VMware vSphere is capable of a wide range of tasks, including file sharing, database management, email, active directory, and much more.
Technical Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Excellent performance, very simple to use, quick and easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of this solution is vMotion."
- "I would like to see the configuration simplified."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is vMotion.
The performance is good; if I had to rate it, I would give it a nine out of ten.
It is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the configuration simplified. It should be easier to configure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VMware vSphere for a few years.
I am using version 7.0.
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January 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
We have 150 customers in our organization.
At this time we do not have any plans to increase our usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have never contacted technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was straightforward.
It took a few hours to complete the installation.
We require two people to maintain this solution.
What about the implementation team?
I was able to complete the installation myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing fees are not paid yearly, or monthly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others who are considering it.
It is quite simple to use. The installation is simple and it is stable. I would rate VMware vSphere a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Freelance, Automation Project Administration, DCS, I&E at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
The connectivity is good, and many functions can run together in one server
Pros and Cons
- "The connectivity is fantastic, and many functions can run together in one server. If you need to scale, we can continue to add components or modules. It's a beautiful virtual solution that has many advantages over physical hardware, where you have to use devices and wiring to connect all your projects."
- "I'm using vSphere at a high level. Sometimes, I find it challenging to integrate different networks, but I think it's just my lack of knowledge."
What is our primary use case?
vSphere is for virtualizing some real computers, and then they can be used as hot spares. Sometimes you need to complement some functions or perform some work on them.
What is most valuable?
The connectivity is fantastic, and many functions can run together in one server. If you need to scale, we can continue to add components or modules. It's a beautiful virtual solution that has many advantages over physical hardware, where you have to use devices and wiring to connect all your projects.
What needs improvement?
I'm using vSphere at a high level. Sometimes, I find it challenging to integrate different networks, but I think it's just my lack of knowledge. For example, some companies have private internal networks, so we must connect to external networks, routers, or switches.
And the backups are something we have to integrate with one of them because they are just running with what they have. And I don't know why it wasn't considered from the beginning because they believe that they can back up the whole computer, but it's not a good solution. I have taken measures like exporting critical databases that I normally modify and figure out, but I would prefer a centralized system.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't had any problems with stability.
How are customer service and support?
I'm usually able to find solutions for my issues by logging into the blogs and searching for answers.
How was the initial setup?
When I first got involved with vSphere, I thought it was fantastic to use the default. Once it was deployed, I could check on the rail systems, and everything worked very well. The best thing is that the tests I run to understand the situation can also run parallel. So I found it all straightforward. However, primarily I'm working on a platform already built by the companies that provide them. I do some maintenance and modifications of the customer's applications. Setting up this solution isn't generally part of my job.
What other advice do I have?
I rate vSphere 10 out of 10. It's perfect. I know some people are very conservative and don't want to even mess with them, but I would argue that it's a way to avoid risking physical installations or making mistakes in real life. You can do all your testing virtually.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSphere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Cloud Professional Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
It's straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines
Pros and Cons
- "The fact that vSphere is an on-premise solution is beneficial for the user. It's easier to manage the infrastructure. It's more straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines."
- "VMware vSphere is perfect for the on-premise solution, but we are in the cloud era, so I think maybe VMware needs to invest more in the cloud and the microservice chain. It would be better if VMware offered more cloud solutions and continuous applications."
What is our primary use case?
We need virtualization for our company, or sometimes our customers leverage virtualization solutions instead of using physical machines.
What is most valuable?
The fact that vSphere is an on-premise solution is beneficial for the user. It's easier to manage the infrastructure. It's more straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines.
What needs improvement?
VMware vSphere is perfect for the on-premise solution, but we are in the cloud era, so I think maybe VMware needs to invest more in the cloud and the microservice chain. It would be better if VMware offered more cloud solutions and continuous applications.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability and stability, vSphere is excellent. We lack volume when we need to bundle a considerable number of physical machines to facilitate virtualization. There are a lot of competitors like Nutanix or others, but VMware is the number one solution for me.
How are customer service and support?
We don't contact VMware support often, but I sometimes have trouble understanding their manuals, so I ask them for help.
How was the initial setup?
It's easier for the user to deploy vSphere or the vCenter, but it's complex when setting up network virtualization.
What was our ROI?
I think VMware is a good investment. We use VMware to maintain our internal system.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VMware vSphere seven out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Founder & Technology Advisor at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Easy to set up and maintain, feature-rich, professional support
Pros and Cons
- "It is the number one virtualization-layer platform available, and a lot of people trust it."
- "To manage it properly, you have to know this product really well."
What is our primary use case?
The primary reason our customers use vSphere is to consolidate their workloads and realize the other benefits that virtualization provides. For example, they create HA or VM-level HA to facilitate DR.
Essentially, our clients use vSphere for all of the reasons that people use a virtualization layer.
I am a virtualization technician, doing software technology consulting for virtualization and VDI.
How has it helped my organization?
This is a solution that is normally very straightforward. It doesn't give you many surprises. It's very stable. However, one should have good knowledge when it comes to it because sometimes, you have to use the command line for troubleshooting. For unseen problems, you sometimes need to dig deep to troubleshoot.
What is most valuable?
vSphere is a robust and feature-rich virtualization platform. It is the number one virtualization-layer platform available, and a lot of people trust it.
Many other platforms now provide similar features but VMware was the first to provide enhanced recorders, DRS, fault tolerance, vMotion, and others. They pioneered these features and they are very stable.
VMware also provides software-defined storage, vSAN, which is built into the kernel. This is a plus point.
Other good features include DRS, HA, fault tolerance, vSAN, and vCenter is a very good management interface.
This platform is easy to maintain.
What needs improvement?
To manage it properly, you have to know this product really well. For the most part, it is very easy to use.
For how long have I used the solution?
I began working with VMware vSphere in 2007 or 2008 when it was version 3.x.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is the most stable virtualization platform available.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In the three years that I have been running my consultancy, I've found that VMware is always part of a large project. Most of the time, I have had a good experience with it.
We have done multiple enterprise services projects using this solution. For example, we were working on a Horizon View PoC for a client.
vSphere is scalable; you just have to add to your cluster and it will increase. You can scale up or scale-out, like any other software. Basically, you can add to it as much as you want to.
I trust VMware products and I definitely want our installed base to increase. I want to enhance my own knowledge and skillset, as well. As we move forward and expand, I am equipping myself with more cloud knowledge and focusing on new technologies. One new product that I am looking at is Carbon Black. Throughout this, I will continue to promote VMware because they are a vendor that I trust.
How are customer service and support?
The VMware support is very professional. Most of the time we've used them, they were very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
As a technology consultant working for customers with varying requirements, I work with other virtualization platforms. Two of these are Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy and there is nothing difficult about it. Initially, some people get stuck when they are setting up the supporting services, like DNS, but other than that, the setup is plain and simple.
The length of time required for deployment depends on whether your disk is an SSD. If so, then the copying will be fast. Also, if you have more memory then it will install quicker.
Regardless of how it is set up, you have to build the basic infrastructure to put in most of your workloads. Sometimes, you manage an existing one but most of the time, we have to deploy a VMware infrastructure.
A single person can basically manage it, although this depends upon the deployment size. If it's a huge deployment, then it requires a good design and it requires proper planning. You need to know your capacity requirements, for example.
If you understand the environment and the design then maybe you can segregate the work into two or three people. Sometimes if it's a small project, a single person can do it. It all depends on the files and complexity of the solution you are providing to the customer.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy this product ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model is not complex.
It is a perpetual licensing but there is also an annual maintenance cost. The price of the solution depends on the features that you want. You can have a very basic setup or you can choose a more advanced set of features. The more features that you want and the more extensive your requirement is, the more you have to pay.
What other advice do I have?
In Pakistan, for the most part, organizations are still catching up in terms of the cloud. There are no large data centers because cloud providers do not exist locally. Neither AWS nor Azure has a presence.
The closest data centers to us are Singapore and Dubai. As such, the cloud is not very popular yet and most of our customers have on-premises deployments. We do expect this to change.
My advice for anybody who is implementing this product, or any piece of software, is to have a reasonable level of knowledge in advance of the deployment. That is key in IT.
If you are a consultant, as opposed to an end-user, then you need to have a deep knowledge of the product because there are circumstances where you have to go beyond the normal configuration. Sometimes you have issues that can only be resolved if you are well-equipped with the knowledge.
I also recommend that people plan their deployment. VMware is a wonderful product and it will definitely provide you with the functionality to meet your technical requirements. You will be a very satisfied customer while using it, but the key is to know the product and plan things properly.
Overall, this is a good product and I do not feel that there is much missing. It is the best virtualization platform available.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Founder at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Higher availability with excellent technical support and great stability
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support is helpful and always available."
- "If they improve on the knowledge base and documentation, it would be extremely helpful."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for the virtualization of the environment. We've converted more than 90% of our environment from physical to virtual.
What is most valuable?
The higher availability and the vMotion, I would say, are what makes it very interesting as you avoid systems being down. It provides, if you cluster, high availability, and your services can move from system to system to avoid downtime.
The solution is stable.
The scalability is great.
Technical support is helpful and always available.
What needs improvement?
There are certain issues that can be improved. No solution is perfect, even though it's working for most of us most of the time. There are certain issues that crop up and some of them are not due to VMware. It could be due to the hardware it is running on. Therefore, it would be ideal if they could provide more knowledge on the fault tolerance and the high availability as some things are just assumed and then users find later that the use cases are different. Sometimes you may assume something applies to a use case only to find that it doesn't. If they improve on the knowledge base and documentation, it would be extremely helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution since 2012. It's been a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product is good. I haven't dealt with bugs or glitches. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable. You can increase the number of servers. You can increase the number of computer resources, storage, CPU, memory. It's up to you how huge you want your clusters to be.
This is an enterprise solution. It is not used by users. It is an enterprise technology solution. Therefore, we won't be adding more users.
Almost all the engineers in the organization are using the solution. I would say maybe 15 engineers are actively using it.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is always there. They're always available. When you have an issue, you just log a call with them and set up a service request. They assist you directly. An engineer will be assigned to assist.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have other tools, such as Oracle VM, which we are using in other areas, however, VMware is used more than the Oracle VM.
How was the initial setup?
For the initial setup, you need to do design work with someone who understands VMware, who is actually certified by VMware. You need someone certified to do it.
Deployment is not a problem. As long as you take time doing your design, the deployment will not take long. You can do it within a week.
If you have one certified engineer, the implementation will go fine.
In terms of the management of the solution, we have about four engineers who are looking after it.
What about the implementation team?
You cannot do it by yourself. You need a certified engineer. That's a requirement from VMware and it's so that the environment is stable to avoid unnecessary scraping.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You do need a license. Most of these vendors also offer what they call the free version of the software. If you want more support, more features, you have to go for the paid versions. That said, you can still get the free or community version of it.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend the solution to other users. It's a good technology. They're pioneers in the industry.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Easy management for backup and security
Pros and Cons
- "Reduces downtime."
- "Integration with different platforms could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is to consolidate the number of physical servers required. We created our motion machines out of it, and it acts as very easy management for backup and security.
How has it helped my organization?
VMWare vSphere has really helped us grow as a business, and going for a virtual backup solution has made my life so much easier.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are High Availability (HA), which reduces downtime, and Fault Tolerance (FT), a mirror solution that ensures no data loss. Its vMotion feature is also valuable, as it allows me to move all my virtual emissions to an available host before performing maintenance. I also value a feature called Distributed Virtual Switch, which allows me to create a private VLAN and do L2 management and switch management.
What needs improvement?
An area for improvement would be integration with different platforms. In a future release, I would like to see a feature that alerts the user if they make a mistake with configuration or if there is a vulnerability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for seven years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable - it can go up to 64 nodes on the cluster in terms of storage.
How are customer service and support?
VMWare's support is great - they respond immediately to requests for help.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously I also worked with Hyper-V, but some of my Linux machines were having problems with it.
How was the initial setup?
The ease of installation depends on your organization's infrastructure - it can be very simple or complicated depending on what you want it to do.
What other advice do I have?
If you want to reduce your costs, I would recommend going forward with virtualization. I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
System support engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Easy to install with good stability and great scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The product is very easy to install."
- "The reporting could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for real-time backups. It can create new VMs.
What is most valuable?
The solution is stable.
I don't have a problem with scalability.
The product is very easy to install.
What needs improvement?
The reporting could be improved.
We'd like to see better monitoring. There should be better alert systems in place.
For how long have I used the solution?
We['ve been using the solution for two to three years at this point. It hasn't been too long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product has been stable so far. The performance and reliability are good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.
We have two people using the solution at this time.
We have basically updated the hard disk size of VMware servers so that to accommodate the data of the existing clients. I can't say if we will scale beyond this.
How are customer service and support?
We have called VMware regarding Microsoft Cloud integration.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using a third-party utility product. Now, events are being pushed through VMware.
How was the initial setup?
The installation process is quite straightforward. It's not overly complex. I wouldn't say it's difficult. A company shouldn't have any issues with the setup process.
While we have an integrator handle our deployment we manage the solution by ourselves, in-house.
You only need two people for deployment or maintenance tasks.
What about the implementation team?
We had an integrator with us through the process and they assisted with the setup initially.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a yearly subscription that we pay for this product.
What other advice do I have?
While we are currently using the on-premises deployment, our plan is to move completely to the cloud.
We are using the latest version of the solution at this point. I can't speak to the exact version number.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten overall. It's a very useful product.
I would recommend the solution to other users or other companies.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Scrum Master - Digital Marketing at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Good modularity and maturity updates
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of vSphere is its modularity. I also like the maturity updates. It's available everywhere and almost all the data centers are using it."
- "vSphere could perhaps be improved by more integration or better security."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for vSphere depends on the center. This solution can be implemented both on-premises and on the cloud.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of vSphere is its modularity. I also like the maturity updates. It's available everywhere and almost all the data centers are using it.
What needs improvement?
vSphere could perhaps be improved by more integration or better security. If there is ever something that could be improved, I am open to looking into it and proposing the improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I'm a Solution Designer, not a user, but I have been working with vSphere products for over ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I don't have experience with VMware support.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't personally install this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My customers pay for a license to use vSphere. In Egypt, the license is yearly, and we buy three years.
What other advice do I have?
I rate vSphere a nine out of ten. I have a lot of customers using vSphere. I recommend this product for those who are looking into implementing it, but it depends on their needs. There are other similar products I can propose too.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Updated: January 2026
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