We use the solution in servers for digitalization. Our digital products, like mobile and internet banking, run on them.
Manager of Computing and Storage at CBO
A virtualization and monitoring solution for running applications
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is very easy and takes half an hour to complete."
- "Customer support takes a long time to respond."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We are running critical applications like mobile applications on vSphere.
What is most valuable?
The tool offers virtualization and monitoring.
What needs improvement?
Virtual machine snapshots and consolidation need to be improved. Also, there are licensing and subscription issues.
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VMware vSphere
June 2025

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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for 3 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution’s stability a 9 out of 10.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. 5 users are using this solution.
I rate the solution’s scalability an 8 out of 10.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support takes a long time to respond.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used Nutanix. We opted for VMware because the environment is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy and takes half an hour to complete, but it is costly since it has training costs and tutorials. The 3 tutorials are included in this package. They somewhat automate, but it's not enough.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Earlier, the solution had a perpetual license, but now, it has a subscription. Also, they have increased the price. The certification is costly.
What other advice do I have?
vSphere has the DRS site. We got the recovery site feature, but we haven't used it. It's good to use the high availability to be more than AWS. We have many weekly metrics running on these.
Overall, I rate the solution an 8 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.

Cloud Infrastructure consultant at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Secure and has high availability, but the hardware cost is high
Pros and Cons
- "The tool provides 99.99% uptime."
- "The hardware cost is high."
What is most valuable?
We can maintain our own infrastructure according to our needs. We need to buy the solution only once, and we can do what we need to do. We can deploy several servers. We can also deploy other machines. We can create templates. OVF is the best feature. We can create an OVF, send it to the other node, and create similar VMs with the OVF.
We can deploy our own bare metal hypervisor over the hardware at the required capacity. We must know how to configure it. The product is not difficult to use. The users access their PCs using a remote desktop protocol. It is as simple as using our own laptops. The solution’s high availability is very good. The tool provides 99.99% uptime.
What needs improvement?
The hardware cost is high. We need to change the hardware after some time. It is a big headache for the organization. Private clouds are more secure than public clouds. However, public clouds offer services that we can never see in vSphere. VMware must improve its login page.
The UI must be improved. The solution must improve its log system. When a machine fails, it mentions the log but doesn't describe the infrastructure or how the code is designed. If I put one machine on migration and it fails, the log is generated as the user timed out and disconnected the host. Apart from this, there's nothing else mentioned in the log. It is difficult to identify the problem with the machine. The log system is very poor.
It is a challenge to increase the storage. If we have ten users when we start, but the load on the server increases to 20 or 30 after a month, there is a chance that the site will go down. We have to be proactive in implementing datastore. If we have ten users, we must plan to have hardware for 20 users. The cost will be high, but it will be more secure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The on-premise version is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are a client-based organization. The number of users depends on the clients. There might be 5200 people using the product in our clients’ organizations.
How was the initial setup?
We have deployed the solution on-premises. The solution has a private cloud, too. There are no hybrid connections available. The initial setup is not difficult, but it is not easy. A normal user cannot do it. We need the expertise to install bare metal. The installation is easy if we know the configuration criteria.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is neither expensive nor cheap. The pricing depends on the users. Suppose we have 100 users, and the architectural team spends $10,000 on infrastructure to build the data center. After some years, we have to replace the systems and upgrade them.
What other advice do I have?
Since I am an engineer, I troubleshoot the issues I face. I recommend people use a public cloud provider. If someone requires a separate data center, they can choose VMware. It is the best solution on-premises and as a private cloud. Overall, I rate the tool a seven 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.
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about VMware vSphere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior System Engineer at V S Indormation Systems
Offers good performance and efficiency
Pros and Cons
- "With VMware vSphere, it is easy to manage the scaling of our company's virtual infrastructure."
- "The solution's technical team is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
What is our primary use case?
I deal with the solution in my company to work in the area of data center virtualization.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution are in areas like VMware vSphere vMotion and vSphere HA.
What needs improvement?
From what I know, the area revolving around the licensing part of the product is not quite friendly. The licenses for those who have a partnership with VMware are not a good thing because we have to use the tool for demos and simulate it in a customer environment. In our company's setup, considering that we have a partnership with VMware, it is very hard to have licenses, making it an area where improvements are required. VMware's NFR licenses were previously available for partners, and the tool used to provide demo centers within such licenses, but the aforementioned licensing structure for partners has been presently discontinued. The product should also provide the partners with the facility to provide the tool's demo in a test environment for customers.
The solution's technical team is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for five years. My company has a partnership with VMware.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight to nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Our company's main customers who work with the solution use it in sectors like banking, finance, and government.
My company deals with small, medium, and enterprise-sized customers who use the tool.
How are customer service and support?
I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.
The solution's technical team offers fairly good support in some cases, and in a few other cases, they need to offer more help, which is quite difficult to get, and it also depends on the support engineer our company gets.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
I rate the initial setup phase an eight on a scale of one to ten, where ten means that the setup was a very easy process.
The solution is deployed on the public cloud and hybrid cloud.
The tool's deployment phase takes time, as it is not a quick process. The tool's deployment phase takes a few days to be completed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is a bit expensive.
What other advice do I have?
With VMware vSphere, it is easy to manage the scaling of our company's virtual infrastructure.
VMware vSphere helps our company's customers in the area of virtualization since it provides good scalability features. In the government sector, people need to engage in a lot of documentation work when purchasing new hardware, and it can be helpful to use the product in such a scenario. In any environment, the product is easy to scale for general usage.
VMware vSphere's high availability or FT feature is used by our company's customers in their clusters to keep their servers available as much as they can. The use of the product ensures minimum downtime, and its users prefer to use the high availability feature of the tool.
The performance and efficiency of the use of the solution have improved our company's customers' organizations. From the use of VMware vSphere, the performance and efficiency of your customers have increased by 30 to 40 percent.
I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT systems engineer at VeriFone
Allows for easy management of snapshots for virtual machines and good web console
Pros and Cons
- "The web console is the most valuable feature for me. Because no matter what happens with the server, I can still get to it with the web console."
- "There is room for improvement in Google Cloud. The reason thing there was, like, when I type something in the terminal and then immediately, I need to go to edit the certain like file for Node.js, for the server, or for Kubernetes. So I have to do it from the terminal to the editor."
What is our primary use case?
This solution has a very comfortable interface for snapshots for my virtual machines. That's very comfortable.
For example, if I want to make templates to create a certain type of virtual machine, I have it in vSphere. Moreover, it includes things like deployment, implementation of different templates, snapshot deleting snapshot, restoring a machine to snapshot or administrative administration things.
What is most valuable?
The web console is the most valuable feature for me. Because no matter what happens with the server, I can still get to it with the web console.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in Google Cloud. The reason thing there was, like, when I type something in the terminal and then immediately, I need to go to edit the certain like file for Node.js, for the server, or for Kubernetes. So I have to do it from the terminal to the editor.
And for some reason, each time I had to switch, I had to literally switch between the terminal and the editor. I wish I could have it on one screen to have the terminal and on the other to have the editor. This would greatly improve my experience with this solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. It is very stable, and I have never had any major problems with it.
There are over a few hundred users using this solution in our organization.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability a solid eight out of ten. It is scalable enough for my needs, but there is always room for improvement.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy and intuitive.
If I didn't understand something, this solution provides tons of information,e explanations, courses, and instructions on their website. We also live in a reality of chatbots and AI, so everything is very easy to set up.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise you to check out the VMware website and watch some of the initial and fundamental courses. The web console is very intuitive, but it can be helpful to see how it works before you start using it.
Overall, I would rate the solution a 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.
Director at Arsium
Stable solution and easy to setup
Pros and Cons
- "I like stability and the organization of the different functions into the I#M feature which is also quite useful, quite stable."
- "In future releases, I would like to see less pricing. The license can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is virtualization. All the clients who want to virtualize can use vSphere to do it.
What is most valuable?
I like stability and the organization of the different functions into the I#M feature which is also quite useful, quite stable. I would prefer the old solution because before, you had to install software on your client's desktop to administrate the environment. Since five or seven years, it's not needed. You can do everything through your web interface. And I prefer when it was more reactive, so when you have a client instead of using your desktop. But it's a good solution, quite stable and quite efficient.
What needs improvement?
In future releases, I would like to see less pricing. The license can be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for over 15 years. So it's one of the first products we've used with a client.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. Around 20 to 30 customers are using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support are good. However, it could be faster and more qualified.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. It is intuitive-- Next. Next. Next. Next. Finish. Easy. Great.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment process involves materials, equipment, licenses, and the availability of the client team.
It took about one or two hours for one server; it's okay. The deployment was super quick.
A team of engineers and admins is required to deploy and maintain the solution. We have a team of ten people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model is yearly-based. It is quite expensive. Moreover, there are extra costs to the standard licensing fees.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend using the solution. I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.
I would advise to be sure that the functionality brought by VMware aligns with the good functionality because there are other products in the market like ISPs, KV M, Oracle, Microsoft, and some other stuff. And VMware is a well-known product. But to be sure that the functionality provided by VMware is needed.
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. Partner
Managing Director at Prianto Ltd
Useful for virtual machine virtualization and works as a hypervisor
Pros and Cons
- "The tool's most valuable features are CPU virtualization and RAM allocation, which are better than those of other hypervisors."
- "VMware vSphere requires a lot of paid add-ons that need to be integrated into it."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for virtual machine virtualization and as a hypervisor.
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable features are CPU virtualization and RAM allocation, which are better than those of other hypervisors.
What needs improvement?
VMware vSphere requires a lot of paid add-ons that need to be integrated into it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is highly stable. It is stable as long as there are no hardware and software issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company has hundreds of customers who use the product.
How are customer service and support?
I am very satisfied with the tool's technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's deployment is straightforward. To implement it, you need to plan, deploy, and migrate the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's licensing is costlier than other hypervisors.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. It doesn't have any significant security features, and you can only get it through add-ons.
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. Reseller
Systems Engeneer at Wurth Australia Pty. Ltd.
Comes with remote replication feature and reduces deployment timeframes
Pros and Cons
- "The tool comes with scale-out capabilities. Deploying new infrastructure became much quicker, saving significant time previously spent sourcing hardware for each installation. It also has the ability to downscale on rack spaces, reducing the number of rack units needed to accommodate our servers."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We have been virtualizing our on-premises data center. We relied heavily on VMware vSphere to manage our servers; all our virtual server loads are hosted on it.
What is most valuable?
The tool comes with scale-out capabilities. Deploying new infrastructure became much quicker, saving significant time previously spent sourcing hardware for each installation. It also has the ability to downscale on rack spaces, reducing the number of rack units needed to accommodate our servers.
Its most valuable feature is remote replication which comes with high availability.
What needs improvement?
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.
Overall, it's a functional system that works well. However, I believe that systems like Nutanix offer better integration and functionality. While both are solid hypervisors at level one, VMware vSphere's management, especially through the web-based interface, could use improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for 15 to 16 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is highly scalable, and I rate it a ten out of ten. My company has 400 users.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the tool's ease of deployment a six out of ten. It was quite complex due to various hardware restrictions and issues. We had to address several technical issues with VMware along the way.
I would rate the deployment process as typical regarding time and considerations. However, the migration from on-premises to the cloud was a bit cumbersome. It required a bit of work.
The installation phase took about three months initially when we deployed on-premises. This duration was understandable as we had to virtualize numerous physical servers and handle various complexities. Transitioning to the cloud extended the project timeline to approximately six months.
What was our ROI?
I believe the biggest return on investment stemmed from significantly reduced deployment time frames. Commissioning and deploying systems and accommodating growth became much faster—measured in days rather than months. This efficiency and consolidation efforts resulted in a high long-term ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the solution's pricing a ten out of ten due to the recent price changes.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to those considering VMware vSphere would be to carefully assess your business's size and the product's value proposition. It may not be well-suited for smaller enterprises due to its prohibitive cost. It's important to consider alternative solutions. I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Lead at Sopra Steria
Easy-to-deploy product with user-friendly GUI
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to deploy and find troubleshooting articles as well."
- "There could be an inbuilt dashboard for reporting purposes."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for server virtualization.
What is most valuable?
VMware vSphere has a user-friendly GUI. It is easy to deploy and find troubleshooting articles as well.
What needs improvement?
There could be an inbuilt dashboard for reporting purposes. At present, we have to use another paid solution for the same.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware vSphere for the last ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the product's stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the product's scalability a ten out of ten. We have a huge environment with VMware infrastructure for multiple users.
How are customer service and support?
We encountered some delays with the responses from the technical support team. The resolutions could be more informative.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Citrix before. It could be more stable. Comparing both the solutions, VMware is better than Citrix.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup process is straightforward. It takes around four to five hours for end-to-end configuration. We have 60 to 70 engineers to manage the deployment.
What was our ROI?
The product helps us save around 20% to 30% of costs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a three out of ten. They have multiple products with extra services. It increases the cost.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend VMware vSphere and rate it an eight 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.

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