Cloud Foundry vs VMware Tanzu Platform comparison

Cloud Foundry and VMware are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Cloud Foundry is ranked #22 with an average rating of 4.0, while VMware is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.7. Additionally, 33% of Cloud Foundry users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Cloud Foundry

Read 2 Cloud Foundry reviews

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533 Comparison Views

33% willing to recommend

VMware Tanzu Platform

Read 21 VMware Tanzu Platform reviews

2,267 Views
1,766 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cloud Foundry

VMware Tanzu Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Cloud Foundry and VMware Tanzu Platform compete in cloud-native application development. VMware Tanzu often has the upper hand due to its advanced features and enterprise appeal.

Features: Cloud Foundry supports continuous deployment and scalability with a focus on a developer-friendly experience, application portability, and multi-cloud support. VMware Tanzu Platform offers advanced Kubernetes integration, unified cluster management, and comprehensive cloud management tools, appealing to enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Tanzu emphasizes Kubernetes-based deployment with extensive documentation and enterprise-grade support. Cloud Foundry offers a developer-centric deployment but requires more infrastructure investment. Tanzu provides an expert support ecosystem, whereas Cloud Foundry focuses on straightforward deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Cloud Foundry typically presents lower initial setup costs and a more attractive ROI for cost-efficient businesses seeking scalability. VMware Tanzu might have higher upfront costs, but its features enhance long-term ROI for companies prioritizing advanced cloud solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Foundry vs. VMware Tanzu Platform Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Foundry vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

March 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

Cloud Foundry

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

22nd

Average Rating

5.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMware Tanzu Platform

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (11th), Cloud Management (17th), Development Platforms (2nd), Container Management (3rd), Service Mesh (4th), Agile and DevOps Services (4th)

Featured Reviews

Carlos Bittrich

Technology Advisor at Fabrik

Quick to deploy but being deprecated by IBM and should be merged with Kubernetes

We enjoy the fast deployment. Cloud Foundry builds the runtime environment directly without requiring dependency management from the developer or administrator. The autoscaling is great. It is just a switch that needs to be turned on, and autoscaling starts working. At this moment, you begin to see different meters about usage that helps you in updating the scaling limits, which help you tune the running instances. Besides this, autoscaling can be scheduled, so in times of low activity, you can have lower limits or increase in advance for special dates. It has good logging. CF has logging events that help identify when a transaction runs and its response time which helps in monitoring execution.

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DarshanChaudhari

Solutions Architect Hybrid Cloud Practice US/Europe at Tech Mahindra Limited

Empowers seamless connectivity and integration through APIs while offering robust auto-scaling

I am involved in IT services and we provide a solution to customers. We work with VMware, Nutanix, OpenShift, and Microsoft Hyper-V The Tanzu platform is highly available, scalable, and flexible. It offers native services for autoscaling and integrations through APIs, allowing seamless…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cloud Foundry builds the runtime environment directly without requiring dependency management from the user."

"IBM is the only vendor to offer integration with blockchain for smart contract development."

"My favorite component of IBM's solution is Node-RED, which greatly shortens the amount of time required to develop, test, and deploy new applications."

"The most important thing about the solution is its flexibility."

"The initial setup is easy."

"Tanzu Mission Control has quite a set of rich features when compared to OpenShift."

"I have multiple Kubernetes environments within my environment. TMC gives me a single pane view, which is good for managing everything."

"The most important feature of Tanzu Mission Control is its integration with the other products, especially with ESX and vSAN. This is a strong part of Tanzu Mission Control. In other solutions, such as OpenShift or Kubernetes, you can find similar features, but they don't have similar integration. With Tanzu Mission Control, you get a total solution with only one provider. You have the integration with the infrastructure, virtualization of networking, and virtualization of storage. You have a natural integration, and you don't have the problem of integrating it with different products or providers. Sometimes, different companies have good integration, but it is not always guaranteed. For example, many years ago, Cisco and VMware were good partners in networking, but when VMware started to sell ESX, the relationship was broken. This is the problem that you can face when you are using solutions from two different companies."

"The most popular feature of VMware Tanzu Mission Control is its graphical user interface for describing network policies on the Service Mesh, which is highly integrable with other tools commonly used in supply chains such as security."

"There are a lot of services available in VMware Tanzu Application Service, such as databases and application servers. You have everything you need in one application and you do not need to search outside of the solution."

"It definitely gives the end customer a good overview and perspective of running applications in terms of overall workload footprint. TMC provides a very detailed description of your cloud-native application in the form of graphical visualization."

More VMware Tanzu Platform pros

Cons

"In IBM Cloud, the product has been deprecated in favor of Kubernetes, which is a more complicated infrastructure to manage."

"After the initial excitement period with Node-RED is over, you crave the need of additional integrations to third-party services."

"I would like to see additional support for things outside of Cloud Foundry."

"LYNX is a managed cluster solution that takes care of specific details within a cluster, such as sequences or services. I haven't seen this feature in Tanzu Mission Control."

"Another area of improvement is pricing."

"Customers have noticed a considerable price increase after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom."

"Addressing the high upfront costs could improve the product. Implementing a subscription-based model with tiered service options could make it more accessible to a broader range of customers."

"We want to see a new feature that helps build more security architecture like Zero Trust Security or shifting left in Kubernetes."

"It is not easy to build a solution with containers. It has a graphical user interface, but you need to have a lot of knowledge of Linux and how to work in the command mode. Its support can also be improved. Currently, its biggest disadvantage is that it is a new product, and the clients prefer to go for a solution that has been in the market for a long time. There are not that many people who know this product."

"Having a unified dashboard to manage all infrastructure, whether it involves additional IT infrastructure or modern apps, would be highly advantageous"

More VMware Tanzu Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing models should be reworked to the needs of a wider range of companies. Some customers will not be able to afford it until quite a few years into production, even after good PoC results and a successful launch."

"IBM has a free tier and payment option depending on the products selected."

"You are allocated a minimum amount of resources in the free tier. This seems fair and highly scalable, as you pay per usage as per cloud pricing schemes."

"There are different licenses available. You have to upgrade your license if you want to scale the solution more."

"The solution is only for large or medium size enterprises because it is expensive."

"The solution is bundled in with Cloud Foundry so the pricing is not independent."

"The licensing cost is expensive."

"The license for VMware Tanzu Application Service is expensive. The license should be cheaper."

"Its pricing is very competitive. We get around 70% or 75%, sometimes even 80%, discount on the product. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing."

"The product is not expensive, but it is not cheap."

"The price of VMware Tanzu Mission Control is greater than that of Red Hat's competitor solution"

More VMware Tanzu Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cloud Foundry?

Cloud Foundry builds the runtime environment directly without requiring dependency management from the user.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloud Foundry?

Use autoscaling to define the right number of instances. Usually, the cloud providers define a default size for memory or the number of instances. Try to see if you can decrease these numbers so th...

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What needs improvement with Cloud Foundry?

In IBM Cloud, the product has been deprecated in favor of Kubernetes, which is a more complicated infrastructure to manage. CF should be merged with the Kubernetes project. This could benefit both ...

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Which is better - OpenShift Container Platform or VMware Tanzu Mission Control?

Red Hat Openshift is ideal for organizations using microservices and cloud environments. I like that the platform is auto-scalable, which saves overhead time for developers. I think Openshift can b...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware Tanzu Application Service?

The solution is integrated very well with a lot of other systems. Also, its GUI is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Application Service?

The licensing cost is yearly. The licensing cost is expensive.

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon AWS vs Cloud Foundry

Compared 33% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Cloud Foundry

Compared 26% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Cloud Foundry

Compared 13% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Cloud Foundry

Compared 6% of the time

Heroku vs Cloud Foundry

Compared 5% of the time

More Cloud Foundry Competitors

Rancher Labs vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 13% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Kubernetes vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 10% of the time

Portainer vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 2% of the time

More VMware Tanzu Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PaaS Clouds

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

VMware Tanzu Platform

February 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

Tanzu Application Catalog, Application Platform, Application Service, Hub, Mission Control, Service Mesh, Build Service, Concourse for VMware Tanzu

Overview

Cloud Foundry, home of the open source application development technologies CF Application Runtime and CF Container Runtime, is more than a platform. It’s a flexible way of embracing digital transformation that helps businesses evolve in the face of constant change. To put it another way, with Cloud Foundry, companies can rest assured they will have the right tool for the right job.

Cloud Foundry

VMware Tanzu Platform is designed for cloud-native development and management of Kubernetes, CI/CD processes, microservices, and containerized workloads. It supports deployments both on cloud and on-premises, providing centralized management via Mission Control.

VMware Tanzu Platform offers seamless integration with vSphere, ESX, and vSAN, supporting centralized cluster management and lifecycle management. The platform provides a GUI for monitoring CI/CD pipelines and network policies, enhancing multi-tenancy and Day 2 operations. Users can easily manage Kubernetes clusters, monitor applications, and integrate with tools such as GitHub, GitLab, Cloud Foundry, and Azure. It ensures compliance and security for service providers, financial institutions, and businesses.

What are the key features of VMware Tanzu Platform?

Integration with vSphere, ESX, and vSAN: Enhances compatibility and flexibility.
Seamless Cluster Management: Centralized control over Kubernetes clusters.
CI/CD Pipelines and Network Policies: Simplifies monitoring and management.
Multi-tenancy Support: Facilitates resource sharing among multiple users.
Comprehensive Lifecycle Management: Streamlines deployment and scalability.
Observability Platform: Provides enhanced visibility and control.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in VMware Tanzu Platform reviews?

Centralized Management: Simplifies operations and reduces manual effort.
Enhanced Compliance and Security: Meets regulatory requirements.
Flexibility in Deployment: Supports both cloud and on-premises options.
Seamless Integration: Works with multiple vendors and tools.
Developer-Friendly Environment: Improves productivity and innovation.

Industries such as financial institutions, service providers, and businesses requiring rigorous compliance and security deploy VMware Tanzu Platform. These entities benefit from centralized management, streamlined DevOps processes, and integrated tools, enhancing their capabilities in cloud-native developments and containerized workloads.

VMware

Sample Customers

Grape Up, c-Com, KONE, TITAN, CSAA, Bosch, Allstate, Verizon, West Corp., Telstra

Verizon, Cerner, Zipcar, Avarteq

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Foundry vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

March 2025

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