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AWS Outposts vs VMware Cloud Foundation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 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

AWS Outposts
Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Cloud Foundation
Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category, the mindshare of AWS Outposts is 14.8%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Cloud Foundation is 19.5%, down from 24.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware Cloud Foundation19.5%
AWS Outposts14.8%
Other65.7%
Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

YongjinLee - PeerSpot reviewer
Can compose a private cloud with seamless on-premises connectivity
Outposts allows customers to compose the services they want in a private cloud-like style, which is an advantage. It includes features that allow connection only on-premises without any VPN connections or Direct Connect. Additionally, AWS can manage services when deployed on customer sites due to Outposts' capability of being installed in on-premises environments.
Narasimha Reddy Illuri - PeerSpot reviewer
There is progress in performance and stability, but further advancements are needed for end-user satisfaction
VMware Cloud Foundation's best features include its advanced capabilities, security purposes, and performance levels. The solution offers efficient licensing options. Previously, vSphere essential was available, but now it has moved to VMware Cloud Foundation 8.0. It includes advanced features such as lifecycle manager, patching level, and cluster level patching options. The solution now offers auto-deployment of VMs. Previously, I had to use the content library, right-click, and create VMs manually. With VMware Cloud Foundation, auto-deployment is possible by simply right-clicking and assigning a specific DHCP IP, enabling physical to vCenter level communication for automatic VM deployment. The workload portability feature in VMware Cloud Foundation provides good workload balance. For instance, in a cluster level with four to five ESXi hosts, each host has minimum resources allocated for CPU and memory, resulting in significantly reduced utilization at the VMware Cloud Foundation level.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications."
"AWS Outposts brings native AWS services, infrastructure, and API to our on-premises data center or co-location facilities."
"I think the keys to success for the solution is the easy-to-use user interface and the fact that the development team really likes the platform."
"The most valuable aspect is that it comes in a rack form factor which makes it incredibly easy to use and deploy various AWS services."
"AWS can manage services when deployed on customer sites due to Outposts' capability of being installed in on-premises environments."
"Outposts allows you to isolate your private environment from the public cloud provider while enabling almost all the features that are available on public cloud services. That is the beauty of this service. It's an infrastructure that you can put in your data center and seamlessly connect to the public cloud."
"If you compare with the full bundle of these services, you can see the difference. This is enough for these locations in private data centers. Because the main reasons why the customers want to have it on their side are for the low latency and the security of their critical data."
"The most valuable aspect is its ability to provide interfaces for events."
"The ability to auto-scale is the most valuable feature."
"VMware Cloud Foundation provides us with the vSphere dashboard through which we can manage, monitor, schedule, and spin up your virtual machines. We can manage, monitor, and get reports of your infrastructure."
"The product enables flexibility in network structures."
"VMware Cloud Foundation allows for extensive customization, aligning with our customer requirements."
"All features of VMware Cloud Foundation are valuable to us, as it covers every industry standard protocol and requirement protocol, and it assists in meeting our requirements for host-level redundancy on both the primary site and the DR site."
"VMware Cloud Foundation makes it easy to set up new environments. You get hosts in a pool, which you can build into a new cluster."
"VMware Cloud Foundation's most valuable features are password and certificate management. The SDDC manager tool is the front tool we are using to manage the entire VCF stack. In the SDDC manager, we can able to rotate, and update the passwords of all users. Anything in the VMware portfolio, we can manage from a single dashboard and we have various data centers. We have connected everything into one Federation. From one single place, we are managing our entire virtual interactions."
"The initial setup is straightforward and easy."
 

Cons

"Depending on the installation process, we have found some bugs and issues with the solution when the same platform is not used."
"It would be great if it could support Glue services."
"It would be beneficial to have the option for capacity expansion."
"Outposts supports elastic coordinator services, but not elastic container services, which is the native service for containers in AWS. That is something missing in this product."
"The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle logistically."
"The platform needs to spend more time investing in strengthening its governance and information tools and consider the real needs of its customers."
"The pricing model needs improvement because right now it's very expensive. All of these solutions are very expensive and it prevents other customers or owners of data centers from buying it."
"Also, it would be beneficial if AWS allowed for more granular and customizable pricing options."
"If one component fails to operate in a timely manner, the entire infrastructure can go down because everything is interconnected. This is the biggest issue."
"The documentation could be easier to read"
"The solution could improve by being more secure."
"The maintenance cost has increased significantly, especially after Broadcom acquired VMware, with a shift from socket-based licensing to core-based licensing."
"There may be room for improvement in the resource allocation feature."
"The tool's price tag is high."
"In the early adoption of VMware Cloud Foundation, we have seen minor problems. For example, in our Federation, I see the single pane of glass where we need to manage everything, which is good. However, internally, we have a Kafka database that is distributed by the database used by the SDDC manager. During the distribution and synchronization, there is some issue and we need to stop the process."
"The interface is good, but there are compatibility issues or issues with the certificate for the VCenter."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of Outposts needs to be evaluated from the standpoint of what's cost-effective at your company: How are you going to use it? How much money will it save for your products or applications? Is it worth it? I would say it's probably too expensive for small or medium-sized companies. However, big companies might find it to be highly cost-effective depending on their respective cloud strategies."
"AWS Outposts is a cheap solution."
"Customers should consider the high cost, which can range from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands depending on the components."
"While the longer-term pricing is suitable for enterprise contracts, it can be on the higher side, especially when organizations don't utilize all the services included in the bundles."
"It is quite expensive."
"VMware Cloud Foundation is overpriced, but I think we get what we pay for."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing is moderate. I would rate it six out of ten."
"If our customer has the option to buy a server for $4,000 or $5,000, but VMware asks for two-person licensing $7,000 to $8,000, which is more than the hardware price. So sometimes, the customer cannot pay for it because it's too expensive."
"The price of VMware Cloud Foundation is a bit high. However, it comes with a lot of useful features and can handle a lot of operational complexity. Overall the price can be seen as being fair for what it offers."
"The pricing of VMware Cloud Foundation could improve, it is expensive."
"This solutuion can be expensive for small and medium-sized companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Outposts?
With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications.
What needs improvement with AWS Outposts?
Outposts is not a simple solution to implement as it needs to be shipped from the US and involves high delivery costs and running costs. The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle ...
What advice do you have for others considering AWS Outposts?
I rate AWS Outposts a nine out of ten, indicating room for some improvement.
What do you like most about VMware Cloud Foundation?
VMware Cloud Foundation provides us with the vSphere dashboard through which we can manage, monitor, schedule, and spin up your virtual machines. We can manage, monitor, and get reports of your inf...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Cloud Foundation?
Regarding pricing, VMware Cloud Foundation includes normal licensing costs. Since VMware's move to Broadcom, the pricing has increased significantly. Compared to Nutanix, which many people consider...
What needs improvement with VMware Cloud Foundation?
Regarding improvements in VMware Cloud Foundation, stability has significantly improved, and many issues have been resolved. The efficiency, stability, scalability, and advanced level features have...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Philips, Morningstar
ricoh, dell technologies, sky
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Outposts vs. VMware Cloud Foundation and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
870,697 professionals have used our research since 2012.