a large community since it is the de facto standard. I would love to see better documentation and ease of use. For newcomers...
See all answers
What is IOMMU?
DEEPEN DHULLA did explain well IOMMU. IOMMU has to be activated at the bios level. It exists on Intel and AMD platforms. It is used a lot inside virtualization platforms like VMware VSphere. It pr...
See all answers
Why KVM??? Help please!
We use VMware and KVM. We find that KVM is a lot simpler to use and it provides the virtualization we need for Linux and Windows. For us, VMware does not offer any advantage. Moreover, KVM is free.
See all answers
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time
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Compared 7% of the time
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Compared 4% of the time
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Compared 23% of the time
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Compared 14% of the time
Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere Logo
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Compared 13% of the time
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Compared 8% of the time
VMware Workstation vs VMware vSphere Logo
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Compared 6% of the time
More VMware vSphere Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
RHEV
May 2025
RHEV reportDownload RHEV product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
April 2025
VMware vSphere reportDownload VMware vSphere product report
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
No data available
 

Overview

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, or RHEV, is a leading open standard enterprise virtualization management solution. This solution supports virtualization of servers and desktops using the same infrastructure and a single easy-to-use interface.

Because RHEV is based on open standards, it is vendor-independent and a lot more cost effective and flexible than proprietary solutions.


Red Hat

VMware vSphere is a versatile virtualization platform known for its ease of use, flexibility, and high availability. It supports seamless migration, optimal resource allocation, and centralized management, making it highly suitable for diverse infrastructure needs.

VMware vSphere is widely adopted for its virtualization capabilities that enhance hardware efficiency and ensure minimal downtime through features like High Availability and Distributed Resource Scheduler. Despite criticisms about high licensing costs and limited fault tolerance, it remains a preferred choice due to its stability, scalability, and robust integration options. Users appreciate its efficiency in managing virtual machines and hosting enterprise applications, although challenges with web client performance and hardware compatibility are noted. Organizations often look for better integration with cloud services and enhanced automation and scalability.

What are the core features of VMware vSphere?
  • vMotion: Enables seamless migration of virtual machines without downtime.
  • Distributed Resource Scheduler: Optimizes resource allocation across hosts.
  • High Availability: Minimizes downtime by automatically restarting virtual machines.
  • Centralized Management: Facilitates easy management of virtualized environments.
  • Advanced Security: Provides robust security measures and compliance features.
What benefits and ROI can businesses look for?
  • Reduced Operational Costs: Efficiently utilizes hardware, saving on expenses.
  • Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business demands.
  • Business Continuity: Ensures high availability and disaster recovery.
  • Integration Flexibility: Supports integration with various technologies.

VMware vSphere is implemented across sectors like healthcare, finance, and education for server virtualization, data center management, and private cloud creation. Its use in facilitating business-critical operations ensures high availability and efficient resource use, supporting both development and production environments.

VMware
 

Sample Customers

Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.
Abu Dhabi Ports Company, ACS, AIA New Zealand, Consona, Corporate Express, CS Energy, and Digiweb.
Buyer's Guide
RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
April 2025
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