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Hyper-V vs KVM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Hyper-V reduces IT costs as a cost-effective virtualization option, often achieving significant ROI through server maintenance and energy savings.
Sentiment score
8.5
KVM users save $20,000 monthly due to its open-source nature, eliminating license fees and offering cost-effective virtualization.
KVM definitely saves costs since it is open-source and does not obligate us to pay for licenses as necessary with other virtualization solutions.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Hyper-V support experiences vary; first-level is inconsistent, second-level better, with documentation often helpful for troubleshooting.
Sentiment score
8.7
KVM relies on community support; effectiveness varies, with some preferring paid options like Red Hat for dedicated assistance.
Technical support from Microsoft is excellent, rated ten out of ten.
The technical support for Hyper-V is excellent
The technical support is very good
Paid support is also obtainable from companies like Red Hat for more critical issues.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
Hyper-V is flexible and scalable, accommodating growth well, but effectiveness depends on infrastructure and has some VMware limitations.
Sentiment score
7.7
KVM offers high scalability for enterprise environments, leveraging Linux kernel architecture, though rapid expansion may challenge larger companies.
The scalability of Hyper-V is great; I would rate it nine out of ten.
Hyper V can support over two hundred virtual processors and around 12 TB of memory.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Hyper-V is generally stable but less so than VMware, dependent on configuration and occasionally impacted by updates and resource limits.
Sentiment score
7.8
KVM is generally stable and reliable, though occasional issues arise during I/O tasks or hardware changes, requiring careful handling.
Automation is unavailable, and reporting is difficult.
Frequent Windows updates can impact stability compared to VMware ESXi.
 

Room For Improvement

Hyper-V requires improvements in cloning, licensing, features, performance, configuration, networking, storage, management, and integration compared to VMware.
KVM needs user interface improvements, better networking, enhanced tools, platform compatibility, optimized resources, and improved support and documentation.
All the actions are manual, and if customization is needed, it is difficult with Hyper-V.
Hyper-V should ensure the features of VMware are covered within its platform.
I suggest improvements in platform support and performance considerations for Hyper-V.
In comparison to VMware, which offers a more balanced set of management features, KVM could improve in terms of user-friendly tooling.
 

Setup Cost

Hyper-V is cost-effective with favorable licensing, though additional costs for features and support can impact the overall expense.
KVM is a cost-effective, open-source virtualization platform often preferred over VMware, with affordable support options enhancing its appeal.
Hyper-V is completely free and requires no licensing fee.
Until 2019, Hyper-V was a cost-effective solution because it was available as a free product.
Hyper-V's licensing costs are lower compared to VMware, making it cost-effective for smaller workloads.
Compared to VMware and Microsoft, KVM offers better pricing and licensing options.
 

Valuable Features

Hyper-V provides cost savings, scalability, and seamless Windows integration, making it ideal for efficient business virtualization.
KVM excels in performance, scalability, ease of management, and security, offering seamless Linux integration and cost-effective virtualization.
It is completely free, which is a significant advantage.
It offers the stability needed for non-enterprise data centers and has improved over time.
I find the quick provision feature in Hyper-V to be extremely helpful.
The most valuable feature of KVM is its superior real-time performance, which results in lower latency compared to alternatives like VMware and Microsoft.
 

Categories and Ranking

Hyper-V
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
142
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
KVM
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Hyper-V is 14.5%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KVM is 10.5%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Ananth Narayana Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost-effective and good for small workloads while addressing update-driven challenges is needed
I use Azure Monitor and other monitoring solutions to support clients in Accenture's managed services. We support multiple environments, primarily on cloud platforms like Azure and AWS, and also on-premises environments with operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Solaris, among others…
Lan Tuong - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful to manage the virtual environments
The most valuable features of KVM for us are the console, which allows us to build or clone VMs quickly, and the ability to take snapshots and recreate new VMs rapidly. That's one of the things we love about KVM. The built-in management console, Auto KVM, is the most valuable tool for managing our virtual environments. We use it most to create and fire up new VMs or clone them for customers based on requests. The migration tools have worked quite well for us. We're moving from an Oracle Solaris platform for KVM logical domains, upgrading, and using KVM from Red Hat. It's slightly different but very similar to Oracle Unbreakable Linux, which is basically a clone of Red Hat. Oracle's console is easier to use than Red Hat's, though.
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Comparison Review

it_user234735 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 10, 2015
Hyper-V 2012 R2 vs. VMware vSphere 5.5
I was won with Hyper-V 2012R2 recently and the table below based on customer RFP (edited). This articles all about technical, there is not related with TCO/ROI, licensing cost, “political”, etc. Another to noted is the Windows Server 2012 licenses is based on 2 socket CPU, meanwhile…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
38%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does KVM compare with Hyper-V?
KVM is better. But let's just look at the software instead of judging. Hyper-V was a free solution from Microsoft to virtualize Server or Client OS as it is a feature on Windows Server since 2008 a...
How does Proxmox VE compare with Hyper-V?
One of the best things about Proxmox VE is that it is open-source and very inexpensive. You get all of the same features as with the more well-known products. Proxmox VE is very easy to deploy - it...
What do you like most about Hyper-V?
The initial setup is not difficult at all. It is very easy.
Why KVM??? Help please!
KVM scales better, orchestration better, performs better and supports a wider range of hardware and, also, you can implement at ZERO cost and with a very powerful web interface for management, from...
Why KVM??? Help please!
Small support team, small cluster, low core count, use VMware products Large support team, large clusters with many cores, use KVM. KVM scales better, orchestration better, performs better and supp...
Why KVM??? Help please!
Far from being an expert, my opinion is that the positive sides of KVM are: Lower costs and open-source which gives the abilities to customize it according to the specific needs of each customer.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Large customer base from all industries, all over the world. Two major Hyper-V customers are Telefonica and EmpireCLS.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Hyper-V vs. KVM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.