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VMware vCenter vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

VMware vCenter
Ranking in Server Monitoring
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WhatsUp Gold
Ranking in Server Monitoring
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (29th), Network Monitoring Software (22nd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (18th), Configuration Management (20th), Log Management (39th), Cloud Monitoring Software (23rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of VMware vCenter is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 3.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware vCenter2.0%
WhatsUp Gold3.8%
Other94.2%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

VinayKumar7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager Data Centre at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Centralized control has improved data center virtualization and streamlined DC DR replication
The pricing of VMware vCenter is high. What was earlier, before it was acquired by Broadcom, was different. Now, Broadcom has acquired it, and the earlier arrangement was that we used to bundle the license and purchase it according to our choice. Now, they bundle it with vSAN, which many organizations may not use. Although we purchase it along with the bundled license, we pay for something which is of no use to us because we have our own storage. If they had separate pricing for each module, organizations could purchase only the modules they need, and the price would lower. For smaller organizations, this can become a huge cost issue. For larger organizations, there is no issue, but for medium-sized organizations, they have to shell out a lot.
EC
Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet
Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains
The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to create and manage virtual infrastructure."
"The most valuable features of VMware vCenter for our organization include its centralized management capabilities and the ability to handle virtual machines across multiple ESXi hosts efficiently."
"Some of the most valuable features of vCenter are LACP and vSphere Distributed Switches, as they simplify VLAN propagation between hosts and enable networking duplication and replication."
"The high availability feature is particularly valuable when a host goes down or experiences high usage, as it automatically migrates VMs to other hosts to balance performance."
"The product's emphasis on high availability and DRS aligns with our priorities, making vCenter an integral component in our virtualized environment."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of migrating services from one host to another during maintenance."
"I integrated with VMware products, which makes integration easy."
"We typically manage VMs after the OS is installed. vCenter simplifies VM management by allowing for the configuration and operation of VMs once an OS, like Windows, is installed."
"There is a flow monitor option, so we can trace the source IP, the destination IP, and top talker feature in this."
"The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless."
"It's a good product, and if one has the expertise to use it, it will be a good investment and it will help IT to save and plan for the future."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The visual map and email alerts are very useful to have in real time so we always know the state of our network."
"It handles the basics of monitoring."
"I use it on premises to monitor my network database. We monitor the link up/down and use the SNMP traps as well."
"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides. Additionally, WhatsUp Gold is a Windows-based solution which is a benefit."
 

Cons

"The process of creating VLANs or any similar tasks requires following a specific procedure, which must be executed accurately to ensure successful deployment. That's the main concern."
"vCentre licensing cost is on the higher side as well."
"They could provide an easier way to learn NSX and troubleshooting processes for the product."
"Areas for improvement with vCenter include changes in licensing models."
"There have been some ongoing conflicts since VMware was taken over by Broadcom."
"One notable area for enhancement revolves around cost considerations, as introducing features such as DDoS protection or data compression could reduce expenses."
"The license cost has increased significantly, which is the primary negative aspect of VMware vCenter."
"VMware vCenter does not have a centralized security dashboard, and it is pretty tedious to configure."
"Sometimes it's a little bit slow."
"The tool should focus on increasing its market share, as it is the only area of concern where improvements are needed."
"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."
"I would like to see them do an enhancement to the application monitoring. A lot of other products do better application monitoring so they should do some improvements to the application monitoring."
"The product is old and not updated."
"The point system is not clear and clarity around this would improve our understanding of the system."
"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive."
"Users want SMS available via Whatsapp Gold. They don't want to go through third party SMS servers. The solution should work to make this possible."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model was a bit complex, but thanks to the vCenter product usage program, which VMware introduced, it's kind of easy for us to use a pay-as-you-go model."
"The solution is pretty expensive for small businesses because there are few lower-scale VMware vCenter solutions."
"The platform has reasonable pricing."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is significantly high."
"The product is expensive."
"The tool used to be worth the money, but after Broadcom acquired it and changed the pricing structure to subscription-only, it became too expensive for us to continue using. Unfortunately, we haven't found any alternative solutions that meet our needs, so this is a significant drawback for us as we explore other options."
"For the healthcare industry, the price is considerably higher than the education industry."
"This is a well priced solution."
"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."
"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."
"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."
"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."
"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."
"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."
"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
10%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware vCenter?
The initial package for VMware vCenter is not less than $10,000, which can be prohibitive for smaller organizations. The licensing model now requires purchasing 96-core solutions, even if fewer cor...
What needs improvement with VMware vCenter?
The pricing of VMware vCenter is high. What was earlier, before it was acquired by Broadcom, was different. Now, Broadcom has acquired it, and the earlier arrangement was that we used to bundle the...
What is your primary use case for VMware vCenter?
My main use case for VMware vCenter is mainly for virtualization and what we call DCDR replication. I can say we are not using all the features. Our main aim is only that we are using it for virtua...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?
Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...
What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?
It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.
What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?
My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Amazon 2. Apple 3. ATT 4. Bank of America 5. Cisco Systems 6. CocaCola 7. Dell 8. ebay 9. Facebook 10. Google 11. HP 12. IBM 13. Intel 14. JPMorgan Chase 15. LinkedIn 16. Microsoft 17. Netflix 18. Oracle 19. PayPal 20. SAP 21. Siemens 22. Tesla 23. Toyota 24. Twitter 25. Visa 26. Walmart 27. WeWork 28. World Bank
Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware vCenter vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.